Mr. Ken Agyapong Jr., co-founder of Afrochella, now AfroFuture, addressed a number of problems surrounding this year’s edition of the yearly event in an interview. The name change was announced by Abdul Abdullah, another co-founder of Afrochella, at the conclusion of the two-day festival in December 2022 at the El-wak sports stadium. He declared, “This is the last Afrochella.”
Why Rebranding?
In an interview with Hitz Fm Daybreak Hitz, Mr. Ken Jnr went into further detail about the reasons behind the name change. I guess everything fell into place with what was going on and then we changed the name during the festival before, so even if you look on our social media,” he said. “We actually came up with the idea of changing the name at the beginning of last year 2022 in February when we decided that, this year’s theme will be Afrofuturism,” he said.
He also dispelled rumors that the occasion wouldn’t return because of the legal action Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its producers, Golden Voice, brought against them for copyright infringement.
“The name has been there for so long that everyone assumes that we changed it because we are getting a lawsuit, but if that were the case, the handles and everything else is already in place, so if you look on our social media page all the handles have been changed to Afro future,” he said.
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its promoter Golden Voice filed a lawsuit against Ghana’s Afrochella in October 2022 for alleged trademark infringement.
Coachella and Goldenvoice accuse Afrochella of “intentionally trading on the goodwill of [Coachella and Goldenvoice’s] well-known COACHELLA and CHELLA festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark ‘AFROCHELLA’ and by fraudulently attempting to register Plaintiffs’ actual trademarks as their own.” The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court on Wednesday, October 5.
The copyright infringement case that Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its organizer, Goldenvoice, filed against Afrochella and its co-founder, Ken Agyapong Jr., has been dismissed.
Mr. Agyapong avoided getting into specifics, but he did claim that his business “is good.”
He declared, “We won the case,” on Hitz FM’s Daybreak Hitz.
About Afrofuture
In 2017, Kenny Agyapong and Abdul Karim Abdullah introduced the occasion, which was once called Afrochella and now Afrofuture. Since then, it has grown to be much more than just a music festival; guests come to interact with others who share their interests from around the globe.
The opportunity to travel to Africa and build relationships via music—a mode of communication that has endured for centuries—is priceless given how remote African Americans are from their traditional African roots.
AfroFuture is a celebration of both the rich diversity of African culture and the vibrant work of African creatives and entrepreneurs. In order to elevate and promote the fascinating and developing millennial talent in Africa, the festival debuts an interactive event that instructs, discusses, and explores other cultures utilizing a ground-breaking methodology. Visitors at AfroFuture can savor exquisite cuisine inspired by the local culture, take in African art and cutting-edge activations, and enjoy African music.
AfroFuture’s Mission
At AfroFuture, the cultures of Africa and the Diaspora are passionately celebrated. The fact that African culture is still surviving sends a strong statement to the rest of the world given the centuries of cultural erasure and oppression. The festival, which is held in Accra on Ghana’s coast, is quickly catching up to the well-known Coachella music festival. AfroFuture stands out for its welcoming environment and promotion of a wide variety of music, art, and clothing from the African diaspora.
You are immediately surrounded by a vibrant celebration of African culture as soon as you enter the location. Now in its sixth year, AfroFuture is quickly developing into a must-attend event for both African creatives and aficionados of the culture.
You’ll hear a wide range of African music, including traditional songs, contemporary hip-hop, and Afrobeats. Both established artists and up-and-coming talents gathered to perform and share their creative works.
