In collaboration with Campus Activities Board, the Office of Special Programs and Cultural Series gathered students in the Opal Johnson-Smith auditorium to raise awareness for cancer by hosting the 4th Annual AfroFlow tour on March 23.
Although the tour has been up and running for the past three years, this year was the first time that it made a stop at Prairie View A&M University. According to Mike-E, who does spoken word for AfroFlow, the name of the tour simply means flowing from Africa, and it is used to describe the type of events that take place on the tour. The tour combines hip-hop, blues, rock and roll, and spoken word poetry and creates an atmosphere in which the audience can be exposed to a different type of music that goes back to the roots of the Fela Kuti’s “Afro beat.”
Mike-E., a particpant in the tour, said, “This is the first official concert of the 2010 tour, and this event has actually been two years in the making. For the students of Prairie View, this event is significant because it helps raise cancer awareness. On the level of entertainment, it’s significant because we are so caught up with the modernization of popular music, that we’ve forgotten the roots of it. Sometimes, when we are presented with the cultural roots of this music, we resent it because it is foreign to us.”
The AfroFlow tour visiting Prairie View was also another method to promote the first ever “Relay for life,” marathon scheduled for April 23.
The tour features performances from artists including DJ Invisible, Kenny Watson, Sowande Keita, Pathe Jassi, who all bring their own crafts to the table to make the tour a complete cultural experience.
The AfroFlow tour will be in effect until June 19, and its destinations include the University of Cincinnati, Virginia Tech University, University of Georgia, and Delaware State University. The next stop on the AfroFlow tour is scheduled for March 25 at the PV United Methodist Church in Paradise Valley, Ariz.