Julian Marley is a British-Jamaican reggae musician, songwriter, producer, and humanitarian, and the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. His 1996 debut Lion in the Morning launched his musical career; in 2010 his album Awake won Best Album of the Year at the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA). 

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

The anticipated Detroit return of this electrifying annual gathering of black women rockers from around the country never disappoints!  Poet Jessica Care Moore and her tribe of women musicians bless the DFT Auditorium during their 19th anniversary, in honor of Betty Davis, Rosetta Tharpe, Grace Jones, Tina Turner and many more!  

Thrilled to be rocking the Concert of Colors Festival this year, the self proclaimed Daughters of Betty are trailblazers, name takers, and void fillers, and this is what rock and roll looks like.  

Follow them on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
 

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

Tamikrest (in Tamasheq language means junction, connection, knot, coalition) is a group of musicians who belong to the Tuareg people. They mix traditional African music with Western rock and pop influences and sing in Tamashek. Their music is characterized by electric guitars and vocals, youyous, bass, drums, djembé and other percussion instruments.

Through the message of their songs, Tamikrest wants to make Tamasheq poetry and culture accessible to inhabitants of a world larger than the immensity of the Saharan desert.

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever blends 60's Cambodian pop and psychedelic rock with danceable grooves and ghostly noir romanticism. Cambodian Chhom Nimol fronts the band and sings mostly in her native language. She's backed by American rockers (Zac Holtzman, Ethan Holtzman, Senon Williams, Paul Smith, and David Ralicke) who play guitar, farfisa (a small, Italian-made organ), bass, drums, and saxophone.  

Dengue Fever draws enthusiastic crowds from L.A. to the UK, from Maui to Moscow, and leaves critics rummaging through the thesaurus looking for new superlatives to describe their sound. 

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

ECNO (El Conjunto Nueva Ola) is a six-man cumbia band originally from Mexico City.  Combining classic new wave, rock, and disco with Latin cumbia rhythms, ECNO takes audiences by storm with their hilarious, irreverent, and highly entertaining on-stage antics and energetic performances.  The band has performed throughout the US and Mexico and has graced the stages of top Hispanic television networks, including Telemundo, Telefutura and Univision.

Who are the masked men and what are their true identities? This is the question that many media reporters have asked. No one knows the answer yet, but ECNO’s mission is simple: to bring great energy, attitude, and music to the world and get people everywhere dancing to the rhythm of cumbia.
 

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

 “Afrique en Cirque” is a highly colorful creation featuring a handful of amazing acrobats, and musicians from Cirque Kalabanté, performing their authentic choreography to the frantic rhythms of djembes and other native instruments of Guinea. To the melodious sound of the Kora, artistic director, and company founder, Yamoussa Bangoura takes us into an elsewhere that radiates the diversity of traditional African arts combined with the virtuosity of the North American modern circus performance.

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

Simon Shaheen, a Palestinian born in 1955, dazzles listeners as he deftly leaps from traditional Arab sounds to jazz and Western classical styles. His soaring technique, melodic ingenuity, and unparalleled grace have earned him international acclaim as a virtuoso on the oud and violin. Shaheen is one of the most significant Arab musicians, performers, and composers of his generation. His work incorporates and reflects a legacy of Arab music, while it forges ahead to new frontiers, bracing many different styles in the process.

This unique contribution to the world of arts was recognized in 1994 when Shaheen was honored with the prestigious National Heritage Award at the White House.  In 2022, he was honored with the Globalfest Artist Award, which acknowledges the impact Shaheen has had at home and abroad. 

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

Calvin Cooke was born into a musical family that belonged to the Church of the Living God, Jewell Dominion, an African American Holiness-Pentecostal church in which the electric steel guitar has been an important part of worship services since the late 1930's.  Nashville country steel guitarists have dubbed Cooke, the "B.B. King of gospel steel guitar." 

Cooke’s music is characterized by slow tempos and boogie rhythms.   He is one of the few "sacred steel" guitarists who regularly combines singing with his guitar work.   Cooke is accompanied by a group of veteran church musicians from Detroit.  His wife Grace on vocals, guitarist Jay Caver, bass guitarist Eddie Harmon, and drummer Ivan Shaw.

Sunday's event will take place outside on the DIA Lawn.

Concert of Colors is metro Detroit’s free annual global music festival, an upbeat event celebrating diverse World music traditions-including the indigenous music of the Motor City. The festival also hosts the Forum on Community, Culture and Race, a series of conversations with artists, cultural and community leaders examining the role of the arts in overcoming social barriers.

For a complete schedule of Concert of Colors programs at the Detroit Institute of Arts and neighboring institutions visit the festival website.

Concert of Colors is produced through the partnership of  Culture Source, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS,  University of Michigan – Detroit Center, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Museum, College For Creative Studies, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, Third Man Records, Lowriders of Detroit, Science Gallery Detroit, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Midtown Inc., University of Michigan Dearborn, University of Michigan – Detroit, Arab American National Museum, WDET, The Scarab Club, International Institute of Metro Detroit and Marx Layne & Company.

This dance puppet collaboration for all ages uses sound, objects and movement to narrate one little girl’s journey as she makes sense of the changing world around her. With choreography by Joori Jung and ArtLabJ, puppetry by Carrie Morris and the Detroit Puppet Company and an original score by composer Joo Won Park, audience members will be invited to participate in this story that explores themes of trust and release as we figure out how to exist in this world together. 

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage American Month programs are developed in partnership with the DIA’s auxiliary group Friends of Asian & Arts Cultures and funded in part by the Freeman Foundation. 

Photo Credit: John Sobczak 

Highlife was a style of urban recreational dance popular in West Africa in the 1950s. It originated in James Barnor’s Ghana, where musicians adopted Western dance-band instruments at open-air nightclubs to celebrate the exuberant spirit of independence. Join the DIA’s High Life Dance Party with the Adom High Life Band and learn its graceful and expressive moves with instructor Sasu Amen Ra. 

Presented alongside the exhibition James Barnor: Accra/London—A Retrospective.

Image: James Barnor (Ghana, b. 1929). Tempos Band, birthday celebrations, Adabraka neighborhood, Accra, 1958 (printed 2010–20). Gelatin silver print. Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris.

© James Barnor, courtesy Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris.