World Festival of Black Arts

These banners are all over Dakar (still!) advertising the

World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal

(or in French: le Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres)

The Presidential Palace's Banner for the Festival, it reads:

"The long walk from slavery to the renaissance"

from L-R: House of Slaves and the Door of No Return, Martin Luther King Jr, 

Nelson Mandela [who wrote The Long Walk to Freedom], Thabo Mbeki, Barack Obama, 

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, and the African Renaissance Monument

Banner welcoming Gambian President Jammeh on Rue de la République, Plateau, Dakar

Other banners welcomed other African heads of state like Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), Qaddafi (Libya)

 Lights went up on trees, poles, corners, everything imaginable in preparation for the festival

Rue de la République, Plateau, Dakar

 French telecom company Orange erected this awesome tree for the festival

Place de l'Independence, Plateau, Dakar

Another view of the tree

If you look close, you can see the Festival's logo on the globe in the middle of the (empty) fountain

Place de l'Independence, Plateau, Dakar

I saw Baaba Maal as part of the Festival!

What is the Festival?!

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