Batuki Music Society and Harbourfront Centre in association with Afrique Nouvelle Musique present Habari Africa Festival on July 18-20 - FREE

From the African continent to the shores of Lake Ontario, Batuki Music Society invites Toronto and its visitors to the inaugural Habari Africa festival, a multi-disciplinary music and arts festival that displays the rich and diverse culture of Africa from July 18-20.

Saturday July 19th 10PM - 11PM
Emmanuel Jal was born into the life of a child solider in the war-torn region of Southern Sudan on an unknown date in the early 1980s. Through unbelievable struggles, Emmanuel managed to survive and emerge as a recording artist, achieving worldwide acclaim for his unique style of hip hop with its message of peace and reconciliation born out of his personal experiences.

Emmanuel has released four studio albums: Gua, Ceasefire, Warchild and See Me Mama. His music can also be heard alongside Coldplay, Gorillaz, and Radiohead on the fundraising Warchild – Help a Day in the Life album, as well as in three ER episodes, the National Geographic documentary God Grew Tired of Us and in the feature film Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Emmanuel’s live appearances have included Live 8, Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Concert and the One Concert for his Holiness the Dalai Lama. Emmanuel has collaborated and performed alongside artists such as Peter Gabriel, Nelly Furtado, DMC Joss Stone, Nile Rodgers and Alicia Keys.

Emmanuel Jal appears as the adult lead in the major motion picture Africa United, a Pathé, UK Film Council and BBC Films presentation in association with Warner Bros, released in October 2010.

Despite his accomplishments in music and film, one of Jal's biggest passions is Gua Africa, the charity he has founded to work with individuals, families and communities to help them overcome the effects of war and poverty. Besides building schools, the charity provides scholarships for Sudanese war survivors in refugee camps and sponsors education for children in the most deprived slum areas in Nairobi. Gua Africa is now fundraising to complete phase 2 of ‘Emma Academy’ the education centre in Leer named after the British aid worker Emma McCune who rescued Emmanuel from a life as a child soldier.

emmanueljal.com
wewantpeace.org