(L to R) Jonathan Bekele and Spinal attend the WORLD AFRIKA X AFROLITUATION Party at Chinatown Country Club on March 24, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts.
@ntalani_
“An event whose culture and influence reach far and wide around the world” – Jonathan Bekele, Founder of WORLD AFRIKA
Year of start: 2022
partner: EthioBoyzEnt (Partner), NuWave Collective (Partner), SuperSmashBroz (DJ/Partner), King Collins (DJ)
Main cities: boston
Main venue: garage, spirit of boston, girl
How did you come up with the idea for this party?
Before the pandemic, I created Anbessa.It must have been a company called [had] There are various genres such as events, clothes, miscellaneous goods, etc. It is clearly based on our culture and the lion is integrated into Ethiopian culture. WORLD AFRIKA is written on the back of the apparel brand’s T-shirts. The reason why it was spelled WORLD AFRIKA with a “K” is because the name of Africa originally had a “K” for the country of the indigenous people before it was colonized. Ethiopians weren’t colonized, so I thought, “I still want to keep the same identity.”
Back in March of last year, Boston needed an actual curated experiential event in the city that focused on Afrobeats. April marks the 1st anniversary of our collaboration with an apparel brand with the slogan WORLD AFRIKA. So I was like, “Let me host the first WORLD AFRIKA party.” I was a DJ for Super Smash Bros. and it was well received. It gave me a different feeling, like coming back to my hometown. That’s what I want to bring. We want people to come out of the party and think, “Okay, I’m going to buy a ticket for December.”
How did you come up with that name?
When I was making T-shirts, one T-shirt [has] Two women who graduated from an Ethiopian aviation school have a lion named Anbessa in front of them.and world africa [about] I was based in aviation, so I traveled all over the world. Ethiopian Airlines was the first airline that was actually able to fly across the African continent. And the second T-shirt was literally a lion walking in front of an Ethiopian Airlines plane. That’s how it started. WORLD AFRIKA is simply a grouping of all the different countries.
Who usually attends?
Obviously, my Habeshas support. There is a huge number of West Africans living here, many of my friends are Nigerian, and some are Cape Verdean. Everyone from Cape Verde moved to Massachusetts or Rhode Island for one reason or another.Second [WORLD AFRIKA party] He was on a yacht that could seat about 650 people in the middle of Boston Harbor. It was like it was divided into 3 levels with different DJs. And there was a Cape Verdean DJ on the bottom floor. But I also see groups of Asians who just want to show up and party and dance. I see a bunch of white people sliding up. But most of the time, I think it’s West Africans, East Africans, Cape Verdeans. One time, when we held an Amapiano party, a huge number of South Africans showed up.
Where is this usually done or has it been done before?
The first venue I went to was a garage. The second one was called “Spirit of Boston.” Interestingly, the garage is closed and the Spirit of Boston actually suffered a fire two months ago and is currently not operational. I went to Addis and did his WORLD AFRIKA twice at the Midtown Ultra Lounge which is right near the ball there. One of my friends, his name is Nate Enzo, owns it. He was like, “How do you feel about doing that here?” And this is what I thought. Basically, this will cover your travel expenses. ” So we did it there and it sold out both times. And I didn’t really know the impact of what I had until it happened in Addis. Because when it happened in Addis and I did the yachting event, I thought: “Hmm, this isn’t just a Boston thing. It’s becoming more than that.”
At the pinnacle of 2023, I was at this venue called “Shogami.” And they have been the most consistent venue for me. So, I went once right before I went to Ethiopia, and I went once a month, and I’ve been going all through February, March, and April. We also did one in Washington DC during the first week of March. That was good. Washington DC has a lot of connections. One of my friend’s boyfriends owns a lounge and was like, “Why don’t we try it here?” And I thought, “Yeah, why not?” And it worked really well. I thought, “Oh, if I start with a small or medium-sized space like this, whether it’s New York or Atlanta or Los Angeles, the world will come to me organically.”
What makes your party stand out?
I can connect with people and I’m very personable. And I’m very good at business. When Dami came to me in March, he was like, “Hey, Spinal wants to come to Boston.” I know we couldn’t find a venue. Basically they came to me and I had already secured a venue for WORLD AFRIKA which I was going to do myself. Personally, I could have attended the event and probably taken all that money to my head. But I thought bigger. Because I thought, “Okay, if I bring Spinal in and work with Afroliteration and Dami and all of those guys, this is going to be great for the brand going forward.”
I think [it’s because of] The collaborations and teams I put together. I work hard every day to make sure everything is perfect from start to finish. And throughout the event I ask people: Are you having a good time? People feel at home there. Whether it’s West Africa, North Africa, South Africa, East Africa or Central Africa, people are looking for more fun after the event, wanting to buy tickets and go home. My mission is to bring that idea home.
Remember your favorite memories At one of your parties.
My favorite memory is when we were in Addis, K-Meta played a song called “WATAWI”. [by CKay feat. Davido, Focalistic and Abidoza]. I’m standing on the couch in the middle of the party. Many people may not know this song. But what he didn’t realize at that moment was that it was my favorite song of the year. And while the song is playing, I’m screaming the lyrics. As I was filming the video at the same time, it went around and around and filled the whole place.All my friends in the Bay, all my friends in Washington, D.C., all my friends in Dallas, New York, Boston, all over the world. [were] Just socializing and having a good time.
In my mind, I thought, “Okay, this is lit.” I am here. And I’m here to stay. ” This could really become a reality in the future. I had some serious moments in my head where I was like, “We could do this every week here.” The funny thing is, we did it for weeks on end and both were sold out. Usually I take a month off to do that. However, since I was in Addis and had limited time, I attended several weeks in a row and both weeks were sold out. And this is what I thought. This is true! ”
