Concert Of Colors Unites Communities With Family-Friendly Music
By Remi Murrey, CBS 62/CW50 Intern
Are you looking for something exciting to do with your family this summer? Well, you are in luck! The Concert of Colors is back, and is a guaranteed great time.
The Concert of Colors will be entering its 24th year in metro Detroit. It was established by Ismael Ahmed in 1993 as a one-day event at Chene Park on Detroit's riverfront, however as the name grew popular more people started to attend, which later expanded the one-day event to five days. Ahmed believes "culture is important, powerful, and has the ability to change things."
Ahmed says, "The Concert of Colors has impacted Detroit as... a development tool in midtown and bringing people from different communities together." The mission is to help unite diverse communities and ethnic groups in the area by offering musical acts from around the world. It is a highly anticipated summer event that caters to its audience through its wide variety of music and the fact that it is one of few free-admission local music festivals. You and your family will enjoy genres from blues, reggae, jazz, hip hop, neo-soul, Malaysian pop, children's folk, indie pop, and much more!
This year, the concert will begin on Thursday, July 14th, 2016 at the Arab American National Museum: The Annex @AANM and will last until Sunday, July 17th, 2016. There are amazing artists lined up that you do not want to miss! In performance will be Don Was, who is returning for his 9th Detroit All-Star Revue, along with Alsarah &The Nubatones, The Sun Drummers, Sean Dobbins, and many more.
In addition, the festival also provides ethnic food, merchandise vendors, and the annual Forum on Community, Culture and Race. The Concert of Colors is extremely successful due to its generous sponsor. "There's an old saying when you do not have money you have friends," explains Ahmed. The Concert of Colors is produced by Arab American National Museum with partners Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, ACCESS and University of Michigan – Detroit Center.
For more information, check out their website at www.concertofcolors.com.
Remi Murrey is a CBS 62/CW50 intern through the Grow Detroit's Young Talent program. She is a student, entering her third year at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, interested in pursuing a career in Broadcast Journalism.
