Festival International Nuits d’Afrique

Multi-cultural Montréal is a hotbed of world music year-round but goes into musical overdrive during the annual Festival International Nuits d’Afrique. Founded in 1987 by Montréal legend Lamine Touré, the festival showcases more than 700 artists from 30 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America over 13 days each July.

World music superstars and rising stars headline seven concert series, six indoor concert venues as well as six days (during the second week of the festival) of free outdoor performances in the Nuits d’Afrique Village on the Parterre of the Quartier des spectacles.

In addition to local and international acts performing outdoors in the Nuits d’Afrique Village, there are free activities and workshops for the entire family, an expanded Children’s Village, an array of food and drink vendors offering dishes from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the festival souvenirs shop where you can purchase terrific Nuits d’Afrique compilations and T-shirts. Meanwhile, the Timbuktu Market is filled with dozens of craftspeople and merchants, selling jewelry, paintings, sculptures and exclusive African robes.

Highlights of the 2019 edition include World Music icon Saleif Keita (July 11) and South African and Montréal music royalty Lorraine Klaasen (July 16). Mythical Haitian kompa band Tabou Combo will close the festival with its much-anticipated free outdoor concert (July 21).

The Festival will also award its annual Nuits d’Afrique Francophonie prize to an internationally renowned artist who embodies a unifying vision of Francophonie and cultural diversity at an official ceremony at Montréal City Hall on July 10.