Afro Roots Festival
The Afro Roots World Music festival focuses on celebrating the evolution of African Culture in our community. Noted by many to be Miami’s longest running World Music festival, the event has featured artists from various African countries such as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, and the Republic of Congo, as well as artists from the Caribbean and the Americas.Founder and producer Jose Elias has presented this event for over 12 years in Miami and Miami Beach. Through Community Arts and Culture, the festival has received underwritten support from Miami Dade Cultural Affairs Department for 10 years in a row. The festival also features a variety of satellite events such as, the Festival of the Drum, the kick off celebration, and a variety of panels and workshops.This global connection through music has helped the festival evolve into one of Miami’s most culturally diverse events.

Spam Allstars
DJ Le Spam & Spam Allstars blend improvisational electronic elements and turntables with latin, funk, hip hop and dub to create what they call an electronic descarga.  It’s not a known genre.  It’s hard to describe.  It attracts many types of people. But as they look out and see people dancing salsa, next to break-dancers, and festival-goers driving for hours to catch a show -- they know something very special is going on.

Spam Allstars were formed by Andrew Yeomanson, a/k/a DJ Le Spam,  who was raised in Toronto, Bogota and London, and has called Miami home since 1993.  He got his start by playing guitar in Haitian band Lavalas, and recording and touring with Miami based artist Nil Lara.   Along the way he added to his vinyl collection, and when off the road he would DJ locally. These DJ gigs evolved into collaborations with live musicians, performing on an internet radio show, recording in his home studio, and the first of many residencies combining his samplers & DJ skills with a live band. 

Papa Malick Faye
Malick Faye is a Master Drummer and virtuoso percussionist from Dakar, Senegal, West Africa, who grew up in a family of Griot drummers. The Faye family has sustained the legacy of Sabar drumming for centuries in West Africa. At the age of two Malick’s grandfather taught him how to play the Sabar drum. After his grandfathers passing, Malick’s father, Amaudou continued the young Faye’s training.

Malick began his performing career by playing for his friends, and passers by in his Bargny neighborhood. He continued to be trained in the Sabar, kitero, and djembe orchestras. Young Malick trained daily to prepare for the National Children's Sabar Competition. In 1988 Malick won the competition and in 1991 Malick Faye was recruited into the National Band of Senegal. Malick had the opportunity to play with such professionals as Doudou N’diaye Rose, Curgy and N’daiye M’baiye. He toured with these companies throughout Italy and Europe.

In 1996, the Faye family Sabar Drum Ensemble was contracted by the University of Arizona to perform at an official Super Bowl XXX concert called, “Share The Dream”. Malick subsequently moved to Chicago to drum for the Muntu Dance Company, directed by Amonia. He was offered a position in New Orleans with the Coulou Dancers, directed by Maryama Cowry. It was here that he began teaching dance and drumming classes for children.

In 1999 Malick moved to Atlanta to play lead drum for Souleman Diop. While in Atlanta, he also met and performed with other local artists. In 2001 Malick relocated to Florida to work with Dundu Dole' African Urban Ballet and the Kuumba African Dancers and Drummers. 

Boukman Eksperyans
Boukman Eksperyans ushered in a musical revolution with their Grammy-nominated debut album, Voudou Adjae. This brilliant release introduced the world to Boukmans worldly high energy sound fusing traditional Haitian and Caribbean rhythms with rock and reggae. Voudou Adjae brought the band international prominence and made them spokespeople for Haitian people.

Since their emergence on the scene, Boukman has continued to release revolutionary critically acclaimed albums and mesmerize audiences World Wide from Haiti (where they draw tens of thousands of fans per show) to the Caribbean, throughout North America, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Africa both as a headlining act and alongside Wyclef Jean, Femi Kuti, and Baba Maal.

Rocky Dawuni
Ghana’s international music star Rocky Dawuni has leveraged his popularity within and without of the Continent to champion social causes and inspire a generation of artists and fans alike. Dawuni’s eloquence as well as his successful melding of musical celebrity and social action has made him a spokesperson for various causes worldwide. Over the last few years, Rocky’s music and electric live performances have attracted thousands to his concerts. Superstars such as Stevie Wonder and Peter Gabriel have joined him on stage at his shows to tremendous response.

Rocky's 5th studio album, Hymns for the Rebel Soul was exclusively pre-released through Whole Foods Market in late 2009 and worldwide on ITunes on May 25, 2010. (The album was launched in Ghana in March 2010.) This new 11 song album was inspired and written over the course of his travels around the world particularly Israel, Finland, Jamaica, U.S. and Ghana in his quest to articulate and craft a record that reflected the common spiritual, political and social aspirations of ordinary folks around the world. With the songs written, the main tracking and recording took place in Los Angeles during the transformative period of the 2008 U.S. presidential election and concluded on inauguration day. Rocky sees this album as a musical exploration in global consciousness.
 
Jahfe
Jahfe is a band based out of Miami, Fl playing a heavy yet smooth fusion of roots reggae with rocking dub-hop. Representing the power of the youth and the wisdom of roots culture, the music of Jahfe not only reflects the city's diverse music scene but also the true ability of conscious music to connect to people of all backgrounds. Band members represent a diverse international background of home countries and cultural roots- Ha to Spain, Israel to Cuba, Czech Republic to Morocco to all over the US.

The band is comprised of some of the hardest working musicians in Miami; Jahfe has shared the stage with Damian, Stephen, Julian and Ky-Mani Marley, Steel Pulse, Buju Banton, Capleton, Collie Buddz, Midnite, Toots and the Maytals, Pato Banton, Nas, Maxi Priest, Johnny Dread, Cultura Profetica and many other great artists.

Collectively the band has worked with such artists as Damian 'Jr. Gong' Marley, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Ky-Mani Marley, The BlackOut Movement, Thievery Corporation, Paul Fakourie, Karl Pitterson and many other great artists and collaborator. Jahfe was featured this year as the Grammy Foundation Florida Showcase Winner 2010.

The members of Jahfé take every chance to speak out against the injustices that plague the world today, and have been featured in documentaries about domestic violence, and worked to increase awareness about the Darfur genocide and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Jahfé's music is filled with references to the prejudices that take place every day- hunger, poverty, disease, rape and the hatred between nations and their peoples that tear humanity apart.

Locos por Juana
With a lineup that creates the perfect urban-alternative musical experience, LOCOS POR JUANA “Miami’s Best Latin Band” (New Times) seamlessly blend elements of rock and hip-hop with a wealth of Latin American rhythms like Cumbia, Champeta, and Salsa and the Caribbean groove of reggae and ska. 

LOCOS POR JUANA leapt from the local to the national stage in 2008 with the release of their third album La Verdad (Universal/Machete) and their American Grammy Nomination for Best Latin Alternative Album (La Verdad), and now with its current album, EVOLUCION (La Juana Music), LPJ keep electrifying audiences with their infectious sounds.

With their craft now perfectly polished, and after ten years of performing and touring, LOCOS POR JUANA has been capturing ears well beyond their home base of Miami.  The band was selected by iTunes as one of the 15 most important Artists to watch for 2008 - and proving that prediction true, Locos Por Juana garnered their second GRAMMY nomination and first AMERICAN GRAMMY nomination that year – for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.