Holiday Rentals News - Gambia to stage Roots festival

Gambia to stage Roots festival

Thousands of people of African heritage will be heading to the Gambia later this month for the ninth annual Roots festival.

The tiny west African country has long had a place in the hearts of many members of Africa's diaspora thanks to Alex Haley's landmark 1976 tale of slavery, racism and return, Roots: The Saga of an American Family.

This year's event takes place from May 30th to June 7th, and it aims not only to attract visitors to the increasingly popular country, but also to attract investment and to bring people from African backgrounds together to take stock of the state of the continent.

Gambian High Commissioner to the UK Elizabeth Ya Eli Harding and festival chairman Modou Joof were in London last week to promote the event, which will feature artists including Rita Marley, Capleton, Gregory Isaacs and Freddy Macgregor.

Events will be staged across the country, with a particular focus being the town of Jufureh, which houses a museum to the Roots story and the slave trade.

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