Nanaimo African Heritage Society Presents: Finale Dinner Dance Gala

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Saturday, February 27th, 2016
5:00 PM to 11:00 PM

February is Black History Month and the Nanaimo African Heritage Society is offering many events for the Nanaimo community to enjoy throughout the entire month.

Back by popular demand, the Nanaimo African Heritage Society brings African vocalist Ezra Kwizera back to the stage with his band for their wonderful Finale Dinner and Dance Gala. Other featured artists are TEDX performers Valerie Mason John and Adelene da Soul Poet aka Bertha Clark performing at the Bowen Park Complex at 500 Bowen Rd. on Saturday February 27th, 2016.

Doors open at 5 pm for visual arts and vendor tables.
The Dance and Gala Dinner starts at 7 pm.
Tickets for the dinner and dance are $40 for adults and $20 for children under 13 years of age. Tickets are available at the Port Theatre, Arbutus Music , The Nanaimo African Heritage Society office and at Fascinating Rhythm at 250-716-9997.

For more information contact the Nanaimo African Heritage Society 250-729-9332.

Featured performer Ezra Kwizera is an international artist, music producer and community leader. Ezra’s music style is a grooving and soulful mix of Reggae, Soca, East African Bongo and Pop. Ezra fluidly sings and raps in English, Kinyarwanda, Luganda, Zulu and Swahili.

Growing up as a refugee in Uganda before moving back to his home country Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, Ezra has a powerful motivation to support Rwandans through his music to rebuild their country and is an inspiring community leader. Award winning spoken word poet, performer, creative writer, actor Adelene da Soul Poet aka Bertha Clark was born in San Francisco and raised in Vancouver where her roots are. Bertha’s direct descendants are the first of BC’s black pioneers, who settled on Salt Spring Island and Victoria in the mid-1800s.

The Nanaimo African Heritage Society is excited to bring Adelene da Soul Poet to Nanaimo for a special performance. The society is also very happy that multi award winning playwright, author and performance poet Valerie Mason-John will be performing at the Gala Dinner.

Valerie has been published in The Guardian, The Voice and The Pink Paper. Valerie Mason-John has co-edited the first national anthology of African Canadian Poetry, The Great Black North, which won two literary awards. In 2015 she co-produced www.blackhalifax.com a talking book of poetic prose to tell the stories of Black people in Halifax Nova Scotia Canada. Her latest book Eight Steps Recovery - Using the Buddha’s Teachings to overcome Addiction (2014) has won two awards.

Nanaimo African Heritage Society President Shalema Gantt says,” We are thrilled that these wonderful performers are coming to our community of Nanaimo. We invite everyone to join in and celebrate Black History Month with us during our many fun events including our Finale Dinner Dance Gala. The food will be excellent and it’s a chance to dance and hear some really great performers. More information about our scheduled events for the month of February is available at 250-729-9332 and at the society’s website at www.nanaimoafricanheritagesociety.com. ”