Welcome
Africasong’s mission is dedicated to the presentation of culturally inclusive productions, events, education, travel excursions, publications and research designed to educate, entertain, and edify.
It is the power of music to create an increased understanding of others who are different…
…that first inspired the creation of Africasong Communications in 1992 as a community-based nonprofit organization in response to horrific acts of hatred in the U.S.
Over time, we discovered that music's transformative power is not the only pathway to our ultimate goal of reducing human hatred. So, our programming began to focus on misplaced nationalism, deeply held institutional racism, fear of strangers, gender discrimination, xenophobia, transphobia, and religious intolerance in the U.S. and around the world.
History's not-so-distant past reveals that hatred played a role in the enslavement of Africans in America and the persecution of Jews in Germany. More recently, hatred resulted in massive genocide in Rwanda, the civil war that engulfed Uganda, ethnic strife in Sierra Leone, the cruelty of apartheid in South Africa, and widespread murder in the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia. The tragic event of 9-11, the more recent attacks in Paris and beyond, provide only a modest representation of a much broader global challenge linked to the other pandemic - human hatred and its variants - intolerance, and humanity's failure to embrace our differences and our universal commonalities.
Nearly three decades later, Africasong's collective of volunteers and supporters now realize that "we" can and must do even more to promote and sustain a world where all, and not just some, are remembered, welcomed, and celebrated.
As we move forward together as one, please consider making a financial gift today to support our 2021 programming efforts designed to serve better, celebrate, and illuminate each other and Wisconsin's diverse communities "near and far." On behalf of our sponsors, supporters, affiliates, partners, our board of directors, and our staff, thank you for visiting Africasong.
Dr. J.L. Overby, Founder and Executive Director
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
— MAHATMA GANDHI
Since the beginning of time, humans have struggled to find a binding cure for human hatred. Slain U.S. Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., held that hatred paralyzes, darkens, and confuses life (King, Jr., 1963).
Africasong Board
Dr. Edwardo Manual, Chair
Becca May Grant, Vice Chair
Amy Overby, Secretary/Treasurer
Deborah Biddle
Ramaun Harris
Ryan Helgeson
Erin McConnell
Dr. Jonathan Overby