CCS Hosts Detroit’s Divine Five for Concert of Colors

This year, along with its homebase at the Detroit Institute of Arts and events throughout Midtown’s cultural institutions, the festival also returns for one special day to the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre to honor the theatre’s 40 year anniversary. A daylong DJ set by Detroit’s Divine 5 madams outside at the CCS Sculpture Garden is also new and will take place on Sunday, July 20, from 2-7 p.m. 

In true Concert of Colors tradition, this year’s festival brings top artists from their respective countries, plus some of Detroit’s best performers, to the Motor City for shows and children and youth events that are always free. 

Femi Kuti of Nigeria, Bab L’ Bluz of Morocco, Detroiter Don Was and Chicago blues star Mavis Staples headline. Bollywood dancing and singing; Reggae, Latin pop, African dance and drumming, Ethiopian and Moroccan modern music and jazz, Arab and Turkish sounds, as well as Detroit garage, blues, experimental and pop are part of the show. The full lineup is below and can be found via www.concertofcolors.com

Locations of free entertainment this year include: inside and outside Detroit Institute of Arts, Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, Michigan Science Center, Detroit Historical Society/Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Sosnick Courtyard outside the DSO, Scarab Club, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, The James and Grace Lee Boggs Center, College for Creative Studies, Third Man Records, Spotlight Detroit.

“This year’s theme is “Get Up, Stand up for your rights.” Fans have asked for years to host the festival at current locations but also back at the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre and in true Concert of Colors style, we listen to what people want and try to provide it all for the love of free music,” Ahmed said. “Our goal has always been to let the people make the decisions, so this year you can listen to artists like Mavis Staples with her big beautiful voice right on the Detroit Riverfront; it’s the perfect backdrop for a Detroit summer evening.

“Also at the DIA, we’ve heard from fans and in response have greatly expanded our children’s entertainment and activities, vendors selling global wares and crafts from around the world and Detroit, and we are bringing back the information booth section for nonprofit organizations so people can learn about causes that interest them and how to participate, if they choose.”

Concert of Colors attracts thousands of people into Midtown annually who support local business. The festival has never wavered from providing free music to residents of Detroit. To bring major names to a free event is no easy feat as funding comes from grants, foundations and private donations. Corporate sponsorships have dwindled over the years. Last year however, the State of Michigan for the first time granted funds to the festival, seeing its economic value to the region as the largest free music fest in the Midwest. 

“Not only does Concert of Colors host the largest names of artists of their genres like Femi Kuti of Nigeria, we also believe in highlighting and supporting Detroit’s top emerging and established top artists,” said Salort-Pons. “The DIA is proud to be the homebase of Concert of Colors once again because we greatly believe in free, world-class programming for everyone.” 

Detroit artists include power trio Shadow Show – three women who perform modern garage psychedelic sounds; Mariachi Femenil Detroit – an all-woman Mariachi band; Sean Blackman, Victor Ghannam and Dave McMurray together performing Eastern Jazz; and Emmy Award winner Mike-E curating a “Detroit to Ethiopia’ performance where he will be surrounded by Ethiopia’s top musicians, but doing it Detroit style. 

Don Was Detroit Allstar Revue this year is tributing Don’s favorite blues songs.

“The Concert of Colors is a unifying event that exemplifies everything wonderful about Detroit,” Was said. “This year’s All Star Revue will celebrate the vibrant musical legacy of Detroit Blues so you know we’re going to have fun! I look forward to seeing all of our friends there.”

This year WDET will broadcast live from the festival throughout the week along with Don Was and Ann Delisi hosting their popular “Motor City Playlist” the festival. 

Concert of Colors at the DIA includes two outdoor stages, a large children’s tent, music and film inside the DIA’s Detroit Film Theatre including a whirling dervish from Turkey; Eastern jazz at the Scarab Club, dance lessons and exhibits at Michigan Science Center, experimental sounds at Third Man Records, a freedom discussion at Spotlite Detroit presented by the Arab American National Museum, live music at the DSO and Detroit Historical Society and Museum among others.

The upbeat, six-day festival showcases Detroit’s top cultural institutions while aiming to unite southeast Michigan’s diverse communities and ethnic groups through music, dance and art from around the world. Its goal is to create a dialogue where participants embrace freedom of expression. Over its significant 34 year history, Concert of Colors has strategically grown into a celebrated, beloved Detroit summer festival – one of the few remaining large-scale, free-admission music festivals in the nation. Every year, the anticipation of who will perform in the lineup creates excitement among music fans of all ages.

Concert of Colors was originally launched by New Detroit Inc., and Detroit’s Cultural Exchange Network (CEN)- both which still exist today – with Ahmed as the festival’s executive director. It was founded in response to the 1982 racial murder of Chinese American Vincent Chin. The inaugural festival drew a modest crowd to Detroit’s then-Chene Park on the Detroit River, but by 1999, tens of thousands of attendees were coming out each year. The festival expanded to three days in 2001, when it was part of the official festivities for Detroit’s 300th birthday, drawing an audience of 100,000. In 2019, the concert expanded to nine festive days. The festival went virtual during Covid-19 with bands from around the world performing from their respective countries attracting huge online audiences worldwide. Today it is live again and always free and evolving.

Concert of Colors is made possible by its partners Culture Source, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, WDET 101.9 FM, WTVS-DPTV,  ACCESS/Arab American National Museum, International Institute, Michigan Science Center, Kresge Artists, Michigan.com, the University of Michigan Detroit Center, Detroit Historical Society/Detroit Historical Museum, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Marx Layne & Co., Scarab Club, Hellenic Museum of Michigan, the City of Detroit Department of Arts, Culture & Entrepreneurship, Visit Detroit,, The James and Grace Lee Boggs Center, Third Man Records. Arts & Scraps, WHFR.FM, College for Creative Studies, The LowRiders of Detroit and West Indian Caribbean and Carnival Association.

Generous Sponsors include Kresge Foundation, DTE Foundation, Wayne State University, Utopia Gardens, Mark Bernstein and Rachel Bendit, Zingerman’s, AARP, University of Michigan Arts Initiative, Arts Midwest, Henry Ford Health, Carr Center, Margot European Spa.

As the festival has always remained free, the event is created through donations, grants, sponsors, partners, and volunteers.  Individual contributions, corporations, or nonprofit organizations who want to support music and art can donate via the Concert of Colors website. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. To donate, visit https://www.concertofcolors.com/donate.

For more information, visit www.concertofcolors.com
Facebook.com/concertofcolors
Instagram: @concertofcolors