African Guitar Summit Rocks Lula Lounge for Canada Day Special

No better T.Dot way to celebrate Canada Day than to get down in a multicultural way. It doesn't get more danceable than the African Guitar Summit.

Just in time for Canada day comes an event with a uniquely T.Dot essence. The African Guitar Summit celebrates its fifth anniversary with its own special salute to Canada June 30 at Lula Lounge. The AGS is the brainchild of Kenyan guitarist/bandleader Adam “The Professor” Solomon and puts an African twist on diversity. Long before that word was in fashion, Solomon co-founded along with Tariq Abukabar, The Afronubians, Canada’s first pan African band Its membership blended players from all parts of African with a few Canadians and the pan-Afr0Canadian concept has never been far from Solomon’s music. “ The African Guitar Summit would have to be based in Canada as it is a true democratic country. So it doesn’t matter if we’ll sing political songs or play instrumentals or whatever the nature of the music is, you know no one is going to come to arrest you for it.” While this is mucho important, AFG shows are mainly about the sparkling guitar chops and evocative vocals on show as the group sashays through the African musical landscape. The lineup for this year’s show at the Lula Lounge is Adam Solomon (Kenya), Donne Roberts and Madagascar Slim (Madagascar) , Pa Joe, Theo yaw Boakye and Kofi Ackah (Ghana). Fusion whiz Mighty Popo was to be on the bill but had to return to his native Rwanda to welcome his newsiest child. “ It is both a celebration and an education The major point is to celebrate Canada Day, and we as the first African Canadian band, we feel it’s the right thing to do to celebrate Canada Day with all Canadians across the country as apart of our Heritage. Two years ago we performed at Parliament Hill in Ottawa for Canada Day and that was very special. Also, I am a Torontonian and our contribution to this City is our music and making good vibes in the City” Solomon has been staging the African Guitar Summit since 2004, the debut show documented on African Guitar Summit Volume 1. The show at Lula lounge runs from 9:30 pm to 1:30 am with 2 intermissions, as it’s very important to Adam that the band be on stage at the stroke of midnight to usher in Canada Day. It also makes the first gig from AGS in Toronto since 2006’s Afrofest appearance. “ The show also reminds us of the many very good players from Africa who live in Toronto and contribute to the music of Toronto. If you come you will be very entertained because we all love playing together and when we get together for these shows, we know we will be happy playing the music we would play in Africa. “ Then this spreads to the audience and everyone is having a good time. This is what we do, bringing people together to have a good time with diverse music”. The African Guitar Summit rocks Ottawa Saturday, June 20 at the Dragonboat festival. Then, the Lula Lounge June 30 and later takes its unique sounds to Detroit for the African World Music Festival in August.