Even though it was stated that the yearly show would terminate in 2022, Afrochella co-founder Ken Agyapong Jr. has declared that the event will return in 2023.
In order to end the use of the word “Afrochella,” Mr. Agyapong Jnr. stated that they have decided to rebrand and give the occasion a new name and identity.
The co-founder revealed that it will return in 2023 under the name “AfroFuture” when speaking on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM.
“At the beginning of last year (2022) in February, when we dedicated that the theme for the year will be Afrofuturism, that is when we actually came up with the idea of changing names. Because, in the long run, we knew we were going to change the name,” Mr. Agyapong told the host Andy Dosty.
This follows a “shock” statement made by Afrochella organizers at the very end of the two-day festival in December 2022.
Thousands of people were present in the El-Wak stadium in Accra, the country’s capital, when co-founder Abdul Abdullah declared, “This is the last Afrochella.”
He didn’t give a rationale at the time.
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There were rumors that the event might not happen again because Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and its organizer, Goldenvoice, were suing them for copyright infringement.
On Wednesday, October 5, the lawsuit was submitted at a federal court in California.
Afrochella is “intentionally trading on the goodwill of [Coachella and Goldenvoice’s] well-known COACHELLA and CHELLA festivals and trademarks by actively promoting music events in the United States and in Ghana using the confusingly similar mark “AFROCHELLA,” and by fraudulently attempting to register Plaintiffs’ actual trademarks as their own,” according to the lawsuit filed by Coachella and Goldenvoice.
Mr. Agyapong refuted these allegations, saying that plans for the change from Afrochella to AfroFuture had been made months earlier.
Ahead of the event in December 2022, he continued, even the names on their social media handles had altered.
“I guess everything fell in place with what is going on. We changed the name before the festival. Everybody thinks because we are getting a suit that is why we are changing,” Mr. Agyapong said.
SOURCE : Myjoyonline
