Thursday, May 15, 2014

An Evening of Celebration with CAPDiv

By Tom Reeves

A decade ago, an association called Circle of Action for the Promotion of Diversity (CAPDiv) was founded to promote awareness of the diversity of cultures in France. Last Saturday, it celebrated its 10th year of existence with a fashion show and a fantastic concert featuring three different bands. The celebration took place at the Centre Musical Barbara in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Discover Paris! was there!

The party kicked off with a performance by King Carl (aka Charles Kingué), whose band pumped out Afro-beat rhythms that set the tone for the evening. Charles, who hails from Cameroon, told me that he sang in Duala, one of the languages of the Bantu people.

King Carl
© Discover Paris!

Next on stage came Les Relaxes, a band that was anything but relaxed. Their music stirred audience passions to new heights! The band also performs under the name Daystreet of Paris.

Les Relaxes
© Discover Paris!

During the intermission, we repaired to a lounge upstairs where we enjoyed a fashion show presented by Cameroonian designer Imane Ayissi. The gowns that his stunning models wore elicited more than one “wow!” from the audience.

Gowns by Imane Ayissi
© Discover Paris!

Returning downstairs to the concert hall, we enjoyed dancing and listening to salsa, merengue, and timba-cubana performed by Grupo K-Fé. The band is composed of thirteen musicians, all of whom hail from the Caribbean. Listen to their music here!

Grupo K-Fé
© Discover Paris!

During the evening, I had the pleasure of meeting Stella Triché, an artist who hails from Cameroon. Click here to view other paintings by her, including the one in the photograph below, called Les Musiciens.

Stella Triché and Les Musiciens
© Discover Paris!

Happy Birthday, CAPDiv!

Tom Reeves is the co-founder and president of Discover Paris!

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