BRAZILIAN MUSIC, Mexican films and Uruguayan tea-making workshops are all part of the Dublin Latin American Festival, which begins tomorrow night.
In its second year, the festival gets under way with a launch party in the Pod on Harcourt Street at 8pm. Activities will include forró(Brazilian music), a craft market, a DJ and outdoor bar as well as dance classes.
The festival continues until Sunday, followed by a break before it concludes by joining with the ninth Dublin International Tango Festival from August 18th to 21st. Many of the festival highlights this weekend centre around Temple Bar, including: an exhibition of vintage photographs from the 1940s to the 1970s in Exchange Dublin on Friday from noon to 5pm; a performance from Latin hip-hop artist Labana on Saturday at 9pm in the Purty Kitchen; and Spanish music and food-tasting on Sunday in the Turk’s Head bar from 2pm.
New to this year’s festival is the addition of a Latin market, which will be held this Sunday at the amphitheatre on Wood Quay from noon until 6pm.
Last year, an estimated 2,000 people attended the festival and even more are expected this year.
“Last year we were a small festival to see how people would respond,” said Raffael Abarca, a member of the six-person organising team. “This year people have been joining so we started to get a little bigger and then a bit bigger again and now we have many [Latin American] communities coming and joining us.”
Mr Abarca said the festival was “very important” to the Latin American communities. “We had the tango festival but nothing really for uniting us. What this does is it brings all of the communities together. We are proud of where we come from but we are also very proud of where we live and the festival shows that.”
The festival is being organised with the help of Dublin City Council’s office for integration. It was welcomed by Lord Mayor Andrew Montague, who called it a “wonderful opportunity” for anyone living in Dublin to experience the cultures of Latin America. “It also allows the Latin American residents in Dublin to come together and celebrate their identity while sharing it with the wider community,” he added.
Details on lancifestival.com.