First headlining act Solange canceled her performance, inciting a social-media backlash. Then summer rain muddied the day and sent festivalgoers rushing for shelter.

Yet AfroPunk Johannesburg pressed on, proving that it was more than a concert and now something closer to a movement, determined to include its new African followers. Over Dec. 30-31, AfroPunk’s inaugural festival in Johannesburg celebrated alternative Africa—and introduced the city to a global black culture.

Johannesburg is the fifth city to host AfroPunk, after Paris, London, Atlanta and its home base of New York. It was the first time the festival came to Africa, where a nascent alternative culture has created a digital community easily recognizable by an embrace of a form of Afro-Futurism. Full Story

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