The Annual Concert · Since 2014

One night a year, the whole family is on stage.

Birthright is Farafina Kan's flagship performance — drummers and dancers from four years old to elders, on one stage, in one evening, at the UDC Theatre of the Arts.

Join the list for this year's date

The name is the argument.

This music is not borrowed and it is not a hobby. For the young people on that stage, it is inheritance — something that belongs to them by birth and was carried across an ocean so they could have it. Birthright is the night we say that out loud, in front of their families. For years, families across Washington have dressed in their finest African attire and filled the UDC Theatre of the Arts for this concert. It has become one of the marquee late-summer events in the city's cultural calendar, and one of the few where every part of Black Washington shows up in the same room. You do not need to know anything about West African music to come. Bring your family. Wear what you love. Plan to stay all afternoon.

The History

Birthright began in 2014, marking Farafina Kan's tenth anniversary. What started as an anniversary concert became the year's anchor. Every company performs — Denu, the Youth Ensemble, the Jr. Company, Next Gen, and the Senior Company — and guest artists have shared the stage, including the DuPont Brass Ensemble, founded by Howard University alumni. In 2019, the company arrived at Birthright having just performed near the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana as part of the Back2Africa Festival, one of the Year of the Return programs bringing the diaspora home. Young people who had stood at that castle came back and danced on this stage weeks later. That is the shape of the whole thing.

The African Marketplace

Doors open in the early afternoon. Vendors, makers, food, and the gathering that happens before anyone takes a seat.

The VIP Reception

A reception ahead of the performance for VIP ticket holders.

The Concert

The full company, every generation, one evening. This is what the year builds toward.

The Farafina Kan Percussion Ensemble on Blue Note Records.

In 2022, the ensemble appeared on The 7th Hand, the second Blue Note album from alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins — an hour-long suite in seven movements. Farafina Kan plays on the track “Don't Break.” The ensemble on that recording: Kweku Sumbry on lead and bass djembe, Agyei Keita Edwards on lead djembe, Adrian Somerville Jr. on sangban, Jamal Dickerson on doundunba, and Yao Akoto on kenkeni. Kweku Sumbry also plays drums in Wilkins' quartet. These are the same players you will see at Birthright.

This year's Birthright has not been dated yet.

It happens once a year, in late summer, at the UDC Theatre of the Arts. Join the list and you will know the date before it is announced anywhere else — the good seats go first.