Emancipation Day 2023: Morgan Heritage, BET award-winning artiste to perform today in National Park

Grammy Award-winning reggae artiste Morgan Heritage is set to perform today at Guyana’s 30th Emancipation Day Festival, which will be held at the National Park. The event, which starts at 10:00h will feature a lineup of local artists such as Charmaine Blackman, Big Red, Dynamic Force, among others.
Additionally, Black Entertainment Television (BET) award-winning Ghanaian Afropop, dancehall, and reggae musician ‘Stonebwoy’ will also be performing live at today’s event.
During a press conference held by the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA) on Monday, a member of the renowned reggae band, Roy “Gramps” Morgan, expressed his excitement to perform at the event and be part of the celebration of African culture in Guyana.

“I’m really happy about this event and even if next year we are not booked and I have the time I would like to attend this event. We prepared a good show and we’re excited to be on the stage with our brother Stonebwoy,” Morgan remarked.
The ACDA’s Festival Coordinator, Aisha Haynes went into detail about what citizens can expect as they come out to celebrate the event. She noted that the event will feature several competitions such as the cook-up competition which is sponsored by Ansa McAL, the best-dressed competition, and more. There will also be a children’s centre open from 10:00hrs to 16:00h, which will feature storytelling, face painting, a bouncy castle, and other activities and entertainments for kids.
According to Haynes, throughout the years Guyana has been admired for the way citizens dress up in their various African prints to attend the August 1 celebration.
“A lot of times [when] our guests come, whether from Jamaica, Ghana or Nigeria they always talk about how Guyanese come out in their African wear in their numbers on Emancipation Day. Guyana is unique for that, so we can’t let them down this year, come out and represent how we do it here in Guyana,” Haynes boasted.
Haynes also highlighted that there will be two stages in the park at this year’s festival, the centre stage and the tarmac stage.
Today marks 185 years since enslaved Africans were emancipated in 1838, a historic event that paved the way to freeing over 800,000 enslaved Africans and their descendants in parts of the Caribbean, Africa, Canada, and South America. Emancipation is a time when not only Afro-Guyanese, but all races in Guyana reflect on the trials and tribulations faced by the once enslaved Africans.