Festival International de Louisiane,  a premiere international music and arts festival known for bringing a variety of unique and emerging performers to Lafayette, Louisiana, will be presented as a virtual event from Friday, April 23,  to Sunday, April 25. With an emphasis on global Francophone cultures, more than 50 acts will be broadcast via Facebook Live.

“We have lined up an eclectic spectrum of artists and music,” said Lisa Stafford, programming director of Festival International, “ranging from contemporary pop, all the way down to fiddles and feet tapping.”

This second second virtual festival will boast a lineup representing a tapestry of cultural sounds and sights. The polyrhythmic, funk-melodic sounds of Cuban sensation Cimafunk are primed to please after the pandemic placed a pause on his rise to superstardom. Fest favorites and Grammy-nominated Tank and The Bangas will provide a cross-section of aural delights cooked up in the cultural crossroads of New Orleans, and Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha will showcase what’s made them one of the most successful international touring bands. From Japan, Zydeco Kicks present their own stylistic take on a musical genre rooted in Southwest Louisiana.

Natu Camera, (Guinea), Afrikana Soul Sister (Mali), Montreal-based international touring artist Zachary Richard (Louisiana), and French guitarist Thomas Dutronc—son of French singers Jacques Dutronc and Françoise Hardy—are representing the Francophone contingent of Festival International. Women-led group OKAN, which takes its name from the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria, is set to perform, as well as several other international artists.

There will be performances from national acts, such as New Orleans’ Hot 8 Brass Band and Samantha Fish, as well as touring artists hailing from Acadiana, some of whom are Grammy nominees: Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole; Curly Taylor & Zydeco Trouble; Sweet Crude; Cameron Dupuy & The Cajun Troubadours and Lil Nathan & The Zydeco Big Timers.

Festival International was conceived in 1987 as a multi-faceted cultural event of international scope and significance. In broad terms, the mission was to develop a unique, spectacular forum for cultural expression, exchange and enrichment, and to create an opportunity for sustained economic growth and diversification.

For more information, including a complete schedule and access to the concerts, as well as the lineup for a Saturday Kids Show, visit here.