30 Years of Concert of Colors: The Festival That United Detroit Through Music
Read the original article here.
By Martina Guzmán
Originally published by Detroit Metro Times
July 13, 2022
Long before Concert of Colors became Detroit's signature celebration of global music, it began as an idea rooted in community.
Following the 1967 Detroit uprising, leaders from many of the city's diverse communities recognized the need to build stronger relationships across racial and cultural lines. Through New Detroit, a racial justice organization formed in response to the unrest, representatives from African American, Arab, Caribbean, Chinese, Latino, and other communities began meeting regularly to discuss challenges, share experiences, and learn from one another.
Those conversations became the foundation for what would eventually become Concert of Colors.
Participants didn't simply hold meetings—they intentionally built friendships. Each gathering highlighted a different community, with presentations about its culture, traditions, and the social and economic issues it faced. Meetings often concluded by sharing food together, helping create genuine relationships that extended far beyond the conference room.
As longtime New Detroit leader Marshalle Montgomery Favors explained, diversity doesn't simply happen on its own. It requires intention, conversation, and a willingness to learn from one another.
From Community Conversations to a Music Festival
By the early 1990s, Detroit was facing significant economic hardship, population decline, and growing racial tensions. Community leaders believed they needed a way to bring people together outside of meetings and create positive experiences that celebrated cultural differences rather than divided them.
Music became the answer.
Founded by Ismael Ahmed in 1993, Concert of Colors was envisioned as a free festival where Detroiters could experience music, food, and traditions from cultures around the world while connecting with neighbors they might never have met otherwise.
The festival's first home was Chene Park (now the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre), where artists representing cultures from across the globe shared one stage in a celebration of diversity unlike anything else in Michigan.
A Festival Built Around Community
From the beginning, Concert of Colors wasn't just about performances.
It was designed to create an environment where families could gather, children could play, and strangers could become friends through shared experiences.
Attendees remember bringing lawn chairs and blankets, sharing snacks with neighboring families, and returning year after year to reconnect with people they had met at previous festivals.
For many Detroiters, the festival became an annual tradition that celebrated not only music, but community itself.
Keeping the festival free also became one of its defining principles, ensuring everyone could participate regardless of financial circumstances.
Overcoming Challenges
Like many organizations, Concert of Colors faced significant obstacles.
In 2006, rising costs forced organizers to leave Chene Park, while the Great Recession dramatically reduced sponsorship funding. Rather than ending the festival, organizers reimagined what Concert of Colors could become.
Ahmed brought the festival to ACCESS, and a new partnership with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra opened the door to Midtown Detroit.
The move transformed Concert of Colors into a multi-venue festival, with performances expanding to cultural institutions including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Scarab Club, and many other partners throughout Midtown.
The result was a festival that encouraged audiences to explore Detroit's museums, galleries, performance spaces, and neighborhoods while discovering artists from around the world.
Music as a Universal Language
One of the festival's most celebrated traditions is the Don Was Detroit All-Star Revue.
Since joining Concert of Colors, Grammy Award-winning producer Don Was has curated unforgettable performances celebrating Detroit's rich musical legacy, honoring artists such as John Lee Hooker, George Clinton, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, and many others.
The annual revue has become one of the festival's signature events, bringing together legendary musicians and rising talent for once-in-a-lifetime performances that reflect Detroit's extraordinary musical heritage.
More Than a Festival
Today, Concert of Colors stands as one of the nation's largest free celebrations of global music.
What began as a community-building effort has grown into a citywide festival featuring performances, workshops, cultural discussions, family activities, and artists representing traditions from every corner of the world.
Yet its mission remains unchanged.
Concert of Colors continues to create opportunities for people of different backgrounds to gather, learn from one another, and celebrate the diversity that defines Detroit.
More than 30 years after its founding, the festival remains proof that music is more than entertainment—it is a powerful force for understanding, connection, and community.
As founder Ismael Ahmed often reminded audiences, everyone should have the opportunity to experience each other's cultures through music and art. That vision continues to guide Concert of Colors today.