The Kumbaya Festival was an annual Canadian music and arts festival in the 1990s."Switching jazz singer Molly Johnson on and off". The Globe and Mail, November 22, 2012. It was organized by Molly Johnson as a benefit for Canadian charities and groups doing work around HIV and AIDS.
The festival was broadcast live on MuchMusic each year, with the broadcast including a toll-free number which home viewers could call to make additional donations."Kumbaya - get bigger, raise more". Canadian Fundraiser, November 27, 1995. Compilation CDs of performances from the festival were also subsequently released to raise additional funds."Kumbaya disc needs more odd couplings". Toronto Star - Toronto, Ont. By Peter Howell and Geoff Chapman Sep 2, 1995 Page: L.8 The festival raised over $1 million during its years of activity.
Each annual festival consisted primarily of musical performers, although each also featured numerous writers reading literary pieces, as well as actors, media personalities, HIV/AIDS activists and other Canadian public figures speaking on the importance of the HIV/AIDS issue.
Although the Kumbaya Foundation, the organization which staged the festival, is still active in Canadian and international HIV/AIDS fundraising as of 2014, the festival itself has not been staged since 1996. Johnson has, however, expressed an interest in reviving the festival.
Performers and speakers The lists of participants can be found at the Kumbaya Foundation website.
1993
1994
1995
1996
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