DATE: Friday, September 12, 1997            TAG: 9709100171

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 07   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ADAM BERNSTEIN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   48 lines

UMOJA FEST WILL OPEN SEPT. 19 ON WATERFRONT

The seventh annual Umoja Festival, featuring African-American artwork, music and food, will sprawl along the Portsmouth waterfront from Sept. 19 to 21.

Umoja is sponsored by the city and run by the Department of Parks, Recreation and General Services.

Since the event started in Portsmouth, organizers have stressed Umoja is about African-American culture, not solely for would-be attendees of African descent. That is, the goal since Umoja started has been to generate interest among all races.

The affair is pronounced oo-MOH-jah or yu-MOH-ja, depending on whom one asks.

Umoja, itself derived from the East-African language of Swahili, is the first of the seven celebrated principles of Kwanzaa. Umoja means unity, in the macro-unity sense - unity of family, community, nation and race.

A few days before Umoja begins, a forum on Sept. 17 will focus on senior citizens. Called ``Unity Through the Ages,'' the 10 a.m. to noon event at Willett Hall will provide health screening, nutritional information and African storytellers.

The festival itself opens on Sept. 19 at 5:15 p.m. with a High Street Landing drum call. About 100 vendors will provide food, ranging from Cajun-style alligator to less-biting, so to speak, treats of direct African origin. Additionally, sculptors, fabric makers and jewelers will display their wares.

Musical performers include regional and local performers as well as national acts, such as 20-something jazz saxophonist Alfonzo Blackwell and R&B veterans the Chi-Lites.

The event is free. Parking is available in city lots and along the street.

The city allocates $30,000 to fund the event, but Parks and Rec Director L. Pettis Patton said Umoja last year pulled in $45,000 in fees from vendors.

Although hundreds of African and African-American festivals abound throughout the country, Portsmouth's Umoja has a long-distance sibling in Seattle, home to a second - and only other - Umoja festival.

For more information, call the Department of Parks, Recreation and General Services at 893-8481. ILLUSTRATION: File photo by TAMARA VONINSKI

Angela Gardner models a Nigerian dress during the 1995 Umoja

Festival in downtown Portsmouth.

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