MCs
MCs introduced the Main Stage acts over the course of the day; kept visitors to the event informed about activities taking place elsewhere in the venue, and provided information about Irish Aid's work in various African countries.
Main Stage MCs included:
Joshua Nnaemeka Amaechi (a.k.a. Dr. Rumba)
Joshua N. Amaechi (aka Dr. Rumba) is a choreographer, performer and entrepreneur, who returned to the Africa Day celebrations in 2009, having received a rapturous response as MC at the 2008 flagship event.
Joshua set up his dynamic entertainment name Afrimania to perform all forms of dance and poetry with origins in Africa. Afrimania soon became an entertainment company, performing, teaching, coaching and entertaining audiences around the world for over 15 years.
Dealing with large numbers of people quickly revealed Joshua’s ability to handle audiences and helped develop him as one of the most prolific masters of ceremonies (MCs) in Ireland, hosting various events around the country and throughout Europe. He is now regarded as Ireland’s most popular African MC.
His passion and vision also inspired and led him to establish FESTAAC (Festival of African Arts and Culture) and to organise FESTAFRIQUE, the first celebration of Africans in Ireland. He has been recognised at home and abroad for his work in embracing cultural diversities and celebrating the changing face of Ireland. He has been named as one of the 50 most outstanding Africans in Ireland; was awarded a Salsa Ambassador Award in recognition of his dedication and contribution to Salsa music and dance at the Salsa Mambo Festival in California last year, and became the first ever Irish African to receive an Entertainment and Media Award from Planet Africa Toronto in 2005.
He is a seasoned media performer and has appeared on all major broadcast outlets in Ireland.
Further information on Joshua’s Afrimania entertainment company is available here.
Florence Mutesasira
Florence Mutesasira also returned to ‘Africa Day @ Iveagh Gardens’ following a successful stint as MC during the 2008 Africa Day flagship event.
She is an Irish-African, whose Ugandan parents immigrated to Ireland in the mid-1970s. Born in Ireland, she spent time living in Zambia, Kenya and Uganda before returning again to Ireland in recent years.
She currently works with the international aid agency Christian Aid Ireland as Communications and Media Officer. Prior to that, she worked for four years in a leading Irish public relations company.
In Uganda, she worked with the International Law Institute in Kampala and the Sustainable Development Centre, an environmental research consultancy that helps Ugandan groups working for sustainable and environmentally friendly development.
Florence is passionate about music: she sings, plays the guitar and is also a member of the Victory Gospel Choir. She has a BA in French and International Relations from Makerere University, Uganda, as well as a Diploma in Public Relations from the Public Relations Institute of Ireland.
Leah Flynn
Leah Flynn is originally from Kenya, and her native languages are Swahili and Kikuyu.
In 2002, she was crowned ‘African Queen’ at the ‘Most Beautiful African Girl in Ireland’ beauty pageant. She was ‘Miss VIP Magazine’ the following year, and was also the first African girl to make it to the finals of Miss Ireland.
She has a number of radio, film and theatre credits to her name, having acted in plays such as ‘The Gods Are Not To Blame’, ‘Bloody Sunday’ and ‘Through A Film Darkly’ and in the films ‘The Frontline’ and ‘One Christmas Eve’.
She is passionate about traditional and contemporary music from all over African, and about African cuisine.