Every year, Afropop is asked to participate in Montreal
’s Syli d
’Or contest, a kind of battle of the bands featuring local groups performing Africa-related music. The performances always take place at the legendary Club Balatou. This year, of course, things had to be different, but for us the main difference was not seeing the crowd. The videos we watched were nicely done and covered a wide range of styles. The Afropop Award went to a Haitian fusion band called Kwaliti, who delivered a rousing set mixing rapping and singing with strong Haitian roots grooves. Banning Eyre reached the group