Caribbeans Connects founder Jermaine Young-Bushay, also known professionally as actor Jermaine Young, attended Diaspora Calling! at Milton Keynes National Bowl, proudly representing the Caribbean diaspora and documenting one of the UK's biggest celebrations of Black music, culture and global diaspora connection.
More than 35,000 people from across the UK and beyond gathered at Milton Keynes National Bowl for the landmark event, conceived and curated by Ms. Lauryn Hill and hosted by internationally renowned comedian and cultural commentator Dave Chappelle.
For Jermaine and Caribbeans Connects, being present was about much more than attending a major festival. It was an opportunity to represent Caribbean voices, connect with the wider African diaspora and create original cultural content from an event built around many of the same values that Caribbeans Connects champions.
“It was an honour to come out as the founder of Caribbeans Connects and represent the Caribbean diaspora. The atmosphere was electric. To see so many generations and cultures together in one space really showed the power of the diaspora and what can happen when we connect.”— Jermaine Young-Bushay, Founder of Caribbeans Connects
Diaspora Calling! brought together an extraordinary cross-generational line-up including Ms. Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Erykah Badu, YG Marley, Zion Marley, Giggs, Fireboy DML, Seun Kuti and The Compozers, with DJ sets from DJ OBI and Michael Brun.
The festival crossed genres including hip-hop, reggae, soul, R&B, Afrobeat, Afrobeats and UK rap — reflecting the musical connections that have travelled between Africa, the Caribbean, Britain, the United States and communities throughout the global diaspora.
One of the defining moments of the night came as Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean celebrated the 30th anniversary of The Fugees' landmark album The Score.
The Fugees' music has always been particularly significant from a diaspora perspective.
Their sound brought together hip-hop, reggae, soul and Caribbean influences, with Wyclef Jean's Haitian heritage forming an important part of the group's identity and musical character.
For Caribbeans Connects, seeing that musical legacy celebrated three decades later in Britain was incredibly powerful.
The closing performances produced some of the festival's most memorable moments.
Ms. Lauryn Hill revisited songs from across her career alongside material from The Score, while Wyclef Jean performed both Fugees classics and music from his solo catalogue.
A major surprise came when Erykah Badu joined Lauryn Hill during “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, bringing two hugely influential artists together on the same stage.
YG Marley and Zion Marley also joined Hill and Jean during the performance, creating another strong link between generations of Caribbean musical heritage.
Zion Marley paid tribute to his grandfather Bob Marley with a performance of “Three Little Birds”, while YG Marley performed his internationally successful “Praise Jah in the Moonlight”.
These moments represented something much bigger than individual performances. They showed how Caribbean music continues to influence new generations while remaining closely connected to its history.
Another major strength of Diaspora Calling! was the way it connected different parts of the Black diaspora without treating them as one single culture.
Fireboy DML represented the global rise of Afrobeats, while Seun Kuti brought the political and musical tradition of Afrobeat to the National Bowl.
British music was equally strongly represented.
During Giggs' performance, Kano made a surprise appearance, bringing together two major figures in British rap.
The result was an event where Caribbean, African, African-American and Black British cultural influences could sit alongside one another while maintaining their individual identities.
That philosophy closely reflects what Caribbeans Connects is trying to build.
Although our platform is proudly centred around the Caribbean community and Caribbean creatives, we also recognise the importance of connecting with the wider African diaspora.
Throughout Diaspora Calling!, Caribbeans Connects was on the ground creating original content and connecting directly with festival-goers.
We captured the atmosphere, spoke to members of the diaspora and produced social content exploring culture, identity and the relationship between Caribbean and African communities.
Some of our content asked festival-goers to identify whether different cultural references were African or Caribbean, creating fun conversations while also showing just how closely our cultures can sometimes overlap.
You can watch some of our Diaspora Calling! coverage below.
For Caribbeans Connects, this type of content is important because it puts real people at the centre of conversations about identity and culture.
Rather than only reporting from the sidelines, our aim is to participate, connect and give people from the diaspora an opportunity to tell their own stories.
Diaspora Calling! extended far beyond the main stage.
The festival incorporated visual art, fashion, beauty, film and independent enterprise, demonstrating the enormous breadth of creativity emerging from diaspora communities.
Fashion activations explored themes including identity, migration, community and history, while a specially curated marketplace showcased diaspora-led artists, entrepreneurs, designers and independent businesses.
The event also included wider conversations about the future of Black communities.
MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy addressed the audience with a message linked to reparatory justice, strengthening connections across the African diaspora, celebrating Black excellence and developing spaces and institutions that allow communities to shape their own futures.
Those conversations around ownership, opportunity and building our own platforms strongly resonated with the philosophy behind Caribbeans Connects.
Diaspora Calling! describes its wider mission as bringing together artists, cultural leaders, entrepreneurs, organisations and communities across Africa and its global diaspora.
For Jermaine Young-Bushay, attending as founder of Caribbeans Connects demonstrated why platforms centred around cultural connection remain so important.
Caribbean culture has played an enormous role in the development of global music, fashion, film and popular culture.
At the same time, Caribbean communities have always maintained deep historical and cultural relationships with Africa and other parts of the diaspora.
Events such as Diaspora Calling! create an opportunity for those communities to reconnect, collaborate and celebrate their shared influence.
As Caribbeans Connects continues to grow, our ambition is to be present wherever important Caribbean and diaspora stories are happening.
Whether through festivals, interviews, documentaries, music, original social content or opportunities for creatives, we want to ensure that Caribbean voices remain visible within the wider cultural conversation.
Diaspora Calling! was an important example of what can happen when generations, cultures and creative industries come together.
For Caribbeans Connects, it was an honour to be there representing the Caribbean diaspora.
And this is exactly the kind of connection we want to continue building.
Follow Caribbeans Connects for more festival coverage, interviews, Caribbean news, cultural stories and original content from across the global diaspora.
Photography by Flexxed (@flexxedtv)