Roerg'Africa Festival

Africa visits Rouergue

The Roerg'Africa Festival was born from the desire to create a cultural bridge between Aveyron and Africa, drawing on the African community present in the Villefranche area and the openness to the world that characterizes this land of passage and welcome. Organized as part of Villef'Estival, Villefranche-de-Rouergue's summer program, the festival transforms Place Saint-Jean into a festive and friendly meeting place for three days in July.

Concerts, gastronomy, and crafts

The festival's program includes three complementary dimensions:

• African music concerts: afrobeat, highlife, mbalax, Congolese rumba, Manding music, reggae... Artists and groups offer live performances that make the bastide dance from dusk till night.
• Gourmet market: stands offering African culinary specialties — mafé, thiéboudiène, attiéké, brochettes, fritters, bissap and ginger juice — for a taste journey across the continent.
• Craft market: artisans showcasing jewelry, textiles, sculptures, musical instruments, and art objects inspired by African traditions.

A festival for all audiences

Roerg'Africa aims to be a popular and family-friendly festival, open to all. Activities for children (African storytelling, percussion workshops, body painting) complement the musical and gastronomic offerings. The warm atmosphere of Place Saint-Jean, shaded and intimate, encourages encounters and exchanges in a spirit of friendliness and intercultural sharing.

Villefranche-de-Rouergue, a bastide open to the world

Villefranche-de-Rouergue, a royal bastide founded in 1252, is a city that has always been a crossroads of exchanges — commercial, cultural, and human. The Roerg'Africa Festival is part of this tradition of openness, alongside other summer festivals such as Opéra Bastide, the Festival en Bastides, the Labyrinthe Musical, and Villefranchement Jazz, which make Villefranche a must-visit cultural destination for the Aveyron summer.