TORONTO Over the last number of years Toronto has established itself as a world center of African music. African music has grown from an occasional treat to a popular staple in several clubs as well as at major Canadian music festivals. Toronto has also become a centre of a developing African music recording industry and a number of artists have been successful in sending recordings back to Africa. It was the Ghanaian recordings coming out of Toronto in the late 70's and 80's, again thanks to the pioneering efforts of Ulzen and Mensah, that laid the foundation for Toronto's present day reputation. Top higlife starts Jewel Ackah, AB Crenstil, Pat Thomas and others recorded in the city partly because of the declining industry in Ghana at the time. Several artists from Ghana have been recording in Toronto for a number of years and more recently Somalis, Ethiopians and others are recording albums for local and international distribution. Most of these recordings go unnoticed outside of the artists own community, locally and abroad, but yet they contribute to Canada, and Toronto in particular, becoming an internationally recognized centre of African music. Each summer an impressive line up of stars from the continent have become major attractions at venues across the city. The fact that Toronto has more African music on the radio than any other North American city helps confirm its status as a world leader. Afrofest, Toronto's festival of African music and dance, started in 1989, has now grown to become the largest annual festival of African music in North America. The rapid increase in the number of Africans living in Toronto, now estimated at about 250 000, has naturally been a key factor in increasing the profile of African music. The enthusiastic response of Toronto audiences has contributed as well, but the measure of the development of African music in Toronto must be the proliferation of bands performing locally. When Afrofest started most of the groups, by necessity, were imported. In those early days, the only established groups were, Native Spirit and later; Nakupenda. Today, things are entirely different. Many Toronto groups have now released recordings both domestically and internationally. In fact, there are now so many groups that Afrofest can only feature a small sampling of all the great talent available. Probably the most remarkable developement over these last few years is how groups have combined musicians and styles from across Africa in a way that would not even be possible in Africa itself. Toronto has developed a sound of its own, one that includes and combines all the unique talents available. This represents what is the City's greatest strength - the ability to see our differences, not as barriers, but as great opprtunities to share and grow in a way that enriches everyone.