Dearborn — Musicians from around the world, both famous and under-the-radar, will gather in Detroit for four days in July at the annual Concert of Colors.

And every performance will be free.

Organizers said the festival is the nation’s largest free World music concert.

Established 16 years ago by race relations group New Detroit and social service organization ACCESS, the annual concert was created “so folks could break bread while checking out each other’s music,” said festival coordinator Ralph Valdez during a kickoff event Wednesday at the Arab American National Museum.

Valdez announced a lineup of 34 acts from around the world to perform over four days, July 17-20 at the Max Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

Native American folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie (who will be accompanied by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra), gospel singer Mavis Staples and Sudan United for Peace, a troupe of artists from throughout war-torn Sudan, are a few to be featured.

The festival was started in 1993, though less official musical gatherings had been going on for years before that, bringing together Detroit’s five main communities of color, said Concert of Colors founder Ismael Ahmed.

He said the concert that included African, Hispanic, Arab, Asian and Native American music started as a one day event, growing over the years to become a four-day festival.

“It’s become much more than a concert. It’s a true celebration of diversity,” Ahmed said.

For years the concerts were held at Chene Park on Detroit’s riverfront, until 2006 when the cost of using the venue became too high, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra stepped in as a partner, providing for use of the Max.

Ahmed — who is former director of ACCESS and current director of the Michigan Department of Human Services — said that New Detroit, ACCESS and the DSO, while working together to secure corporate sponsorship and organize the event, have influenced each other over the years.

He said the DSO has featured more Arab musicians, the Arab American Museum (which is administrated by ACCESS) has invited more classical acts to perform at its weekly showcases, immigrant rights advocacy coalitions were sparked by work leading up to the concert and once even a Lebanese-Japanese women’s luncheon came out of the festival.

Angelita Espino, of New Detroit, said the work that goes into the concert becomes worth it “when you look around the room and you see people of all colors.”

“The lineup is so representative of so many different colors,” she said. “Many people walk away with a new appreciation for the different communities that we get to work with and live with.”

The museum opened an exhibit Wednesday featuring photography of the past 16 years of the Concert of Colors, including shots of big-name musicians like Ray Charles, Little Richard and rock ‘n’ roll legend Bo Diddley, who died Monday at 79.

Ahmed said Diddley had become a friend after perfoming at the festival for years.

“He used to tell us ghost stories,” Ahmed said.

Espino said this year’s lineup has a percussion-driven theme, representing “the rhythm that beats in all of us.”

“It’s cool to be able to see an East Indian performance and then walk to the next stage and see (Detroit punk band) the Dirt Bombs,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed said another new feature will be a super-session of Detroit’s major garage bands, led by well-known Detroit rhythm and blues artist Don Was.

Spokesperson for the festival and the museum, Kim Silarski, said there will be two indoor stages and one outdoor stage throughout the four days, with audience-participation performances planned outdoors.

“Detroit is such a diverse area and we don’t always get along as well as we could,” Silarski said about excitement around the concert. “This is a chance for everybody to come together… We want to foster appreciation of everybody’s culture, not just our own.”

Yvonne Godair, a Dearborn resident who plans on attending the festival, said the free performances are a breath of fresh air, because as the economy deteriorates and budgets diminish, public art programs are usually the first things to get cut.

“I’m really interested in the reggae bands,” said Godair, who is of Mexican and French backgrounds.

“And I’m excited to see the Arabic performances. That’s a new culture for me,” she said.

Godair said the different types of music are like “one language that everybody understands.”

Ahmed said that the power of culture to enrich connections between the different communities is intense.

“I, more than anything, would like to see more Arab Americans come,” he said. “There are endless possibilities in culture. Culture can recreate communities.”

A performance by Detroit rhythm and blues artist Thornetta Davis will end the festival on July 20, because, Valdez said, “There ain’t no party like a Detroit party.”

A complete lineup, schedule and other details of the Concert of Colors is available at www.concertofcolors.com.