Monday 28 April 2014

Lagos Black Heritage Week 2014 showcases music, drama, masquerades, et al




Members of Footprint of David entertaining guests

By ADA DIKE
This year’s Lagos Black Heritage Week (LBHF) 2014, which takes a break from its current series – The Black Mediterranean Blue focuses on music.
With the theme: “The Music Makers,” LBHF officially kicked off on Monday, April 14, 2014, at The Freedom Park, Lagos.
Declaring the festival open, the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde  Raji Fashola (SAN), said, unlike the previous years, this year’s festival theme moved to a theme everybody can be engaged in, such as music which also geared towards promotion of  culture and tourism.
Speaking further, the governor, represented by the Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Disun Holloway adds that: “Music is something we Africans expressed ourselves with.  This is not just the kind of music we hear, it is beyond that and that is what we are trying to do.”
At the Kongi’s Harvest Art Gallery, Holloway viewed beautiful artworks by pupils below 12 years from various schools under the annual “The Vision of The Child” exhibition. To his amazement, the pupils from various schools in Lagos, numbering over, took turns and explained their works which focused on Law of impunity.
“I have been most impressed by what I’ve seen today. When Professor Wole Soyinka told us the theme of the festival, some of us were a bit sceptical about the ability of the children to interpret it. We thought it was a difficult theme but you can see what the children have done and I am most impressed. Each one of them, have taken their time to express what they see in our society. They are looking at us, the grownups and this is what they see as us. It’s a bit depressing but that’s reality,” the commissioner said.
This year’s programme revealed that: “Much is happening in the musical field, but there is a domination of Euramerican pop forms which near completely stifles the exploration of indigenous musical resources both in direct performance for audiences, and in their application to other disciplines – most notably in the theatre and cinema/video. Regarding that latter, when one considers what passes for incidental or ‘mood’ music in much of the output of the ever expanding African film industry, it becomes a classic case of a visual assault compounded by aural aggravation!,” the programme stated.
In addition, it stressed that: “A reverse track may yet be brought about by exposing film and video directors to possibilities from neglected musical modes within their own cultural environment. Traditional drama was founded on what was generally dubbed ‘folk opera’, a form that is largely dying out. Additionally therefore, in an attempt to resuscitate this unique performance genre, so highly developed in other societies – see, for instance, the heights to which it has been taken in countries like China , LBHF yields front stage this year. Music, we know, plays a dominant role in social life. The festival will use the event also to pay tribute to pioneers such as: Steve Rhodes whose struggling orchestra and choral ensemble won laurels in famous international competitions such as the Welsh Eisteddfod. It will provide a homecoming platform for contemporary composers whose works have been enjoyed for decades by foreign audiences but remain totally unknown in their own homeland.
“In Summative, LBHF plans to open the eyes (and ears) of aspiring musicians to vastly unexplored possibilities of the musical forms right in their own backyards, as an option to the largely initiative trend currently pursued by a new generation of musicians. Innovative African music, we propose, should not end with Afro-beat!”
Grand parade of masquerades from Ogun State, a masquerade from the Brazilian Descendants Union in Lagos entertained guests on Monday. This was followed by performances by the Oyo State Cultural Troupe, the Eko Brass Band and Footprints of David Dance Troupe.
 Also, Late Duro Ladipo’s drama, Oba Kosoko was shown on the first day, so Monday’s progamme rounded off with live music from Emukay London by Tunji Oyelana.
Tuesday, which was Day 2, began with Osun Day. There was a drama “Mammy Water’s Wedding” by Bode Sowande. Similarly, Command Performance of Olodumare by Wole Alade took place at Civic Centre, Victoria, Lagos.
Other activities that held in the past few days included: Badagry Day (Gelede Masks), Street Theatre –Gbekude, drama: Kola Ogunmola’s Lanke Omu (Palmwine Drinkards), Ondo Day and so on.
There will be Carnival Queen Pageant –Gala Night tomorrow and Boat Regatta on Sunday, April 20, 2014. The event will round off in a grand style with Lagos Street Carnival, beginning from Awolowo Road, King George, Catholic Mission and Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos

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