Lagos' festival of colours Colourful fun at Freedom Park

Lagos' festival of colours Colourful fun at Freedom Park The opening days of the 2012 Lagos Black Heritage Festival which ends tomorrow with a carnival, were not bereft of entertainment.   "Ninu osupa, a nse ere osupa" meaning we are playing moon songs under the moon, Solanke said in reference to the bright moon illuminating the park. Author of the poetry collection, 'I am Memory', Jumoke Verissimo, was the first act of the night. Uche Peter Umez, one of the writers shortlisted for the 2011 Nigeria Prize for Literature read 'Prose in Flight' while author of 'A Love like a Woman's and Other Stories', Razinat Mohammed, read 'Dancing in Church'. The second sets of poems were taken after a musical interlude with Richard Ali who read 'Beneath the Wind' starting. The keynote speaker, Professor Alessandro Portelli of University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy thereafter spoke on 'Olaudah Equiano and the Mediterranean'. Portelli also described Equiano as the founder of the tradition of slave narratives and that the book is several books in one. The Nobel Laureate also touched on the venue of the festival, the old prison turned Freedom Park, noting that a former place of agony has become "a creative space. Alessandra Di Maio of the University of Palermo, Italy, who coordinated the symposium with Dr. "It is a life changing experience to help organise the colloquium, it is a dream come true. I am thrilled that my first visit to Africa should take place in this exciting context," she said. This is the fifth year of the festival but this is the third year I have been working alongside Professor Soyinka, the festival consultant. It's not easy but we pulled it off and I'm sure it's going to get better next year. Inimitable singer and storyteller, Jimi Solanke set people in a relaxed mood before the poets took the floor with some of his evergreen songs including 'Baba Agba' and 'Bareni Joye'. The late poet and dancer, Ify Agu-Omalicha who passed on last month but had earlier submitted her poem for the proposed collection of poems to be published by Bankole Olayebi's Book Craft was loudly celebrated on the night. He later explained why he did so, noting that Verissimo had been scheduled to comment on the departed poet and dancer. The Governor was thereafter taken on a tour of the performances and the venue by Holloway, Soyinka and coordinators of the various activities of the festival. Fashola saw a parade of the masquerades and also inaugurated the Kongi's Harvest Art Gallery, dedicated to Soyinka for his excellent contributions to the arts. Though Italian poets were also supposed to read, only one, Cristina Ali Farah made it to Nigeria. Writers Lola Shoneyin and Ayodele Olofintuade showed that writing is not all they are about while choreographer, Badejo displayed many of the steps that made the Queen award him the Officer of the British Empire Award.   Another musical interlude preceded the last sets of reading during which some guests showed off their dancing skills. "I don't think Ify would want us to be sad, she would want to be celebrated," noted Verissimo who added that Omalicha "was not only beautiful outside, she was beautiful inside. "She is one dancer whose memory will live on in the University of Ibadan," said Verissimo who then requested guests to celebrate Omalicha with a round of applause. The renowned dancer also touched on the uniqueness of the fifth edition of the festival, explaining the differences this way: "You are dealing with a consultant that is brilliant, that is very creative as you all know. The programme commenced promptly at the advertised time of 10am with the arrival of Governor Fashola. ". He acknowledged participating states, saying, "I thank you very much for adding a lot more colour, a lot more verve to the 2012 edition of the Heritage Week which also signals the beginning of our tourisism week that climaxes on Monday with the carnival; that builds up with the boat regatta, that adds the spice of the beauty pageant . By appropriating the ideology and practice of the bourgeois revolution – individual rights, social mobility, economic accumulation, free trade – the former commodity Olaudah Equiano places himself at the cutting edge of the revolutionary thought of his time. Songbirds of the nightThe symposium continued on day two of the festival with another keynote and panel discussions. Themed 'Black Mediterranean: The Afro-Italian Connections', the reading and performances segment of the festival featured 16 Nigerian and 16 Italian poets. We got out of that formality that people are used to, this is a whole new way, a brand new approach that the consultant is working on. Olaudah Equiano's narrativesEntertainment, however, was not the only dish served on the opening day of the festival. Coordinator of the event, Dr. Soyinka noted that the Italian participants undertook an epical journey not necessarily in terms of distance but because of that "ridiculous document called visa. "  He described the bottlenecks associated with the issuance of visas as "stupidity among nations. The Amuludun Traditional Band which brought the Agboremireke Masquerade; Fame Agere Troupe and its Agere masquerades; Lebe Masquerades from Osun State, Mabo masquerades from Cross River State and Igunuko masquerades were some of the ' ancestors' that came to celebrate with the earthlings. "It was not easy but as they say, practice makes perfection," began choreographer Peter Badejo, the man responsible for arranging the colourful parade of masquerades and dances when asked how he pulled it off. He had no choice than to applaud them when he eventually left the young ones. Equiano, he noted, did some anthropological and analytical analyses of Mediterranean countries including Spain, Italy and Turkey he visited and that a recurrent theme in his description of the Mediterranean is the abundance of cheap fruits. Portelli noted further that Equiano threw veiled insults at his British captors by highlighting the honesty of the Turks but the dishonesty of the British who promised to release him but later reneged. The issue of the 'talking book' (reading) which Equiano was hitherto unfamiliar with and his businessacumen were also touched on by Portell. Lagos' festival of colours Colourful fun at Freedom Park Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 09/04/2012