Monday 16 April 2018

Language of beats come alive at 'African Drum Festival'

Governor Ibikunle Amosun during the last year's event in Abeokuta

In its third edition, the yearly African Drum Festival, organised by Ogun State, South West of Nigeria will focus the communication essence  and origin of drum in Africa.
 Holding on its traditional third Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the third week in
April, in Abeokuta, the 2018 edition features 70 troupes from Nigeria and 14 countries.
 Being coordinated by Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka as the chief consultant to the festival, the 2018 African Drum Festival offers another opportunity to revisit the depth of cultural value in diverse drums of the black people from across the African continent and beyond. The theme of the 2018 edition is 'Reviving Our Culture in Drums'.
 “Africans have rich culture with drums that predate civilizations, and this is what makes Africans to be great", Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun stated few days ago. "The drum is very important beyond entertainment. Indeed, I want to situate it with what the social media is today as important to us as with what drums did then".
 Amosun revisited the essence of drums as used then, nothing that "in the days of our forebears, it was the drums they used to disseminate information to talk about one another". He listed functions of the drum as "war, coronation of events and even to say something that was about to happen", apart from its general musical acceptability.
 “Even our traditionalists, the masquerades, alk have different drums. We use drums for so many things."
 He explained how Ogun State has chosen drums to showcase the people's cultural richness by expanding the festival beyond the shores of Nigeria.
“It was a small seed we planted, which has blossomed internationally, he recalled how it started as Nigerian Drum Festival two to three years ago. "The festival is a way of bringing black people together, here in Ogun State, the cradle of civilization."
 He assured that Ogun State will continue to do the event yearly as a unique platform for all Africans within and outside the continent.


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