The International Cultural Night, a new addition to the MUSON Festival’s line-up of events this year, featured intercontinental performances to strengthen cultural ties between Nigeria and participating countries. EVELYN OSAGIE reports
THE Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre was aglow with colourful displays of exotic costumes and fantastic dances from Azerbaijan, Brazil and China during the International Cultural Night.
The segment, which was a new addition, brought a different vista to the yearly MUSON Festival of the Arts. It’s another event that attendees can look forward to as the festival continues to evolve into its finest form.
One of the spectacles of the night was the Chinese Lion Dance. In Chinese folklore, it is believed that the dance helps to repel evil spirits, bring ample good luck and fortune.
In the same vein, on the night, the dance took possession of the well-illuminated stage – agile “lions” displaying various skills to the audience’s delight. The dance dispelled boredom, enlivening the faces of people who watched with bated breadth. In their presentations, the Chinese lions were simply awesome.
The Azerbaijani Dance with Gaul was a one-woman show performed by Mrs. Billura Bayramova-Bernard; it equally left the audience spell-bound.
At the end of her performance, Mrs. Bayramova-Bernard, who partly put the dances together, said: “Besides being a platform to portray different cultures from different countries, more especially that of the Azerbaijani people, the International cultural night has a great role to play in Lagos life. Despite that it was a new idea this year and the short notice to organise it, in general, I can say it was nice.
“But I think entrance should have been free. I am already looking forward to another round of this amazing segment come next year if the festival committee would consider it befitting to be included in the lineup of events. The stage was good, program great and the dances beautiful.”
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Similarly, the Brazilian and Colombian Troupes were not left out of the electrifying show. Their dances were greeted by resounding ovation from an excited audience. Reminiscent of a typical Calabar Carnival, the beautifully adorned dancers swayed symmetrically to the rhythms from drums and other musical instruments.
However, it was the Ofala Dance by Arts Afrique Dance Troupe that brought the audience back home from their foreign reveries courtesy of their fabulous cultural display, bordering on the new yam ceremony as performed annually by the Onitsha people.
Giving historical context just before the presentation, it was revealed that Ofala derives from two root words Ofo and Ala, meaning authority and land, and that the annual festival is specifically celebrated by the Onitsha people. To give respect to their ancestral lineage, a short homage was paid to the Oba of Benin, ruler of the Edo people from where the Onitsha people are believed to have migrated to their present location.
The Footprints of David had given an apt curtain raiser at the beginning of the eclectic cultural dance extravaganza. Also, the Sharo Dance from the northern part of the country was on hand to perform a dance that highlighted the philosophy of “winner takes it all in marriage ceremony” popular among the Fulani people of Kaduna State.
Speaking after the performances, the MUSON Centre Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mrs. Ayo Jafojo said the idea of having an international cultural night was mooted by one of MUSON’s patrons, Mrs. Francesca Emanuel, and supported by Bayramova-Bernard, who also advocated the inclusion of foreign troupes from Brazil and Azerbaijan.
An award was given to the dance troupes by MUSON Centre Vice Chairman, Mr. Louis Mbanefo (SAN).
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