For six days, the atmosphere at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, was agog with cultural celebrations when people gathered from different parts of the world for this year’s OAU Ife Festival of Food and Identity. Edozie Udeze reports.
It is a festival initiated to constantly remind Nigerians that culture is a way of life. It is to tell the general public that no matter what, people should always be conscious of who they are; the type of food they eat, their mode of fashion, identity and all. These and more were what the OAU Ife Festival of Food and Identity which ended yesterday in Ife was meant to prove, not only to the University community, but to the entire populace. There is an inherent and intrinsic value in the abundance of cultural heritages God has bestowed the people with. This was why this year’s Obafemi Awolowo University annual festival was aptly tagged OAU Ife Festival with emphasize solely placed on food and identity.
For a whole week that the event lasted, the university environment wore a new look. The glow on people’s faces showed how exited they were to welcome this model and epoch-making event. It was an event that attracted people from different parts of the world. It was time for people to see, feel, savour and rummage in the natural beauty of Ile-Ife as home of deep cultural elements and traditions both for blacks at home and those in the Diaspora. From Rwanda came their national troupe which dazzled with assortment of costumes , dances and deep evocation of drumming. The troupe showed classical dance steps inside the Oduduwa Hall where guests sat in clusters totally glued to the stage to savour the nuances of profound, slow, steady and energetic dances by the Rwandans who came all the way from Kigali with their Minister of Agriculture named Dr. Geraldine Mukeshimana, a woman obviously in love with culture.
The Rwandans drew attention to series of ballet dances anchored around harvests and food culture. They held the audience spell-bound for hours just because their dances were never hurried. At every point, they changed their costumes to simple but dignifying forms, just to suit and dazzle the mood. They were gorgeous in very simple but exotic ways, showing that truly culture defines a people and brings to the fore their true identity. This was why their representative told this reporter that ‘we have to be a part of this. It is for us to prove that culture is not just universal, it is dynamic; it is to promote the unity of Africa. We are here because Ife means a lot to the world. It has the global concept to preserve what keeps us as one in Africa”.
Also in attendance were the troupes from Benin Republic whose Bolojo troupe embellished the arena with masquerades. The masquerades welcomed guests as they besieged the entrance of the Oduduwa Hall, venue of the programme. Adorned in different colourful costumes, they deployed all sorts of artistic styles, gimmick and displays to keep in form. As guests came in, the drums heralded, the dancers took their proper positions as the masquerades mesmerized the arena. The fun was totally euphoric, making both the old and young to stop and watch. The drums came in different sizes of staccato and provocative tunes. They beckoned on the people to join in the beauty of the moment. The crowd cheered, surging on from all directions, dancing and waving to the crowd.
The frenzy erupted and suddenly increased in tempo. The arena equally became charged with more masquerades from Ikirun, Osun State, joining them. This time the varieties of them further accentuated the mood as they all spoke in strange ancestral voices. Most people could get closer to them now to be able to hear and decode those untoward invocations. Yet, it was really time to identify what the people love to see – the meeting point between old and new or what Abiodun Olanrewaju, the PRO of OAU described as the old and new testaments. But put more succinctly, it was the moment for town and gown to co-habit, giving birth to an absolute celebration of the pure values of the indigenous peoples of different hue and cry.
For this, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, the Vice-Chancellor of OAU described the festival as an apt period to reinvent the motto of the university. The motto is for culture and learning. He said, “You can’t learn without your culture. This was why the founding fathers of OAU inserted it in there. As you learn, you also carry your culture along. You have to recognize that fact. This is why we have the Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka here in our midst. This programme includes the opening of a museum in his name here on campus. It is to give honour to whom honour is due. This culture of respect has to be honoured in our society. We thank our Professor Emeritus for the privilege to be here today”, the VC asserted.
For Ogunbodede, “this festival is for us to also recognize the fact that culture is continually evolving. For this reason, the idea that we can preserve culture is a fallacy. We can only preserve culture in a historical context and certainly the Institute of Cultural Studies of OAU gives prominence to archival activities. However, it is equally important that we study culture in a dynamic context. In other words, we have to study its evolution too”, he said.
An excited Ogunbodede thanked the Ogun State government for its support, so also other institutions that made the festival possible. The climax of the event was when Soyinka was presented with a roasted yam to cut to usher in the official opening of the food identity. This he did with relish and aplomb as the students cheered him on and the array of traditional rulers, chiefs and custodians of the people watched with unbridled administration and honour.
In her remarks, the Ogun State deputy governor Mrs. Yetunde Onanuga who stood in for Governor Ibikunle Amosun said, “we are here also to honour our Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka in whose name a museum has been opened on this campus. Yes, anything and everything Wole Soyinka simply excites us. Although WS goes beyond our State of Ogun and indeed beyond the shores of Nigeria, nonetheless we are pleased that he is one of those Nigerian figures that have helped to place our nation on world map for all good reasons …”
The festival which had been disrupted on several occasions due to paucity of funds, was begun in Ife in 1970s. But Ogunbodede has promised to bring back those glorious years to make culture a dynamic issue.
From now onwards, the festival will be staged by the university to keep the identity and culture of the students and the people together. Most of the guests who attended also agreed that it was time to make culture paramount in the thinking of the people. This was why the festival was well celebrated by both the young and the old and some of the foreigners who found time to come. A Rwandan who summed it up said “Nigeria is full of cultures. It is a place to come to see the beauty of the people and what makes them thick.”
