Global Arab Network | On the Independence Day of Algeria - 8500 artists participating in African festival

Translate this article to your language:

GANPublications

e-Publications

Add Site to Favorites

Add Page to Favorites

Make Homepage

Share This Page

RSS Feed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |

On the Independence Day of Algeria - 8500 artists participating in African festival

- Hannan Taha

Friday, 03 July 2009 14:49

Around 8500 artists are participating in a mega cultural festival that kicks off on the 4th until 20th July 2009 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria.

The festival officially begins on Sunday in Algiers on national Independence Day, with a megaconcert at a stadium in the capital prepared by choreographer Kamel Ouali.

But Algerians and the many guests will get a first taste on Saturday, when a parade of showboat-style floats representing each African country and the guest nations will roll through Algiers from Tafourah in the city centre to the old Bab El-Oued quarter, a working-class district.

Algerian Transport Ministry, which is a partner in the preparatory comity in charge of the Panaf organisation, has planned the reinforcement of its buses fleet, in direction of places where festivities will be taking place, as well as the creation of new lines in order to facilitate citizens' transportation, especially to Riad El Feth where the principal artistic stages will be taking place, and where the big international musical stars will perform.

Brazil and the United States are guests at the giant festival, where more than 20,000 Algerian artists will also be taking part, according to Zouaoui Benhamadi of the Panaf II executive committee.

"Panaf is the biggest rally in the world of artists and intellectuals in the same place at the same time, which will include all facets of human culture," Benhamadi told AFP.

To house the gests, two big centres were set up. First, the African village, in Zeralda, with the capacity of 2500 beds, as well as the students' residency of Ouled Fayet that is in the process of being finished, and which will receive about 700 artistic bands. One bus will be available to each band, and each bus will be accompanied by an Interpreter-Guide.

To that purpose, it is worth mentioning that many young volunteers were called upon for this period. In order to be efficient, training on human relations and management will be given to theses volunteers. They will be housed with the bands. Everything is well and fastidiously considered in order to give our guests and African counterparts the best possible reception, and all this in preparation of a total success of this event that will be celebrated in the jubilation, the big renaissance and the renewal of African culture.

Among those on the bill are Algerian musicians Cheb Khaled and Ouarda El Djazairia, with Senegal's Youssou Ndour and Ismael Lo, Cesaria Evora from Cape Verde, dance troupes from all over Africa, and other musicians, dancers, stage and screen stars like actress Isabelle Adjani, and many less-well known younger performers.

"We expect this gathering to lead to an emergence of fresh talent in music, the arts and the other activities on the programme," Culture Minister Khalida Toumi said.

"We also want this to be a kind of survey of the state of culture in Africa," Toume added.

The festival will not just be in Algiers, for events are scheduled in other towns in the north of the country, including Boumerdes, Blida and Tipaza, where all the concerts and shows will be free and open to all.

Nor is Panaf II purely a massive artistic festival, because literature from around Africa will be represented, ranging from novels to comic books, and some of the guests are writers and academics who have been invited to present their work and take part in symposiums on literature.

There will also be conferences on colonisation and the continent's struggle for independence. The first Panaf in July 1969, seven years after Algeria won its freedom from France in a bitter war, was devoted to decolonisation, which still had to reach Namibia, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and other countries, while South Africa was then under the yoke of apartheid.

Panaf II is about "the renaissance of African culture," Culture Minister Toumi said, adding that part of the festival's aim was to impress "minds and the imagination to show and tell the world that Africa is back."

"Panaf isn't just about music," organiser Benhamadi stressed. "We're going to have a festival, but we're also going to reflect on the future of our continent and to assess the current state of culture in Africa." (Algerian local press, AFP)

Global Arab Network

Add comment

The opinions of the authors in articles published are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Arab Network
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Global Arab Network