FOCUS ON BAYELSA STATE CULTURE AND TOURISM

                                                     FESTAC 77

                               

Festac '77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (the first was in Dakar, 1966), was a cultural jamboree^[1] held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 February 1977. The month-long event celebrated African culture and showcased to the world African music, fine art, literature, drama, dance and religion. About 16,000 participants, representing 56 African nation and countries of the African Diaspora, performed at the event.^[2][3] Artists who performed at the festival included Stevie Wonder, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, Mighty Sparrow, Les Ballets Africains, and Franco Luambo Makiadi. At the time it was held, it was the largest pan-African gathering.^[4]

The emblem of the Festival was the royal ivory mask of Benin. The hosting of the festival led to the establishment of the Nigerian National Council of Arts and Culture, Festac Village and the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.^[5] Most of the events where held in four main venues: the National Theatre, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos City Hall^[6] and Tafawa Balewa Square.

The inspiration for convening FESTAC can be traced to the development of ideas on Négritude and Pan-Africanism. In 1940s, Aimé Césaire and Leopold Sedar Sénghor inspired by DuBois' Pan-Africanism and Alain Locke's concept of the New Negro started a journal and publishing house in Paris called Présence Africaine, both men were also members of the Société Africaine du Culture.^[7] Présence Africaine and the Society of African Culture were facilitators of two congresses,^[8] one in 1956 and the other in 1959, the forums were convened with the intention of promoting black culture and civilisation.^[9] The first congress was the Conference of Black Writers in Paris and the second was a black writers forum in Rome. Attendees of the forums included writers of African and Afro-descendant heritage such as Alioune Diop, Cheikh Anta Diop, Léopold Senghor, and Jacques Rabemananjara, Richard Wright, Césaire, George Lamming, Horace Mann Bond, Jacques Alexis, John Davis, William Fontaine, Jean Price Mars, James Baldwin, Chester Himes, Mercer Cook and Frantz Fanon.^[10] Members of both forums were engaged with discussing ideas about the resurgence of African culture and the convocation of a festival of arts. In 1966, with leadership provided by Leopold Senghor and subsidies from outside, notably France,^[9] and UNESCO, the First World Festival of Black Arts was held in Dakar, Senegal, 1–24 April 1966.^[11] At the end of the first festival, Nigeria was invited to hold the second festival in 1970 so as to promote a continuation of black unity through cultural festivals.^[7] The host nation would be responsible for providing the necessary infrastructure and facilities for a successful staging of the festival. However, a Civil War and changes in government led to the postponing of the festival to 1977.

Preparation for the Festac took off in Lagos on 3 October 1972, when the International Festival Committee met for the first time and decided that the festival would be held in November 1974. The name of the festival was changed from "World Black Festival of Arts and Culture" to "Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture" so as to accommodate the realities of African unity.^[9] The date was further changed to November 1975. The organizers divided countries into 16 geographical zones, each zones having a committee made up of representatives of peoples of African descent; the chairman of each zone would become a member of the International Festival Committee. The committee acted as the administrative arm of the Festival.^[12] The desire to improve on the Dakar festival led to Nigeria's intention to create an extravagant show fuelled by new-found oil money. A new regime replaced the Gowon administration and the date for the festival was thus changed to 1977.

• To ensure the revival, resurgence, propagation and promotion of Black and African culture and black and African cultural values and civilization;
• To present black and African culture in its highest and widest conception;
• To bring to light the diverse contributions of black and African peoples to the universal currents of thought and arts;
• To promote black and African artists, performers and writers and facilitate their world acceptance and their access to world outlets;
• To promote better international and interracial understanding;
• To facilitate a periodic return to origin in Africa by black artists, writers and performers uprooted to other continents.

The opening ceremony of the festival took place on 15 January 1977 inside the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. One of the highlights of the ceremony was a parade of participants representing 48 countries marching past visiting dignitaries, diplomats and the Nigerian Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo. Some participants in the parade wore colourful ceremonial robes, some men were on 14-foot stilts, and Nigerian dancers carried flaming urns on their heads. To symbolize the freedom and unity of Black peoples 1,000 pigeons were released; a shango priest also set the festival bowl aflame.
The festival events usually began around 9 a.m. lasting till the midnight.