By Dolapo Aina
The performances witnessed during the three days of artistic excellence at Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Kigali, Rwanda would not be forgotten in a hurry. Three days of breathtaking artistic excellence. Three days of unseen-before performances. Three days of theatrical ideas brought into reality. Three days of seamless presentations of inter-continental and intra-continental collaborations. Three days of multilateral and multiracial interactions via diverse cultures. The aforementioned and much more were some of the features of the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in 2023. This year’s theme titled; Believe: Faith or Fear, had performances spanning several countries on the African Continent, Americas, Asia and Europe.
Mindleaps had a presentation which was titled Unseen. It was a concise and technical performance. A performance about Genocides and the intimate last moments of victims. A conversational monologue between the past and the present where a daughter asks rhetorical questions to her late mother. Unseen was a collection of short plays focusing on the consequences of Genocide and that Never Again can become again and again. Their performance was concluded with a soulful song rendered by two soulful artistes and a saxophonist.
Some other performances were by Agahozo Shalom who performed Ngabitsinze. A series of electrifying performances using modern and new generation songs and beats. The Afro Gospel band by the name; Oba Music from Nigeria had a performance titled Ise Oluwa (which is a Yoruba word meaning The Work of God): commenced extoling the virtues of Almighty God. There were more Afro-Gospel performances and more Afro-funk Gospel renditions from the quartet.
Spain’s famous theatre troupe, Ballet de Barcelona, presented “tongues”, which was interpretative performances from the theatre troupe from Spain. All clad in black and choreographed to the minutest detail. The performance was for, (lack of a better word), describing a bull fight. Whilst, Stella and Friends from Kenya, had “healing healer” performance. A performance about a lost and broken relationship. Malaika Uwamahoro and Sema Sola’s Seen, Heard, Felt performance was a play about two radio presenters doing their best to promote a work of musical art.
Also, pertinent to note some other performances. Playwrights’ Playhouse from Uganda, Natacha Muziramakenga from Rwanda, Dorothy Munyaneza from Rwanda, Street Dancers from Democratic Republic of Congo, Oba Music from Nigeria were some artists who got the audience delirious with their performances.
The performances from Sri Linka’s Stages Theatre Group in collaboration with Mashirika Performing Group was a performance based on a timeline of decades consisting of events that spanned several years. A performance about a timeline between believe: faith or fear.
At the end of the breathtaking three-day Ubumuntu Arts Festival, it was revealed by the founder of the arts festival that Ubumuntu Arts Festival in 2024 which makes a decade of the arts festival would be themed: Integrity: Resilience in the face of adversity. The 2024 edition would hold from July 19-21, 2024. A blockbuster of artistic ingenuity and a plethora of theatrical performances were what characterised the 2023 edition.
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