PANAFEST '97 Passses The Test Mark - Darkey

Cape Coast, Aug 31, - The Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) passed a decisive test of survival last Saturday when the opening durbar for its third edition currently taking place in the Central Region won popular acclaim as the most impressive since 1992. Before the durbar, festival officials had been jittery about the fate of PANAFEST '97 because of certain organizational innovations introduced this year and financial constraints which eroded all existing subsidies on aspects of the festival, making participation in 1997 far more expensive than all previous editions. But after last Saturday's electrifying opening ceremony at which the 36 chiefs of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, local and foreign performing artistes, delegations and visitors all turned out so impressively, the organizers have joined thousands of participants to pronounce the three-day-old festival a success. Virtually every officer at the secretariat is convinced that the success of the durbar has enhanced prospects of a successful festival and they are all positive that the grandeur, fun-fair and high level of enthusiasm which characterized the durbar will ripple through the events of the remaining seven days. Thirty-eight countries world-wide, including six from Europe, six from South America and the West Indies and 20 from Africa are participating in this year's festival being organized exclusively in the historic city of Cape Coast and neighbouring Elmina. Even members of the festival's planning committee openly concede that they too were overwhelmed by the attendance and the spontaneity of action displayed at Victoria Park last Saturday, although some, like Mr John Darkey, executive director of the PANAFEST Secretariat, maintain that a good turn-out was a matter of course. Mr Darkey told the Ghana News Agency hours after the durbar that the 1997 edition of PANAFEST is very decisive because it is a test of survival both as a viable concept and sustainable movement. ''Some of us were apprehensive not because we have not put in enough effort but because we knew that the 1997 PANAFEST is a make-or- break affair for the entire PANAFEST idea,'' he said. He said the Secretariat is still haunted by the problems encountered in PANAFEST '94 but has largely used that experience as the basis for improved performance. Barely ten weeks ago, the fate of PANAFEST '97 hang perilously in the balance when Mr Darkey's Secretariat, which co-ordinates all planning and resource inputs for the festival, announced it was shutting down because its coffers were completely empty. One outcome of that financial crisis was the cancellation of all programmes scheduled for Accra, a measure which is incidentally paying off well for the festival. So far, it has cost the organizers a total of 380 million cedis to put PANAFEST '97 together -300 million cedis of which is a loan attracting 20 per cent interest and which is payable by the close of October, this year. The remaining 80 million cedis came from the normal budgetary allocation of the National Commission on Culture. ''We have endured all manner of financial problems but we also do want to make the point that it is possible to organize a big festival based purely on the economy of scale and adequate use of human resources, Mr Darkey said. Mr Darkey said the very major event on the PANAFEST '97 programme - memorial and remembrance ceremony held in Elmina last Friday, is the single event which set the tone for the festival and gave indications of how captivating it would be. ''The memorial service we had at Elmina was all-involving. Even Ghanaians found it to be culturally rich and it had deep spiritual presentations''. On the afternoon of Friday, August 29, a large and predominantly non-Ghanaian ''congregation'' participated in a solemn remembrance ceremony which was highlighted by wreath laying for African and black heroes, libation pouring and the slaughtering of a ram to atone for the atrocities of slavery. All these took place amidst thunderous musketry, drumming and dancing by members of ''asafo'' companies and cultural troupes in the Edina traditional area. The ceremony became emotionally charged when, after slaughtering the ram, leaders of delegations from the diaspora (in Jamaica, Surinam, the Virgin Islands and the USA) joined the chiefs of the KEEA district in a communal meal of mashed yam and eggs symbolizing unity and oneness.

Cape Coast, Aug 31, - The Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) passed a decisive test of survival last Saturday when the opening durbar for its third edition currently taking place in the Central Region won popular acclaim as the most impressive since 1992. Before the durbar, festival officials had been jittery about the fate of PANAFEST '97 because of certain organizational innovations introduced this year and financial constraints which eroded all existing subsidies on aspects of the festival, making participation in 1997 far more expensive than all previous editions. But after last Saturday's electrifying opening ceremony at which the 36 chiefs of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, local and foreign performing artistes, delegations and visitors all turned out so impressively, the organizers have joined thousands of participants to pronounce the three-day-old festival a success. Virtually every officer at the secretariat is convinced that the success of the durbar has enhanced prospects of a successful festival and they are all positive that the grandeur, fun-fair and high level of enthusiasm which characterized the durbar will ripple through the events of the remaining seven days. Thirty-eight countries world-wide, including six from Europe, six from South America and the West Indies and 20 from Africa are participating in this year's festival being organized exclusively in the historic city of Cape Coast and neighbouring Elmina. Even members of the festival's planning committee openly concede that they too were overwhelmed by the attendance and the spontaneity of action displayed at Victoria Park last Saturday, although some, like Mr John Darkey, executive director of the PANAFEST Secretariat, maintain that a good turn-out was a matter of course. Mr Darkey told the Ghana News Agency hours after the durbar that the 1997 edition of PANAFEST is very decisive because it is a test of survival both as a viable concept and sustainable movement. ''Some of us were apprehensive not because we have not put in enough effort but because we knew that the 1997 PANAFEST is a make-or- break affair for the entire PANAFEST idea,'' he said. He said the Secretariat is still haunted by the problems encountered in PANAFEST '94 but has largely used that experience as the basis for improved performance. Barely ten weeks ago, the fate of PANAFEST '97 hang perilously in the balance when Mr Darkey's Secretariat, which co-ordinates all planning and resource inputs for the festival, announced it was shutting down because its coffers were completely empty. One outcome of that financial crisis was the cancellation of all programmes scheduled for Accra, a measure which is incidentally paying off well for the festival. So far, it has cost the organizers a total of 380 million cedis to put PANAFEST '97 together -300 million cedis of which is a loan attracting 20 per cent interest and which is payable by the close of October, this year. The remaining 80 million cedis came from the normal budgetary allocation of the National Commission on Culture. ''We have endured all manner of financial problems but we also do want to make the point that it is possible to organize a big festival based purely on the economy of scale and adequate use of human resources, Mr Darkey said. Mr Darkey said the very major event on the PANAFEST '97 programme - memorial and remembrance ceremony held in Elmina last Friday, is the single event which set the tone for the festival and gave indications of how captivating it would be. ''The memorial service we had at Elmina was all-involving. Even Ghanaians found it to be culturally rich and it had deep spiritual presentations''. On the afternoon of Friday, August 29, a large and predominantly non-Ghanaian ''congregation'' participated in a solemn remembrance ceremony which was highlighted by wreath laying for African and black heroes, libation pouring and the slaughtering of a ram to atone for the atrocities of slavery. All these took place amidst thunderous musketry, drumming and dancing by members of ''asafo'' companies and cultural troupes in the Edina traditional area. The ceremony became emotionally charged when, after slaughtering the ram, leaders of delegations from the diaspora (in Jamaica, Surinam, the Virgin Islands and the USA) joined the chiefs of the KEEA district in a communal meal of mashed yam and eggs symbolizing unity and oneness. <---- End Forwarded Message ----