A tangible product, the drum, and its intangible output, the sound, became the twin celebratory offerings that kept Africa on the edge of its seat for three days last week in Abeokuta, Ogun State, when the third edition of African Drum Festival 2018 was held. It was paying tribute to the ingenuity of a continent’s ancestors, who fashioned, with animal skin and wood, instruments that are at once modes of making music and communication. It had ‘Reviving our Culture in Drums’ as theme.
Indeed, the evening skyline of Abeokuta throbbed thunderously on Thursday night as the drums rolled and rumbled in the rocky plains behind June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, with the city’s numerous hills paying heed to a unique carnival of colours and sounds. The usual magic of Zmirage Multimedia Ltd was visible, particularly in the mold of a huge drum intricately fashioned to provide the centre stage of the drum performance showpiece. Two smaller stages adorned both sides of the drum stage that allowed multiple performances; it allowed one performance group to set up while one is exiting. Read more