The 5thWagogo Music/Dance Festival explodes on the scene this weekend: July 27-29 in ChamwinoIkulu.
Performing groups of 375 Gogo artists from 8 villages will be celebrating the performing arts of the Gogo people, continuing to break the silence and to sound the voices of Wagogo culture, encouragingWagogo people to think, talk about, and express – through music, dance and drama – their cultural knowledge and affirm the importance of their cultural identity as a powerful unifying force within Gogo village communities in central Tanzania.
The performances are free and open to the public on Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29 from 2:00 to 5:00pm on Chamwino’s Village Hall premises. ChamwinoIkulu is the village just north of Buigiri, 30K east of Dodoma on the highway to Dar es Salaam, and its Village Hall is adjacent to the highway leading north from Buigiri.
These annual Festivals were founded and are organized by the Director of theChamwino Arts Centre, KedmonMapana, and Centre staff members: NassonMazengo, SospeterMapana, RehemaChibutu, KenethUlangaand Stanley Mpuza.
Aims of the festival are to encourage Wagogo’s performing arts tradition, promote Wagogo artists, support the knowledge and skills necessary in Gogo performing arts, and increase the presence of the arts of the Wagogo in the community, with the assistance of the Chamwino Arts Centre, as the Gogo work to support the national agenda of building a pan-Tanzanian society.
The Minister of Culture recently acknowledged the three areas in Tanzania in which the indigenous arts of its citizens are available to the public: Mtwara, Mwanza and Chamwino.
This year, the Wagogo Music/Dance Festival has received a grant from the Swiss Embassy’s Cooperation Office to provide support for workshops for volunteers working with the Festival, facilitate communication with performing groups in the 8 villages, provide support for rehearsals involving combined culminating performances of all participants, encourage the development of leadership and skills in support of performing artists’ and instrumental makers ‘ participation in the Festival and potential employment skills.
Filmmakers and ethnomusicologists from universities in Europe and the U.S. arrive earlier in the week to attend the Festival and there will be additional documentation of events related to the Festival in the months ahead. Karibu to Chamwino Ikulu and the traditional Ngoma (music/dance) of the Wagogo!
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