For three consecutive days, revellers to the Ubumuntu Arts Festival were treated at art, drama, music and dance performances from across the globe, all filled with lessons on humanity.

Returning for its fourth edition this year, the festival opened on Friday, July 13, at the Kigali Genocide Memorial amphitheater, under the theme: ‘Art and the Path to Resilience’.

The event has emerged as the most popular arts festival in the country, bringing  some of the best performers in the world to Kigali. Building on the success of the earlier editions, this time the festival brought together performers and performance troupes from fifteen countries, as well as from Rwanda, the host country.

Like was the case with all previous editions, all stage performances and the preliminary workshops and panel discussions were tailored to the theme of humanity.

Throughout the performances, guests were reminded of the festival slogan: "I am because you are. You are because I am. We are human together”.

This year’s festival shone a special focus on life’s challenges and stories of finding the courage e to carry on.

Day One opened with performances from Rwanda, U.S., UK, Sweden and DR Congo, with Rwanda and the UK collaborating in a production titled, ‘Can you hear me now.’ 

However, the highlight of the day was the closing dance production, ‘The voice of the voiceless’, from the DR Congo. Had Ubumuntu been a competition-based festival, it would have easily taken Day One, and maybe even the overall festival.

The other highlight on the first day was the spectacular performance of the festival themed song, a collaborative project between American pop musician Alexander Star, local musician Andy Bumuntu, and pupils from Umubano Primary School in Kicukiro.

Day One also drew the largest and most diverse crowd.

Day Two featured  performances from Rwanda, Uganda, Egypt, Burundi, and Canada. Drama and dance ruled on this day, with the Volcano Theater troupe from Toronto, Canada taking the lead, thanks to their production, Century Song. The unique production made use of music, voice, and pictures without words. The production addressed the unspoken experiences of black women through the centuries.

The Spot Lite Crew, a dance ensemble from Uganda that is not new to the festival, was the other crowd favorite on Day Two, thanks to their emotional and energetic dance production titled, ‘Wanainchi’.

The closing night, on Sunday, had a sluggish start, as festival goers took their time to arrive at the venue, but the numbers quickly picked up.

Day Three had more drama performances than dance and music, with some of the day’s best performances tackling difficult subjects like politics and religion.

‘Too early for birds’, a Kenyan drama that delves deep into the frayed relations between the Church and the State at a certain period in Kenya’s history proved a crowd favourite, as did the Nigerian production, ‘Punctuation’, which tackled religious dogmatism and identity in Nigeria.

Evolving festival

Since the first edition in July 2015, the festival has run a free attendance policy. However, this is likely to change in subsequent editions, and the first steps in that direction were evident this time round.

A day to the opening night, festival organisers organised a small event dubbed, ‘Ikaze Night Party’, as a welcome event for the festival. The event was also organised to help raise funds for the festival and keep it free for all.

The event, at the Kigali Cultural Village attracted a cover charge of Rwf10,000, and in a show of solidarity with the festival, there was a decent turnout. Those with extra money to spare also picked up festival souvenir like caps and T-shirts in support of the cause.

The presence of Sports and Culture minister Julienne Uwacu at the ‘Ikaze Night Party’, and her subsequent welcoming remarks were another positive highlight. Previously it would have been a representative from one of the festival sponsors or partners.

Uwacu urged festival goers to be voices of positive change in a world that needs stories of resilience.

After the closing performance on Sunday night, guests were hosted to an after-party at the People Nightclub in Kacyiru.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw