Kairaba Avenue in Festive Mood

The Independent (Banjul)
OPINION
July 1, 2002
Posted to the web July 2, 2002

By Bijou Peters
Banjul

The 6th International Roots Festival has come and gone. It was the best
festival so far because the programme for the celebrations, which began on
the June 1st and ended on the 9th, was a comprehensive and impressive one,
which included some new and laudable activities.

The Ministry of Tourism and the Organising Committee obviously put in a
great deal of hard work in preparing for the year's activities and are
highly commended for the impressive display of the festival. The guests from
the Diaspora were feted to so many different social activities such as trade
fair at the Senegambia Hotel Complex, a second musical bonanza with artists
from The Gambia the West African sub-region, and the Diaspora, and a
cultural theatre featuring a dance drama production, depicting a historical
event in The Gambia during the early eighteenth century. Other important
innovations include the colonial period cultural displays of The Gambia and
a grand carnival.

The carnival was the first of its kind in the country which was the
highlight of the celebrations and displayed many Gambian cultural groups and
masquerades such as the Kumpo of the Jola tribe, the Kankooran of the
Mandinka tribe, and the dancer on stilts among others. It was a fascinating
colorful and praiseworthy procession along Kairaba Avenue on Sunday June 9.
The cultural groups in their brightly-colored ashoibi and dancers led the
procession from Westfield Junction. They were all supposed to assemble at
the Westfield Junction by 8am that morning but this was not possible as some
of the groups must have had transport difficulties to get to the meeting
place. And because the carnival was a new event in The Gambia, one had to
make allowances for the long delays in starting the procession. The length
of the avenue was tastefully and beautifully decorated with brightly
coloured balloons and two artistically erected arches along the route.

After the cultural groups, came the floats demonstrating the commercial
sector of the country, graciously and painstakingly participated in the
carnival.

The GIA and Gambia International Airlines had large floats with numerous
coloured balloons with pretty ladies in tie- and-dye costumes waving to the
crowds gathered along the route. The Trust Bank, Africell, and other
companies were also represented. Gamtel had a huge telephone on its float;
the Gambia Ports Authority had a ship decorated with red lanterns, while
Total Petrol had fuel pumps on its float.

The Red Cross, Camelot Mall of The Gambia, Gamcel, and Champion Sounds - all
had constructed attractive floats, which were decorated with balloons, and
bursting attractive floats waved to the crowds as the procession progressed.
It was a truly impressive and spectacular scene even though a carnival had
not taken place in festive mood on that day.

The Gambia Civil Aviation Authority also participated, with its float
bearing the exact replica of control tower at the Banjul International
Airport.

Western Union Money Transfer took part in the procession also, as did the
KMC APRC youth groups, which played their role admirably as they performed
and danced along the route.

The dance drama of the Battle of Sankandi was excellent and extremely well
performed by Gambian artists under the able and professional direction of
Mrs. Janet Young, a qualified dramatist. We extend felicitations to all of
them. The entire show was well organised and we thank the SoS for Tourism
and Culture, Hon. Yankuba Touray for their hard work and commitment to the
festivities of this 6th Roots International Festival. No doubt, they will
learn from their mistakes and do better next time.





There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see,
yet small enough to solve.    -Mike- Levitt-


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