The Sierra Leonea Dance Troupe in collaboration with The Freetong Players International won a trophy for the best group performance with combine acrobatic and traditional songs and the main trophy for overall performance in Mystical Powers which was the main competition of the just concluded 4^th Kanilai International Cultural festival 2007 in the Gambia.

The Kanilai International Cultural which is organised annually by the Gambian President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh has registered great success in demonstrating African Culture. Thousands of people from The Gambia and the sub-region on recently converged at the village of Kanilai in the Foni Kansala District of Western Region, which is the birth place of President Yahya Jammeh, for the official opening of the 4th edition of the Kanilai International Cultural Festival.

 The event is held bi-annually under the patronage of President Jammeh, and is meant to showcase and revive African Culture by bringing together various National Cultural Troupes from different parts of the country such as Kanilai, Niamina, Dankunku, Sabah Sanjal, Kartong village etc. and National Cultural Troupes in the West African sub-region such as The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Sierra Leone, the defending Champion of the festival.
 

The festival which lasted 16 days was characterised by spectacular display of different ethnic groups of the sub-region, and by mystical displays, masquerade performance, among others. Two weeks before the festival, the organising committee for the festival, under the Chairmanship of Alhaji Modou Sayang, Director-General of GRTS, toured the length and breadth of the country and held meetings with local authorities on the modalities of their participation in the cultural festival. This year's event, according to the organising committee, was highly-successful as lots of improvements were put in place, especially in the area of accommodation, among others.

In his opening statement at the Kanilai International Cultural Festival, Mr Ebrima J.T. Kujabie, Director of Press and Public Relation (DPPR), Office of the President, has said that the Kanilai International Cultural Festival symbolises the true spirit of African Solidarity, Unity and Pan-Africanism. According to him, the presence of delegates and participants from The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Sierra Leone and Venezuela shows that it's indeed a forum to share cultural experience and expression among Africans.

According to him, the significance of such cultural manifestations cannot be under-mentioned as the festival revives our culture. “As you know the impact of westernisation and globalisation on African norms and values are increasingly coming under threat. Global TV, radio, music CDs, DVDs, international travellers and visitors are all bombarding Africa with alien cultures and fashions of food, dress, livelihoods, among others,” he noted.

Mr Kujabie then added that the festival provides the unique chance to intermingle with different cultural groups and personalities, noting that new friends will be made and old ones reinforced. “Of course, the festival will also accord us all to learn culture. This is important, for cultural education is indeed a necessary acquisition for any person who wants to have a dignified and full life,” he said.
 
“Another important thing of this festival is the fact that it is a tool for sub-regional and African integration. Economy, politics, etc, can be used to enhance unity and solidarity between The Gambia and her neighbours, but cultural festivals like this one are even more potent tools for building a united Africa of peace, tolerance and respect,” he said.
 

Declaring the event open, President Yahya Jammeh, the Chief Patron of the Kanilai International Cultural Festival, said that The Gambia is a peaceful and stable country, thanks to the tolerance of each others cultural diversity. He said that the lack of respect for each others culture has results to instability in some part of the Sub-region and the Continent as a whole.

According to The Gambian leader, nations are built, based on societies and societies built based on families and each family has its own culture. “For families to develop into societies and societies to become nations, we have to accept, understand and respect each others culture.”

President Jammeh told the gathering that the Festival is now becoming a household name, this is attributing to the participation of the people of  Mali, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and other countries that have always participated in the event. “I want to thank you and thank my colleagues, Presidents of the respective countries. We appreciate the fact that you are with us to celebrate what will become the bridge to bring progress, peace and stability in Africa,” he said.

He then reminded the participating groups that the event is a festival as well as a competition. “Throughout the festival, we have problems especially with the local cultural groups. Some of them dont come to participate on time. We have to be running after them. He also gave an open ground rules that since this is a competition, we are not going to wait for any group. If we call you and you are absent or you are late, you have zero point. Tomorrow, if you loose the cup dont blame anybody because there are cups for everyone who can excel.”
 

“For the international groups, we never have problem. The host should be a good example rather than a bad example. If you are late twice, the third time you should pack and go home because you are here for the cultural festival and not for anything else. If you fail to turn up twice, the third time we will send you a truck for you to go home wherever you come from. There will be no compromise in that. You have come for the festival, attend the programme. If you have not come for the festival then you have no reason to be here in Kanilai,” he concluded.

For her part, the Secretary of State for Tourism and Culture, Ms Angela Colley, thanked President Jammeh for “preserving and guiding” the cultural heritage of The Gambia. She said The Gambia has a leader who gives priority to Arts and Culture; he has demonstrated this in numerous ways through donations to artists financially and materially. SOS Colley then thanked President Jammeh for patronising the festival due to his vision of uniting Africa for better development.

 For his part, Alhaji Modou Sanyang, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 4th Edition of the  Kanilai International Cultural Festival, who is also the Director-General of GRTS has described the ongoing festival as a success, as all the necessary logistics needed for the smooth running of the festival had been put in place. “Looking at the set up, all the people were comfortable. We have learned a lot from previous ones (festivals).

This years' organisation is perfect,” he said.

According to Chairman Sanyang, “the festival is to promote integration as people learn from each other's cultures thus leading to cooperation between people from different areas.” This is what the President wants, for the human race to know each other, for mutual peace and understanding.”

He described President Yahya Jammeh, the Chief Patron of the festival as a humanist for demonstrating his love for the human race. “We used to call him a Pan-Africanist but I think he has gone beyond that. The leader of the Malian group has attested to the sterling qualities of President Jammeh because of his love for humanity. People should thank the President for bringing cultural integration which results to unity,” Chairman Sanyang also said.

 Commenting on the famous mystical power competition that draws the attention of many spectators, Mr Sayang said that again there are performers from Mali, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau and The Gambia. It could be recalled that Sierra Leonean group was the present Champion for the mystical performance in last year's festival. “We want all these groups to be optimistic of victory, to make it more competitive and interesting. It is a competition so let each of them do their best. At the end of the day, whoever emerges as the winner should be accepted in good faith,” he said.

He however added that the organising committee remains neutral as none of them are members of the panel of judges of the event.

Masire Jammeh, the Alkalo of Kanilai village, in his brief speech, said The Gambia is at the fore front of cultural activities and prayed for lasting peace and stability in the country. After the official opening, participating groups in their cultural attires were all paraded before the President, government officials, members of the Diplomatic Corp and other dignitaries.

The cultural and traditional performances continued with Mali and Sierra Leone finally competing for supremacy in the mystical show, where on Monday 2^nd July, 2007, the Malian cultural group wrap a small boy in a ritual material and later transforming him more-likely into a similarity of President Yahya Jammeh. This performance turned the whole place into ecstasy. 

The Sierra Leone Cultural Troupe and champions of the famous Mystical Powers Competition in the last year's festival vowed to retain their title again this time. Speaking in an exclusive interview Kanilai on Saturday 30^th, 2007, the Director of Culture of Sierra Leone who heads the delegation, Kolleh Dura Suma, said,

“We are more optimistic of regaining the trophy. We are ready because the Malians lost to us last time and they will be prepared but we are more prepared. We did not put on display all the things we have at the moment. We have a lot of things that were not displayed during the last festival.”

Mr Suma then paid respect to President Jammeh for conducting such a wonderful festival. “I hope other African leaders will emulate President Jammeh so that the culture of Africa will be revived”, he said.

For his part, Salam Carew, a Choreographer with the Sierra Leone Dance troupe, said they have more to show during the festival. “We have seen our opponents' performances and whether they have anything they did not show, I don't know. But we are ready to regain the title and win more trophies”, he said.

Mr Carew also described President Jammeh as a hardworking leader who is developing The Gambia. “We really admire him and if we can have his type in Sierra Leone it will be good for our country. I have travelled to Banjul and Serekunda and all I could see was development and the popularity of him (President Jammeh).

At the end of the 16 days grand final of the 4^th Kanilai International Cultural festival 2007 and talents explosion, Sierra Leone Dance Troupe in collaboration with The Gambia based Freetong Players International emerges the overall winners in both mystical power performance and traditional dance choreographic performance.

The Sierra Leone's mystic man, Hassan Jalloh, a member of the Kamajor, performed extra-ordinarily with mystical expositions that captivated the minds of onlookers at the Kanilai Cultural village. The Sierra Leonean contingent performed wonders when Hassan Jalloh transformed a dying or already dead man to life.

Other participants who helped the Sierra Leonean contingent to emerge as winners are the magnificent Tray-Dancers whose dynamic acrobatic performance with the spinning non-drop Tray-Dancing guillotine style attracted by onlookers at the event. The other is the Mama-Mpara dancers whose acrobatic-styles are an attractive and appealing performance for all to see. No wonder the Sierra Leone contingent won two prestigious awards.

In his remarks, the Sierra Leone High Commissioner to The Gambia, Foday Yumkellah, thanked President Jammeh for organising this African festival which is a successful event and a lesson for other leaders to follow. He said that Africa has a culture and tradition that are inter-related and this shows that we are all one way or the other inter-related. He also said that the festival fosters peace and unity for all African and people of African decent.