Culture
Melanesian Arts Festival
Only in its second year, the Melanesian Arts Festival is an impressive mix of music, dance, visual and performing arts from island people throughout Melanesia.
Strolling around the festival grounds you can see women making the traditional ni-Vanuatu dish lap-lap, or watch a canoe take shape at the hands of local carvers.
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Perhaps the most striking aspect of the event is the variety and richness of the various cultures represented; the performers dressed in colourful traditional costumes, speaking strange languages and dancing to unfamiliar rhythms. A large contingent from New Caledonia was present and so the French influence was strongly felt.
This year's festival was held in Port Vila. Most performances took place at the Saralana stage, with the beautiful Port Vila harbour as a backdrop or at the Festival Village on the grounds of the Cultural Centre. Throughout the day and well into the night these venues hosted some of the most talented artists from around the region. It is impossible to compare the energetic dance of Fiji performers with a ni-Vanuatu troupe of islanders; however, some of the most fascinating dancers to watch came from the island of Mota, one of the northern Banks Islands of Vanuatu.
The dancers wore fantastic brightly coloured sacred head-dress which they could not allow to touch the ground during their dance. They were absolutely mesmerising to watch.
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There were a number of events happening within the larger festival, most notably the Fes Napuan and the Melanesian Songs of Praise Festival. Both attracted thousands of spectators, sitting on the grass for hours, enjoying the outstanding music. The Fes Napuan, founded by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre back in 1996, is a more established production and undoubtedly the highlight of the week's event.
This is a contemporary music festival, so popular music such as reggae and rock music styles predominated. The New Caledonian hip-hop dance group, Nyan, was a real crowd pleaser. Their energy and urban style seemed to strike a chord with the many young people in the audience. On Sunday, the Melanesian Songs of Praise Festival featured Christian artists and choirs from many island congregations. The quality of the music was so good that even non-Christians could enjoy bands with names like The Good News Proclaimers and Heavenly Sons.
Festival organiser Ralph Regenvanu expressed regret over cancellations from the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, the last minute pull-outs leaving too many spaces in the programme to fill.
Regenvanu also felt that a lack of government support left too many sectors shouldering too much responsibility. Still, most people attending the festival rated the event a huge success.
