-----Original Message-----
From: E. Aggo Akyea [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, July 30, 1999 6:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Last PANAFEST Of The Millennium Opens Saturday


Last PANAFEST Of The Millennium Opens Saturday

Panafrican News Agency
July 29, 1999
by Kwame Boatey-Adjei

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The fourth Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival,
PANAFEST '99, opens in Cape Coast Saturday with an expected attendance of
more than 5,000 participants, making it the biggest yet in the series which
started in 1992.

Running up to 8 August, the festival is under the theme: "The Re-emergence
of African Civilisation - Uniting the African Family: Youth - the Agenda
for the new Millennium."

PANAFEST is a biennial cultural event dedicated to the enhancement of the
ideals of Pan-Africanism and the development of Africa.

Being the last version before the next millennium, the 1999 festival
assumes a broader dimension and, like the 1997 one, it has been scheduled
to coincide with another international event, Emancipation Day.

Participants at PANAFEST '97 experienced a rare cultural treat when it
clashed with the Oguaa Fetu Afahye, festival of the people of Cape Coast
traditional area, which is one of the PANAFEST venues together with Elmina
and Accra.

Emancipation Day, which marks the abolition of chattel slavery in British
colonies in 1834 and the Americas in 1865, occupies a place in the PANAFEST
programme with a vigil at the Cape Coast Castle and the slave dungeons.

Another PANAFEST event brought on by the Emancipation Day celebrations is
the international football match that pitches Jamaica's Reggae Boyz in
separate duels with Ghana's Black Stars national football team and Asante
Kotoko football club.

Highlights of PANAFEST '99 will include a grand durbar of African chiefs
and people, a three-day Pan-African colloquium, on the festival's theme.

There would be special days for countries participating, a Women's Day,
Visual Arts Exhibition and International Musical Concert.

More than 40 artistic groups and individuals from about 30 countries,
including Ghana, the US, United Kingdom, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago,
Brazil, Nigeria, Uganda, Gambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa are expected to
perform at the festival.
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Copyright (c) 1999 Panafrican News Agency.