RAVY (Yaoundé Visual Arts Encounters, Cameroon)

As an Arts and Features Journalist, I have attended several festivals mostly in Southern Africa and most of them are a combination of music, theatre, poetry and visual arts.
Apart from patronizing several festivals taking place in my country Malawi including Lake of Stars which takes place in the beaches of Lake Malawi in Mangochi and Blantyre Arts Festival in the commercial city of Blantyre, my recent festival was the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
So when Goethe Institut Johannesburg gave me an opportunity to patronize the Ravy festival in Yaounde, Cameroon, I was very excited. In the first place I should say that I noticed that this festival was different from the others as it was all purely performance art.
In Malawi, there is no such kind of festival and so I thought it wise to embrace this platform to share my experiences as an arts Journalist but also at the same time learn what happens at the Ravy Festival.
Continue reading "The festival called Ravy" »

I have never been to several African countries especially in East and Southern Africa, but have missed out on visits to West Africa.

So when Goethe Institut –South Africa gave me an opportunity to travel to Yaoundé in Cameroon to attend the Ravy Festival, I was excited and I thought this was a big chance for me to visit a West African country.

Of course, I had an idea of the country itself simply because of football; it is the country which has done well in football circles, winning the Africa Cup of Nations in the past years.

But last year the country which has produced several high profile footballers including Rodger Milla, Patrick Mboma and Samuel Etoo failed to make it to the Africa Cup of Nations.

Continue reading "The sounds of Yaoundé taxis" »