That time of the year is hear again. The countdown to the big yearly musical event has started. Febratuon wiĺl on September 15.start with arts exhibition.
Though, according to the organisers in a statement issued on Thursday, July 18 2019, submission of entries, which opened May 1 and expected to close on August 31.
According to a statement issued on Thursday, July 18 2019, at the expiration of the submission, the received entries will all be exhibited at the gallery of Kalakuta Museum from where a group of judges will determine the top three winning artworks and artist that will be unveiled on Monday, October 14, 2019, the opening day of the FELABRATION 2019 , which is also the traditional symposium day, “The FELA Debates”.
Coincidentally, this year’s symposium share same theme with the art competition : “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense”.
Lemi Ghariokwu, legendary FELA’s albums sleeve designer, will be the special guest of honour at the event while the first prize winning artist, goes home with N100,000. The first runner-up wins N75,000, the third place winner takes home N50,000.
Another is FELABRATION AFROBICS DANCE COMPETITION. This segment of the festival seeks to espouse the ideals of afrobeat dance, which has been described as the origin of what is today called the ‘twerk’. It is a unisex competition.
And like the art competition, this year, registration began on May 1, and will end on August 31.
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The competition proper begins with an audition on a date to be announced while the finals comes up on Wednesday October 9, 2019, at the Freedom Park, Lagos, same day and venue for FELABRATION SCHOOLS DEBATES 2019.
The prizes for the dancers are: First place wins N250,000, second position wins N150,000, third place winner gets N75,000 just as FELABRATION SECONDARY SCHOOLS DEBATES, which reaches out to teenagers in secondary schools to sensitise them, to the ideals of Africanism, by and large. FELA was very particular about children. He deliberately targeted them in his crusade. He even had a show, “Sunday Jump”, every Sunday afternoon, which targeted teenagers. It was an afternoon show which allowed teenagers to leave their boarding houses or homes without raising eyebrows to attend the show.
So secondary schools are pitch against each other in a war of wits and intellect evolving round a given topic. The debates are usually The Public Schools against the Privately Owned Schools.
The theme of discourse this year is “Should Persons Above 70 Years of Age Be Allowed To Vie For Political Office”. Ten secondary schools; five privately owned and five public schools are in contention for the first prize. They were the ones that successfully went through the initial hurdles. The names of the 10 schools would be released on a later date.
Prizes for this category of event range from computers, laptops, tablets, which depict the academia where they belong, to music instruments like keyboards, drums that represent the tools of FELA, the man whose Honour the debates, are hosted.
THE FELA DEBATES is is the intelligentsia segment of FELABRATION. It is a symposium. It is a brainstorming session of eggheads usually chosen from across the globe. They discuss a given topic which most of the time, is Pan Africanist in content and this year, the topic of discussion is the title of FELA’S monster hit tune, “Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense”.
This one is not a contest. It is usually a truth telling time. “FELA DEBATES” flags of the FELABRATION mainstream, that is, beyond the Art, Dance and Schools Debates competitions. Immediately after the “FELA DEBATES”, the Carnivals break loose. This year it is on Monday October 14, 2019 and will take place inside the banquet hall of the NECA Building, Ikeja, across the road from the NEW AFRIKA SHRINE.
Names of Speakers for this year will be unfolded soon. From a symposium that have had featured the caliber of The Vice-President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof Yemi Osibajo, Speaker, Federal House ofTHE MUSIC FIESTA : Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Human Right Activist, Femi Falana, World Renowned anti-corruption crusader, Prof. Patrick Lumumba from Kenya; speakers are always world class, while the music festival aspect of it is what FELABRATION means to the larger society. Music Indeed, is the high point, the face of the festival. That’s what readily comes to mind whenever FELABRATION is mentioned; Music.
And for this year, it starts from the evening of Monday October 14, 2019, by 6pm into the wee hours to Sunday October 20. It’s a week-long fiesta.
All the “A” list musicians have signed up as it’s usual. FELABRATION is the dream platform of all musicians. Femi Kuti, WizKid, Davido, Burna Boy, Simi, Seun Kuti, Third World, Kimali Marley etc have all graced the stage in the past. The crowd is infectious and the stage is breathtaking.
While international artistes are also always jostling to perform on FELABRATION’S stage. The organisers concluded that names of headlining musicians for this year will be unveiled soon.
