THE VOICES ring out clearly. "Ejade ke wa wo wa o", they sing, repeating the words of a Yoruba song from we stem Nigeria. Africa comes alive as secondary school students in Cork dance and clap and sing. Bisi Adigun has 20 different drums, which he passes out among the group, using them to introduce students to the some of the rhythms and traditions of Africa. As well as traditional drumming, he uses mime, story-telling, masquerade and dance song.
Each week Adigun visits different schools, libraries and arts centres to give a series of workshops that can be participatory or demonstrative. His schedule seems hectic, traversing the country from week to week.
He tailors his theatrical performances according to the age and interests of the students. Over the coming weeks Adigun will give workshops in Roscommon, Navan, Galway, Carlow and Bray.
The workshops weave history, geography and social studies together. They are part of an education programme for primary and second-level schools aimed at giving students a more positive and rounded understanding of Africa. The workshops form part of a multi-pronged programme of events and performances organised by the African Cultural Project (ACP). There are art exhibitions, films, live music, theatre, photography... the list is ever-expanding and diversifying.
Children's African Literature Week, which got under way yesterday in the Central Library at the ILAC Centre, Dublin, is another initiative that is being promoted by the ACP and Heinemann publishers, which produce a junior African writers series - known as JAWS. Highlight of this celebration of African literature will be the chance to hear two Ghanaian writers, Ayebia Ribeiro-Ayeh and Kofi Sekyi, read from their work and talk about their stories. The two will visit a number of venues around Dublin between now and next Sunday. Most of the sessions will be open to the public and targetted at particular age groups.
Set up with the help of organisations including the Arts Council, FAS and the Department of Education, the ACP aims to present programmes which celebrate the cultures of Africa. The ACP aims to highlight the universality of the arts, and emphasise them as an important aspect of human life, and to establish a permanent dialogue between African and Irish artists.
"We cover the whole range of the arts - cinema, literature, music," says Adekunle Gomez, programme director of the ACP. He recalls how the ACP started when he and a few friends who were living in Ireland got together some years ago and came up with the idea of introducing their friends to music from Africa.
As a result of television stereotypes and a general lack of information, he says, "there are so many misconceptions. Eventually we set about arranging musical events to introduce our friends to different types of African music.
"There was a very positive reaction," says Gomez. The group moved on from playing records to bringing live acts to Dublin. Ilanga, the first African band they brought over, were from Zimbabwe. "Since then we've brought over other kinds of acts,"he says.
THE main event in the ACP's programme this year will be the Africa Festival which will run for 10 days in October. Theatre, photography, crafts, story-telling, cinema, music and literature will all feature.
"Judging from the responses we are getting," says Gomez, "we're doing something very useful in the sense of the cultural life of Ireland. And, we feel, we're helping the dialogue between African artists and their Irish counterparts."
