French President, Emmanuel Macron, will make an official visit to Lagos, Nigeria on Tuesday, during which he will announce the launch of the Season of African Cultures 2020, a French celebration of Africa’s rich and diverse cultures, as part of a cultural event organised by TRACE and sponsored by Ecobank, Africa’s leading pan-African bank. Emmanuel Macron will also on visit the New Afrika Shrine in Lagos.
The Shrine is a nightclub founded by Nigerian music legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. The present shrine, was built by his famous son, Femi Kuti.
President Macron is likely the first western leader to venture into the shrine synonymous with weed, bum-shaking backup dancers and loud protest music.
However, it should be noted that several African leaders such as Mohammed Abacha, Ibrahim Babangida, Thomas Sankara were known to have visited the shrine during Fela’s glowing career, but they probably did so in an unofficial capacity.
“The Shrine is a must-see place,” said Olivier Laouchez, head of the TRACE media and entertainment group and organiser of the event Macron will attend, adding that Lagos is “Africa’s cultural capital”.
Evening events will feature concerts, fashion shows by leading African designers and a meeting with stars from Nigeria’s booming Nollywood film industry.
“There is clearly something abuzz in Lagos, with auctions mushrooming, and this will explode,” said contemporary art specialist Marie-Cecile Zinsou, who is based in neighbouring Benin. “The idea is to show the richness and diversity of African cultures,” said Laouchez. “Europe does not know Africa or at least its cultural dimension.”
Macron, who is on an official visit to the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, to attend an African Union summit on Sunday, will proceed to Nigeria’s capital Abuja for talks with his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari on security and terrorism, before coming to Lagos, a vibrant megapolis of 20 million people.
Ibrahim Tcha-Tchere, a veteran employee of the Alliance Francaise cultural institute in Lagos, said Macron’s visit was fitting given that “France has always had great cultural cooperation with Nigeria. “It was the French who organised Fela’s first European tour in 1981,” he said. “Then his sons Femi and Seun launched their international careers in France.”
Co-founder and Executive Chairman of TRACE, Olivier Laouchez, explained that “TRACE’s mission is to support, nurture, cherish and celebrate Afro-urban music and cultures and to bring them to the world, because we believe that the world can only benefit from a better understanding of the richness and the diversity of these cultures, which have long been undervalued.
“It is for this reason that we have organised this momentous event, to launch the Season of African Cultures 2020 in France. One of the objectives of this season is to change the French perception of the African continent through the promotion of contemporary African creation, and this is what TRACE strives to do every day,” he said.
Over one thousand VIP guests, including representatives from the African creative and arts sectors are expected to grace the multicultural event, with music provided by an almost exclusively female line-up featuring pan-African queen of Afro-pop Yemi Alade, Franco-Nigerian singer Asa, and Cameroon’s Charlotte Dipanda.
They will be joined by leading performer Femi Kuti, son of Fela Kuti and the New Afrika Shrine’s patron. The evening which is billed to be a celebration of Africa’s diverse and rich cultural heritage, will honour young creators from the worlds of art, design, fashion, and African cinema. A Nigerian Nollywood themed will also be filmed live on the night by renowned Nigerian Film Director, Kunle Afolayan.
