Korhogo: More than 10,000 festival

Korhogo-For seven (7) years, the Tchépé Foundation, chaired by Coulibaly Brahima, in collaboration with the Ponvogo Development Mutual, has been developing strategies for mobilizing executives and the population of the locality around community activities and infrastructure. Village located in the sub-prefecture of Koni and 15 km from Korhogo, Ponvogo celebrated with fervor the 8th edition of its Festival of Arts and Cultures called Festi-Ponvogo.

Korhogo: The 8th edition of the Festi-Ponvogo to promote Senoufo culture

On December 26, 27 and 28, 2022, more than ten thousand (10,000) participants from the fifteen (15) villages allied to the village of Ponvogo did not hide their pleasure. The 8th edition was placed under the theme “Senoufo culture at the service of community development, the example of Ponvogo”. The organization of these activities continues to position the village of Ponvogo as a crossroads village for the promotion of Senufo culture.

Genie Worship Ritual

Indeed, the directors general of the National Institute of Arts and Cultural Action (Insaac) and the Palace of Culture of Abidjan Treichville, Professor Ouattara Siaka and Koné Dodo, as well as the chairman of the board of directors of Côte d’Ivoire Energy, Yves Konan did not want to be told about this great cultural event.

Introduced at the Festi-Ponvogo in 2021, the major innovations, in particular the spiritual dimension, were reinforced in 2022. Thus, worship rituals in the sacred wood and sacred waters, the cult of spirits and the Catholic vigil were organized in order to to attract the blessings of the divine for the smooth running of the ceremonies for the first day of the festival. These ecumenical prayers also aim, according to the commissioner general of Festi-Ponvogo, to create cement and cohesion between the different religions.

Distinction of promoters of Senufo culture

Chaired by Francoise Leguennou-Remarck, Minister of Culture and La Francophonie, the sponsorship ceremony headed by Moussa SORO, vice-president of the Tchépé Foundation and Dr Nanguin Coulibaly was marked by the distinction of the major players in the promotion and enhancement of Senoufo culture . They are pell-mell Minister Koné Dossongui, Koné Dodo, Insaac, Silué Boloba, Alexis Sekongo and the late Dr Coulibaly Yalamoussa, the Minister of Culture and many others.

“Overall, we can say that this edition went very well. And we are proud. Our gratitude goes first to the Minister of Culture who has shown a certain interest from this edition of the festival of arts and culture of Ponvogo. For the next edition, you know, when you take a qualitative leap, you have to sit down and take a qualitative leap. So we are going to consolidate the achievements and project ourselves. And, we will see what to bring as innovation. Then see what is most attractive and see that it is one of the most popular cultural festivals in the country”, announced Mr. Coulibaly Brahima. It should be noted that over the three days of the Festival, more than 10,000 festival-goers were able to discover the habits and values ​​of the extremely rich Senufo culture.

Fusion between traditional and modern balafon

The balafon school sponsored by Prof. Ouattara Siaka, another innovation of edition 7, was marked in 2022 by the dialogue of cultures through an overlap between modernism and tradition. Balafon training activity in a mix of modernism and traditional, the technical and logistical support of Insaac who was there with a strong delegation led by Dr Coulibaly Nanguin, Director of Continuing Education.

The students in training in this Institute stayed in the village and allowed a sharing of experiences with the traditional balafonists of Ponvogo. They were able to discuss the uniqueness of their respective instruments and the need to strengthen their mutual practices for a better practice of the Balafon. To say the least, the delegation of Insaac students drank to this school of sages.

Unicef ​​volunteers at the rendezvous

An awareness day on the use of sanitary pads and the fight against drugs served as a pretext for Mr. Stéphane Ouattara, president of the NGO Bénévoles du Monde Côte d’Ivoire section with the collaboration of volunteers from U-Report of Unicef ​​to sensitize the school youth of Ponvogo. From making liquid soap to making notebooks, the school youth of Ponvogo were instructed by Alex Kakpo, president of the Abidjan Flamboyant Lions Club and members of his organization. In support of the volunteers, midwife Ouattara Rosalie and medical staff from the Tchépé health center in Ponvogo also educated young girls in the village about menstrual poverty.

Sercom Foundation Tchépé