''In early 1977, more than 15,000 artists, intellectuals, and performers from 55 nations worldwide gathered in Lagos, Nigeria for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, also known as FESTAC ‘77. Taking place in the heyday of Nigeria’s oil wealth and known as one of the largest cultural and political events in the history of decolonisation, the event was the peak of Pan-Africanist expression.''

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/sep/30/marilyn-nances-images-of-festac-77-in-lagos

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''Festac '77, also known as the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (the first was in Dakar, 1966), was a major international festival held in Lagos, Nigeria, from 15 January 1977 to 12 February 1977. The month-long event celebrated African culture and showcased to the world African music, fine art, literature, drama, dance and religion. About 16,000 participants, representing 56 African nations and countries of the African Diaspora, performed at the event.

Artists who performed at the festival included Stevie Wonder from the United States, Gilberto Gil from Brazil, Bembeya Jazz National from Guinea, Mighty Sparrow from Trinidad and Tobago, Les Ballets Africains, South African Miriam Makeba, and Franco Luambo Makiadi.

At the time it was held, it was the largest Pan-African gathering to ever take place.

The official emblem of the festival was a replica crafted by Erhabor Emokpae of the royal ivory mask of Benin. The hosting of the festival led to the establishment of the Nigerian National Council of Arts and Culture, Festac Village and the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos. Most of the events were held in four main venues: the National Theatre, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos City Hall and Tafawa Balewa Square.

- Wiki

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FESTAC '77 was a big deal when it happened.

A very big deal nationally and internationally.

In fact they were doubts internationally as to whether an African country could successfully host such a gigantic international event.

This was right in the middle of the great Nigerian Oil Boom of the 1970s which saw the once agrarian nation rise to become one of the Africa's leading powers.

At its helm, Lt. General Olusegun Obasanjo, who had succeeded only a year earlier, the assassinated nationalist military leader, Gen Murtala Ramat Muhammed.

The US civil rights movement of the 1960s which culminated in the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in the USA had a reverberating effect across the black world, with African history, Pan Africanism, and the call to identify with African consciousness, the predominant voice of black discourse leading through the 1970s.

In fact at this time, the apartheid regime was in power in South Africa, with Nelson Mandela and other activists in jail in Robben Island, as the regime received tacit support from the United States and Britain.

It was an era in which the black identity needed desperately to be reaffirmed on this Earth.

In stepped the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Nigeria's oil wealth provided a practical means of expressing those world black ideals and objectives in FESTAC '77, and the country executed it to perfection, in a memorable celebration of blackness that lived in the minds of the world for many years afterwards, and continues to influence the Pan Africanist movement to this day.

But FESTAC '77 was not all smooth sailing. Nigeria being Nigeria, there was disagreement as to the cost of the event, and the ways the funds were used etc etc.

Afrobeat legend and social crusader, Fela Kuti drove around in this battered Volkswagen during that time, to highlight the plight of the masses, even as the Obasanjo regime soldiered on in its determination to host a credible, successful FESTAC, and place Nigeria at the height of international reckoning.






More to come....

Waiting

Alright

I told ma, "It is not right that I do not learn black and African culture, so you either buy a telly so I can watch Festac or you take me to Festac everyday".

We got our Nigerian telly on 14 January 1977. It was a black and white Sanyo.

FESTAC VILLAGE

I remember FESTAC VILLAGE as it was when it was first built for the 20,000 black diaspora who stormed Nigeria for the event. From Ghana, South Africa, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Jamaica, USA, Barbados, Cuba, Brazil, Antigua, Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Grenada, Bahamas, etc etc.

When you entered FESTAC then, it was like somewhere in Los Angeles! Clean roads with sidewalks, and folks strolling around, taking pictures etc.

IN FACT, THE WHOLE OF LAGOS WAS BUBBLING. YANKEE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, IN THE CLUBS, BARS, HOTELS, RESTAURANTS, THE BEACH, THE STREETS, EVERYWHERE.


Facilities

''A housing estate known as Festac Village was constructed as accommodation for about 17,000 participants. However, the long-term objective of the village under the Federal Housing Programme was to relieve some of the housing pressure in Lagos. The housing estate was proposed for construction within two years, with more than 40 contractors working on different sites of the project. In total 5,088 dwelling units were built prior to the festival and an additional 5,687 were to be completed by the end of 1977. During the festival, the housing estate was the venue for performance rehearsals and interaction by participants as various troupes rehearsed their routines in the day and at night.

For hosting the performances and lectures, a state-of-the-art multipurpose national theatre was built, to serve also as a lasting centre of African art and culture. The theatre's design was based on the Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna, Bulgaria. The new complex had two exhibition halls, a 5,000-capacity performance and event hall, a conference hall with 1,600 seats and two cinema halls. The theatre hosted dance, music, art exhibitions, cinema, drama and the colloquium.'' - Wiki

National Arts Theatre, Lagos

UK Guardian report:


Nigeria’s FESTAC festival, which cost 1.75 billion dollars in today’s money, was an Olympic Games of Pan-African culture – with Stevie Wonder the joyous headliner

Stevie Wonder, Festac 1977, Lagos: a unifying moment of transatlantic black pride


Staged in Lagos, Nigeria, Festac 77 (The Second World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture, to give it its full name) was the cultural climax of the Pan-African movement, gathering musicians, dancers, fashion designers, artists and writers representing 70 countries from Africa and the African diaspora. It was a show of worldwide black unity and self-determination, and the catalyst for Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti’s anti-government protests. It was also the platform for Stevie Wonder to consolidate his affinity with the continent.

Festac 77 was big on a more prosaic level, too. Indeed, to even call it a “festival” in the contemporary sense would be doing it a disservice – this was Olympic Games scale. Four weeks of events across 10 venues including the specially built 5,000 capacity National Theatre; 15,000 participants housed in 5,000 high-end apartments and two luxury hotels, again all built for the event; a network of highways created to avoid Lagos’s legendary traffic congestion. It was 12 years in the planning, during which time it survived a civil war, a presidential assassination and two coups (one successful, one not) and the bill came in at $400m, or $1.75bn in today’s money.

The cost itself was a subplot: oil-rich Nigeria had staked a claim as the “Giant of Africa” and such largesse in the cause of African unity ticked several boxes. Festac’s international co-ordinator, Professor Chike Onwauchi, said at the time: “Billions are being spent keeping black people apart – it is impossible to spend too much money to bring black people together.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/19/stevie-wonder-festac-1977-a-unifying-moment-of-transatlantic-black-pride

Contd.

These golden, airconditioned FESTAC buses were seen everywhere in Lagos, and conveyed the world visitors to various events and around the Lagos metropolis.

Look at the quality of the buses. This is 1977 mind you. These were the most advanced buses on EARTH at the time. They even look viable for today's transport.

In those days Nigeria went for the best of everything. The very latest, no matter the cost. Money was not an issue.

Crowd at National Stadium, Surulere, exiting a FESTAC event

AMAZING FOOTAGE FROM FESTAC '77


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzAIGgWNHbY&ab_channel=SerenityLounge

KING SUNNY ADE'S FAMOUS SONG WELCOMING THE WORLD TO NIGERIA DURING FESTAC.

THIS SONG WAS PLAYED ENDLESSLY ON THE RADIO AND TV THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD.

''Welcome welcome, ladies and gentlemen
You are welcome to Nigeria....
Where the FESTAC is taking place...
You are welcome to Nigeria...''


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm9SJkg_Vrw&ab_channel=groovemonzter

US Ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, performs traditional Yoruba rites at FESTAC Village in 1977, with Africans and Americans looking on.

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HERE IS THE GLORIOUS, TRIUMPHANT FESTAC 77 ANTHEM

THIS SONG MORE OR LESS BECAME NIGERIA'S NATIONAL ANTHEM THROUGHOUT 1977 AND BEYOND.

IT WAS PLAYED EVERYWHERE AND EVERY TIME, ON TV, RADIO ETC.

The country had prepared and planned for this event for 12 years prior.

AT LONG LAST, '77 was here, and the song said so....:

'FESTAC.... 77...... 77 IS HERE.....''

'FESTAC.... 77...... 77 IS HERE.....!!!!!''


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jm6Wemfvow&ab_channel=UNESCOAbujaOffice

Afro-Americans stormed Nigeria in their thousands for FESTAC

'During their stay, Black American artists visited Benin City and Ilé-Ifè, Nigerian cities with rich cultural history.'

African American and Nigerian artists in Ilé-Ifè.


Stevie Wonder concert at the National Theatre, Lagos, at FESTAC '77

Wow! I have heard of it but never Knew it was celebrated this way. Africans are rich in culture and I love cultures too. Wish to see replica of this in future.


Africa Amaka
Igbo Amaka
Yoruba Amaka
Hausa Amaka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jm6Wemfvow&ab_channel=UNESCOAbujaOffice

What a rich black African Heritage for Nigeria to be on the global stage then during the real pan-nationalism era of its nationhood.Well, Nigeria was fortunate. The oil boom era of 1977 was also another plus for it then

Festac must have really been a nice place then. See how clean and serene the place was.

Racoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jm6Wemfvow&ab_channel=UNESCOAbujaOffice

What a rich black African Heritage for Nigeria to be on the global stage then during the real pan-nationalism era of its nationhood.Well, Nigeria was fortunate. The oil boom era of 1977 was also another plus for it then

Absolutely. It was a glorious period for Nigeria.

I still believed the West have a hand in Nigeria's current woes.
This country was fast rising to become a rich and powerful black empire of sort that will liberate all black men all over the world. Unfortunately for her,the West can't survive without Africa's resources. Hence the coded Carthage like treatment on Nigeria to destroy it's influence.

gbaskiboy:
Wow! I have heard of it but never Knew it was celebrated this way. Africans are rich in culture and I love cultures too. Wish to see replica of this in future.


Africa Amaka
Igbo Amaka
Yoruba Amaka
Hausa Amaka

Which country can dare bring out 1.7 billion dollars to host such a thing in Africa today?

Bro, Nigeria was very rich back then. Money was not an issue for the country.

Some people used to bathe in champagne in those days.

Reflect7:
Absolutely. It was a glorious period for Nigeria.

However, this reality then is now a part of irony as a supposed black power nation devoid of any meaningful development post-independence even after hosting the world in FESTAC-77.

Racoon:
However, this reality then is now a part of irony as a supposed black power nation devoid of any meaningful development post-independence even after hosting the world in FESTAC-77.

There has been notable development since then, in many respects.

Not a single expressway existed in Nigeria in 1977. Lagos-Ibadan was our first, commissioned in 1978.

Today, such roads are the norm across Nigeria.

Many cities we have today like Calabar, Uyo, Awka, Abakiliki, Ikot-Ekpene, Abuja, Minna, Jalingo, etc were villages or glorified villages in 1977. Today they are modern cities with expressways, flyovers, universities, international conference centres, and shopping malls.

Even Lagos which hosted the event for the most part, is vastly improved today in terms of infrastructure and so on.

Don't take these developments for granted.

Rome was not built in a day.

Festac 77: A Black World’s Fair

Andrew Apter, University of California Los Angeles
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.798
Published online: 31 August 2021

From January 15 to February 12, 1977, Nigeria hosted an extravagant international festival celebrating Africa’s cultural achievements and legacies on the continent and throughout its diaspora communities. Named the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (or Festac 77), it was modeled on Léopold Senghor’s inaugural Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (World Festival of Black Arts, or Fesman) held
in Dakar in 1966 but expanded its Atlantic horizons of Africanity to include North Africa, India, Australia, and Papua New Guinea.

Festac’s broader vision of the Black and African world was further bolstered by Nigeria’s oil boom, which generated windfall revenues that accrued to the nation and underwrote a massive expansion of the public sector mirrored by the lavish scale of festival activities.

Festac’s major venues and events included the National Stadium with its opening and closing ceremonies; the state-of-the-art National Theatre in Lagos, with exhibits and dance-dramas linking tradition to modernity; the Lagos Lagoon featuring the canoe regattas of the riverine delta societies; and the polo fields of Kaduna in the north, celebrating the equestrian culture of the northern emirates through their ceremonial durbars. If Festac 77 invoked the history of colonial exhibitions, pan-African congresses, Black nationalist movements, and the freedom struggles that were still unfolding on the continent, it also signalled Nigeria’s emergence as an oil-rich regional and global power.

An estimated seventeen thousand Black and African participants from fifty-six countries and diaspora communities arrived in Lagos as painters, sculptors, musicians, dancers, writers, poets, journalists, photographers, and scholars to express, debate, and reaffirm their collective cultural consciousness. Les Ballets Africains (Guinea) shared the limelight with the Danza Nacional de Cuba and the Chuck Davis Dance Company (United States), while Nigerian musicians Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé played host to the likes of Mighty Sparrow (Trinidad), Tabu Ley Rochereau and “Franco” Luambo Makiadi of (then) Zaire, Giberto Gil (Brazil), Hugh Masekela, and Miriam Makeba, as well as a robust contingent of North American musicians that included Stevie Wonder, Sun Ra, Randy Weston, Donald Byrd, and The Carrol Gospel Singers.

Intellectuals like Wole Soyinka (Nigeria), Jacob Festus Adeniyi. Ajayi (Nigeria), and Joseph Ki-Zerbo (then Upper Volta) were joined by Malauna Ron Karenga as spokesperson of the US Colloquium delegation. Other notable African Americans who attended Festac included writers Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, Paule Marshall, and Louise Meriwhether, and artists Faith Ringgold, Samella Lewis, Barkley Hendricks, and Betye Saar.

https://history.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/festac_77.ore_.pdf

Arriving Lagos for FESTAC 77

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THE WORLD STILL CELEBRATES FESTAC 77 TILL THIS DAY



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