Osun Oshogbo Festival Receive a boost

Tourists and indigenes heading to this year's
Osun Osogbo Festival will be treated to cultural
displays, dramatic reconnection with the past,
musical shows and more as organisers plan a
unique event, which will reach its climax on
August 23, 2013.
The annual UNESCO-rated festival, which starts in
the Osun State capital, Osogbo, on August 8, is
one of the most successful cultural spectacles in
Nigeria.
Among other highlights, apala music star, Musiliu
Haruna-Isola, will perform, especially during the
Atupa Oloju Merindinlogun - lighting of the 16-
eyed lamp event.
Other artistes are also billed to perform on
different days, with the Chief Executive Officer of
Infogem Ltd, official marketers of the festival,
Chief Ayo Olumoko, saying that members of the
Performing Musicians Association are set for the
rite of cleansing and blessing that the festival
symbolises.
However, indications that the entertainment
aspect of the Osun Osogbo 2013 goes beyond
music became evident at a stakeholders' forum
held at Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos during the
week, when the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh
Olanipekun, went down memory lane to explain
how the
festival came into being.
He also said he was delighted that Osun State
Government and the business community have
continued to support the cause of the people by
investing in the festival.
Also speaking at the occasion, the Special Adviser
to Governor Rauf Aregbesola on Tourism and
Culture, Mr. Ladi Soyede, assured tourists due to
attend the festival from different parts of the
world that the stage is set for an exciting
experience.
He noted that one of the issues that usually cause
challenges, the compact nature of the grand
finale arena in the Osun Grove, has been
resolved. According to him, the Aregbesola
government has expanded the stage to
accommodate more people, while other
infrastructure, including access roads, have also
been upgraded.
The festival will feature a football competition, the
Iwopopo
(traditional cleansing), an art exhibition, a music
concert, golfers' cocktail night, Iboriade (the
Ataoja's crowns assemblage) and advocacy on
HIV/AIDS and hospitality business.
Officials of sponsors, such as MTN, Grand Oak
and Nigeria Breweries, assured Osun people and
Nigerians at large that they were prepared to
contribute to making the festival a success.

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN