NAFEST 2020 gives life to indigenous fabrics

FOR a whole week, Jos the capital of Plateau State was agog with festivities from November 21 to 28  as the 33^rd edition of the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) held on the theme, ‘Post-Covid-19 and Cultural Dynamism.’ And the end of it all, Bayelsa State emerged the overall winner while Ekiti and Plateau States came overall 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Even as the execution was low-keyed, it featured an array of both competitive and non-competitive events, which culminated in the robust nature of the annual national cultural festival. The competitive events included choral music, wrestling, Children’s Arts and Crafts among others.

Of the competitive events, the Indigenous Fabrics Fashion Competitionshowcased the undiluted originality of locally produced fabrics sourced from various localities in Nigeria.

Held on Thursday, November 26at the Langfield Arena in Jos, the competition was designed to address the theme of the festival. The main objective was to accentuate the continuing preservation and promotion of indigenous fabrics of Nigeria as versatile and functional assets. To this end, fabrics were sourced from localities across each participating State.

To adequately address the theme of the competition, the objectives also include promoting the conservation of Nigeria’s indigenous cultural identity, especially in this pandemic era. It is believed that at the end of the competition – and the festival; there would be a giant step towards the promotion of Nigeria’s local cottage fabric industries and their relevance in the present time. This would further instill a sense of pride in the impressionable minds of the Nigerian people.

The competition zeroed in on Nigeria’s rich traditional fabrics that can be put into diverse uses; which was the reason the participating states were tasked to identify and explore creative possibilities with which indigenous fabrics could be made to serve contemporary purposes.

To achieve this, guidelines provided a road map to three significant composite presentation formats: corporate wears, traditional marriage ensemble and school uniform. The mode of presentation, however, featured demonstration whereby live presentation of fabrics, styles and uses were staged in form of a fashion show to the delight of a live audience. 

There was also a commemorative brochure to accommodate the fabric and fashion presentation. It contains pictorial and descriptive textual materials (captions) generated from the materials and styles presented on stage. For balance of assessment and judgment, three adjudicators were tasked with the responsibilities of producing results of performances in order of quality and adherence to the stipulated rules and regulations.

OF the 25 States that took part in the NAFEST 2020, only eight participated in the Indigenous Fabric and Fashion competition. They are Plateau, Kano, Ekiti, Kaduna, Rivers, Bayelsa, Benue and Nasarawa.  The stage presentation segment of the competition featured different types of indigenous fabrics in traditional and fashion styles peculiar to the culture of each of the eight participating States.

It was a competition well worth the efforts as diverse indigenous fabrics were exhibited with live models adorning them. Presentation from each state was anchored by a narrator whose duty it was to provide adequate information on the showcase while simultaneously highlighting the source and cultural relevance of the fabric materials. This greatly attested to the quality of knowledge and education dished out to the world. Not only was each state presentation educative, it was also entertaining and culturally enriching.

It was, indeed, a great revelation of, and exposé on, how Nigeria as a nation of diverse cultures and lifestyles can cope with life after the Covid-19 pandemic using indigenous fabric materials that can be sourced locally.

 As expected, the brochures submitted by each participating state provided adequate textual and pictorial documentation with explicit information that aptly defines all that was demonstrated on stage. This was a profound response to the dictate of the competition syllabus. With the exception of one or two states, there was an unbroken synergy between the stage presentation and the brochure. Each highlighted the analysis, captions and iconographies of all Nigerian fabrics, which by their historical facts, have been used for several centuries as traditional wears. A unique dimension was the contemporary use of these fabrics as corporate wears and school uniform.

At the end of the competition, which was hugely attended by participating states, guests and visitors, the night was soaked in relentless ovation as the paeticipants tried as much as possible to outdo one another.

It is compulsory that, in spite of competing factors and forces of competition, winners must emerge. On the closing day of the festival, winners of the competition were announced to the delight of the spectators, including those who witnessed the competition. Ekiti States won the first prize while Bayelsa and Rivers came 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. 

NAFEST 2020 in Jos, Plateau State, was a great success in all ramifications. The Indigenous Fabrics and Fashion competition produced sterling and full insight into Nigeria’s locally produced fabric materials. It also exhumed and provided adequate information on how they richly enhance the uncommon aesthetics that come with Nigerian fashion sense. The competitive event was educative, entertaining, and simultaneously served as enriching documented resource materials for posterity.