Onyeka Onwenu Endorses Ozuruimo Festival

OnwenuThe organisers of the annual Ozuruimo, the pan - Imo State Cultural and Arts Festival, holding between October 28 and 31, in Owerri, have promised to make this year’s gathering grand and memorable for people coming.

The festival is organised by the Imo State Council of Arts and Culture, under the leadership of international songster, Onyeka Onwenu, with the theme of this year’s event: “The Resuscitation of Mbari Culture as a Depiction of Igbo Industry.”

According to Onwenu, who also doubles as the chairman of the sub- committee organising the colloquium that would kick-start the event on October 28, Mbari is the art form used by Ndigbo to capture esoteric and spiritual concepts as they relate to human activities and existence.

“This festival is my first as the chairman of the Imo State Council for Arts and Culture (ISCAC); therefore, it’s truly a momentous one for me and my team.

It’s a cultural extravaganza comprising several interesting events. We are beginning the event with a Colloquium at the Multipurpose Hall, Government House, Owerri at 10:00 a.m. It is a lecture that will be delivered by Professor Aloy Ejiogu, of the Department of English, University of Lagos, with the theme: The Concept of Mbari in Igboland.

The event will later move to the Oguta Lake, for a very colourful boat regatta on October 29. A healthy competition of cultural dances and display of masquerades will follow suit on October 30, at the expansive Mbari centre,” Onwenu disclosed.

Speaking further, the Elegant Stallion, as Onwenu is fondly called, also disclosed that a never-seen-before kind of a carnival float would be staged through the major streets and roads of Owerri. The epoch event is expected to climax with a rendezvous at the Grasshoppers Stadium, Owerri.

“We have also designed and packaged several kinds of moonlight games (Egwu Onwa), in all the nights of the jam-packed four-day festival cum carnival. In fact, there will be music, dance, local delicacies, story telling and many more at the Amphi-Theatre, inside the Mbari Centre,” Onwenu explained.