Fest'Napuan Oct 2006 in Port Vila

Created by val. Last modified on 2006-08-05 10:03:05
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Countries: Vanuatu

Fest'Napuan Oct 2006

Fest'Napuan2006 will take place from the 5th until the 8th of October - Thursday the 5th is Constitution Day, a public holiday.

As usual, Thursday will be a local string band night, Friday and Saturday will feature electrified "pop" music, including all overseas acts, and Sunday will be the Zion Fest featuring Christian music.

Participating overseas artists confirmed to date include Papua New Guinea's "Telek", New Caledonia's "Simply Roots", Fiji's "Delai Doki Doki" and "Sharzy" and "Saba" from the Solomon Islands. An Australian band is now also being considered. The band "Fetazz" from Mauritius is also currently seeking funding to participate. Almost all the big-name local bands will be participating, including Vanessa Quai, Naio, Krosrod, Alme System, XX Squad, Aimos Youth, Amel'oza, Eraso, Tefanu, Nauten and The Omegas.

ABC's Radio Australia is once again looking to broadcast the event live to the region and Radio Vanuatu and Television Blong Vanuatu will also be doing some live broadcasting nationally.

The Fest'Napuan is a free event for the public. In terms of numbers of people attending, the annual four-day Fest'Napuan outdoor music concert is the biggest event of any kind in Vanuatu.

Fest'Napuan - History

The first Fest'Napuan was organised in 1996 by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre to commemorate the second National Day of Culture - 17th November.

The name 'Fest'Napuan' is a combination of two words, the word festival from English and French, and the word napuan from one of the languages of the island of Tanna, which means music and dance. The Fest'Napuan aims to promote the development of contemporary music in Vanuatu by: providing young people in music groups with the chance to perform in front of a large audience and access to greater public exposure.

Now in its eleventh year (2006), the Fest'Napuan is recognised nationally as the premier cultural event of the year. Audience numbers grow each year (last year's estimate was over 30,000 people over the four days) and include increasing numbers of people coming in from the outer islands especially for the event. The Fest'Napuan is also gaining increasing recognition regionally, with bands from New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, the Fiji Islands, West Papua, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand having participated to date. In 2004, for the first time, Australia's ABC network recorded and broadcast the event live across the region on Radio Australia.