The Born in Africa Festival (BAFEST) held on Sunday at the Eko Atlantic. BAFEST, sponsored by Access Bank for its customers and put together by Livespot for a second consecutive year, featured awesome activities ranging from fashion, art, film and music.
From the moment attendees seeking to end their year on a high stepped down at the entrance of the beach-like sandy arena, it was evident they were in for a treat that will live long in their memories. The venue was excellently adorned with beautiful monuments that created a scenery befitting of an an event of such magnitude.
Inside the arena, there was something for everybody. Courtesy Accelerate TV, movie buffs were treated to a whole day of interesting full-length movies, highly creative short films by promising up-and-comers in the movie industry, as well as thought-provoking documentaries. One of the highlights was ‘Blast’, a short, comic film about a customer care agent crushing on his colleague. Tosin Ajiboye, who wrote, directed and acted in the film left the entire hall reeling in laughter with his highly commendable acting. He’s really one to watch out for.
As attendees sauntered around the arena soaking in the air and brilliant set-up, people sat in the open in groups and patronised their favourite food vendors. Available at the vendors’ stands were barbecue, Ofada, fruit juice, suya, fries, jollof, popcorn, palmwine and many more to satisfy the yearnings of attendees’ taste buds.
Elsewhere, the most unorthodox fashion outfits by innovative designers were on display. From Tokyo James to Weizdhurm Franklyn, Odio Mimon, Iconic Invanity and more, fashion enthusiasts had more than enough to feed their eyes, get inspired by or even own.
And adjoining the fashion room was the art dome, where the most enigmatic but enchanting pieces of art telling African stories were creatively draped around the room and on the wall. Many art lovers also got their live portraits drawn by talented artists hanging around the room.
All these sightseeing led to an evening of exceptional music when Niniola, Flavour, Becca, Ice Prince, 9ice, Teni the Entertainer, Seyi Shay, Joeboy, DJ Spinall, DJ BigN thrilled the crowd with well thought-out performances. On the stage, the aesthetics (lights and sound) were mind blowing as attendees screamed their lungs out at the sight of a group of drummers suspended in the air. The night wasn’t going to end until the king of ‘no manners’, Naira Marley got on stage and it was immediately evident why he has risen to super stardom in 2019. In a largely conservative country like Nigeria, Marley being able to inspire his fans to be unabashedly confident in freely expressing themselves is a reason he boasts a cult-like following called ‘Marlians’.
The night would end with a performance by the man of the moment whose rise to the top of music echelon in Africa and beyond has been phenomenal, Burna Boy. And like the true giant that he is, Burna Boy gave an impressive showing by performing a bevy of his hit records before closing with an acapella of ‘Yawa Dey’.
By the end of the night when host Darey Art-Alade wished all in attendance a merry Xmas and prosperous 2020 in advance, only one statement escaped from the lips of visibly satisfied attendees as they trudged out of the arena: “We can’t wait to do this again next year!”
See more awesome moments from the festival:
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by 208headlines