Rain fails to dampen spirit and enthusiasm of Melanesian Arts Festival

Rain in Suva over the last couple of days prior to and during the first four days of the 3rd Melanesian Arts Festival, has failed to dampen the Melanesian spirit and enthusiasm of both the public and delegation dancers.

The festival venues at the Suva Fiji Development Bank Foreshore and the Sukuna Park are clogged with mud as of yesterday afternoon, but that has little effect on the crowd turnout and the display of various arts and cultures.

Yesterday's program featured visual art and craft exhibitions, demonstration of art and craft skills, organised village and school tours for the Vanuatu, PNG and New Caledonia delegations, melanesian symposium and workshop sessions, traditional medicine exhibition, other miscellanous activities, and the combined evening contemporary show. Yesterday's lunch hour entertainment highlighted dancing groups from Torres Strait Islands, Fiji and Solomon Islands.

However, it seemed that the local Toelegu Panpipers is the highlight of the whole cultural show, as their performances have attracted much attention and interest among the crowd. This is attributed to their artistic dancing moves beside just blowing the pipes. Yesterday's lunch hour performance drew a huge crowd, but as soon as they finish the crowd started dispersing.

Today is the fifth day of the festival and the program is just similar to yesterday. The only difference is that the lunch hour entertainment will be done by Papua New Guinea dancers. The school and village tours will be accorded to the Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia participants, whilst the traditional medicine exhibition will be done by the PNG and Fiji. In the evening there will be another combined evening show and music fest.