7th Annual BaoBao Festival entertains and enlightens

"People are too busy texting and twittering and facebooking to seek wisdom. It used to be that people sought wisdom. Now wisdom seeks people."

So began the story at the 7th Annual BaoBao Festival, an event that brings music, dance and storytelling to audiences in Colorado Springs, Denver and Boulder. The BaoBao Festival celebrates the West African tradition of gathering under the baobao tree to share stories.

This year's theme was "The Measuring Stick" and the tale, written by Akramah Cofie, explored the criteria by which we judge one another. In the story a woman accuses her neighbor's cat of eating her fish despite a lack of evidence. "That's cat profiling!" the neighbor insists. Joseph the cat cannot be blamed simply for being a cat. But when Joseph goes missing the cat owner is quick to assume the cat was stolen by a visitor from a tribe rumored to eat cats. The woman goes on a journey to find her missing cat, and learns the consequences of judging a person based on physical appearance or tribal affiliation.

In addition to the story and performances by traditional West African musicians and dancers, the festival featured performers from Streetside Studio, Grupo Macando, 1,000 Voices led by Nii Armah Sowah, and Break EFX, a break dance crew that recently featured on MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew".

Writing for the Daily Camera, Lindsay Gulisano spoke to author Akramah Cofie who has been writing stories for the BaoBao festival since 2007.

"Festivals are very important in our lives as Africans," said Cofie, "so we wanted to bring over this part of our culture for times when we don't have the funds to go all the way home."
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"When it is time for the BaoBao Festival, it is important for people to understand that it is not just an African thing, but something special for the entire community in Boulder to embrace and make their own," he said.

The festival also serves the purpose of raising funds for a library to be built in Accra, Ghana. You can follow the progress of this project and make a donation at the BaoBao Festival website.

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