ENCAC SUCCESSFULLY INTRODUCES CULTURAL EXPERIENCE AT RALLY

MBABANE – Eswatini National Council of Arts and Culture (ENCAC) will now be bringing local culture experience to all upcoming Swazi Rally editions.

This was revealed by ENCAC Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Stanley Dlamini during an interview with this publication at the 31st edition of the Swazi Rally. According to Dlamini, they have been having meetings with Swazi Rally, in which they agreed they will now be having cultural activities in all upcoming Swazi Rally editions. “Since April, we have been in talks with the Swazi Rally team.Our presence at this year’s rally was a result of the meetings we had with them. We introduced the cultural experience so that tourists who attend the event for fun could also get to learn about local culture.

Appreciate

“Bikers will now have no need to travel to certain areas in the kingdom in order to appreciate local culture, they will now experience everything in one place, as we will be having such, even on other rally editions which are yet to be hosted,” Dlamini said. ENCAC’s presence was felt during their debut at the Swazi Rally since they managed to attract a number of bikers from outside the country into the cultural village, where they hosted their activities. Some of these activities included Sibhaca, Ingadla, fashion shows as well as singing of local cultural songs.

Cultural

The thrills brought by different cultural troupes had bikers’ eyes glued in the cultural village. Some of them were seen capturing the live performances with their cellphones and some even joined the dance groups and performed with them. According to Dlamini, they received positive feedback from bikers who visited the cultural village at the rally. “We were honoured to have received amazing feedback on the day. A lot of people were coming to us and asking a lot about the cultural dances and some even wanted to be taught how to do traditional dances. Such feedback gives a reflection of the high standard of our culture, our heritage has grown beyond borders.We are grateful to the Swazi Rally team for giving us space to exhibit our local culture at their reputable event,” Dlamini said. Worth mentioning, the cultural village was launched early August this year and according to Swazi Rally Director Carlos Paiva they have been working on the village for some time.

Village

This was revealed by Paiva during the launch of the cultural village which was also attended by the Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs, Bongani Nzima. “The cultural village was established eight years ago, and the initial idea was to promote the Eswatini culture. We want to simulate a scenario where bikers can come in the cultural village and dress in traditional attire with their motorcycles and take pictures with the bomake and bobabe, so that the bikers will have photographs and have memories that they keep when they return to their various homes,” Paiva said. To those who may have missed the action from ENCAC at the Swazi Rally, videos of the performances are available on their YouTube channel ‘Eswatini Arts TV’.

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