The
Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, Mr. Alain St.Ange, said
that the Festival Kreol 2013 Committee had decided to reintroduce the
Festival's Song Competition which is open to all Seychellois artists. Minister
St.Ange was addressing journalists next to the monument dedicated to festival song
winners on the grounds of the National Cultural Centre in Victoria.
"We
have said that this coming Festival Kreol will unite our people who believe in
being a Creole, and to achieve this we shall do all that is possible to get
every section of society who appreciate in the world of creoles and what it
stands for to come out and put their money where their mouth is. Today we are
touching our Seychellois artists with this song competition, because there is
no festival with our music, and there cannot be a Festival Kreol without a
Creole song," Minister Alain St.Ange said.
Mr.
Jimmy Savy, the CEO of the National Arts Council and a Festival Kreol 2013
Committee Member, explained the competition where he emphasized that the song
must be an original and never disseminated before. "The only rule we have
is that the song must be in Creole and not be more that 5 minutes long, but the
song must be on the celebrations of our culture and the joie de vivre that
characterizes our Creole way of life," Mr. Jimmy Savy said.
It
has been confirmed that the closing date for submissions is October 4, 2013 and
that the winner of the Festival Kreol 2013 song contest will receive R.40,000 (close
to US$3,500).
Present
at the meeting with the press were two past winners of this same contest. Mr.
Jose Charles and Mr. Raymond Clarisee both said that it was great for
Seychelles to see a re-introduction of the Song Contest, and they encouraged
the local artists to participate in the competition. Mr. Tom Bowers, the local
sculptor who produced the original trophy for this completion, was also present
at the meeting with the press, and he has accepted to work on the trophy for
this year's competition.
