Tulia traditional dance festival set for Sept 20

Dar es Salaam. This year’s Tulia Traditional Dance Festival will be held in Rungwe, Mbeya Region, from September 20, the event organisers announced yesterday.

The event is the development of a series of events under Tulia Trust that is run by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania, Dr Tulia Ackson.

Speaking yesterday, Dr Tulia said over 108 traditional ngoma groups would contest in this year’s event that would be held for consecutive three days.

Dr Tulia said the groups would be coming from different parts of the country and that a thrilling spectacle should be expected in the event compared to the previous ones.

“The first edition of the festival saw only 63 traditional ngomas from only two regions, while the following year (2017) there were 89 groups from 17 regions, but this year, Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar traditional ngoma groups would feature in the event. This is good development and we hope to see many groups in the coming years,” said Dr Tulia.

She also explained that they had improved prizes for winners. “We expect to award motorcycles and cash prizes for winners including offering study sponsorships to participants at the Bagamoyo College of Arts (Tasuba).

“Our aim is to promote our culture and tourism outside our borders as we expect also to see people from outside the country to attend the festival,” she said.

According to Dr Tulia, they will use cultural officers in all regions to select traditional groups that will participate in the festival.

Last year’s top winner, Bujola of Mwanza, was offered the opportunity of visiting India to promote the country’s culture and tourism.

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