Festival

The Cigogo Festival began as a small project initiated in 2005, envisioned by Dr. Kedmon Mapana in the village of Chamwino, Tanzania.  He was a graduate student then at the University of Dar es Salaam, his academic work in ethnomusicology supervised by Dr. Mitchell Strumpf, and his project proposal won him a grant from the university to plan and produce a festival of musical groups active at the time in Chamwino village. His dream was for the development of an annual festival that would encompass many musical groups across the land of the Wagogo people, and invitations to many more musical groups from across Tanzania—in Dodoma, Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, and Stonetown, Zanzibar. Today, the dream has been realized, and Dr. Kedmon Mapana is pleased and proud of the Chamwino community for stepping up to the role of hosts of this magnificent festival in celebration of how a community can succeed in the sustainability of its cultural heritage through a celebration of its music, dance, and all the arts.