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Peter Tanyanyiwa Lifestyle reporter
This year’s edition of the Francophonie week celebrated different cultures across the world through music, cultural dances and different languages.
Alliance Francaise joined the Embassies of Algeria, Belgium, Canada, DRC, Egypt, France, Switzerland, Greece, Romania and the European Union Delegation as well as the French School in celebrating the Francophone week marked to end on March 22. The festivities include a diverse array of activities that all people can enjoy over the two weeks. One of the major highlights is the Sing Your Way to Paris competition open to anyone between the ages of 14 to 26 in which they get an opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to Paris for two weeks offered by the French Embassy.
The main highlight on the cultural note was the“Happy Hour” event which was held on March 14, Garden Island. This saw the playing of different musical genres across Zimbabwe starting with our own traditional instruments like Mbira and Hosho. This saw the exchange of foods and cultural noms and socialisation between individuals who knew very little about each other’s cultures.
“The 2014 Francophonie Week is an absolute World cultural showcase with hundreds of people coming to Alliance Française to discover new films, live music and a great mix of francophone and African cultures.
We are expecting even more people on Friday 21st march for the closing day of the Francophone Week with the Sing Your Way to Paris Competition Grand Final, with plenty of fun for everyone,” said Charles Houdart, director of Alliance française.
The Princess of Mbira, Hope Masike made everyone envy Zimbabwean traditional instruments when she gave a splendid performance on Saturday.
This was a unique show at Alliance where she gave the Harare audience her renditions of some of her favourite French songs. The International Organisation of la Francophonie was created in 1970 by three African statesmen and now enjoys the membership of 70 states.
Its mission is to embody active solidarity between its member states, respecting cultural and linguistic diversity, and promoting the French language, peace and sustainable development.
About 890 million people around the world speak French of some sort and 96,2 million of these are in Africa which is probably the continent with the largest French speaking population in the world.
Online Reporter