Fest’Napuan2008 will take place from the 12th to the 16th of November.

As usual, Thursday will be a local string band night, Friday and Saturday will feature electrified “pop” music, including all overseas acts, and Sunday will be the ‘Zion Fest’ featuring Christian music.

The committee is currently negotiating with various overseas artists including indigenous Australian groups, New Caledonia’s “Vameley”, and “Katchafire” and “Fat Freddy’s Drop” from New Zealand. An Australian troupe of female folk musicians including Sam Burke will run workshops in conjunction with Wan Smolbag, and her band “Sam Burke and the Wifeys” will perform at the festival. Many of the big-name local bands will be participating, including Diomega, Kalja Riddim Klan, Alme System, XX Squad, Aimos Youth, Amel'oza, Eraso, Tefanu, Nauten, and Diomegas.

ABC’s Radio Australia is once again looking to broadcast the event live to the region and Radio Vanuatu and Television Blong Vanuatu will also be doing some live broadcasting nationally.

The Fest’Napuan is a free event for the public. In terms of numbers of people attending, the annual four-day Fest’Napuan outdoor music concert is the biggest event of any kind in Vanuatu.

Fest’Napuan – History

The first Fest’Napuan was organised in 1996 by the Vanuatu Cultural Centre to commemorate the second National Day of Culture - 17th November – which had been officially declared by the Government the previous year to celebrate the opening of the new National Museum building on that date in 1995.  Fest’Napuan 1996 was staged in front of the National Museum building, in the purpose-built amphitheatre of the National Cultural Complex, which has now become the event’s home.

The name ‘Fest’Napuan’ is a combination of two words, the word ‘festival’ from English and French, and the word ‘napuan’ from one of the languages of the island of Tanna, which means music and dance.  The Fest’Napuan aims to promote the development of contemporary music in Vanuatu by:
* providing young people in music groups with the chance to perform in front of a large audience and access to greater public exposure;
* providing young people in music groups and aspiring musicians with exposure to other bands and other types of music;
* encouraging Government and private sponsors to recognise and support Vanuatu’s contemporary musicians;
* providing two nights of free top-quality musical entertainment for the people of Port Vila (and the rest of the country) performed by a broad cross-section of local groups and special overseas acts.

The Fest’Napuan is organised by its own committee, all of whom are volunteers.  Each year, the committee has comprised mostly of young people, many of who are musicians themselves and many of whom are unemployed.  Their participation in the organising committee provides them with skills and experience in office management, administration, logistics and organisation that greatly improves their prospects for later employment.

Now in its twelfth year (2007), the Fest’Napuan is recognised nationally as the premier cultural event of the year.  Audience numbers grow each year (last year’s estimate was over 30,000 people over the four days) and include increasing numbers of people coming in from the outer islands especially for the event.  The Fest’Napuan is also gaining increasing recognition regionally, with bands from New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands, the Fiji Islands, West Papua, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand having participated to date.  In 2004, for the first time, Australia’s ABC network recorded and broadcast the event live across the region on Radio Australia.

Fest’Napuan – Sponsorship

Major and main sponsors remained local business houses. More was done last year to mention major sponsors on radio and television. Special programs were organized for in the build-up to the festival. Banners were put on Kumul Highway and the Saralana stage. Sponsors were given credit continuously throughout the four nights of the festival.

Today most in Vanuatu, especially Port Vila, know that the Fest'Napuan biggest sponsors are Unelco, Telecom, Air Vanuatu, and the Vanuatu Kaljoral Senta. The other major sponsors for 2007 were the Australian High Commission, Pacific Autronics, Cooperation regionale Nouvelle Caledonie, Further Arts, and the Musicians of Vanuatu

The inclusion of overseas sponsorships last year allowed for many of the international bands to perform. The Whitehouse were sponsored by the Australian High Commission (this group also did workshops with Wan Smolbag), part of the Black Seeds act by Air Vanuatu. Last but not least, Radio Australia provided live coverage of the event with Radio Australia and Vanuatu Online broadcast the event on the internet.

For more information, feel free to email ralph.regenvanu@vanuatuculture.org or  call on (678) 22129. Alsoclick here for related updates on Fest Napuan Music Festival.