“I didn’t think the centre of Africa borders on Poland” – with these words Angelo Torres began the account of the history of African on the first opening day of the “Without Frontiers” Youth Festival - Różanystok 2010.. In fact for five days (12-16 May) Africa shared its heart with the young people and adults who had come to listen  to the African drums, the guitars, the pianos and the stories about this  continent told by the young people.

The idea for the Festival came last autumn  among the Salesians who are working in the educational centre in Rozanystok and Polish journalists  from the National Radio “Channel 2”. Its main purpose was to educate the young through music and other features about the cultures of countries around the world. The Festival was the climax of a series of workshops and concerts, for which the youngsters of the educational centre run by the Salesians, once a month beginning in October last year invited the young people from Podlasie.

During these meetings the young people developed their artistic talents, especially their musical ones. As Jakub Czajkowski, Director of the Festival points out, from the beginning the meetings with the artists had a very important educational dimension  in trying to transform the art and its beauty  into an educational process for the young.

Taking part in the Festival were young people from Uganda (youngsters from the house for street children  run by the Salesians), Burkina Faso, Lithuania, Belarus and Poland. On the programme for each day were workshops, meetings with the  visitors, with scholars and journalists and the concerts. This year great emphasis was given to African culture, presented in its original form, demonstrated by African youngsters and also by Polish youngsters who in their artistic work drew inspiration from it.

It was also possible to listen to traditional Polish music especially that of the Otako Group and the Fascia from Radom. In the workshops the youngsters were able to develop their talents in various areas:: silence, percussion, folk music, drama, story-telling, circus, photography, painting and sculpture.

They are now already planning for the next Festival. Certainly this is a new and fresh way of presenting the various elements of the preventive system of Don Bosco, in which creativity, especially music and the theatre, play a very important role.

Published 27/05/2010