Organisers of the festival want to encourage the fusion of Hausa traditional art with modern art forms. Photo: HIBAF

By Mazhun Idris

It was a show of rich culture, art and prowess of the Hausa language in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

The event centre, Ado Bayero Mall, was a hive of activities as hundreds of artists, artisans, poets, scholars and students of literature gathered to celebrate, review and promote the cultural heritage of the Hausa people.

The annual Hausa International Books and Arts Festival (HIBAF) took place from December 14 to December 16.

  The Hausa people have diverse musical instruments adding to their rich culture. Photo: HIBAF    

The overall aim of HIBAF is to encourage discussions and creativity as well as understanding of Hausa arts and language and cultural heritage in general in a changing world.

The annual festival was launched in 2021 in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna by Open Arts, a Nigerian cultural nonprofit. The theme for this year’s edition is “Hausa Diaspora”.

The annual festival was launched in 2021. Photo: HIBAF

The festival ''celebrates the vibrant cultural journey of the Hausa people with lectures, panel discussions and artistic outings from cultural griots and maestros,'' the curator of Open Arts Sada Malumfashi tells TRT Afrika.

Hausa International Book and Art Festival celebrates Hausa cultural heritage. Photo: HIBAF

It also celebrates the history and aesthetics of Hausa cultural heritage, such as in compelling artistic expressions, performances, traditional architecture, and the fusion of Hausa cultural legacies with the dynamics of the modern world through diaspora and global influences.

Organisers said the festival also highlighted the contribution of the Hausa diaspora to the promotion and development to their language and culture as well as the need to encourage them to always reconnect with their community and heritage.

There were exhibitions at the HIBAF event in the city of Kano. Photo: HIBAF.

Attendees came from several countries such as Niger, Ghana, Cameroon and Togo among other African countries. There were attendees from outside Africa as well.

Awards were given to several individuals during the festival for their contributions to Hausa literature and the development of their culture.

Hausa literature has spread in recent decades to universities in Europe and Asia. Photo: HIBAF

Hausa is one of the most widely spoken languages in Africa mainly in the central and central parts of the continent.

The Hausa-speaking people are predominantly in northern Nigeria and Niger with significant populations in Cameroon, Ghana, Chad and Sudan with diaspora communities in some European and Asian countries.

Hausa International Books and Art Festival took place from Thursday to Saturday. Photo: HIBAF

Throughout history, the Hausa people are predominantly farmers and businesspeople with rich creative art and architecture.

Apart from trade, academic pursuit has also taken many of them to other parts of the world leading to large numbers of the community's diaspora.

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TRT Afrika