Dreams of Rio animate Ivory Coast’s Popo Carnival

BONOUA, Ivory Coast, Might 5 (Reuters) – Males beating drums and blowing ox horns sounded the arrival of the king of Ivory Coast’s Aboure folks, who waved as a whole bunch of onlookers lined the roadside and sat on the roofs of buildings to catch a glimpse.

Sporting a gold crown and an extended patterned gown, the king was participating in a parade on the Popo Carnival, a cultural competition held yearly which organisers say attracts greater than one million folks over two weeks.

The occasion already attracts some guests from Europe and america, and a few locals hope it might get even greater.

“It is our dream that someday our kids and our grandchildren might remodel this carnival into the carnival of Rio de Janeiro,” mentioned Joseph Yao Ambo, one of many competition commissioners.

The Aboure are one among many ethnic teams within the West African nation, a few of which nonetheless have kings and queens that play a standard position of their communities. The Aboure king acts because the chief of seven villages.

Popo means “masks” within the Aboure language.

“It is a interval of analysis to see if we have not misplaced something our dad and mom left us,” mentioned Jean Oba, honorary commissioner of the competition, which is held in Bonoua, about 50 km east of Ivory Coast’s fundamental metropolis Abidjan.

The carnival features a soccer match, a magnificence contest and theatrical performances, all culminating in a grand parade.

Together with the king and his entourage the procession consists of brass bands, masked dance troupes, colourfully embellished floats, teams of younger males disguised as girls and teams of younger moms.

Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Modifying by Estelle Shirbon and David Gregorio

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