History Of Akwa Ibom Xmas Carol And Ita Awak’s Headache
December 16, 2016
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History Of Akwa Ibom Xmas Carol And Ita Awak’s Headache


By Okpo Ewa

Carols were first sung in Europe thousands of years ago, but these were not Christmas Carols. They were pagan songs, sung at the Winter Solstice celebrations as people danced round stone circles. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, usually taking place around the 22nd December. The word carol originally meant to dance to something or a song of praise and joy! Thus, Carols used to be written and sung during all four seasons, but only the tradition of singing them at Christmas has really survived as early Christians took over the pagan solstice celebrations for Christmas and gave people Christian songs to sing instead of pagan ones. Initially, these songs were composed, written and performed in Latin an esoteric language that the normal people couldn’t understand. As a result of this, by the time of the Middles Ages (the 1200s), most people had lost interest in celebrating Christmas altogether.

This was changed by St. Francis of Assisi when, in 1223, he started his Nativity Plays in Italy. The people in the plays sang songs or ‘canticles’ that told the story during the plays. Sometimes, the choruses of these new carols were in Latin; but normally they were all in a language that the people watching the play could understand and join in! The new carols spread to France, Spain, Germany and other European countries.

The carol was about Mary and Jesus meeting different people in Bethlehem. Most Carols from this time and the Elizabethan period are untrue stories, very loosely based on the Christmas story, about the holy family and were seen as entertaining rather than religious songs. They were usually sung in homes rather than in churches! Traveling singers or Minstrels started singing these carols and the words were changed for the local people wherever they were traveling. One carols that changed like this is ‘I Saw Three Ships’.

When Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans came to power in England in 1647, the celebration of Christmas and singing carols was stopped. However, the carols survived as people still sang them in secret. Carols remained mainly unsung until Victorian times, when two men called William Sandys and Davis Gilbert collected lots of old Christmas music from villages in England.

Before carol singing in public became popular, there were sometimes official carol singers called ‘Waits’. These were bands of people led by important local leaders (such as council leaders) whom alone had the power in the towns and villages to take money from the public (if others did this, they were sometimes charged as beggars!). They were called ‘Waits’ because they only sang on Christmas Eve when the Christmas celebrations began. (This was sometimes known as ‘watchnight’ or ‘waitnight’ because of the shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them.)

Also, at this time, many orchestras and choirs were being set up in the cities of England and people wanted Christmas songs to sing, so carols once again became popular.

In Akwa Ibom state, the tradition of carol nights or watch nights has been a long standing practice by churches and Christian communities until when the state government under the leadership of Obong Arc. Victor Attah when state resources and institutions were officially voted into organising one big carol night musical concert at Ibom Hall. This was usually repeated yearly with the performance franchise given to one professor of music who is now a paramount ruler- Professor Laz Ekweme who happens to be brother to the one time vice president of Nigeria Sir. Alex Ekweme. Till date, while one may applaud the state chrismas carol initiative the choice of prof. Laz Ekweme’s performance franchise remains a mystery and was then criticized as elitist especially in a state blessed with manifold musical talents and legends. This probably may have been the reason why it waned off which took the ingenuity of the administration of Godswill Akpabio to revive it in 2008. Hence, the initiative that was started by Gov. Obong Attah was repackaged in a manner to remain the cynosure of all eyes as well as attract new visitors and investors. To achieve this the Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols made history when it featured a 9,999 member choir, which was reputed to be the largest choir in the world at that time and dully certified by The Guinness Book of World Records. Away from the record breaking gathering of Carol Singers it is an evening of praise, worship, love and unity that has become a major avenue of promoting spiritual growth, peaceful coexistence among ethnic, religious and cultural groups in the State and spiritual tourism that attracts people from around the world and investors such that last year’s edition of the gospel concert had the generous support of Globacom, United Bank for Africa, Le Meridien Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort, Hensek and Zenith Bank. It was at this edition that the event initially known as “9999 carols night” was officially renamed “Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols”.

Interestingly, some the event has provoked a whole trend of attractions and distractions with the former ranging from tourism (as increasing number of people outside the state and Nigeria throng to the event yearly) to investors (as multi national companies are enthusiastic about partnering with the state on every edition). The latter’ on the other hand has to state the least, political (as d event has become one of the major taunt to opposition elements in the state)

One of such inst:ance, is the recent ranting by the state publicity secretary of the Akwa Ibom State Chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) Engr. Ita Awak that the event should be scrapped as an austerity measure to maximize state fund. Unfortunately, as appealing as his premise may appear it is equally a terribly display of ignorance regarding what it takes to organize the event. This is because while he is disillusioned about the great portion of state funds wasted on the event it is actually an investors sponsored event. It is not that this information is not available for him to help himself with it in fact true and sadly so that he was part of the administration that started the Akwa Ibom Chrismas Carol two administrations ago. Ita Awak was the commissioner for information in Akwa Ibom state during the failed editions of this initiative and is evidently frustrated to see how it has bloomed beyond his imaginations in the hands of two successful administrations. A classical display of political bad faith indeed. Albeit very instructive in this light is the statement by Gov. Udom Emmanuel while flagging off the event last year immediately after the Court of Appeal gave a controversial ruling against his election. In his address, the governor disclosed that the annual Christmas Carol Night was one of the shining legacies of the Akpabio administration. He said, “We are proud to inherit, sustain and improve upon it for the good of Akwa Ibom State. This night we have come here to sing to the supreme God who can take us to the Supreme Court.”

But my question to Engr. Ita Awak is, as Commissioner for Information he did not partake in the organisation of the Carol night in his time? If he did then why the beef now?