On Tuesday, June 27th, 2023, the organization’s the Nigerian Canadians for Cultural, Educational and Economic Progress (NCCEEP) and the Black Canadians for Cultural, Educational and Economic Progress (BCCEEP) put together a Sokoni marketplace event at the Tecumseh Arena located in the Town of Tecumseh. This event was an opportunity to bring out vendors of various African/Black descent and allow them to represent their cultures and sell their products. This event gave vendors an opportunity to gain new clients and customers while also learning about different cultures.
The evening started off with amazing music. The music included drums, a saxophone, and Afrobeat songs provided by our staff and volunteers. This allowed guests to feel the different vibrations of African music, bring up the mood and allow everyone to feel festive. While the music was playing, various people and vendors that attended the event had finished setting up and were interested in the details and information about their neighboring vendors. Food was then brought and served by the NCCEEP and BCCEEP volunteers and staff. Nigerian food was provided, which included jollof rice, vegetables, beef suya, chicken, plantains, puff puff, and traditional drinks such as Zobo drink and malt. The organization was happy to provide this cultural food experience to new vendors and businesses in our community.
After the food was served, the guests were able to enjoy a multicultural event that occurred concurrently with the Sokoni BEP Pop-Up Expo. Guests were able to enjoy a senior fashion that showcased different cultural attire. People were able to see the Princess clothing and accessories from Cameroon, as well as gowns and proper attire from Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Jamaica, Burundi, Liberia, America, Sudan, Black-Canadian, Canadian, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic. People took videos of them and hyped each and every one of them up when they were called to show off their fashionable attire. It was apparent that the seniors had a great time and pride dancing and showing off their cultural fashion.
The event then took an entertaining physical trajectory. After the senior fashion show, guests were told to be seated in front of a previously set up drum, and be ready to be taught by drummer and multi-instrumentalist Babarinde Williams from the Drums Etal Company. A drum lesson on the West African drum called Djembe, was being taught to guests and staff of the event. People at the Expo learned about the history of drumming and how to get different tones and beats on the drum. An interesting fact that was taught was that in Africa, drums are played for every emotion and milestone in life. In addition to that, phrasing and chanting are used with drumming to help create rhythms that motivated us and intimidated enemies in ancient times. The people that participated in the drumming lesson also had the opportunity to learn about phrasing drumming. This is when drummers use a phrase in any language and follow the beat of the syllables when drumming. One phrase used from the lesson was ” I love Peanut butter, I love Jam”!
As the night was ending, many thanks were given to the drum leader, the hosting organization NCCEEP and the different cultures that came out to represent.
By: Nneamaka Ezuma
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