In Lagos, Chinese musical concert cements cultural ties

It was an evening of songs, dance and entertainment as students of Jiangxi Normal University, China, wowed guests at the main hall of the University of Lagos, Akoka. The Chinese musical concert, which brought together the university students, including secondary schools, witnessed a large turnout of lovers of the Chinese culture.

The hall was full to the brim as students excitedly watched each performance while cheering the artistes even though they barely understood the lyrics of the songs. After every performance, the compere took the time to explain the concept behind every song, which encouraged the audience to look forward to another performance.

All the sonorous performances by both male and female singers alike had the accompaniment of well-choreographed movements and Chinese indigenous instruments.

While speaking at the concert, which held last weekend, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Duro Oni, said the musical concert by the Jiangxi Normal University, China, is a welcome development for UNILAG, as the visitors have come all the way to celebrate with them ahead of its convocation ceremonies.

“With our convocation ceremonies holding from January 23 through 26, 2017, this musical concert comes as a prelude to the convocation and since we have a Bachelor of Arts degree programme in Chinese Studies alongside the Confucius Institute in the university.”

He, however, noted that the musical concert shows the integration between China and Nigeria as both countries have the same national holiday – October 1.

He added, “This is to celebrate the co-operation that we are having with the Confucius Institute and the degree programme in Chinese Studies, where we have over 50 students currently studying while some of them are already in China for the latter part of their education.

“The future of this collaboration is very bright because you can see that the influence of China in the world is very tremendous and quite a number of Chinese companies are here in Nigeria and are involved in numerous projects. And with our students, who now study Chinese, they will form the team that will be working with a lot of these Chinese companies and so we are preparing for the future.”

The Chinese Director at the Confucius Institute, University of Lagos, Wang Yongjing, said the concert was organised to help Nigerians understand more about Chinese culture.

According to him, “Our students have always told us that they are very interested in the Chinese culture, hence this concert. So, we have brought artists from China, who use music and dance to educate the audience about the Chinese culture. While some of them are students from the Jiangxi Normal University, others are professionals in the field of music.”

She noted that although this was the first time they were coming to Africa, she hoped that subsequent concerts would hold in the future.

Highlight of the concert was the presentation of China’s traditional musical instruments to the University of Lagos, which were featured at the concert. These were gratefully received by Prof. Oni, who promised that the school would put them into good use.