NPA Cultural Festival

And it is a great one.

It is now our third indigenous dance festival along with Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival and the Torres Strait Cultural Festival on Thursday Island, and already on its first year, 2014, it was no worse in quality.


It is held in early October, and it is yet to be decided whether the event will be held every year or every second year.


As the name says it is held in the Northern Peninsula Area, in its largest community, Bamaga.
  

More exactly at the Oval, also called Yusia - Ginau Memorial Field.
  

There is plenty of room,
  

... and food and other stalls,
  

... it was just that in 2014 with the event too new to even be known, there weren't that many people.
  

The best thing as always was the dancing, which was mostly on night time. 
  

At the 2014 NPA Cultural Festival there were the Aboriginal dancing groups like Injinoo,
  

Mapoon, Aurukun,
  

... Lockhart River ...
  

... and New Mapoon.
  

There were also the Djakapurra Munyarryun and Albert David,
  

... and the Torres Strait Islander group Wabu Nan Geth (Kauraregas from Umagico).

But the furtherest guests on the 2014 NPA Cultural Festival were the Saibai Islander dancers,
   

... the people who travelled all the way from the second northernmost Torres Strait Island, only eight kilomteres from the Papua New Guinea coast.
   

Their songs and dances were also different,

... and the way they dressed.
   

There were also a few other activities including a fashion parade,
   

... and in the end of the last night were fireworks, which were some of the better we have seen.
   

Below are the videos from the NPA Cultural Festival 2014:

Mapoon Dancing



Injinoo Dancing



Lockhart River



Saibai Island



Mau Power singing My Island Home

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