Top culture officials from Rodrigues on official visit to Seychelles |17 December 2022

Commissioner Ravina hands over a ‘ravanne’ and a Creole (Rodriguais) dictionary to Mr Andre

The Commissioner for Arts and Culture, Heritage and the Arts, Joseph Varok Ravina and the Departmental Head of Arts and Culture of Rodrigues Jean Paul Colin are currently in Seychelles in the cadre of the ongoing cultural cooperation between Rodrigues and Seychelles.

They are also here to attend the activities programmed for the commemoration of the 1st anniversary of the inscription of the ‘moutya’ on Unesco's list for Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Commissioner Ravina and Mr Polin are the guests of the Seychelles National Institute for Culture, Heritage and the Arts (Snicha) and will even travel to Praslin.

The secretary general of Snicha, David Andre, shared that earlier this month a delegation from Seychelles was invited to participate in the Creole Festival in Rodrigues. “I was also part of the delegation and it was my first visit to Rodrigues. I had the opportunity to interact with the commissioners and learn about their various ways of promoting art and culture. Seychelles extended an invitation to Rodrigues before that event in order to further our exchanges.”

How will the cooperation benefit both islands? SG Andre noted that Rodrigues already has a small artisanal industry that Seychelles can learn from and see how we can work together and help each other.

“Something that touched my heart was the way the Rodriguais live the creole life. This is a wealth I feel we have lost in Seychelles. People are kind and welcoming and you can still sleep without locking your doors. It is time for Seychelles to get those values back. They are also very good at theatre and slams and we can learn a lot from them.”

Commissioner Ravina shared that they recently celebrated their fourth anniversary of ‘Sega tanbour’ which is also an Intangible Cultural Heritage on Unesco’s list.

“Art and culture is a vast topic and both our islands are very similar in terms of culture. When the delegation was in Seychelles we had the chance to discuss many subjects. We are here to consolidate our relationship,” he said, adding “these exchanges will also focus on our traditions that our ancestors left for us and how to entice the youth in learning these traditions”.

“In Rodrigues also we have to keep encouraging the youth to learn about our traditions as they are mostly interested in new styles and forget about our traditions. As part of the government we encourage the youth and try to give every support to the youth when they embark on any cultural project,” Commissioner Ravina said.

During the event, Commissioner Ravina handed over a ‘ravanne’ and a Creole (Rodriguais) dictionary to Mr Andre and conveyed the greetings of the Chief Commissioner and the Regional Assembly to the Seychellois people as he said Seychellois love Rodrigues and Rodrigues loves Seychelles.

Vidya Gappy

Photos: Louis Toussaint