CHANDA MWENYA, Lusaka
THE Street Culture Festival, the country’s leading pioneer in the promotion of extreme sports such as skateboarding, hip hop dances, street arts and various other talents to bring out the best in youth talent across the country, will start its festival today in Lusaka.
The festival is 15th edition, will run at the National Sports Development Centre (NASDEC) from today until Sunday.
NASDEC has become the traditional platform to showcase the contemporary hip pop culture prevailing among the Lusaka youths.
But the street culture festivals are held during the school holidays and this season’s festival will run from 10:00 hours to 17:00 hours until Sunday.
The event will involve competitions in various talents such as dancing, skateboarding, rap and this seasons’ festival includes a new edition of car drifting with motor club Tecno Drift taking centre stage.
Street Culture co-ordinator Mautho Ndhlovu told the Weekend Mail in Lusaka that the festival, which attracts an age group of between 10 and 25 years, is intended to promote positive living among young people in Lusaka and other surrounding towns.
“We want to promote good behaviour among youths and keep them away from drug abuse,” Mautho says.
Street Culture, which has received endorsements and support from various organisations including the National Arts Council of Zambia, has made household names in the likes of Kaluya Lungu (skateboarding), Emmanuel Mvula (rap), Chawanzi Sakala (breakdancing), Dwayne Whitiker and Morris Finette (graffiti).
According to a tentative programme, the festival
starts today with animation, krump, tut, Afri hop, king of dougie, king of footwork, up-and-coming skateboarding and game of skate be followed tomorrow by ladies all styles, queen of dougie, hip hop freestyle, king of jerk, rap, advanced skateboarding, fashion runway and crew showcase.
The festival ends on Sunday with the drifting competition, best car sound system competition, loudest exhaust competition, spinning competition and best car competition.