Tourism Indochina: The Executive Council of UNESCO Strolled Across the Causeway at Angkor Wat

Tourism Indochina: The Executive Council of UNESCO Strolled Across the Causeway at Angkor Wat

Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai is Chairman of UNESCO's Executive Board. As a specialist in African languages, literature, alphabetization, oral poetry and the culture of African diasporas, Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai has held professorships in Benin, Nigeria, Brazil, Japan and the United Kingdom. He participated in the development of UNESCO’s programmes in the field of African languages and culture and is Ambassador of Benin to UNESCO as well as a member of numerous international boards, committees and juries in the field of culture. Mr Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yaï was elected in November 2007 as Chairman of the UNESCO’s Executive Board.

At the time of his election Mr Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yaï was Ambassador Permanent Delegate of Benin to UNESCO, Member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and President of the Finance and Administrative Commission of the Executive Board.

During his mandate as Ambassador, Mr Yai was a Member of the World Heritage Committee, the Committee of the International Fund for the Promotion of Culture (IFPC), the International Scientific Committee of the Slave Route Project, the Jury for the designation of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage as well as for the Melina Mercouri and Simon Bolivar Prizes, a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Africa World Heritage Fund (AWHFD), President of the Culture Commission of UNESCO G77, of Commission IV (Culture) of the 32nd Session of the General Conference (2003) and Vice-President of the Executive Board (2001-2003).

Before his appointment as Ambassador, he was a Consultant for culture and language policy in Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Togo and Mozambique in the 1970s and 1980s. He taught as Professor at the Universities of Benin, Ibadan and Ife (Nigeria) and Florida (USA). He also acted as Director of the Institute of Cultural Studies, University of Ife, Nigeria and as Chair of the Department of African and Asian Languages and Literatures, University of Florida, USA.

Mr Yai holds a BA from the University of the Sorbonne (France) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan (Nigeria). He was a visiting scholar at the Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), at the University of Birmingham (England) and at the Kokugakuin University in Tokyo (Japan).

A specialist in African literatures and languages, literacy, oral poetry and the cultures of the African diaspora, Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yaï, was born in 1942 in Benin where he received an African traditional education with sages and elders in his village.

Tourism Indochina: The Executive Council of UNESCO Strolled Across the Causeway at Angkor Wat:
(Tourism Indochina:Date : 2009-03-25): When the president of the Executive Council of UNESCO, Benin's Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai, strolled across the causeway at Angkor Wat on Sunday evening, dressed in traditional African garb and accompanied by Cambodia's deputy prime minister and other high-level officials, he walked into a ferocious battle being fought by Angkorian warriors.

His walk on the wild side was a promenade into the past, represented by actors reliving the glory days of ancient Angkor during the reign of King Suryavaram II, as part of the Angkor Wat Night Festival, a cultural entertainment extravaganza that is now a nightly fixture within the hallowed precincts of the famous temple.

The show, staged by the Sou Ching Group in conjunction with Apsara and with the blessing of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, is massive - moving across the interior of Angkor Wat each night and culminating in a traditional dance show held on a stage with light gantries that have been permanently erected deep in the heart of the temple grounds.

About 250 employees now turn up each evening to stage the show, including more than 150 dancers and circus and martial arts performers, 45 night lighting technicians and engineers, and another 50 support staff.

The entire temple interior is lit up and wired for sound, with a dining area near the stage providing a five-course Khmer dinner for pre-booked guests.

On Sunday night, 85 VIP guests dined in the temple, including high-level officials from the government and UNESCO, in Siem Reap to investigate whether more temples should be earmarked for listing as World Heritage sites.

Unesco's presence at the function signals the organisation's green light to the nightly temple event. And, despite the fact that the show could be viewed as a commercial intrusion into the sacred temple that could make preservation purists balk, there has been no resistance to this development, organisers said.

"There has been no controversy over the show, absolutely none," said Jamie Rossiter, director of marketing for the Sou Ching Group Co Ltd.

Rossiter said Sou Ching launched the show, which had been in planning for more than six months, on February 9 amid a carnival atmosphere, with free admission for Cambodians for the first fortnight. Admission fees are now US$15 for foreigners and $3 for Cambodians.

"We had 600 to 700 people turning up when it was free. We were absolutely chocker around that stage area, and the people seemed to really enjoy it," Rossiter said.

"All the food vendors were turning up, which became a problem because at the end of the night there was food everywhere. Our lighting crew was spending an hour-and-a-half every night just cleaning up because it's a temple and we have to leave it in pristine condition. All the lights, all the equipment, gets packed away every night and then put out again. The stage is a permanent fixture, but everything else is taken away each night."

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