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Scores of poets and performers were on the bill for the poetry
component of the third Lagos Black Heritage Festival. Themed, ‘Poetry, Song and
Memory,’ the afternoon of performances and readings held on Wednesday April 7
in the Agip Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

“In three weeks of running around the world, we’ve been able to
produce a very coherent group,” said compere Odia Ofeimun. He noted that the
poets on the bill fitted “every permutation of the generations in African
literature, from the oldest to the youngest.” He promised that the show would
present a composite image of poetry as it’s supposed to be, with performances
from The Steve Rhodes Orchestra; and Highlife greats Orlando Julius and Tunji
Oyelana. “Poetry is song is music is drum and drama,” affirmed Ofeimun, whose
co-presenter – the actress Joke Silva – was away “finishing a film that is
refusing to finish.”

The event was dedicated to Aime Cesaire and Leopold Sedar
Senghor, “Two exponents of Negritude poetry, which many of us have had to rebel
against but under which we continue to labour,” According to Ofeimun. Joke
Silva had been due to perform poems by Cesaire; these went unrendered, due to
her absence. The audience was however treated to Senghor’s poetry in
performance, thanks to the Crown Troupe of Africa. The late Senegalese
President’s poem ‘Mama Africa’ was followed by ‘Prayer For Peace’, which
dramatises Africa’s suffering at the hands of “white Europe”.

Eddie Aderinokun, Ogochukwu Promise (who read her poems, ‘Lagos’
and the racy ‘You Didn’t Tell Me’) as well as the group Nefertiti – provided
the interlude after a threatened walkout by Mabel Segun, in protest at an
outdated biography on her in the event’s brochure. On the stage eventually,
Segun recalled her early life before reading ‘Corruption’, saying, “I was very
influenced by the Bible, but not in the way people are influenced by it now. I
hardly read [the Bible] now; I read so much of it at school, I know it backwards.”
She also read ‘A Horizon Receding’ and the well received ‘The Plea.”

Gabriel Okara

Next on was another octogenarian, Gabriel Okara, whose classic
novel, ‘The Voice’ was published in 1964. Introducing him, Ofeimun said,
“Gabriel Okara wrote ‘One Night At Victoria Beach. Whoever read Literature at
school read ‘One Night At Victoria Beach.” Before reading his famous poem, ‘The
Call of the River Nun’, Okara spoke about the inspiration for the piece: “I
lived on the banks of the River Nun, swam there, fished there. I wrote this on
a hill, far from the River Nun. It was on top of the hill that this poem came
to me.” Then he read ‘You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed’ – about Europe’s
mistaken belief that Africa had no culture. The poem echoes ‘The Voice’ in its
use of the Ijaw concept of a person’s ‘inside’.

After his poem addressed to a young, innocent child, ‘Once Upon
A Time’, Okara, in an afterthought, decided to read one more poem, this time
from his most recent collection, ‘His Dream and His Vision’. The poet dedicated
the collection to all who suffered the tyranny of military rule and to MKO
Abiola, who – Okara reminded – once said at a rally, “You the people of this
country made me what I am today, and I will give you back when I am president
of this country.” But rendering ‘The Dreamer’ straight from the book (earlier
poems were read from printed A4 paper), Okara began to falter. He soldiered on
and the audience listened respectfully, but the faltering only got worse.
Eventually, he said, “I’m sorry, I have to stop,” leaving his audience wishing
he’d stopped on the third poem, on a high.

Femi Fatoba

The younger generation then got showcased, beginning with Tolu
Ogunlesi who read ‘Still’, for Haiti. Bringing the widow of Femi Fatoba onto
the stage Ofeimun said, “She is a performer in her own right” but on this day
she would be reading her late husband’s poetry. Lanre Fatoba read ‘June 12
1993′ and ‘2011′ from ‘They Said I Abused The Government’.

A third poem, ‘Aso Ija Mi Ti Ya’ was in Yoruba. She apologised
to those who did not know the language, explaining that, “I have a particular
attachment to [‘Aso Ija Mi Ti Ya’] because it was the last poem we wrote
together before [Femi Fatoba] left home and never returned alive.” Moreover,
“sometimes Yoruba is just not translatable.” She then went on to read the
piece, laden with the artful insults of a belligerent woman who hilariously
insists she does not want to fight. It left many in the audience with open
mouths. “This is to prove that poets don’t die,” said Ofeimun, after the
performance. Femi Fatoba wrote a whole collection on the city of Lagos, in
Yoruba. A translation of one piece, is the longest poem in ‘Lagos of the
Poets,’ the new anthology edited by Ofeimun.

Remi Raji et al

When it was his turn to perform, Remi Raji sang as he walked up
to the stage – to an unhurried introduction by Ofeimun – stopping to hug South
African poet Lesego Rampolokeng in the front row. Some in the audience hummed
along with Raji, who said, “So that I will not wait to hear Lesego, I will read
just one poem” from his volume ‘Gather My Blood Rivers of Song’. The poet said
it was “the most controversial collection I will ever write,” referring to his
controversial disqualification from the 2009 NLNG Prize for Literature.

Referring to glitches that bedevilled the event, Ofeimun
informed the audience that, “I skipped Amanze Akpuda because his flight has yet
to arrive. In fact, one of the [markers] of this reading is that some people
had to drive straight from the airport to Agip Hall.” Poet Emman Usman Shehu
was introduced as “the man who once sued the Zamfara State government for
introducing Sharia.” Shehu read ‘Not Asking For Much’ and ‘Next Ancestor’ from
his forthcoming collection, ‘Icarus Rising’.

After Akeem Lasisi (who read ‘Oshodi’ for the transformed Lagos
locale) and the instrumental girl-band, Topsticks – came a memorable
performance by Ghanaian Kofi Anyidoho. “African poetry is about poets like Kofi
Anyidoho,” said Ofeimun.

Lesego Rampolokeng

Then came dub poet Lesego Rampolokeng, who gave a wonderfully
hyperactive performance, hopping onto the stage and fishing his books at speed
from a bag and throwing them on the stage floor. Nigeria, he said, was the only
country so far where he’d had to bribe a customs officer to be allowed in. The
bribe was a copy of his own book. Rampolokeng talks at the same frenetic pace
as his poetry delivery. “I was walking alone. Singular. Solo,” was how he began
one anecdote. In his country, he said, “You have to be black to be a foreigner.
There are no white foreigners in South Africa.” The poet read ‘Bantu Ghost
& Lackey’ and ‘Syphilitic Theories’.

Adebayo Faleti and others

Adebayo Faleti, whose writing reputation was made in Yoruba,
delivered his performance in the language. In a dramatic and humorous turn that
transcended language, he rendered poems including ‘Onibode Lalupon’ (The Border
Guard of Lalupon), which played on the ‘speech’ of the talking drum. Of the
three elders on the day – others being Segun and Okara – Faleti was the most
triumphant, even dancing off the stage.

By now the programme was being rushed, as it had seriously
overrun. Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Funmi Aluko, Iquo Eke and Ismail Bala Garba read a
poem each. Jumoke Verissimo gave just five lines of her popular piece, ‘Ajani’.
Many did not get to read at all. One of the highlights was a flamboyant
virtuoso performance by Orlando Julius who dazzled the audience; who needs a
poem when you’ve got a saxophone?

The Crown Troupe came back for an abridged version of ‘I Love Dis Lagos I No
Go Lie’, adapted from the 80s’ original featuring Wole Soyinka and Tunji
Oyelana. Then the man himself, Oyelana, came on to wrap things up with
infectious Highlife standards. At this point, it felt like the afternoon should
never end.