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Haitian-American
actor, Jimmy Jean-Louis is famous for his role in the US television
series, ‘Heroes’ and for his turn in the movie, ‘Phat Girlz’ with Oscar
winning comedienne, Mo’Nique. Appearing in three of the nominated films
for this year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards (‘Precipice’, ‘Soul
Sisters’ and ‘Sinking Sands’), Jean-Louis is fast becoming a
fascinating figure in his collaborations with African filmmakers. The
actor was in Bayelsa for the awards. He talked to NEXT ahead of the
ceremony.

How has your stay in Nigeria been?

It’s been good,
it’s not my first time in Nigeria, it’s actually my third time. First
time, I came with a movie called ‘Phat Girlz’ where I played a Nigerian
doctor opposite Mo’Nique. Second time I shot movie called ‘Relentless’
and this is now my third time, coming to the AMAA, because ‘Sinking
Sands’ has about 10 nominations, I’m also in another movie called ‘In
America: The Story of Soul Sisters’ and third movie called ‘Precipice’.
I’m actually in three movies during the AMAA, I’m glad to be here.

What’s your expectation?

They are not too
much as far as winning but I just hope that we have a good show and the
world will know that there is something of that level happening in
Africa. That’s why I always like to refer to the AMAA as African Oscars
just because we need to trademark that. We need the people to
understand what it means, it’s a celebration of our own talent, we
recognise people that have done great things in the past year and
hopefully that can encourage people to do them better in the next year
and in the following year.

You are
appearing in more and more films by African filmmakers, what does this
say about how you see yourself in the scheme of filmmaking on the
continent?

What I understand
from the growth of the business is that it is important to mix African
talent with Africans living outside of Africa to capitalise on the
visibility in the press first. That’s why it is important for me to
come back and do movies, whether in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa or
Kenya because if the movies are different then they will have a better
chance to cross over and to reach an international audience. I think
that’s what some of the African movies need; to be able to cross over
to the international audience and also enjoy them. And by putting faces
that they recognise also makes it easier.

You had no hesitation in playing a Ghanaian character in a wholly Ghanaian film?

No, not at all. For
me it’s always been a pride to push and promote my people. You know I
am from Haiti and Haiti is the most African country outside of Africa,
trust me. I have done Haitian movies, I have done movies in Ghana,
Nigeria, I’ll do movies in Africa that can actually help the African
continent to go forward.

Hollywood actor, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, was in Nigeria for the seventh Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) held recently in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. The film star trained at the Bristol Old Vic in Britain and started out on stage before crossing into film and television. He has appeared in a number of productions including ‘Hotel Rwanda’, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ and ‘Darfur’. He has also appeared in TV series including ‘24′, ‘Lost’ and ‘Criminal Minds’. The actor spoke to NEXT about his acting career and current engagements.

What brings you home?

I’m here for the AMAA awards. We have five nominations for ‘Inale’, the film that I shot in Nigeria. I think it is Nigeria’s first musical. It was my first foray back into Nigeria to do films in the Nollywood industry. I am very excited, very pleased that it’s been nominated for so many awards. For me it validates the fact that we have been trying to push Nollywood to a more international level and I think we are beginning to achieve that.

How was the process of making ‘Inale’?

‘Inale’ was great fun. I had been back to Nigeria but I hadn’t been outside Lagos State, it was fun to discover Makurdi, Benue State. It was a lovely experience to be there and also to discover Bongos Ikwue; the music of Bongos Ikwue. I had never heard of him before but I told my mother that I was going to see Bongos Ikwue and some of the towns. Everybody knew who he was. Yes, that was a really wonderful experience. We had a great time with them and we also brought the cameraman from America. We had some of the key people from America and what they did was to use Nigerians; to try and impact their knowledge. It was a wonderful exchange of ideas and knowledge. Certainly, their skills level went up.

Whose decision was it to involve Bongos Ikwue?

Jeta Amata was the one who had a conversation, I think with Bongos Ikwue. He was discussing another film with Jeta and he said why don’t we do this one first before we go on to the other one? That was how this happened. I think Bongos Ikwue wanted to make a movie trailer from his music.

The story of Inale’ is simple. Why is this so?

It’s not everything that has to be complicated. The kids can come in and see it and understand. It’s a very simple musical, it’s not meant to be complicated. It’s not meant to be intense; it’s a little fairy tale. It shows that we don’t just have to do a love story with a witch putting a spell on a guy, we can do a lot of different things. This is one aspect of Nigerian filmmaking; this is the first musical that celebrates.

The story is meant to be simple and that’s the way it should be looked at. I really hope people in Nigeria go and see it and take along their children to see it so they can sing along to the songs and dance. It’s bright, it’s fun, it’s not meant to be intellectual and it also celebrates the music of a wonderful Nigerian artist.

Did you learn all the songs or it was voiced over?

I learnt all the songs.

Why did you choose to do a musical?

I think Bongos Ikwue wanted a little trailer of his music and it turned into a bigger thing. And I think it’s a really good idea because this is different, I haven’t seen it in Nigeria before. They might also appreciate it internationally.

What are you working on now?

The next one that is coming out is ‘Black Gold’. It is a drama, it is much more issue-based, much more complicated story but placed side by side, it shows that we have a range of stories to tell. I will be coming to do more Nigerian movies and they will have to be done from the same level, trying to raise the bar to international level.

There is one guy I am looking to working with, Kunle Afolayan, we are going to have discussions and hopefully I’ll come and do a movie with him. I love what he is trying to do, he has a vision and he is trying to push Nollywood to a better level. We Nigerians are capable of doing anything on international level, better than they are. We must begin to show them that.

What part of Nigeria are you from?

I am from Abeokuta, Ogun State. I was born in Lagos. Almost all my life I have spent abroad but I always come back for holidays. I stay in Victoria Island but I am getting to discover my country.

Can you speak Yoruba?

I can say one or two words. “Mo gbo Yoruba”. “Bawo ni”. “Se alafia ni”. “E kabo”. Things like that. I have a Yoruba tape. The last time I was here I bought a Yoruba CD but it’s really pretty hard to learn off a CD. I will love to learn my language. That’s one thing I regret my parent didn’t teach us, to speak our language.

That means you won’t be doing language films?

Not for now. Maybe one day I will come and spend some few months here to learn and comprehend the language.

Has ‘Inale’ been seen outside Nigeria?

Not yet, I will take it back to Los Angeles with me and to the global stage. It’s very different from that Nigerian type of thing so it will be interesting to see how they respond to it abroad.

What international projects are you working on?

I’ve just finished doing television, we got a lot of TV in the United States and my next project is going to be a film in South Africa.

How was it like on the set of ‘Hotel Rwanda’?

That was shot some years ago and I was living in South Africa then. It was also shot in South Africa. It was a great experience; it was my first experience of doing a film like that with international people coming over. Yes, it was such a wonderful idea to work out a wonderful story and I had a great time doing it.

You were also in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’

That was my first big movie in Hollywood; I was in ‘Wolverine’. You have to do big movies to understand that there is a difference in production levels. The amount of money they put into these productions, the technical nuance that they put into this thing, it is great. They are things I can bring back to Nigeria and help everybody with. That’s my learning curve which I will impart back home. It’s been great.

You have done a lot of Hollywood movies, can Nollywood afford you?

No. But you know what? If I was only coming in for the money, then I wouldn’t come in to do any other film. They can’t but it’s not about money. I’m a Nigerian, I want to fly the flag. We want to be proud; I want to stand tall as a Nigerian and be proud of who I am. I think that’s what’s most important.

The writer Adewale Maja-Pearce’ just published a sloppy biography of the literary icon John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo titled, ‘A Peculiar Tragedy: J.P. Clark-Bekederemo and the Beginning of Modern Nigerian Literature in English.’ Apparently Maja-Pearce dreamed up a proposal to write Clark’s biography and applied somewhere for a $63,000 grant to fund the project. When he did not get the grant, he approached Clark to foot the bill, Clark agrees to the proposal and pays Maja-Pearce one million naira, with more funding to come later. Maja-Pearce gets free access to Clark’s records, house and wine bar. Soon, things go wrong; Clark does not like the manuscript and balks at the use of a certain letter in which Maja-Pearce sought to represent that Clark “benefitted from an oil contract for services rendered to the nation following his support for the federal side during the civil war.” Actually, the letter gives no such impression. Clark was simply being a business man. I think it was irresponsible journalism on Maja-Pearce’s part to make such an insinuation. Anyhow, Maja-Pearce is unceremoniously ejected from Bekederemo’s world and he goes off in a huff, armed with a half-empty bottle of Clark’s wine to write a tell-all tale about the man.

We remember John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo’s epic and accessible poems like ‘Ibadan’, ‘Abiku’ and ‘Night Rain’. J.P Clark, as the world truly knows him, is a great postcolonial Nigerian playwright, poet and enigma who famously wrote the book, ‘America, Their America’, an analog blog about his experience in the America of the turbulent sixties. It is an angry book from cover to cover, written by a gifted young man railing against the alienation and sense of loss he felt upon turning the corner and seeing the nightmare that was their America. In the end he was unceremoniously ejected from America for being a prickly non-conformist. As a teenager, I was awed by the audacity of this warrior that went to America, hated the place and her patronising attitude, and spat at her faux generosity.

For one thing, Maja-Pearce’s analysis of the works of Soyinka, Okigbo and Clark is inchoate. He admits that he knows little about Okigbo’s poetry; however he only did some work on it because it “was just a job with a modest fee at the end of it.” There is a nobler precedent for this alleged biography. Decades ago, Paul Theroux befriended the writer VS Naipaul. The latter abruptly ended this friendship of three decades. Theroux did not take being dumped well; he wrote a caustic but important biography of Naipaul. Patrick French also wrote a biography of Naipaul. Neither biographer demanded a fee from Naipaul. Maja-Pearce’s attempt to recreate a Theroux-Naipaul drama falls short. There is no chemistry between the two men and Maja-Pearce is too eager to make a quick buck to establish a rapport with a clearly more complex thinker.

Grammatical issues plague the book and careless statements are paraded as facts. ‘A Peculiar Tragedy’ is a dizzy harvest of tipsy thoughts struggling to pass the sobriety test. Loopy drunken sentences drip with undeserved condescension. He quotes myriad sources but there is ample evidence that he did not read them thoroughly. Maja-Pearce’s analysis of Clark’s role during the Nigerian civil war is particularly offensive. The book lacks an appreciation for the complicated relationship minorities had among the major ethnic groups leading to, and even after, the Nigerian Civil war. There is scant evidence that he personally interviewed Soyinka, Achebe, Chukwuemeka Ike, etc. Missing were the insights of the female writers of the time, like Flora Nwapa, and Buchi Emecheta who arestill alive. The chapter on how to win the Nobel Prize is a long, tasteless riff about Soyinka and the laureateship. It is also a dated look at Nigerian literature; Maja-Pearce needs to spend some time reading the new works of writers to get a sense of the range of contemporary Nigerian literature in print and online.

The disrespect shown Okigbo, Soyinka, Achebe, Clark and even Odia Ofeimun is particularly troubling. There is no compassion for the bravery, intellect and erudition of these men who wrote and taught several generations of youth even as they were youths themselves. Despite their flaws, these men deserve our gratitude, not ridicule.

Despite my misgivings, I would still recommend this overpriced, disorganised book. Maja-Pearce spent a lot of time developing and accessing numerous sources. The cited sources alone are worth the steep cost of the book. It is a gossipy, fairly entertaining and engaging book written in an accessible style. He provides several useful insights about the lives of Clark, Achebe, Soyinka and Okigbo. Maja-Pearce is more at home with plays. In the book, he deploys intellectual muscle and rigour to the analysis of plays. The book provides some good history, showing Clark as a visionary when it comes to promoting our literature through literary journals (Mbari, Black Orpheus, etc). However, Maja-Pearce manages to diminish Clark’s contributions by ascribing significant credit to Ulli Beier. The author seems incapable of giving unqualified praise. I salute Professor John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo.

Meeting Ulli in 1962, with his small orange-coloured Cetron car, was by accident. He had come to visit his friend Duro Ladipo who was operating a beer parlour called ‘Popular Bar’. Ulli would have a stop-over to have one or two glasses of his favourite lager beer, Star. As he later narrated his campus experience to me during my visit to him and Georgina in Australia in 1985, he was more than happy to leave the campus environment. He succeeded in convincing the authority of the institution to approve his newly designed extra mural classes that afforded him to travel to many towns and villages of the then western region, organising lectures. It also gave him the opportunity to meet many Yoruba oral historians, priests and priestesses, Obas, artists and artistes. He never liked living with the university expatriate staff. He was more interested in meeting people outside the campus. Earlier, he was a founding member of the Mbari Club which though short-lived, in Ibadan at the back of a Lebanese restaurant called ‘I.Mudah’ – and later at Adamasigba area. Other members included Ezekiel Mphalele, J. P. Clark, Bruce Onobrakpeya and others.

Theatre patron

The Popular Bar in Osogbo was transformed to Mbari Osogbo. But Mbari later was re-christened Mbari-Mbayo, meaning “When I see – I shall be Happy” in Yoruba. Duro Ladipo who had lived in the north and returned to his birthplace – Osogbo – as a pupil teacher, also ran the Bar and managed the Ajax cinema which was situated near Latona Street, all in Osogbo.

Ulli also met dramatists like Kola Ogunmola and Oyin Adejobi. I remember watching Kola Ogunmola during his performances at the newly established Artists and Writers Club where he performed as a lead singer and an acoustic guitarist. He had two groups: A Dance band and a Drama Group. Ogunmola’s most popular play was ‘The Palmwine Drinkard’ which was an adaptation from Amos Tutuola’s book.

Usually, there was a kind of envy and jealousy among the three dramatists as each tried to ‘woo’ Ulli but he was more interested in what Duro was doing. He would raise funds for productions of Ogunmola and Duro. I remember him staying at our rehearsals from evening till early morning while preparing our production of ‘ObaKoso’ in readiness for the ‘Berliner Festwochen’ in 1964.

He met Georgina in Nigeria and soon she became another strong supporter of the theatre. In collaboration with some of us, we usually designed our costumes and back-drops.

Ulli in Kijipa

I remember when Ulli came to take pictures at the annual Ori-Oke Festival in Iragbiji, my hometown, without knowing we were going to work together in future! He had come with his first wife, Susanne. Dressed in the local ‘Kijipa’ Buba garment, he would be taking pictures while the wife would stay with the priests and the priestesses. Some of these photographs appear in Nigeria Magazine 1968.

After our Summer Experimental art school in 1963, it was he, who found us funds to buy materials for the continuation of our works until such a time when we were able to buy our own art supplies.

After leaving the theatre in 1966, I was staying in one of the apartments in his house on Ibokun Road, Osogbo. There, I was given space to do my works and sometimes I travelled with him as a research assistant. I was particularly with him while doing a research on the links between Ijero, Aramoko and Okuku. It was he who introduced me to people like ‘Uncle (Ambassador)’ Segun Olusola, Akin Euba and Segun Sofowote during the days of THEATRE EXPRESS. We performed the play ‘Morning, Noon and Night’ at Traverse Theatre Club in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1967. Ulli was instrumental to the possibility of staging that production.

My mentor

When he donated his artifacts collection to the defunct Institute of African Studies, he insisted that the collection must remain in Osogbo. I curated the collection for nine years (1967 to 1976) before it was relocated to another place by the Institute where it was vandalised. It was the late Jacob Afolabi who was in charge of the collection at the time.

I make Ulli my mentor for many reasons. Like a spiritualist, he had no lust for material things, he loved cultures of the world, he saw himself more as a universal being and more closely as a Yoruba man that he really was. I remember him for his love for traditional Agbegijo Theatre of Masks, for his literary works and for always willing to help promote works of known artists and writers, most especially of the so-called Third World. He has influenced me in the area of documentation of our oral literature. It was from him that I derived inspiration to build up my own collection, now known as ILE-ONA.

Muraina Oyelami, Eesa of Iragbiji and master Osogbo artist, was one of those that attended Ulli Beier’s art workshops in Osogbo in the 60s.

Culture figures and organisations have continued to pay tribute to the late German linguist, Ulli Beier, who died on Sunday, April 3 in Sydney, Australia.

The remains of the scholar whose pioneering work in South Western Nigeria served as a launch-pad for arts and culture in the country in the 50s and 60s, were cremated on Friday, April 8 after a church service for family members in Australia.

Babawale on Beier

A statement from Tunde Babawale, Director General, Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) said that the late linguist will be sorely missed.

“Ulli Beier would be remembered as a lover of Africa and a man whose passion for Yoruba cultural heritage remains a global reference point. He will be sorely missed by all Afrocentric scholars and lovers of African literature.” Babawale also acknowledged the contributions of Beier to the development and popularisation of Yoruba arts and culture. He said, “Ulli Beier provided an enduring platform for interaction between Yoruba indigenous ideas, beliefs and practices and the European cultural space, the legacy of which is the Iwalewa House at the University of Bayreuth which continues to host scholars in different areas of African Studies.” The CBAAC DG further lauded Beier’s contribution to the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), a UNESCO category two institute in Osogbo, Osun State. The centre houses archival materials Beier and his wife, Georgina, started to collect in the 1950s. The materials in the centre’s gallery include books, articles, photographs, videos, audio-cassettes, records and CDs. The collection, Babawale noted, provide, “a photographic history of Yoruba traditional institution, architecture, artistes and other areas of Yoruba culture.” Babawale also praised Beier’s efforts at translating the works of Nigerian authors, which made them accessible. “He discovered, encouraged and collaborated with notable artists and writers such as Wole Soyinka and the late Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola among others. He also contributed to the popular African Writer Series under the pseudonym, Obotunde Ijimere.”

Osun Government

Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, said of Beier’s activities in Nigeria,: “He encouraged the production of ‘Oba Koso’, a world class drama that confirmed the sophistication of African people before the advent of colonialists. At the formation of the Centre for Black Culture and Civilisation and the recognition of Osun Osogbo by UNESCO, Beier played the role of a giant and an honourable man. These and other roles mark him out. Like all mortals, Ulli Beier, a cultural titan, has gone to the land of the spirits but his giant footprints remain indelible and matchless in the character of great minds that shaped the course of mankind.” Aregbesola added, “May his tribe continue to come into our land for the good of man and the benefit of mankind. We shall surely miss him.”

Federal Government

Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq, in a statement said: “His legacy on Nigeria’s cultural heritage-literary, visual and performing arts especially in the fifties and sixties- was great and that his name evokes strong, almost cult-like feelings among his devotees as well as on the ordinary artisans in Ilobu, Ife, Osogbo, Ede and its environs.”

London Gallery

John Martin, owner of the London Gallery of the same name who had not known of Beier’s passing until he was contacted by NEXT, said: “He is one of the great unsung heroes of art and I think his significance will only be really understood in years to come. Partly it is the fact that he took a back seat and was, rightly, prepared to duck out of the limelight in favour of the artists he nurtured, encouraged and promoted.” The John Martin Gallery staged a month-long exhibition of the works of late Osogbo artist, Asiru Olatunde in 2005. Many of the pieces in the exhibition, titled ‘Asiru Olatunde: Chasing Dreams’ were loaned to Martin by Ulli Beier’s Iwalewa Haus. Beier also wrote the foreword to the exhibition brochure.

A commemorative event will hold today, Sunday, April 10, in Beier’s home in Annandale, Sydney, to be attended by friends and former colleagues, for the celebration of his life and work.