Nigeria Content Online

One of the most
gratifying manifestations in the growth and professionalism of
photography in Nigeria is how the present ‘young’ generation of
photographers have embraced the ideals of working together in
collectives, networking and their staunch refusal to be drawn into the
simplistic frame of mind that they are in competition with one another
as photographers.

They have, by
adopting these positive ideals, been able to achieve as a group, a
remarkable level of social responsibility in generating a huge body of
authentic documentary images of ourselves as a people in all spheres of
life. Our eminent historians and literary people have always advocated
that we are, and remain, the best positioned people to write our
history and tell our stories. Our photographers have now followed suit.

A lot of praise
must go to Uche James Iroha, an accomplished international-award
winner, for his brave and unselfish decision to invite other equally
talented, aspiring and inspired photographers to collectively
contribute towards the production of Unifying Africa; a book of huge
relevance, captivating images and in-depth documentary strength.

This book offers a
comprehensive coverage on the very important and topical subject of how
Africans participate in and celebrate the world’s most popular and
beautiful game, Football. It offers lasting evidence to show that, for
long, Africans have brought their own special traits; on the field as
players and in the terraces and beyond as spectators and fans, to the
game of football.

A visual feast

As the Chinese say,
many more flowers make a garden more beautiful. And in Unifying Africa,
we are given a wonderful visual feast served up by diverse ‘specialist’
eyes/views on the enormous impact of football on the lives of Africans
and vice versa.

A 460-page
hardcover ‘horizontal’ coffee-table book, Unifying Africa; edited by
Uche James Iroha, is a beautifully-printed and packaged book. Right
from the unique cover image of a football made from many patches of
African fabrics (illustrated by Iroha himself), we are given a
documentary treat on the ‘Africanisation’ of football culture from an
art photography perspective as against a sports photography approach.
Featured are twelve photographers: Abiodun Salu (Nigeria), Abraham
Oghobase (Nigeria), Adolphus Opara (Nigeria), Ananias Leki Dago (Cote
de Ivoire), Andrew Esiebo (Nigeria), Chiemela Azurunwa (Nigeria),
Ebiware Okiy (Nigeria), George Osodi (Nigeria), Michael Tsegaye
(Ethiopia), Marcus Obika (Nigeria), Uche Okpa Iroha (Nigeria) and Uche
James Iroha (Nigeria). Other major contributions are drawings by Duke
Asidere (Nigeria), Ibe Ananaba (Nigeria), and text by scholar Frank
Ugiomoh (Nigeria) Uche James Iroha; with Kaine Agary (Nigeria) editing
the text.

The book is divided
into nine sections: Landscape, Style, Urban Culture, Pride, Belief,
Action, Ecstasy, Passion and Family. These might be for conceptual
reasons, but the nature of most of the photographs is so all-embracing
that they overlap these categorisations. The time-frame of the
photographs is recent; from the mid-2000. A lot of the images are from
the 2008 26th Africa (Football) Cup of Nations championship hosted by
Ghana in Accra, Tamale, Sekondi and Kumasi. In all though, the images
are more spread out and from locations in Nigeria, Cameroun, Benin
Republic, Ghana, Cote de Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and
Ethiopia.

A social vehicle out of poverty

With each image
identified on the basis of What, Where and When, the book begins with
overwhelming evidence in the Landscape category that football is played
everywhere in any available space and diverse terrains in rural and
urban areas; from rubber plantations, to farms, paved streets, open
dirt grounds and beaches. Right from this category, it becomes obvious
that exuberance has overtaken the need for tighter editing and choice
of photographs, resulting in too many variations of the same idea of
where football is played across Africa.

The book makes well
the point that especially for the young males, playing football is now
the social vehicle out of poverty in Africa. It also highlights the
improvisational nature of the sport in terms of venues, outfits, balls
used and the very idea of pick-up teams and games with varying number
of players. There is little reference in images on female football and
the unusual novelty of mixed teams and games.

The plebeian origin
of football in England explains its mass support and in Africa it has
become an avenue for mass social expression. Within this context,
photographs in the book examine the issues of identity and loyalty; the
total immersion of fans and supporters that evoke extremes of both
passion and pleasure that waver from ecstasy to death! That football,
especially at nation level, unearths uncontrollable emotions in
Africans of all ages and gender, is well documented.

Fan passion, fan fashion

We are shown that
fan passion and fan fashion have made football a carnival of costumes
and emotions in Africa! It is obvious that all the photographs of fans
at the Cup of Nations were taken from the terraces and the
photographers have successfully documented the live theatre of the
bizarre, absurd and sublime; thankfully devoid of the hooliganism and
violence of European football fans, but full of weird images of people
dropping their pants, praying and prophesying in hybrids of religious
costumes and objects of worship. Predictably, the intriguing art of
body and face painting as well as the variety of musical instruments
employed are also well documented.

The foot and the ball

However, for a book
of such magnitude in concept and reach, there are bound to be a few
hiccups. Each photograph should have been credited, the use of text on
the body of photographs is uncomplimentary/disrespectful of the images
(remains a debateable point), there are many wrong, weak and verbose
captions and one image is printed upside down. These are however minor
points in an overall excellent collection of documentary photographs,
most of which are in colour.

When you have a
collection of about five hundred photographs on different aspects of
the same theme (not pre-planned or commissioned) by photographers of
varying competence and familiarity with the subject, you are bound to,
as in the case of Unifying Africa, end up with very many good
photographs but few great photographs!

It is no surprise
then, that the exceptional photographs are those that explore the two
important components of the game of football: the foot and ball! One of
such outstanding photographs, is of feet painted to simulate the design
of a football boot with the ankles painted to simulate hoses in
national colours; an oblique artistic statement on what dazzling and
inventive things African football players can do with their
feet/natural boots. Another is the image of a bare-bodied player
intimately holding a ball to his waist; a commentary on why African
players in the face of their foreign coaches’ perplexion love to hold
on to the ball! These images are by two gifted award-winning
photographers; James and Okpa Iroha respectively.

Unifying Africa is
in many ways an A-plus photographic book that deserves pride of place
in any collection or library as a visual documentary on Africa and the
sport of football.

Uncle Wole, creator
and host of the long rested popular children’s programme on TV, ‘Animal
Games’, is one of many Nigerians excelling in fields other than their
course of study. The graduate of the British Boot and Shoe Institution,
England, and holder of a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies, is
famous as a TV presenter.

His journey into
fame started while studying in England in the 60s. He used to watch
Australian, Rolf Harris’ show but didn’t know the programme would
eventually inspire him. Back in Nigeria, he told his friend, Dejumo
Lewis, actor-producer who played ‘Kabiyesi’ in ‘Village Headmaster’, of
his intention to create a programme for children.

“He said: let’s go
to the Children’s Department at NTA. When we got there, I met the then
head of department, Ola Edu. I told her I have the mind of creating a
programme that has to do with animals, games and music for children.
She said she would buy it and gave me an appointment for another
meeting,” he recalls.

In what appears an
initial setback, Edu was transferred to another department. But luckily
for the former choirboy, Edu’s replacement, Frances Adebajo, also
bought the idea. Akinosho proposed two programmes, ‘Yankari Safari’ and
the then unnamed ‘Animal Games’ to Adebajo but she preferred ‘Animal
Games’.

“She said I’m
listing down the programme for next quarter’s production. That was how
we started and the very first programme we had, we had the lion as the
star animal because for each programme we always had a star animal for
the week.

“I had already
prepared information about lions, so I invited a school and we had a
rehearsal. I brought a school the following week but I just noticed
that some other children already were there. I asked who invited them
and they said they saw it on TV; that they are interested in it. In no
time, the audience was gathering. At a time, there wasn’t enough space
to contain all the children. We had to drive some of them to the
canteen to watch TV and they kept crying.” A generation grew up on
‘Animal Games’, which eventually ran on NTA for more than a decade
before it was rested. During the course of presenting the programme,
Akinosho picked up playing the guitar and organ. He was also able to
express his creativity with the challenges of churning out fresh ideas
weekly. The entertainer – who had previously worked in shoe factories
and thought combining his job as a civil servant with the Lagos State
Government and presenting the programme was going to be easy – had a
rethink when the stress became unbearable.

Fine spirits

While some swear by
the entertainment caution, ‘Never work with children or animals’, the
opposite is the case with Akinosho who loves “playing with them because
they are innocent, they have fine spirits. They are easy to train and
they give you good attention. They learn quickly and they respond
positively. I enjoyed being with them. They make you happy once you
make them happy. That was our focus, to make everybody happy.” However,
it isn’t a one way thing for Uncle Wole. “A lesson I learnt is that
you, the presenter, must be interested in what you are doing because if
the animal for this week is lion, I will look into books to get all
necessary information on lions. After that I could write a script for a
short drama sketch and I could even write a song on it. So, for each
programme I will write the sketch, the script for the sketch, the song
that goes with the star animal for the week and even the games, I
created a lot of them myself. Then for that programme, I will go to
schools, rehearse the children and have dress rehearsal before going on
TV. It is interest that matters in anything one does. And I’m glad that
the programme turned out to be very successful.”

Perks of the job

Some of the
benefits Uncle Wole derived from presenting ‘Animal Games’ include
invitations to emcee events, including the Presidency during the tenure
of Shehu Shagari with Julie Coker and Sola Omole; enjoying preferential
treatment on planes and airports, greetings from fans and getting gifts.

One experience,
though, remains fresh in his memory. “I wanted to buy a Datsun. It was
with an Alhaji in Ilorin. That time, the cost of the car was N8, 000 so
I paid N6, 000; that when I get my original receipt, I will pay the
balance of N2, 000. Instead of the man to give me my original receipt,
he brought a policeman from Ilorin to threaten me to pay the money.
Then, if you are not careful, you will get a new car but within a week
or two, it will be gone because stealing was very rampant those days. I
was asked to report at Alagbon CID; that was the first time I got to
that place. When I got there, the Alhaji was standing by. The man we
were to see, we got to the room but he wasn’t there so we were looking
round for him. Suddenly a man in mufti saw me and asked if I was Uncle
Wole. I said yes. He embraced me and said I’ve been thinking of meeting
you; just come to my office.

“By then, more
police officers and others had surrounded us. When we got into the
office he asked what I wanted for breakfast and I requested for coffee.
He said: look, before I even go into your matter, my child is dying to
come to that programme. I said ask her to be there on Wednesday at 4pm,
she will be my guest on the programme. We settled that and he asked
what brought me. The officer turned out to be the then head of Alagbon.
I’ve forgotten his name now. He asked the Alhaji for the receipt and I
had already prepared a certified bank cheque of N2, 000. I showed it to
him and he asked him why he didn’t give me the receipt. He was trying
to give excuses and he told him you are one of those who sell cars and
go back to steal them. That I give you up to Thursday, if I don’t get
that receipt on my table here, you are in for trouble.”

Mr Emcee

Over time, Uncle
Wole blossomed into a full time emcee, anchoring events for companies
including Chevron, Mobil, Unilever, Cadbury, PZ and Nestle among
others. He also established an outfit which entertained weekly. “I had
this party going on every week and sometimes we had about six
programmes a week. Then I established the Animal Games Club, with
chapters in Lagos. During Easter, we entertained people and during
Christmas, we organised programmes like Telematch , carnivals and so
many things. I created Nido Games for Nestle, to promote Nido.” What
eventually happened to ‘Yankari Safari’?

“I just dropped
that idea because ‘Animal Games’ was expanding. It engaged a lot of my
time so I didn’t have time for any other programme. We even had our own
magazine.”

I‘ll be back

Uncle Wole, like a
number of people who believe things are on a downward trend, isn’t too
enamoured of current children’s television programmes. “Nowadays, most
of those that handle children’s programme, you don’t see any commitment
in their work. Our basic idea then was to entertain, educate and inform
the children. That was the philosophy behind our programme but
nowadays, the ideas are not so deep. The philosophies behind the
programmes are not so deep,” he states.

Though it hasn’t been on TV in years, the Sunday school
superintendent at African Church Cathedral, Bethel, Lagos, hasn’t given
up on ‘Animal Games’. “What we are trying to do is go back to TV and
continue with the production of ‘Animal Games’. I’m trying to see which
TV station will best handle the programme but we are trying to put it
back on TV. Technically, we still do party entertainment and schools
programmes.”

My doctor saw me
the other day and accused me of avoiding her. I am avoiding her. We
have since kissed and made up. I am at that age when doctors and your
loved ones treat you as if you are going to die anytime soon. I don’t
blame them; old age is the leading cause of death in America behind
marriage, alcohol, and sex. Well, I am married, so forget sex; and I
don’t believe cognac and Chilean Malbec are considered alcohol, so that
leaves me with the burden of old age. The prognosis is grim: Old age
will kill me. But my doctor is determined to keep me alive by killing
me. I shall explain.

My doctor wants to
kill me. Enh, you ask? She has put me on a hunger strike. And now, I am
hungry, very hungry. Everything looks and smells good, even people, and
I just want to eat anything. My newspaper column would taste great with
some hot pepper splashed on it. But I can’t eat. My doctor is trying to
kill me. But she thinks she is saving my black ass. Who cares? I just
want to eat. Even if it kills me.

So, how did I get
to this point when I am not allowed to eat anything other than
cardboard sautéed in mineral water? My doctor claims this is for my own
good, but really, she is looking out for herself. She sees me the way a
farmer sees a cash cow. The longer I stay alive, the longer she can
bill my health insurance for the cost of her Maserati, her Lexus, her
mansion, etc. What good is a dead patient to a doctor?

My doctor is
always saying, “You know you are getting old (she keeps saying that!).
Stop drinking cognac, stop eating beef, stop eating shrimp, they are
bad for you.” She even knows about egusi and cholesterol, and she is
Jewish! I avoid going to her like one avoids the Nigeria Police.

But she has
tricks: she refuses to renew my maintenance medications until she sees
me. Maintenance medications? Well, it is like this. Once you get to a
certain age, many important body parts begin to refuse to work as
advertised, and you have to take maintenance medications daily to get
them to do their job.

So my doctor
decides I have to do this procedure where they look inside your
roun’about (intestines, etc) to see whether death is growing things
inside there! Olorun ma je! These doctors, what will they think of
next? She instructs me not to eat anything solid for 24 hours before
the time of this unnecessary experiment (it is unnecessary! I will not
die! Death is not my portion! I bind it in the name of Orunmila! Ase!).

I come from a land
of hardy people. Ask my mother. She has survived calamities that died
before they could kill her. And she did not even know it. Diseases come
to die in my part of the world. And we are still here. My doctor says I
may drink lots of fluids and clear broth, but no solid food. Clear
broth! Ah, I know what broth means. So I ask my wife if egusi soup is
clear broth. She says no, but I think it is clear broth because I can
see clearly the things inside the egusi broth… tripe, snails, cow leg,
smoked fish…

Well, I survived
that ordeal. I am now eating things. Things? The things that I eat, oh,
the things that I now have to eat. I cannot eat salt, absolutely no
salt. How bad is that? Try eating a bucket of fried eggs that has no
salt and that was fried with water (yes, water!) and without the egg
yolk. Hear my wife: “Ah! Ikhide! Bad cholesterol! Bad, bad! Bad
Cholesterol! Not good for you!”.

Or try eating
egusi that was not cooked with palm oil: “Ah! Ikhide! Bad cholesterol!
Bad, bad! Bad Cholesterol! Not good for you!” These things allegedly
should keep me as old as Methuselah. (“Hurray!” chant my creditors.)
They might as well let me die and then mummify me. That way, it is a
win-win situation for everybody. I get to rest in peace and they get to
keep my gorgeous body.

Life without the
things I love is hell. I have not had a drink of Chilean Malbec for a
long time now. My wife agrees with my doctor’s libelous opinion of
alcohol: “Ah! Ikhide, you know you are getting old! Be responsible! If
something happens to you who will pay all these bills? And who will
drive all these children to their soccer games and their dances and the
shopping malls? Who will take out the trash? And I would have to marry
again! I hope the person is rich this time! Olorun ma je!”

Since I stopped drinking Malbec, life has been strange. I walk
around all calm and at peace with the world; all my cells seem to be at
ease. Who wants to live like this? Shoot me somebody.

On Friday, July 23,
at CMS Grammar school, Bariga, Footprint group organised the third
edition of its show titled ‘moonlight’. The event, which took place at
the school’s multipurpose hall, had a number of Nigerian artists, and
dance and musical groups in performance.

The show was
anchored by founder of the Footprint group, Fabunmi Koffivi, who moved
the audience with his comedy acts as he introduced the guest artists
that were present at the event such as 2phat, Da Preacher man, Double
P; performing groups such as Crown Troupe of Africa, Theatre Centric
group, Superior Heritage group; and comedians Owen G and Koffi.

According to
Koffivi, Footprint is an “artistic group, which majors in dance, drama
and music, with the aim to bring secondary school students close to the
literary world.” In doing this, he said, “We try to bring young people
together and teach them things about contemporary African dance, music,
and drama. We also decided to treat secondary school texts in order to
enable (students) understand, not just to read and pass alone but to
understand the importance of literature.”

As part of the
show, a play by J.C. Degraft titled ‘Sons and Daughters’, was staged.
The play centres on an illiterate father (James Ofosu), whose singular
belief is that his children can only be successful if they pursue
professions such as law, medicine or engineering. Lawyer Bonu, a close
friend of the family, encourages Ofosu to force his daughter (Manaan)
to come and work with him.

Perhaps the most
notable performance of the play was that of the major character Lovelyn
Inyang Fasunmi who played the role of Hannah, the uneducated mother who
nevertheless supports her children’s choice of career. Another
outstanding performance was that of Oluwayinka Oluwatosin, a student of
CMS grammar school, who in the role of Ofosu inspired laughter from
audience members.

The play however
recorded a few gaffes such as the improperly constructed set as well as
the need for some of the actors to come on stage with their scripts.
Koffivi who played Ofosu also mixed up his lines and struggled with his
performance till the end of the play.

Koffivi, the
founder and instructor of the group gave reasons for his seeming
unpreparedness at the end of the play. According to him, the love for
arts made him pick up the role of Ofosu when the actor who was to play
that role failed to show-up for the performance. “Any mistake that was
made on stage will make me improve on my weak part in his next
performance,” he remarked confidently.

During the
entertainment session, which was anchored by on-air-personality from
Wazobia FM, James Expensive, the audience was regaled with comedy and
musical acts.

Students from
Bishop Howell Memorial College, and CMS Grammar School were given the
opportunity to win gifts during the show. Desire Onyenucheya, one of
the lucky students expressed appreciation to the organisers of the
event, “I learnt a lot of things from today’s show – be yourself and
work hard to get what you want”.

Koffivi identified one of the major challenges he faced in
organising the event, as finance. He however expressed hope that in the
future the group might obtain more institutional support to enable it
stage better performances.

Nobel Laureate,
Wole Soyinka, charged him with blowing his father’s trumpet at the
recent book launch for Tunde Fagbenle, veteran columnist for Sunday
Punch. But trumpets, or more specifically, saxophones, are not all that
O.T Fagbenle, Anglo-Nigerian son of Tunde Fagbenle, has his hands on.

Olatunde Fagbenle,
who describes himself as an actor, a saxophonist, and a singer in that
order, was born in the United Kingdom 30 years ago. OT, as he is
popularly known, returned to Nigeria at the age of two and lived in
Yaba, Lagos, until he relocated to Spain when he was nine. Following
this, OT’s grandmother bought him a saxophone and enrolled him for
music lessons. He joined the South Coast Jazz band at age 10.

Theatre
practitioner and a good friend of Fagbenle senior, Rufus Orisayomi (who
died earlier this year), initiated OT into the African theatre when the
youngster was 14 years old.

He was one of the
34 successful candidates admitted into the prestigious Royal Academy of
Dramatic Arts (RADA) in the UK in his year. He was there for three
years, learning all aspects of drama and theatre, from Shakespeare to
sword fighting, dance, diction, accents, voice projection, stage
movements, and television techniques.

After viewing OT’s
performance in a school production, an agent approached him, and got
him his first Broadway performance: a role in Lauren Hansberry’s ‘Le
Blancs’.

Theatre

OT has not looked
back. According to the actor, “I played a myriad of roles. I played a
Trinidadian, a Nigerian, street boy roles, posh boy roles, and even
Shakespeare characters; I cut my tooth on these different roles.”

Manchester’s Royal
Exchange Theatre offered OT the lead role in ‘Six Degrees of
Separation’, the John Guare play made popular by its adapted movie
version starring Will Smith. OT played Paul, a fast talking young black
con-man, earning the Manchester Evening News (MEN) award for Best Lead
Role Actor in Manchester.

Television

But then, OT
decided to take a break from theatre. “I felt that I had come full
circle and had established myself as a theatre actor,” he explains.

OT’s efforts in
getting into TV began with appearances in a few episodes of the
long-running UK soap opera, ‘Eastenders’. Other television credits
include roles in other UK productions: Casualty (2004), Holly Oaks
(2004), Doctors (2004), Marple (2006), Grown Ups (2006), Little Miss
Jocelyn (2006-2008), Quarter Life(2008), Doctor Who (2008), and
Material Girl (2010).

Movies

In 2004, he acted
in the movie, ‘Breaking and Entering’, in which he featured alongside
Jude Law and Juliette Binoche. It was directed by the late Academy
Award winning director, Anthony Minghella, whom Fagbenle fondly
describes as “a beautiful, talented individual.” In his slightly self
deprecating manner, he confides that during the production of the
movie, “I got to hang out with stars.”

Though describing
his movie experiences as a lot more glamorous than theatre, Fagbenle
admits that theatre is “almost natural to me, so I find it easier.” He
explained further that theatre actors can manipulate their performance
and voices to suit the size of the audience, theatre acoustics,
ambience, and other theatrical considerations. “I’ve been doing TV for
a while, and I’m only just beginning to feel that I’m getting a hang of
it.”

Fagbenle sees no
big difference between the small screen and the silver screen. To him,
“the big difference is between stage and TV.” His movie performances
include: ‘I could never be your woman’, in which he starred alongside
Michelle Pfeiffer (2006); ‘Walter’s War’, a biopic of the first black
officer in the British army; ‘Consuming Passions’, a BBC production;
and ‘Double Wedding’. The accomplished actor’s latest efforts are as
character, Dave Holland, in movies ‘Thorne: Scaredy Cat’ and ‘Thorne:
Sleepy Head’, scheduled for release in October 2010.

Fagbenle has also
been involved in several radio productions, such as in a BBC’s radio
adaptation of ‘The Color Purple’, which won the Sony Radio Academy
Awards for Drama in 2009; and ‘Westway’, a radio soap opera. He has
earned himself an impressive reputation outside Nigeria, as his work
has taken him to locations in Scotland, Jamaica, America, Canada,
Barbados, Hong Kong, China, and Germany.

Asked what plans he
has to extend his career to his country of origin, he replies that “I
love being in Nigeria. I’m looking for the right opportunity and have
been speaking to some producers. “

Mainframe
Production’s Tunde Kelani is one of those OT would like to work with.
Interestingly, for someone who has earned his career success on TV,
Fagbenle does very little television viewing. “I have a TV in my house,
but I never turn it on. I know I should expand my television watching,
but I need something to stand out and be unmissable before I can view
it,” he says simply. His interests instead are books, meeting people,
and spending time with his family.

Humility

The actor plays
Blues, Funk and Highlife; and he has had an opportunity to mesh his
dual passions for music and acting in ‘Quarterlife’, a TV drama
produced in the United States. He plays a a singer in the production;
and co-wrote the music with Stefno Moses.

A very humble
person, Fagbenle declares, “The truth is, I’m not really that good. I
recognise mediocrity; and I achieve it often in music, and hate myself
for it. I am a fair critic of myself, so I know I do not do music as
well as I act.”

On his dual
cultural influences, the actor says he feels more Nigerian in the UK.
“I am considered white here (Nigeria) and black there (UK).” He
declares, however, that “Race is an idea I reject. There is no
biological basis for it.” When asked by this reporter to demonstrate
his knowledge of the Yoruba culture and language, he replies “My Yoruba
is coming ‘die, die’. People always laugh when I try to speak the
language; half happy that I am trying, and half amused at my accent.”

His opinion on the
Nigerian entertainment scene is that the industry is experiencing an
exciting transition. He says, “The skills in editing, sound design, and
production quality are improving. I look forward to the time when
Nigerian movie productions will be shown in major movie cinemas
worldwide.”

Fagbenle also has a
view on what he terms ‘the Lagos life’. According to him, “Lagos is one
of the most exciting cities in the world. I hear people say life in New
York is tough, but I disagree. I think if you can make it here in
Lagos, you are fine anywhere else. Lagos is a no-nonsense place; and
like my father titled his latest book, there are a lot of cries, but
also a lot of joys experienced by its people.”

The actor explains
further that economic differences, rather than cultural differences,
are Nigeria’s biggest problems, making mention of the inequitable
distribution of wealth, as well as class differences.

Acclaim

A lover of Nigerian
music, his favourite Nigerian artiste is Fela Kuti, while he also
expresses his appreciation for the more contemporary single, ‘Fi mi
le’, by musician, Kas. Nigerian movies, however, have not impressed the
international actor much as he admits that “I haven’t watched any movie
that stood out; I am still waiting for that knock out.” His best
African literature of all time is ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe.

Fagbenle’s most
challenging role, he says was in Trevor Nunn’s , ‘Porgy and Bess: The
Musical’, which he describes as “an amazing, heart breaking story”
performed in London West end with a 26 piece orchestra.

Based in the United
Kingdom, Fagbenle also lives in the United States for about five months
a year; and hopes to start spending more time in Nigeria. On his
aspirations for the future, he declares that “Ultimately, I prefer
acting, and am happy as an actor.”

And as reward for
pursuing his singular passion for acting, OT Fagbenle has received a
number of honours and awards, including his inclusion in the 100 faces
of RADA, alongside the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Clive Owen, and
Sir John Gielgud.

In October 2006,
Fagbenle got critical acclaim for his performance in the Tony
Award-winning ‘Porgy and Bess: The Musical’; and in 2008, he was the
recipient of an Outstanding Achievement Award at the 13th African Film
Awards.

Ten years from now, the still single actor hopes to have “found
love”; to be able to support his family and siblings, and to contribute
his part to improving the world. Career wise, he hopes to “be involved
in projects that affect lives, and to star in meaningful productions
while, of course, making excessive amounts of money.”

The third Fidelity
Bank International Creative Writing Workshop themed ‘The Glory of
Nigerian Letters: Preserving the Tradition’ ended on Thursday, July 22
with a well attended closing ceremony at Ladi Kwali Hall, Sheraton
Hotel and Towers, Abuja.

Award winning
author and Creative Writing teacher at George Mason University,
Fairfax, Virginia, US, Helon Habila, was lead facilitator at the one
week training where 20 aspiring writers were taken through their paces.
Co-facilitators were: Zimbabwean writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Canadian
Madeleine Thien, and Jamaican, Colin Channer.

Our pride

Managing Director
of Fidelity Bank Plc, Reginald Ihejiahi, commended Habila and his team
in an address delivered on his behalf by Hassan Imam, regional manager
of the bank’s Abuja office. “Helon Habila is our pride; the pride of
this giant nation. A worthy Ambassador that deserves all the honour and
respect we can afford to accord him. We established this international
creative writing workshop three years ago and here we are today,
keeping our word, in line with our promise to Nigerians,” he said.

He added, “We
established this workshop as part of activities geared towards
promoting and preserving Nigeria’s literary tradition. It gives me joy
to inform you that graduates of this revolutionary effort have made
rapid progress in their writing careers in the domestic and
international arenas. Tolu Ogunlesi, Uche Umez, Eghosa Imasuen, Jumoke
Verissimo and Nze Sylva Ifedigbo are a few of the beneficiaries of the
workshop who have moved on to higher levels of accomplishment in their
chosen careers.” The first two editions of the workshops were
facilitated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Invest in Literature

The literati and
other guests attended the event, chaired by Mohammed Abba Gana, a
former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory who came with his
wife. Former president, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Abubakar
Gimba; Ken Ike Okere of the Abuja Literary Society; Emman Usman Shehu
of the Abuja Writers Forum; Eugenia Abu of the Nigerian Television
Authority (NTA); Jeremy Weate of Cassava Republic, Habila’s Nigerian
publishers; and Abdukadir Alkassim, who represented, Jerry Agada, the
ANA president were also present. The Ministers of Tourism, Culture and
National Orientation and his FCT counterpart also sent representatives.

Gimba opened the
reading session of the evening with a poem from his ‘The Honourable
Woman’. He later commended Fidelity Bank and urged corporate Nigeria to
also invest in literature. “During my tenure as President of ANA, we
tried all we could to get corporate Nigeria to invest in literature but
met a brick-wall. Today, I am happy with what Fidelity Bank Plc is
doing and would want to appeal to other corporate organisations to
follow Fidelity’s footsteps. Having said that, I do hope that this crop
of graduates will maintain the tradition and move on to greater heights
in the writing profession for that is the only way we can encourage
Fidelity Bank to be proud of their investment and for others to be
encouraged to invest in the literary arts industry that had hitherto
been neglected.”

Shehu, Habila and
some others also read from their works. The evening became livelier as
participants and guests spoke about books they have read and the impact
on them. This session affirmed that contrary to insinuations that
Nigerians don’t read, they do.

Mrs Abba Gana and
the Canadian Cultural Attaché to Nigeria, Christian Desroches later
presented certificates to the 20 graduates.

Like Gimba, Habila commended Fidelity Bank at the ceremony. He also
thanked the faculty for coming to Nigeria to help budding writers learn
the basic rudiments of creative writing. “I am particularly glad with
the quality and quantity of work samples received for this workshop.
Most importantly for the brilliance of the 20 eventually selected to
participate in the workshop. I think they have what it takes to make
Nigeria proud. They can help keep the tradition,” he said of the
participants.

Malawian writer
Stanley Onjezani Kenani was a memorable participant at the 2010 Caine
Workshop, held earlier this year in Kenya. He regularly gave impromptu
mini performances, quoting long lines from Shakespeare’s plays and the
canonical poets; and listeners could only marvel at the evidence of a
lifetime of reading and the writer’s feat of memory.

Kenani’s short
story, ‘For Honour’, won the third prize in the 2007 HSBC/SA PEN
competition (Henrietta Rose-Innes and Petina Gappah pipped him to first
and second places respectively). The judge, J.M Coetzee, described ‘For
Honour’ as “a deceptively simple story that finds a new and creative
way of approaching the tragic subject matter of AIDS.” The story
garnered even more acclaim on being shortlisted for the 2008 Caine
Prize for African Writing. Kenani’s poetry credentials are also
impressive, having performed on the same stage as the legendary poets
of nationhood, Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish and South African Dennis
Brutus.

Early literature heroes

Asked how he became
a writer, Kenani initially says, “It’s a very difficult question.” But
then he offers an answer, saying, “I became a writer because I’m a
reader. I have a passion for reading widely.” He cites his first
literature heroes as “Malawian writers who are not known in the rest of
the world: namely Jolly Max Ntaba and Willie Zingani. They were huge
influences on me.”

Kenani grew up in a
Malawian village where there were no libraries, but the teachers
fuelled his love of reading by giving him books by Ntaba and Zingani.
Particular favourites were Ntaba’s ‘Chichewa’ (“a sort of magical
realism in our language”) and ‘Mtima Sukhuta’ (the heart is never
satisfied). At the age of 12, Kenani moved to the town of Kasungo,
where he kept up his love of reading by borrowing from the local
library. “I ended up reading all the books in that library. I was able
to read Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’, which I found very
interesting. I still have huge passages in my head,” he says – and
renders as if on cue the first paragraph of Achebe’s classic novel.
“Very moving book,” he declares.

Once President of
the Malawi Writers Union (MAWU), Kenani recalls that, “It was [at the
age of 12] that I began to write short stories.” The Malawi News
published short stories every Saturday; the young Kenani could not
afford the newspaper, but luckily, a friend used to buy it and let him
read. The name of the friend is supplied; names of people and places as
well as dates are always drawn from Kenani’s huge memory vault, so a
conversation with him is a narrative in itself.

Quote after quote

“I kept improving.
I wanted to write a novel even by the age of 15,” he continues. By now,
he had moved on to secondary education in a new town, Dedza. It was “a
Catholic School, and it had a beautiful library, well stocked.” The
budding writer took science subjects but read voraciously in his spare
time. Two books read around this period, remain significant for him:
‘Bulldog Drummond’ and ‘The Black Gang’ by Sapper (the pseudonym for
Cyril McNeile). “These are books that I’ve read repeatedly since Form
One – even till now. They teach me about putting humour in my writing,”
he informs.

As a student of
Accountancy at the University of Malawi, he found himself reading a lot
of poetry. It is at this point in the conversation that he quotes, with
a beatific smile on his face, immortal lines from Dylan Thomas and W.H.
Auden. “Marvellous poet,” Kenani says of Auden, adding that, “I also
love Robert Herrick”. Cue another quote, this time from Herrick’s ‘To
the Virgins, to Make Much of Time’ and ‘Delight in Disorder’.

Malawi’s most famous poet

Kenani became a
practising poet in his first year at university, and says he got a lot
of encouragement from “Malawi’s most famous poet, Benedicto Malunga.”
But, isn’t Jack Mapanje Malawi’s most famous poet? “Jack Mapanje is the
most famous poet internationally. But when you talk of poetry in
Malawi, in the villages, everywhere, the household name is Benedicto
Malunga,” comes the answer. “I love Malunga’s poetry,” Kenani adds,
mentioning the former’s “very rare” collection, ‘The Haunting Wind’.
“It was Malunga’s finest. I had it in university – a huge influence.”

The writer’s
journey into publication began during his secondary school days. He
wrote plays and performed them in his own school and neighbouring ones,
all the way to national drama festivals. These were the first steps for
the poet who has since performed at many international literature
festivals including: Arts Alive (Johannesburg), Poetry Africa (Durban),
Harare International Festival of the Arts (Zimbabwe), the Struga Poetry
Evenings (Macedonia) and the London Literature Festival. The notion of
performance characterises every reading by Kenani, who brings every
nuance of the fictional character to life with his voice.

He had his first
publication while still in college, in 1996, after a friend lent him a
laptop to type with, “because the Malawi News wouldn’t accept
longhand.” Having his work featured in the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine
in 2001, was “very encouraging,” he recalls. “I began to feel that even
on the international stage, people can read my short stories and
understand them.”

The SA PEN Award
was another milestone: “It’s not every day that a Nobel laureate like
J.M Coetzee reads my story and commends it.” He describes the 2008
Caine nod as “a point of no return. I will carry on writing.” The
shortlist earned Kenani a place on the Caine Prize Writing Workshop,
which he finally took up this year. “I found the (workshop) experience
extremely interesting. It has taught me a lot. The animateurs,
Veronique Tadjo and Jamal Mahjoub, were quite incredible,” he says.

The future

Currently acting
treasurer for the Pan African Writers’ Association (PAWA, headquarters
in Accra, Ghana), Stanley Kenani has lived in Lilongwe (Malawi),
Ethiopia and Nairobi (Kenya); and now resides in Geneva, Switzerland.
He has an unpublished poetry volume, ‘Slaughterhouse of Sanity’; and is
busy putting together a short story collection, having recently found
an agent. Several of his poems will appear in an upcoming anthology of
poems translated in Chinese, ‘No Serenity Here’. Also featured in the
anthology are Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and other greats like South
African national poetry laureate, Keorapetse Kgositsile and Ghana’s Ama
Atta Aidoo.

Looking to the
future, Kenani’s focus is firmly on fiction writing. Asked why, he
replies, “One of my colleagues who has been following my writing told
me I’m a better prose writer than as poet. I just took it as naked
truth.”

Stanley Onjezani Kenani’s short story, ‘Happy Ending’ appears in the
2010 Caine Prize anthology, ‘A Life in Full’. His new short story,
‘Vehicles of the President’ will be published in next Sunday’s edition
of The Lagos Review.

It was all colours,
music and sensual appeal at the Shell Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan
on July 27, when Brazilian Samba paid homage to Lagos, a city that
shares a bit of its culture and language. Titled ‘Por- Ai!’, the event
was jointly organised by the Brazilian Consulate-General and the
Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON).

Preceding the
performance was an alfresco cocktail for guests who had braved the
city’s notorious traffic to enjoy an evening of fun and relaxation. The
hall was filled to capacity, and had the event held the previous
weekend, as earlier scheduled, it could not have recorded better
attendance.

Femi
Adeniyi-Williams, Chairman MUSON, welcoming the audience before the
concert, said that the concert was organised to enable Nigerians enjoy
themselves and recognise that “MUSON is not all about classical music
but music in all its forms.”

Co-organiser was
the Brazilian Consul-General, Cesario Alejandro, who spoke on the need
to bring such a concert to Nigeria. In his words, “Samba along with its
rhythm has its roots in Africa. It started in Brazil about 200 years
ago and has become the most important cultural expression of the
country, the very symbol of Brazil.”

Mathew Holmes, the
event anchor, announced that the concert is part of ongoing efforts by
Brazil to promote its culture across the globe. “Everyone has a soft
spot in their hearts for Brazil,” he declared, proudly enumerating some
of the many attractions of the former Portuguese colony: “Its Samba,
beaches, football, women, carnivals and cultural diversity”

Ruffled six

The six member band
from Rio de Janeiro came on stage with two female dancers, who were
garbed in skimpy Brazilian attires of short ruffled skirts and tops
with bared midriff. The band captured the mixed Nigerian and foreign
crowd with music from its drums, guitars and native tambourines,
creating sounds reminiscent of Afrobeat and calypso.

While the lead
vocalist’s performance was not entirely deserving of rave reviews, the
audience was quickly infected with the performers’ enthusiasm and
excitement as members were cajoled off their seats by the dancers who
strolled into the audience to pick out audience members, who joined
them in the dance.

A la Brazilian
carnivals, the dancers retreated quickly for a break and emerged
bedecked in carnival attires with elaborate head gears with plumage and
colourful bikinis. Then into the audience again they went to treat some
of the male audience to shocking lap dances – a decidedly raunchy
performance for an event which had communicated no age restrictions and
which had children in attendance.

Though the event
employed the universal language of music and incorporated a short
interlude of Nigerian choreography (Performed by the Nitche dance
group) accompanied by a medley of Nigerian and Brazilian sounds, the
unfamiliarity of the language might have prevented members of the
audience from joining the band in song as they were repeatedly urged.

The event, though
it promised a variety of samba such as the classic samba, the Brazilian
Percussion (Pandeiro), the fast paced Samba, and the carnival Samba,
was not well structured, nor was it translated to enable the audience,
who were disadvantaged by the language barrier to be successfully
acquainted with the Samba as was expected. Thankfully, the performance
was not drawn out, enabling participants to commend it for providing
relaxation in less than a couple of hours.

Salacious dances

Speaking with
attendees after the event, it was surprising that many thought the
concert was well worth the N3000 naira ticket price. They expressed no
reservation about how the salacious dances of the scantily clad dancers
seemed to have been employed as a replacement for what the performance
lacked in variety of content.

Actress Dakore
Egbuson, who revealed that she was presently studying Samba, praised
the concert, “I thought it was fun and am glad I was able to come and
get a few tips from this. I have always admired Brazil and its people
and I see a similarity with the Nigerian culture.”

Screenwriter and
Director, Seke Somolu, encouraged the introduction of entertainment
from other cultures to the Nigerian entertainment scene, while also
expressing hope that more effort will be put into organising such
concerts. “We need more of this; though think it could have been better
in terms of musicianship as the lead vocalist was not on top of his
game.” His wife Omonor, one of the actresses featured in the stage
performance of V monologues agreed. “It was just OK. I expected more
Samba dances but they kept performing the same dance steps. But then, I
guess achieving the kind of performance I had hoped for would require a
lot more money than this (concert) did.”

Edosa Eghobanieio,
owner of Alalo and one of the organisations supporting the concert
revealed the difficulty in planning the concert, “It’s not easy to plan
an event across two continents as we had to do. But I do think at the
end of the day, that it was a good concert.”

Lawyer and
elocution expert Tita Young also expressed hopes that the concert
spirit will catch on, observing that publicity for many such concerts
is dismal and limited to the upper class, excluding the average
individual who has an appreciation for such art events. “Nigerians need
relaxing events like this, she concluded, “rather than for them to go
to Owambes where mosquitoes will bite them.”

While the Brazilian concert may be a novel and laudable initiative,
it is high time organising societies such as the MUSON ratified the
standard of the performances being staged. Nigeria may not often get
enough of the international dance and music culture, but the calibre of
arts enthusiasts attracted by such events, might be of the mind (and
rightly so) that the beauty of concerts such as the Brazilian Samba, is
better portrayed not in performances which incorporate immodesty, but
in well executed depictions of the better aspects of the music and
dance culture.