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Watching the BBC
documentary Welcome to Lagos has been a more revealing look at the
dynamics between male and female relationships in Nigeria than all the
Nollywood movies I have watched. For me Welcome to Lagos was a profound
commentary on the state of marital relationships in Nigeria today. In
the face of profound changes in how Nigerians live, we still cling
stubbornly to traditional notions of marriage and family without any
serious attempt at adaptation. Anecdotally, I would venture to say that
a significant number of Nigerian marriages are highly stressed as a
result.

The cemetery of
our marriages is at that messy junction where tradition meets modernity
or some would say reality. Increasingly, women work outside the house
and they also manage the household. In Welcome to Lagos, Esther lives
in a shanty on a beach. There is a moving scene where Esther becomes
emotional as she describes her love for her husband. A few scenes
later, Esther is seen dumping the man’s belongings on the beach. It
appears that the husband is also in the habit of also loving other
women.

Despite Nigerian
“democracy” whole swathes of communities have become slums and shanties
where our own women and children are literally living and dying in
their own filth. Where is the outrage? No wonder children are literally
flying out of Africa’s windows fleeing a perverse culture that only
comforts men. As the documentary shows, religion seems to exist in
Nigeria to dull the senses and keep women and men in bondage as
thieving pastors exhort the faithful to be bound by the strictures of
what passes for tradition.

The BBC
documentary showcases Esther and her friends bound by a sorority that
is steeped in unnecessary suffering. Esther is friends with Blessing
and Victoria, two mothers with young children who were born at the
beach. Blessing is pregnant and all three are looking at a Western
brochure on pregnancy and parenting titled Welcome to Mothercare. The
models are white. The women all coo at the pretty pictures of pregnant
white women and one of them observes wistfully: “Most of our Nigerian
women, they will look ugly when they are pregnant! They won’t wear the
correct cloth, they will just wear buba and sokoto!” Here are three
beautiful women filled with self loathing because every day life for
them is honestly ugly. They marvel at a picture of a man carrying his
baby. Their jaws drop in wonder and the commentary is telling: “In this
kind of country [Nigeria] you can’t expect your husband to carry your
child! They will blackmail you that you have turned your husband to a
woman. Nobody will dare that in this country…” They really do not ask
for much.

These are not new
issues. Buchi Emecheta has been harping on this dysfunction for over
five decades, almost to the point of obsession. The good news is that
there are new warriors on the stage. In many ways, they have built on
the work of Emecheta. Names like Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie, Chika
Unigwe, Unoma Azuah, Lola Shoneyin, Sarah Manyika, Sefi Atta, Molara
Wood, etc, are the public faces of young Turks quietly determined to
change the status quo through their literary works. In my personal
opinion, their works are more robust conversations about the complex
relationship between the men and the women. One detects a fuller
exploration of sexuality and relationships than what understandably
preoccupied the mostly male writers before them. I do not see much in
terms of a dialogue between these writers and Nollywood for instance.
That ought to be the next step. Let me also observe that there is a
reason why most of these writers ply their trade in the West and we
must agree that their views and attitudes have been shaped by their
life’s journeys in the West. But I would argue that societies that
thrive do not live in the past, they also tend to model wholesome
behaviors from other societies.

In the absence of laws, and compassionate caring responsible
leaders, patriarchy threatens everything we hold dear. Nigerian women
in the corridors of power should be inspired by their own successes to
make a difference in the millions of Esthers toiling out there for
pennies. Our women in power should strive for more substantive
involvement in the politics and governance of Nigeria. We see a vivid
example in what I call a tale of two first ladies. There is Mrs.
Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, as she is simply
called. And then there is Her Excellency, the First Lady of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan. One protects the
dignity of her office with substantive policy work, while the other
seems to revel in a caricature. Mrs. Obama goes to an elementary school
to have a genuine conversation about the perils of childhood obesity
and manages to spark a national conversation about immigration. The
other apparently sparks a conversation about visiting Dubai of all
places and buying gold. We have our work cut out for us.

It was one of those
unexplainable impulses that made me linger longer than planned at an
Ikoyi hangout for all shades and ages of creative people.

In walked Basil
Okafor, graphic artist/journalist, culture connoisseur and activist
and, of course, we had to shoot the breeze and reminisce. He was happy
that he had caught the musical act at the Lagos Black Heritage Festival
that featured heavyweights Hugh Masekela, Orlando Julius, and Femi
Kuti.

I chipped in that
Masekela omitted the very important name of Peter King when he
announced at the concert that Nigeria had produced two world-class
musicians in Fela Anikulapo Kuti and Orlando Julius. Incredibly, a few
seconds after, in walks Orlando Julius himself with his
extraordinarily-talented dancer/singer African-American wife, Latoya
Aduke.

Naturally, we all
went through a session of oohs and aahs at this unplanned reunion. I
told Orlando that I assumed he was still in Ghana, where he had
relocated to years after we had met in Lagos after his second long
sojourn in America. He surprised me by informing me that he had been
back in Nigeria for over two years, in Osogbo, where he had set-up a
sound and visual studio and was running a television programme
featuring musical acts. It made sense in that in the 80s when we had
re-established contact, he proudly told me that he had graduated from a
filmmaking course in Berkeley, California, after a
music-and-further-education trip to America.

Who created Afrobeat?

I asked Orlando
about some of his key band members who had helped create his unique and
pioneering sound of Afro-Soul-Beat as from the late 60s. He sadly
informed me that my favourites like drummer, Moses Akanbi, and baritone
saxophonist, Big Joe, were dead. Of course, this was depressing news.
In a brilliant and soothing public relations gesture, his wife then
offered me a new CD release of Orlando Julius’ compilation of master
compositions and old hits, ‘Orlando Julius and his Afro Sounders:
Orlando’s Afro Ideas 1969-72’. In many ways, this CD is a fitting
tribute to these great musicians and concrete documentary evidence on
how what is now defined as Afrobeat developed in Nigeria.

I have deliberately
refused, since the 70s, to be drawn into the simplistic argument of who
created and, is therefore, the father of Afrobeat. It is a spurious
argument, much like asking who created Jazz; whilst unquestionably
accepting that Jazz is Black/African-American music. In the same vein,
Afrobeat is Nigerian-created music, period!

Yes, it is an
offshoot and extension of the West African popular music Highlife, but
it was made and shaped in Nigeria. Interestingly, Afrobeat’s different
versions and flavours were created by well-schooled and experienced
Nigerian musicians, which explains why like Jazz, Reggae, Rhythm &
Blues, Soul, and now Rap and Hip-Hop, it is a distinct and universally
accepted form of popular music.

It is safe,
sensible, and factually logical to state that Afrobeat and its various
flavours were created by Nigerian musicians who were interested in
expanding the tonal and rhythmic frontiers of Nigerian Highlife music.
It must be accepted and recognised that Nigerian musicians, like Rex
Lawson in particular, Celestine Ukwu, Victor Olaiya, Eddie Okonta, Bill
Friday, and later Victor Uwaifo, had incorporated their ‘tribal’
musical elements to create a distinct Nigerian Highlife flavour;
different from Ghanaian and Sierra Leone Highlife. It is from this
distinct and unique Nigerian Highlife flavour that the various
inflections of Afrobeat evolved through assimilation, experimentation,
cross-fertilisation, and individual musical innovation.

Laying the foundations

It will be fair, on
recorded evidence, to say that the trio of musicians who laid the basic
foundations and charted the path of what is now broadly classified as
Afrobeat music are Chris Ajilo, Orlando Julius Ekemode, and Fela
Ransome-Kuti, in that chronological order.

Simplistically,
they respectively explored, experimented, and emphasised the expansion
of the horn-ensemble complexities, soul-and-Yoruba traditional
rhythms-marriage and Jazz riffs compositional structure and
multi-rhythms of Nigerian Highlife music to create their brands of
Afrobeat music.

It is, however,
both Orlando Julius and Fela Anikulapo Kuti who performed live for many
decades, with many recorded samples of their music over these decades,
that best give a history of the development and growth of Afrobeat
music. In this respect, Orlando Julius’ ‘Afro Ideas 1969-72’ is an
extremely important CD and musical document that illuminates the early
history and foundation of Afrobeat music.

Jagua Nana

Orlando, unlike
Fela, had gone through the mill in Nigerian popular music. He started
off in the late 60s as a drummer and flautist, and then took lessons on
the alto saxophone. He began working with Highlife bands in 1961,
playing with the Flamingo Dandies, I.K. Dairo’s Blue Spots, and Eddie
Okonta’s band. He formed his own band, The Modern Aces, in 1964.

In 1965, he
released his debut single, ‘Jagua Nana’, on the Philips West Africa
label. It was a big hit because it was new. Orlando described it as
“modern Highlife,” and essentially it was Highlife in a fast tempo and
infused with rhythmic arrangements borrowed from Black American Rhythm
& Blues and Soul music.

OJ and the Modern
Aces released the landmark long-playing album, Super Afro Soul, in
1966. This was the official recorded announcement of the arrival of
Orlando Julius’ Afro music in Nigeria. It was innovative and fresh;
giving hints of greater musical things to come from him!

With a band now
called Afro Sounders, Orlando Julius set out to develop and distinctly
establish his own brand of Afrobeat music. As composer, singer,
electric organ player, and tenor saxophonist, he led a band that
explored depths of rhythmic structures, a seamless blend of
Yoruba/African rhythms and Black American R’n’B/Soul. With the fiery
Moses Akanbi on drums playing mostly on the high-hat and snares,
dexterous shekere rhythms, crisp clave beats, congas, and snappy guitar
riffs (from his brother, Niyi), OJ created his rhythmic definition of
Afro-beat. It is a skippy rhythm, with his peculiar horn arrangements
as embellishments to create his Afrobeat sound.

OJ’s rhythms

‘Mura Sise’ and
‘New Apala Afro’ are classic examples of OJ’ rhythms and on other
compositions like ‘Home Sweet Home’, ‘Esamei Sate’, ‘Alo Mi Alo’,
‘Ketekete Koro’ and ‘Igbehin Adara’, he sings in Yoruba urging
self-empowerment, good morals, fair-play in polygamous homes, and
keeping faith with culture. Then there are the instrumental Psychedelic
Afro-Shop and a welcome song ‘James Brown Ride On’, both recorded in
1970.

Orlando Julius’
compositions ‘Asiko’ and ‘Going Back to My Roots’ became hits for Hugh
Masekela and Lamont Dozier respectively, in America in the late 70s. In
the early 80s, he released the LP Dance Afro-Beat in America.

It’s been four decades since ‘Jagua Nana’, and OJ and his Afrobeat are still alive and, as Monk will say, ‘rhythmning!’

Pinar Yolacan found
her muse from reading art magazines. The then 13-year-old used to
follow her elder sister studying Graphic Design to the university
library in Ankara, Turkey, where she became fascinated with art
magazines. What Yolacan saw in the magazines fired her creativity and
she started out working with vegetables and plant skins to make
sculptures. Her art has since grown to include photography, clothing,
and sculpting. Her ‘Maria’ series, large photographs showing black
women dressed in clothes with animal entrails sewn on them, was
displayed at a recent exhibition held at the Centre for Contemporary
Art (CCA), Yaba, Lagos.

One of many arts

I do not consider
myself a photographer, I only use it as a medium to express an idea,
the way I use clothes in my works. It’s just one departure. When I have
an idea, every other thing revolves around it. Photography is just [a]
medium, it’s not like I walk around taking photographs of people. I
like faces, they strike me so anytime I go to a new country, I like to
follow their lives. Apart from ‘Maria Series’, I also have
‘Perishables’ of which ‘Maria Series’ is an extension.

In 2009, I did a
new body of work called ’Mother Goddess’ where ladies wore jumpsuits
that covered them from head to toe. The women looked like sculptures; I
had the idea while I was in Turkey. I heard about some excavation sites
where they were digging up stone sculptures and this was similar to my
idea. I picked up on that, so I used women from distant villages and
put them in thick fabric jumpsuits. They looked like sculptures the way
the fabric handled their flesh.

Eclectic works

My work is a
combination of a lot of things, clothing, photography and sculpture.
That’s what makes it contemporary art because it’s trying to convey an
idea using different elements. I think the people in the fashion
industry understand my work a little better than a lot of contemporary
art critics. I don’t think they are contemporary enough. Sometimes, I
think they believe that you have to read 10 books before you understand
what the work is saying. I think the people in the fashion industry
understand the process that I go through to get my work done.

Building trust

In getting the job
done in ‘Maria’ series for example, I try to build a trust relationship
with my subject. I try to tell them where the pictures will end up. I
try to explain to them what the idea is more or less. I paid them
because they are poor people but if they don’t feel comfortable with it
or don’t want to do it, they won’t do it. One needs to have a sense of
legitimacy to do these things. Apart from the fact that they have to
wear meat, the art of taking someone’s portrait is a very intimate
thing. It is not every day that they have a dress made for them. It is
not every day that someone asks them to sit down for a portrait.

When the subjects
see their picture in a book cover or learn about their pictures being
exhibited, some of them like it, but it’s not all of them that know
where the works end up since I am not in touch with all of them. Those
that see it get to know about them through newspapers and magazines.

I actually started
‘Maria’ series when I was in New York. Then I got a scholarship to go
and do a residency in Bahia, Brazil. When I got there, I did not know
what I was getting into because I did not know how I was going to
communicate to people. I was not sure who would want to participate,
but eventually I met some amazing people. I mean, people who were
willing to help me. The idea of ‘Maria’ Series had to do with culture,
and their African heritage, mainly from Nigeria, because they have a
lot of Yoruba traditional practices there.

One of the women
whose picture I had taken, Celine, she works in construction and has
nine children. So, these women have normal lives, they are just simple
everyday people.

‘Perishables’ is
the one exhibition that got me major exposure and ‘Maria’ series is
just an extension of it. I think it is because it was well executed.

Inspiring city

I am inspired by
people and my experiences. I love artists like Chris Ofili, Marina
Abramovic and Charles Atlas. I love Lee Barry, he is a drag queen; I
like the way he makes the clothing by himself, I love musicians too.

I am fascinated by the way people dress here (Lagos), I love the way
people buy the fabric and sew the clothes. The way they dress is
amazing and gorgeous. It’s like everybody is going to the prom.

In his third solo
exhibition titled “Epiphany”, which opened on May 28 at the Signature
Art and Interior Gallery, Ikoyi, the Port Harcourt-based self-taught
artist, Segun Aiyesan, teaches the values of time.

Using mix media as
his expression in the 38 works on display, Aiyesan sets the stage to
bring his ideas to life. The works which he creates by experimenting
with sculpting, acrylic, sand, fabric, rope and even cane are done on
canvas and wooden boxes, and have their messages represented in a well
documented brochure that explains the body of work especially the
abstracts, which make a larger percentage of the art pieces.

“Epiphany”, which
exhibits Aiyesan’s latest works done in 2009 and 2010, did not require
an elaborate opening as a prelude to the show, as the works seem to
already herald themselves. All that is required of the art patron is to
interact with the works and the viewers in the art space.

“It’s a matter of
choice; they are hosting us, and they have their way of doing things.
Having an opening ceremony is not definite. The last show I had in Eko
Hotel, there was an elaborate ceremony unlike this one,” the artist
said emphatically.

Aiyesan who loves
to feel the texture of the works on canvas, uses sculpting to create
three dimensional pieces like “History on Slates”, “Earth Song-Stanza
4”, “Edge of Rubicon” and “The Passage”. He explained, “I have been
playing with the concept of giving the viewer the chance to interact
with the work. I like the fact that one can go around the work. It’s an
aspect other artists can explore.”

The Engineer turned artist

Aiyesan, who last exhibited in Lagos seven years ago, explained why he gave up engineering for his first love.

“For me, I think
art is something that is inborn. I never thought I would become a
professional artist, when I started out it was for the fun of it. It
was after I realised that I could not be the artist I wanted to be if I
was an engineer that I knew that this serious hobby could be a means of
livelihood. I have never felt happier doing it (art)” he explained.

Asked if his
engineering qualification is relevant to his art, he replied, “It’s my
engineering background that makes me organise structures better”

Epiphany

Through the
trickles of visitors to and from the venue, the works on the wall play
between abstract and realism with the use of symbols that complete the
vibrant assembly. Being a self taught artist gives Aiyesan the ability
to explore -without worrying about being limited to thinking like
products of an art school – which he does well with a style that has
the colour vibrancy famous with the Auchi School and symbols that echo
the Uli and Nsibidi art movements; there is also realism in his works,
which artists from the Yaba art school are popular for.

In all this,
Aiyesan never loses his unique style and personal creativity. The
works, which include “Red Landscape”, “Casualties of War”, “The
Emissaries” and “The Things That Bind Us” have themes on environmental
degradation, national development, slavery, peace and insincerity. They
also show Aiyesan’s love for the use of human figures and masks in his
works. Only the piece, “Grey Moment” depicts a cityscape.

Art for the times

The only way to
understand Aiyesan’s works is to experience it. The large size of a
number of the works makes their prices (ranging from N30,000 to
N60,000) a good bargain. Even if visitors did not leave with Aiyesan’s
work under their arm, at least they would leave with invaluable lessons.

Segun Aiyesan’s solo exhibition, ‘Epiphany’, was on display at the Signature Gallery in Lagos till June 10.

Though not much has
been heard from Bunmi Oyinsan since her last novel, ‘Three Women’ was
published in 2006, the writer, who now lives in Canada, has not exactly
abandoned creative writing.

“I’ve been caught
up with working on my doctorate. I’m actually currently working on my
dissertation and so I haven’t had time for any extended creative work.
I’ve been mostly engaged in flash fiction (short-short stories),” she
explains. ‘Moonlit Dreams’, ‘Touching Home’ and ‘No Thoroughfare’ –
Oyinsan’s short stories, were published in the Maple Tree Literary
Supplement in 2009.

Writing for women

‘Three Women’,
Oyinsan’s last novel focuses on three generations of women of the same
family. There is a multiplicity of women’s voices in the story and they
also vocalise issues differently. Why are men not portrayed in a good
light in the novel while the women, Aduke, Ibidun and Oyinkan are?

“Honestly, I don’t
think that’s a fair assessment because the women are not angels either.
At least, that’s one thing I was determined not to do. First, it was
written in various forms of first person narratives. As much as
possible, I wanted to have the voices of women of different generations
alive on the pages of this novel and in doing that, I wanted to
actually get into the heads of people of the particular era in which I
have placed those women.

“The kind of men
that each of them encountered, I would think — at least based on my
research, were what I think came out in the characterisation of the men
in the book. Just like the women, they were people who have their weak
points mostly because they were socialised a certain way just as the
women themselves were socialised in a certain way and that’s what
reflected in the book.

“At least I know
the third generation male character in the novel, Moyo, Oyinkan’s son,
comes out with positive character mostly because of the benefit of the
strong women in his family but also because he had a very good father.
A good father in Kole, not necessarily a good husband but a good
father. I think the characters are nuanced enough for people not to
make that kind of judgement.”

Will she write about women who oppress men too?

“If I’m inspired by
such stories I don’t see why not. I’m a feminist but at the same time
I’m a wife, a sister, a daughter, a mother of sons and I think I know
men well enough not to be blind sighted about them. Before I started
serious work on my dissertation, I had actually started work on another
novel, ‘Ladders of Home’ which I hope to get to when my dissertation is
finished.”

Writing for children

The winner of the
ANA/Matatu Prize for Children’s Literature with her ‘Fabulous Four’ in
2000 hasn’t done much writing for the young since then probably because
of circumstances surrounding the writing of the book.

“I went into
writing for children for very selfish reasons, I guess. My children
were avid readers when they were very young. The greatest punishment
you could give my daughter, Tobi, when she was growing up was to say
you are not going to the library on Saturday. She would be begging you,
she would be so repentant and all of that. But I found that they had a
bias for foreign writers Enid Blyton and the Nancy Drew series and I
got worried that they were not reading us. I kept trying to get them to
read African authors but their first impression was they are boring. So
I felt challenged. I started writing stories for them and one of the
stories grew and grew into Fabulous Four.”

Literature and filmmaking

Bunmi’s filmmaker
husband, Soji, played a role in her becoming one too. “I honestly
cannot deny that. My passion was for writing and literature but I had
friends who were in the film school and sometimes I participated in
their projects. Of course as a film student, you couldn’t afford to pay
actors so I went and acted for them and they paid me by taking me out
for a meal. That was as far as it went until I met Soji who was already
working in film. I am a TV addict. One of the reasons I also became
interested in TV was because as soon as I started publishing, I was
upset by the lack of reach that our literary writings have.”

Bunmi Oyinsan is expected in Lagos for the African Women in Film
Forum, holding at the Colonade Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, on June 16 and 17.

It’s not every day
a man goes from being a Jesuit priest and struggling student to
overnight literary sensation, but that is what happened to Uwem Akpan.
The Akwa Ibom native published his first collection of short stories in
2007 and last September, it was endorsed by media powerhouse Oprah
Winfrey on the Book Club segment of her show.

So when Akpan came
to Abuja on Friday, June 4 to read from his acclaimed book, the city’s
literati turned up, eager to hear his voice.

The event was
organised by the Abuja Literary Society (ALS), one of three major
literary groups in the city; it was held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
Over 150 people attended including poet, Lola Shoneyin, Ayo Olukanni
(spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs); and there was an
unexpected drop-in by Archbishop of the Abuja diocese, John Olorunfemi
Onaiyekan.

Author and former
television personality, Eugenia Abu, opened with an introduction. Mr
Akpan, wearing his clergy collar, read from two of his stories:
‘Luxurious Hearses’ and the Caine shortlisted ‘My Parent’s Bedroom.’
Between readings, he took time to answer audience questions and tell
stories about his time as a Masters of Fine Arts student in the
University of Michigan, in the United States.

Both of his
readings focused on ordinary people who find themselves caught up in
religious and ethnic conflicts. Akpan soon found himself defending
accusations that he was portraying the African continent in a negative
light – a criticism that has been levelled against him before.

“I set out to
write a book of tragedy, so I make no apology about writing about
Africa in stark terms,” said the author. “You have to develop a thick
skin [about criticism]. You have to say, I’ve done my best.”

A few audience
members were curious about the author’s unusual position as both a
writer and a priest, wondering how he was able to balance both.

He assured that he
did not use parishioners’ confessions in his stories. “If the
confessional was useful to writing, many priests would be writers,” he
joked. Instead, he compared his calling with how Jesus used parables to
spread his message to his disciples.

“Christ’s use of words was very poetic and he had a way of pushing those words to those who were excluded.”

Advocacy on behalf of the disenfranchised was the main impulse behind his work, Akpan explained.

“We want to help
the poor, but from a distance,” he said. “I’m not just glorifying
poverty or human pain; I want to tell the story of street kids and say
they are human beings.”

The evening ended
with glowing speeches from Archbishop Onaiyekan and ALS chairperson,
Ferdinand Agu. However, the highlight of the event was when one young
writer, 12-year-old Habib Saleh, was given an opportunity to meet
Father Akpan, his literary idol.

Agu observed that
it was an example of the nation’s growing literary presence on an
international stage that is more familiar with the country’s bad
reputation than its positive contributions.

“When people tell the story of Nigeria, it sounds like a book of
endless stories of corruption; it sounds like good things don’t happen
here anymore,” said Agu. “But there are points of light shining in this
country and I believe this event is one of those points of light.”