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The theatre stage of the Nigerian Idol
was as gut-wrenching as the producers had promised. This was the stage
where the 100 contestants who made it up from the audition stage were
trimmed down to 50. The mood was as ominous as could be. The judges
were no longer smiling and the tension was clearly apparent on the
faces of the contestants. Imagine coming all the way from Abuja, Enugu,
or Calabar and being asked to go home after the first stage.

To ease the
tension, judges Jeffrey Daniel and Audu Maikori teased the contestants
a bit. “Step forward,” Daniel said to some contestants. “Turn to your
left, then to your left again. Hug the person in front of you because
you are all staying.” The relief was so great for a contestant that she
immediately fell to the floor rather than do as she was told.

Audu Maikori on
his part toyed with the viewers too, sometimes eliminating the
contestants whom he asked to step forward and other times the ones at
the back instead. He also used the opportunity to dish out advice to
those whom he felt did not play up to their strengths.

However, the lone
female judge, Yinka Davies, had no time for such shenanigans. “You did
not make it. You are going home,” she would say bluntly to the
eliminated contestants. (At this point and even though the judges
remain less than brutal, it would be safe to say we have found our
Simon Cowell, but He is a She.)

After the 100
contestants from the auditions had been trimmed down to 72, they were
asked to form groups of three. Following performances that were judged
based on individual strengths, another set of contestants were sent
home. The rest were further asked to form duos. Finally, the lucky 50
were chosen.

The undoing of
most of the contestants were the songs which were selected for them by
the show producers. During the individual performances, for example,
the male contestants were asked to sing ‘Kiss From a Rose’ by Seal, a
song that went beyond the range of most of them.

However, an
ability to “own” the song and perfect it within your range would be a
true test of a true performer, an ability which, frankly speaking, very
few displayed. Thankfully for everyone involved in this tension-filled
stage, including viewers, the judges were able to recognise those
voices that were skilled enough, despite how much they were tasked by
the songs.

However, starting from last Thursday,
the judges were finally relieved from making the tough choice of who
gets to go and who stays as the Nigerian Idols entered the third stage:
the Top Fifty/Elimination stage. Each week, ten contestants would
perform in front of a studio audience at the end of which viewers would
be asked to vote. The top two from each week would then move to the
last stage: the Top Ten, which is always filled with high performances
as contestants battle to be the next Nigerian Idol. </

Not quite two weeks
after his presence at the London debut of the Fela! Musical, Femi Kuti
was back at the Barbican, with his Positive Force Band to give the
Western world a taste of his new album, ‘Africa for Africa’.

Billed to start at
7pm, the audience was kept in breathless anticipation for a whole hour
while they valiantly persisted through several tracks performed by
British rap group, ‘Sound of Rum’.

Finally a shout of
Arararara galvanised the crowd to near euphoria as the Positive Force
jogged onstage in their matching African attires. And the anticipation
in the hall rose to fever pitch as the 10-member band began tuning up.

Femi, onstage, was
a delight to watch. Dressed in a multi coloured African attire, he
hurried onstage, rubbed his hands together as if in pure delight before
bending over his keyboard, shaking his head appreciatively as he
pounded the keys and issued forth the opening strains of ‘Truth Don
Die’.

The already
standing crowd seemed to surge forward as his mellow voice stole
through the instrumental sounds: “Na yesterday him talk, him wan to
travel for the world, to teach the people him word the true word of God
make people stop to lie say na lie spoil the world.”

Witnessing Femi’s
quiet opening and the energy with which he danced, he seemed both
intense and frail, and one could only wonder how he would last the
evening, as his physical appearance seemed not quite able to contain
the passions that streamed through his being. But the musician
surprised, and continued to do so, during the almost two-hour
performance, backed by his dancers cum back up singers.

‘Politics in Africa’

After his popular
opening track, Femi introduces songs from his new album. “I’ll be
concentrating on the new album. I’ll save the rest of my political
views when you have warmed up to me.”

But divorcing Femi
from politics was like taking away his voice. ‘Politics in Africa’ and
other politically critical songs followed in quick succession.
Including ‘Obasanjo Don Play You Wayo’, his take on the EFCC; and ‘Make
We Remember’, a song urging that the messages of his late father and
other black political activists should not be forgotten.

Femi sang, danced,
and played as if an internal inferno burnt under his skin. He belted
his music in a frenetic hurry. Where Fela had brandished his sax, Femi
showed almost more affection for his keyboard, vibrating his whole body
as he urgently picked out the notes; though when he briefly turned his
attention to his sax, it was with equal fervour.

Having never seen
him in performance before, I had always been wont to think that Femi’s
achievements had had a lot to gain from the legacy of his father. This
performance changed my opinion. He might have learnt from the master
himself, but his accomplishments were all his. Kora awards, World Cup
showcase, and a feature in the international videogame, Grand Theft
Auto IV, seemed paltry reward for his talent

But the music soon
streamed together into one long political complaint. Diversity seemed
not to be the strong suit of this new album. And even though his stage
presence and enthusiasm were infectious, the music soon became
predictable. That was before Femi turned his scathing tongue to history
and the developed world.

“It’s impossible to
understand the gravity of the slave trade, he said, “500 years is about
seven generations. Africans blame themselves for the slave trade,
that’s wrong information,” Comparing the transatlantic trade to the six
years of anti-Semitism, Femi would have us believe that the holocaust
was a lesser evil which benefitted from visual records. “What is six
years compared to 500?” he asked.

To have jettisoned
from memory the centuries of undocumented Jewish persecution in his
attempt to absolve Africans of their historical wrongdoings, seemed to
induce a brief disagreeable silence in the crowd, except of course for
some Nigerian fans who whooped in appreciation of his logic.

‘Beng Beng Beng’

While Femi might
have raised eyebrows mid-performance by his cavalier dismissal of one
of the worst times in world history, he soon had the audience dancing
to his tune yet again as he commenced a sexual enlightenment monologue
heralded by the beginning instrumentals of ‘Beng Beng Beng’.

“It’s impossible to
talk about politics without talking about sex. Who here has been
practicing my theory: Don’t come too fast?” asked Femi to appreciative
hoots by the audience, many of whom had been shouting out requests for
the song since he came onstage.

Femi led his avid
listeners into a sexual scenario of a girl’s first sexual experience:
“That girls have always been ahead of us (men) is a scientific fact
that has not been proven yet. So when a girl seems remorseful after a
sexual encounter, the boy thinks he’s had her cheap. He doesn’t
understand that he gave her bad sex – so gentlemen, don’t come too
fast!

“When you are
approaching or losing control, press the brake, reverse back,” Femi
admonished, eliciting raucous laughter before launching into the song
which is till date perhaps his most popular, despite having been
restricted from Nigerian airwaves soon after its release.

“The time is 12
midnight my brother, the girl lay on top my bed now…,” the audience
sang along as they gyrated to the popular track.

Says Robin Denselow
of The Guardian, UK, “Towards the end, he switched from politics to sex
with ‘Beng Beng Beng’ and a mildly risqué chat about relationships that
was more entertaining and original than much of the political protest.”

And one could not agree more.

That the MTV
Africa Music Awards is one of the continent’s biggest music events was
made apparent by the calibre of people that attended the award show on
December 9 – from media moguls like the Murray-Bruces and Tajudeen
Adepetu to showbiz impresarios like Keke and D1. There were also
celebrities from across the continent and some parts of the globe,
apart from those that were nominated and/or performed.

The event started
with the red carpet and cocktails that took place by poolside of the
Eko Hotel and Suites. It was a chance for the media and celebrities to
mingle. There were music and small screens on which the nominees’
videos were played. Guests were soon asked to move to the Expo Hall
where the main event was to take place.

Unlike most award
shows organised within the country, the MAMAs set itself apart as one
that was made for television broadcast. The countdown clock affixed to
the wall of the hall meant that the already rehearsed performances and
award presentations were not allowed to exceed their allotted time
slot.

However, a lot
more attention was put into the broadcast quality than the live event.
The speakers within the hall produced poor sound, especially around the
VIP area, leading guests to continually ask, “Who is performing? Whose
name just got announced?” Still, it held on to a party-like atmosphere,
with lots of screams from the crowd at the bottom of the stages.

The show opened
with an explosive performance by American rapper, Rick Ross, which got
the crowd singing along and waving their hands in the air. As usual,
there were a lot of group performances that cut across different genres
of music and featured various stars on the same stage. Among the
collaborations was a rendition of Banky W’s ‘Lagos Party’, featuring
South Africa’s Big Nuz, Angola’s Cabo Snoop and Paul G, and Democratic
Republic of Congo’s Barabara Kanam. Nigeria’s female rapper, Sasha, got
to perform alongside her American counterpart, Eve, who was also the
host of the show.

Tuface Idibia’s
performance of two of his songs ‘Only Me’ and ‘Implication’ was
show-stopping and crowd-inclusive. After rendering ‘Only Me’ on one of
the two stages, he was literally carried by the crowd to the second
stage where he performed ‘Implication’, backed by two ladies dressed as
sexy policewomen.

There were also
performances by American stars, T-Pain, Rick Ross, and Chuck D of
Public Enemy. Chuck D was also on hand to announce recipient of the
MAMA Legend award, which was awarded to Miriam Makeba who died in
November 2008. She would be the third posthumous recipient of the
award. Previous recipients were Fela and Lucky Dube.

Among other award
presenters were: ex-Super Eagle, Daniel Amokachi, who got on to the
stage to the cries of ‘The Bull’, a sound that was initially mistaken
for boos. D’Banj and rumoured girlfriend, Genevieve Nnaji, also served
as co-presenters, presenting the award for Artist of the Year to Tuface
Idibia.

In past editions
of the shows, the award categories and nominees list had come under
much criticism for putting artistes under the wrong genres and pitting
them against the most unlikely competitors. An example would be in 2008
when 9ice won against ‘The Game’ for Best Hip-Hop. This year, MAMAs
took a safer route by focusing more on geography, language, and overall
performance than genres.

As expected, ‘the
Nigerians’ took the highest number of awards with Mo’Cheddah winning
Brand New Act, P Square Best Group, Sasha Best Female, and TuFace
Idibia who went home with Artist of the Year and Best Male. Other award
winners included: Daddy Owen (Kenya) – Best Anglophone; Cabo Snoop
(Angola) – Best Lusophone; Big Nuz (South Africa) – Best Performance;
Liquid Deep (South Africa) for Song of the Year; and Fally Ipupa (DRC)
who, like Nigeria’s Tuface Idibia, was the only other artist who got
two awards, winning for Best Video and Best Francophone.

The show ended with the appearance on stage of all presenters and
performers after a ‘command performance’ of the song ‘Win’ by T-Pain,
Rick Ross, Da Les and Tuface. The “partying” however’ continued with an
after-party at popular nightclub, Tribeca.

The Musical Society
of Nigeria (MUSON), in collaboration with the Consulate General of
Italy, staged a Christmas concert on December 5, 2010 at the Agip
Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Lagos.

The event was
tagged ‘Christmas Concert with the Italian Artistes of BelCanto
Ensemble’. BelCanto Ensemble is Italian for ‘a little group’. However,
it was not just an Italian affair as it also featured some of the
MUSON’s finest acts: Tenor, Joseph Oparamanuike, and Contralto, Fatima
Anyekema.

Soprano singer,
Rosaria Buscemi, was the lead performer while the BelCanto Ensemble, a
group of four men playing the piano, clarinet, violin, and horn played
some pieces. Alessandro Vuono was on the piano; Antonio Arcuri, the
Clarinet; Francesco Clemente played the Violin; while Massimo Celiberte
played the horn.

Oparamanuike is
well established at the MUSON as a tenor and is a member of the
organisation’s choir. Anyekema is also a rising act at the MUSON where
she studied music for two years on MTN scholarship.

First half

The ensemble began
the show with a performance that saw each instrument contributing its
own peculiar sound. They were later joined by the petite but buxom
Rosaria Buscemi, who had an energy and presence that belied her frame.

She performed with
humorous, bold, and brash gestures that elicited chuckles from the
audience. There were operatic pieces from Giacomo Puccini, who composed
the famous Madam Butterfly aria, Gioacchino Rossini and Nigerian
Kehinde Oretimehin, among others.

Anyekema and
Buscemi did a hilarious piece by Rossini titled ‘Humorous Duet For
Cats’, while Ayekema did a solo performance in contralto.
Oparamanuike’s solo act, another Puccini number, was short and
melancholy.

Buscemi engendered
the mood of Christmas in Adolphe Adam’s ‘Cantique de Noel’. She came
back on stage with Anyekema and Oparamanuike. All three were spotting
comic-looking Santa caps. They performed ‘Stille Nacht’ (‘Silent
Night’).

Second half

After a 15-minute
interval, the ensemble came back on stage. This time, they did a lively
tune which could cause even the most unenthusiastic watcher to tap a
foot. It reached a crescendo, then stopped abruptly.

The next piece was
somewhat experimental. They moved from fast to slow, then lively to
melancholy. It was like the highs and lows of life; the dramatic, the
sad, the angry, the cheerful, and then the skip in one’s walk. The
performance could be termed ‘The rhythm of life.

Oparamanuike and
Buscemi’s duet ‘O Soave Fanciulla’ by Puccini seemed like a
conversation between two lovers. The woman was coy and resisted the
man’s touch. Finally, they came together in an embrace.

Oparamanuike and
Anyekema did a beautiful duet of ‘Meri L’Omo Aguntan’, a Yoruba Opera
version of the nursery rhyme, ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ – a piece was
written by Oretimehin.

Buscemi became the
petulant little Miss in Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Glitter and be Gay’, which
ended the concert, although the three performers did one last piece as
a show of appreciation towards the audience.

The Italian
Consulate was gracious enough to make the show free and the turnout was
fair. There were secondary school students who had come in their school
bus accompanied by their teacher to see the concert. If they were
students of music, then the show would have been an eye-opener for
them.

In a conversation
with NEXT after the show, Anyekema talked about her passion for
singing. “I started singing as a child and I had been singing in
church, but I began pursuing singing professionally in 2004 when I came
to Lagos,” she disclosed.

She was discovered
by Emeka Nwokedi, one of MUSON’s finest music teachers, who had heard
her sing. She is a member of the MUSON choir. For Anyekema, who had
been a contralto for four years, this would be the first time she would
be performing with international acts.

“The contralto is just a little lower than the alto. It’s a chest range voice,” she explained.

About Oretimehin

Kehinde Oretimehin,
who composed the Yoruba Opera, revealed to NEXT that he has a lot of
works, both solo and orchestra types. He blamed lack of sponsorship for
his not having many of the pieces performed.

“The problem is
sponsors. You need to pay for the orchestra, the hall, and other
things,” he said. He further revealed that some of his pieces have been
taken abroad by some foreign performers who have taken interest in
them.

You hear the names of great composers whose eternal pieces are still
being performed all over the world today and you are in awe. So when we
find one of our own who is also doing a great job, he should be
appreciated. The MUSON is a storehouse of amazing talent and potential
that should not be ignored.

The Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON)
staged a donors’ appreciation concert on December 6. Chief among these
donors is the MTN foundation (MTNF). It was an event that revealed the
best of the MUSON Diploma school, with mixed performances of classical
and indigenous musical pieces.

“The donors’ concert is our own little
way to showcase the product of the school and their proficiency level,”
stated the chairman of the MUSON board of trustees, Femi
Adeniyi-Williams. “At this very frugal time, you have come to the aid
of MUSON. We appreciate you,” he told the donors.

This was the fifth year of running the
Diploma School, which has produced about 90 students with 60 students
in-house, while some of the others have gone abroad to pursue further
studies in music.

Certainly, it was an event that
captured some inspiring performances from the students. The
performances by the MUSON Diploma Concert Band left one wishing that
orchestra pieces could be creatively incorporated as soundtracks in
Nigerian movies, the way it was done in foreign movies.

The band also performed in
accompaniment to a duet of ‘When You Believe’ performed by two soprano
soloists, Tobi Aregbesola and Tosin Abiodun. A Mozart piano duet,
‘Sonata in G Major’ was also rendered by two young men, Timothy Adesina
and Ayorinde Oladele.

Gentlemen’s Ensemble

We got a feel of the Negro Spiritual
when ‘Gentlemen’s Ensemble’, a group of 12 males, performed ‘Mary Had a
Baby’ by William Dawson (1899-1990), an African American composer and
professor. The ensemble also performed an ode to women titled, ‘Viva
Tutti’.

Aside from the impressive performances
of pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Titus Ogunyemi, and more, the MUSON
Diploma Orchestra added style to their act when the ladies in the group
turned out in stiletto heels with black hoses and fishnet stockings.

We saw a solo performance of the violin
accompanied by the piano by Evelyn Acquah and soprano Chika Ogbuji’s
solo performance of Mozart’s ‘Amore Un Ladroncello’.

Muson Diploma Choir

Away from the classic pieces, the
concert went indigenous, thanks to the Emeka Nwokedi-led MUSON Diploma
Choir; which had been selected by the International Society for Music
Education (ISME) to represent Africa and to perform at its 29th
conference in Beijing, China. They stole our hearts with their
heartfelt and arresting performances of ‘Una Hear Me So’, a song done
in pidgin about the need for unity among Nigerians and ‘Jehova Emewo’,
a piece in Igbo about the grace of God.

According to Nwokedi, who conducted the
affair, some of the songs were performed by the troupe in China earlier
in the year. The choir, which got the audience excited as they trooped
onto the stage in their green and white aso-oke attires, did other
songs; two of them South African.

The female performers of the Sax and
Drum also shone at different points, but notably during the very
entertaining live performance of Lagbaja’s ‘Feyin E’. Brief and leaving
one wishing it could go on, this performance was stellar.

“When we start the highlife tune, you
are free to dance wherever you are,” encouraged Nwokedi after the mass
choir, which included all those in the Orchestra and Band, had
performed Christmas tunes from Handel and Mendelssohn.

The MTN Foundation

The comments from Marion Akpata,
director of the MUSON School of Music, at the end of the concert were
on point. She drew attention to the contributions of the MTN Foundation
to the development and exposure of the students at the school.

The MTNF financed a trip for some of
the students to go to Germany to get training and certification as
Suzuki teachers of violin for young children. “Come any afternoon and
you will see our youngest musicians with their small violins seriously
training to master their instruments,” Akpata stated.

She highlighted some of the recent successes of the students, especially the ISME conference in China.

“Our success in the ISME performances
prompted the invitation from Nigeria’s ambassador to China, Ambassador
Wali, to return to [Beijing] to celebrate Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee
which we did in October, fully financed by the Nigerian Embassy,”
Akpata disclosed.

She revealed that it was difficult to
get sponsors for some of their activities and programmes in spite of
their successes. She then passionately appealed to the government and
private sector to support music and especially the schools that were
dedicated to training the next generation of musicians.

“Music is a veritable tool for human
development, information, education as well as entertainment and
national pride,” Akpata pointed out. She also canvassed the
establishment of an endowment fund for the school.

She described it as “A fund that could bring us closer to the day
when the MUSON School of Music will be the West African Conservatory of
the Performing Arts and offer degrees in music and the other performing
arts.”

People die. However, the understanding
of this finality to human sojourn on the planet never was able to
remove the sense of panic or loss that usually accompany the passage of
an acquaintance. It is worse when it happens to a close friend or
associate. Or to an artiste whom you spend most of your growing up
years adulating.

Every epoch has significant milestones
and, for a certain category of Nigerians, especially those from the
southwest part of Nigeria who are now in their late 30s to early
forties, that defining aspect of their youth was the exciting musical
rivalry between Sikiru Ayinde Barrister and Kola ‘Kollington’ Ayinla –
who were locked in love-hate battle for supremacy as the authentic
voice of Fuji, a music genre both claimed to have invented.

His greatest fan

I was always a Barrister fan, partly
because he was a more accomplished singer (Ayinla has a racier band)
and also because he came to my attention way before Ayinla did. Of
course, they initially struggled in the wake of the larger image of two
older giants in Yoruba music, King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey, who
branded their own music juju music.

As opposite to Juju, Fuji is more
traditional Yoruba in conception and rendition and probably hacks back
to older forms of performers of Agidigbo, sakara, gudugudu, juju and
Apala music. With its percussion loaded with dundun (Ayinla settled for
the harsher (and harder) bata) talking drums, agogo (gong) and sekere
(beaded calabash), Fuji draws its listeners to waist wriggling and feet
shuffling dances that will amaze anyone raised on western music.

Barrister dominates his band though;
his voice cutting through the layers of the beat to deliver in message
in sometimes high-pitched tone. Most of his fans love his song; a mix
of evocative and pithy Yoruba sayings, wise sayings and sometimes
ribald. He was also a believer in using the medium of his song to teach
and his songs are usually laced with stories drawn from local lore or
tales that would be familiar to readers of Arabian Nights tales.
Barrister was a master story teller, a modern day griot with the gift
of a dynamic band behind him.

Rendition for Omowura

In some ways, Barrister’s music is a
more grounded version of the fare served by Ebenezer Obey, whom he
takes as his mentor. Ayinla was closer to Sunny Ade. But it was a mark
of the vibrancy of these two men that they gradually eclipsed their
mentors, as Fuji music became the dominant music form in Yorubaland,
with Sunny Ade (and occasionally Shina Peters) still holding the fort
for Juju music. Incidentally, Fuji music and Ayinde came onto theirs
after an earlier struggle with the older Apala music. In fact, the
earliest promoter (inadvertently it must be said) of Barrister was one
of the most popular Apala musicians, the late Ayinla Omowura. The eegun
Magaji (big masquerade) would denigrate the upstart fuji artiste in his
songs and warn him to stay in the shadows. Ayinla’s death, at the hands
of one of his band boys thrust Barrister into one his earliest
controversies as he was accused of being behind it.

His soulful rendition about Ayinla’s
death – and his plea of innocence – won Barrister more fans. It is also
an album that fans of the recently deceased musician should listen to
when they feel moved to mourn their idol.

From its ajiwere days, when Barrister
performed as an itinerant musician who entertains people during the
music month of Ramadan, the music evolved in scope and depth to draw in
from several traditions, including samba and reggae. Perhaps one of the
strengths of Fuji was its inifite adaptability and power to inject
other music forms in its growth. Younger Fuji artistes now rap and
freestyle to attract younger listeners, thus assuring that the music
form would survive for longer.

Fuji soldiers

Barrister, along with Kollington were
former soldiers and both embarked on their career after their
demoblisation. They were both civil war veterans, stories of which
found their way into Barrister’s songs. Name any human emotion and
experience, and barrister probably sang about it in his evocative ways.

Love, marriage ( and the imperative of
family planning), poverty, tribulations, democracy and good governance
– and death. He also drew on his deep knowledge of the Koran to enrich
his music, reciting verses from the muslim holy book to underpin the
message of his song. He was accepted ny all nevertheless as his fans,
Muslims, Christians and traditional religionists embraced the messanger
along with this message.

His music ran into a little difficulty
after a brief falling out with his lead drummer, Oyadolu in the 1980s.
After flirting with another Ibadan musician, Sawaba Iyanda, during
which that gained a little limelight, Barrister reunited with Oyadolu
and the music continued. Until death did them apart.

One of Barrister’s prayers was that the calabash decorator might
die, but that his products do not perish. Barrister is now sadly
departed. His songs lives on in our hearts and our ipods. May Alhaji
Agba meet the favour of his maker.

Nigerians are known
for being go-getters or what some people call hustlers. Watching the
episodes of the second week of the Nigerian Idol, the popular saying,
“Warri no dey carry last” came to mind but in place of Warri, I fixed in
Naija.

At the Abuja and
Calabar auditions, it was obvious that there were contestants who had
come to the centres not for a chance to feature on the Idol stage but to
get contracts with the sponsors Etisalat as jingle singers/composers.

There was one guy
who was so determined to showcase his “talent” that even when Yinka
Davies politely asked him to stop he insisted on singing his entire set,
more like giving his entire presentation. “Let me finish,” he almost
snapped out. Still at the end of the day, he went home with the ‘NO’
that the judges had intended to give from the minute he first said:
Etisalat. “They got me down,” he complained to co-host Anis Holloway
when he finally left the room. Another potential jingler who was also
disappointed with a ‘NO’, tried harder to impress the judges by
informing them that he had a rap version.

Then there were the
contestants who just could not own up to defeat. These contestants,
after leaving the audition room with a unanimous ‘NO’, would come to
Holloway and tell him instead that they got two ‘Yeses’! I guess no one
informed them that their auditions were being filmed for not just local
but international broadcast. Or maybe they were told and these are just
folks who, like I said, “no dey carry last”. Talk about lying on TV!

The auditions are
finally over and, according to the organisers of the show, so is the
comedy. As the show moves into the second stage, Theatre stage, we are
supposed to expect more of high drama and tension. The theatre stage is
where the judges would trim down the number of contestants from the 100
who scaled through the auditions to 50. These 50 lucky contestants would
then feature on the main show which is the third and final stage. We
can’t wait.

Organisers have
never compromised on the quality of entertainment offered at the Rivers
State Carnival (CARNIRIV) and they are not about to start with this
year’s edition starting tomorrow, December 13. Though the carnival
offers many activities, the pre-carnival groove at Eddie’s, the street
parade, cultural performances, praise fest and peace concert, the Old PH
Town Groove have been included in the cocktail this year.

When Haitian
superstar and one-time presidential hopeful, Wyclef Jean, headlined the
2008 peace concert, some people thought they had reached the pinnacle of
entertainment because Jean, also known as the Preacher’s son – along
with Joe, Brick & Lace, D’Banj and others – took them to heights
previously unseen in the city musically.

The 2008 concert was
good but so also was last year’s edition. Jamaican star, Beanie Man,
and Nigerian acts including Tuface, MI, Wande Coal, P-Square, Duncan
Mighty, Timaya, Daniel Wilson and J. Martins gave great performances at
the Polo Club.

While M.I. did songs
from his current album, home boy, Duncan Mighty, represented the Garden
City well. The then reigning ‘Bumper to Bumper’ and ‘You Bad’ were
among the tracks Wande Coal performed. Dance group, Dance Na the Main
Thing (DNMT), also did their thing, as did J Martins. The highpoint of
that show, however, was when Beanie Man and Tuface sang ‘Ufunnie Banga’
remix.

Inimfon Etuk, head,
communications and Strategy, Message Wise Limited, the consultant
packaging this year’s carnival assures that the 2010 peace concert
holding at the Carnival Village, on Saturday, December 18, will not be
of a lesser quality than what fun seekers had at the two previous
editions. “We are set to give the people the best of entertainment. It
is their event and they deserve the best. We are not going to spare
anything. That’s a promise we intend to deliver on.”

American rap star,
Busta Rhymes of ‘Dangerous’ fame, will headline the concert. He will be
supported by fellow American rap star, Lil Kim, D’Banj, Timaya and
Mighty Duncan. Terry G, Kaffy and The Ebony Champion Steel Band of
London will further spice up the concert.

Nothing but the best
is expected from Rhymes. D ‘Banj, who is also in the line up, is a
talented artist who is going from strength to strength. Fans will have
the opportunity of watching the act who gave a wonderful performance at
the last Felabration in Lagos. Dreadlock-wearing Timaya will bring his
special verve to proceedings at the concert as will homeboy, Mighty
Duncan.

But the groove at
CARNIRIV is not limited just to the peace concert. Memories of Highlife
great, Cardinal Jim Rex Lawson, a Rivers indigene, will be relived at a
Reggae and Old Skool Nite anchored by comedian, Julius Agwu on December
16.

Gospel crooner, Sammie Okposo, will lead others to thank God at the Praise Festival on December 15 at the Carnival Village.

Apart from the
musical entertainment, must-not miss events are the Local Government
Areas Heritage floats parade and the Freestyle Bands Street parade on
December 17 and 18. Liberation, Fusion, Jubilee, Dynamic and Treasure
Base Bands, the five new bands introduced to widen the scope of
participation will afford citizens, friends and non-native residents of
Rivers to participate fully in the cultural celebration.

When it was revived in 2008 to recapture the sense of heritage and
pride among the people, no one envisaged that CARNIRIV would become so
big so soon. But with the support of the governor, who has joined others
including Segun Mimiko of Ondo and Liyel Imoke of Cross River in
promoting culture and tourism, the carnival is attracting much deserved
attention.

Chinua Achebe turned thirty in 1960, the year Nigeria became an
independent country. His novel, ‘Things Fall Apart’ had been published only two
years earlier. That same year 26-year-old Wole Soyinka returned home after a
six-year sojourn in England. Soyinka’s ‘A Dance of the Forest’ made its
Nigerian debut during the Independence celebrations.

50 years later, none of the initial promise that accompanied
Nigeria’s birth has been fulfilled, and both men, understandably, are
frustrated.

In September, Soyinka, now 76, launched a political party; “an
experiment… that directly challenges those who grumble that there is no
platform, no springboard from which they can provoke the political arena with
fresh and innovative ideas.”

Like Soyinka, Achebe, now 80, is deeply aware of the urgent need
for change in his homeland. “Nigeria has passed the alarming stage and entered
the fatal, and will die if we continue to pretend she is slightly indisposed,”
he told the audience gathered to hear him speak at the Law faculty of the
University of Cambridge, on a chilly Friday evening in November.

Achebe’s relationship with independent Nigeria is fraught with
unrequited love. His achievements as writer (of ‘Things Fall Apart’ and several
other books) and editor (founding editor of the highly influential African
Writers Series) have played a significant role in placing Nigeria on the world
map.

In return, Nigeria has (admittedly) been generous, but only in a
perverse way: setting up the conditions that compelled Achebe’s ethnic group,
the Igbo, to embark on a secession attempt (Achebe suffered heavy losses – his
home, library, his close friend, Christopher Okigbo – during the war that
followed); destroying the local publishing industry that once sustained the
AWS; proving incapable of providing decent medical attention after the 1990 car
crash that paralysed him from the waist down; mocking him with the offer of a national
honour while his home state lay under siege from government-backed thugs. (He
publicly turned down the honour, an action that both incensed and embarrassed
the government).

Flawed beginnings

Achebe was in Cambridge to deliver the inaugural African Studies
Lecture, in honour of Audrey Richards, founder (in 1965) of the University’s
Centre of African Studies. I was twenty minutes late when I arrived at the
venue of the lecture. I met a full hall, with a crowd gathered outside, some
standing on chairs, straining to listen. Unable to squeeze into the hall, I was
forced to mount a chair and struggle to catch his words from behind a glass
wall, until squatting space opened up for me on the floor of the auditorium.

Achebe’s words bore a vigour that belied their speaker’s frail
appearance. The trademark wit remained undiminished. When I arrived he was
reading, from his forthcoming memoirs, a section, set in the distant past,
about “small Ghana” and “big Nigeria”. The difference between Nigeria and
Ghana, I heard him say, was that between “sixpence” and “one penny”.

The period, of course, was 1957, the year Ghana got her
independence. Small Ghana had achieved what Big Nigeria still struggled for –
freedom from British rule. Achebe recalled staying up all night to celebrate
with Lagos-based Ghanaians “only to wake up the next morning to realise we were
still in Nigeria.”

Nigeria would not make the transition from colonial state to
independent nation until three years later. That transition, Achebe said, was
flawed. The British handed over power to “that conservative element in the
country which had played no real part in the struggle for independence.”

Nigeria was thus born tense – its birth the beginning of its
unravelling. Seven years later, the ‘giant of Africa’ was on her knees, ravaged
by war. External influences (“the big powers”), said Achebe, played a
significant role in perpetuating conflict amongst the “small (expendable)
people of the world.”

Victorious Nigerian Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, proved to be a
clueless leader in peace-time, leading the newly-united nation into “decadence
and decline”. Achebe attributed this to Gowon’s being “ever so cocksure
following a civil war victory.”

Political adventure

Democracy would evade Nigeria until the very end of the 1970s,
when, Olusegun Obasanjo (the man who, almost a decade earlier, received the
instrument of surrender from the Biafrans), handed over the instrument of power
to Shehu Shagari, who became – not without controversy – Nigeria’s first
democratically elected civilian President.

In the early ‘80s Achebe joined the “left of centre” Peoples
Redemption Party (PRP), where, he says, he was “right away” appointed Deputy
National President. He found himself “the most unlikely candidate in politics.”
It didn’t take long for him to quit politics. He realised that the majority of
Nigeria’s politicians were in politics “for their own selfish advancement.”
Persons like PRP leader Aminu Kano (“a saintly man”) were rare.

The great paradox

Underlying Achebe’s deep frustration is pride in Nigeria’s
potential – its “very distinguished people” and their “great energy”. “Don’t be
misled by the fact that some of us are always complaining,” he joked.

Nigeria’s size is one of the reasons for that pride; the fact,
Achebe cheekily declared, that “God arranged that every fourth [person] in
Africa would be a Nigerian.”

This paradox – of a failed country of great people – is at the
heart of the Nigerian dilemma. “Why is it that we don’t seem to be making anything
out of these gifts?” Achebe queried.

He equated leadership with “priesthood” because of the “sacred
trust” required by both. Noting that there was a direct link between crude oil
and corruption in Nigeria, he said functioning anti-corruption and judicial
systems are necessary to make corruption “unattractive”.

“Hold people responsible for misconduct and punish them if
they’re guilty.” He also called for the abolition of the Official Secrets Act,
and the speedy passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.

But here was a man as hopeful as he was critical. “Nigerians
have begun to ask themselves the hard questions,” he said, adding: “The
Nigerian solution will come in stages.”

‘I want to see Chinua’

A drinks reception followed the lecture. Achebe was swarmed by
adoring fans seeking handshakes and photographs; wielding books in need of
signing.

Guests at the lecture included the Acting Nigerian High
Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dozie Nwanna; Etisalat Nigeria Chairman
Hakeem Bello-Osagie (one of the sponsors of the event); Royal African Society
Director Richard Dowden, and Cambridge’s Vice Chancellor Leszek Borysiewicz.

Thurstan Shaw, long-time Achebe friend, and Emeritus Professor
of Archaeology at the Universities of Ibadan and Cambridge, arrived after the
lecture. It was Shaw who, in the late 1950s, led the excavation of the bronze
pieces in Igbo-Ukwu, South-eastern Nigeria, groundbreaking evidence of the
existence of an ancient Igbo civilisation dating back to the ninth century.

His wife, herself a Cambridge professor, accompanied him.
According to her, the 97-year-old Shaw insisted he wanted to “see Chinua”. And
so she had brought him. Unfortunately Achebe had left the lecture venue by the
time they arrived, and Shaw was too frail to make the trip to the venue of the
dinner holding in honour of the father of the African novel later that evening.

Shaw would leave without seeing Achebe. I left Cambridge pondering on the
poignancy of that missed opportunity.

Foremost cinematographer in Nollywood, Tunde Kelani, bounces
back from the setback of the heavily pirated ‘Arugba’ with a new film,
‘Ma’ami’, starring Funke Akindele. In this interview with NEXT, Kelani talks
about the making of ‘Ma’ami’ and his plans to get the film to the masses.

How did Arugba do commercially?

‘Arugba’ is a flop. There is no doubt about it because we were
really modest in our expectations; we bought the recommended holograms, 100,000
from the National Film and Video Censorship Board and we didn’t sell 50,000. We
still have thousands and thousands of copies of the film. There is no way we
can sell with that level of piracy. Right now, we have in our possession three
pirated versions and then one London pirated version. All our films have been
pirated but there had never been such an orchestrated attack, like that of
‘Arugba’.

How do plan to forestall
this with your forthcoming film, Ma’ami?

I think that generally this is a reflection of the Nigerian
society. The industry is suffering from lack of the necessary infrastructure so
this is going to go on for a long time. I don’t believe the government at this
time has the capacity to deal with it, especially now when elections are
coming. If I carry a few samples of pirated films to any police station, I’m
sure that I will meet more difficult issues that need the attention law
enforcement agencies.

We have to adopt the physical division model in Nigeria where I
have to release VCD or DVD and we have to physically move it from region to
region, town to town.

Broadband internet access is at the moment less than two percent
penetration in Nigeria. So, that suggests that we have to do physical
distribution for a long time. The desperation in piracy since ‘Arugba’ has gone
worse… I understand that in the market today on any release, in the evening of
the same day the pirated versions will come in the market. It suggests that
there is no way we can risk physical distribution of ‘Ma’ami’ so we have to
come up with another model for making sure that it gets to the people.

Can you talk about your
new strategy?

I’m passionate about reviving the cinema going culture. That’s
why I initiated the mobile cinema project and I got support from the Lagos
State Government. We screened ‘Arugba’ in the 57 local governments and
development areas of Lagos State. We took the film on the road and it showed
free, in the open air to Lagosians. I’ve been toying with the idea of
developing at least 30 cinemas in Lagos State, working with the local
governments. I’m already in discussion with the Association of Sports Viewing Centres
in Lagos State and I’m hopeful that perhaps we can put together a chain of 200
such centres. Secure, comfortable centres that can seat a minimum of 100
people. This way, I plan to take the film to the grassroots.

What about the rest of
the country?

First of all, my focus is on Lagos State because it is viable
and accepting; and we have Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola who is keen and he’s
been very encouraging and supportive. If this model works in Lagos State, then
we can explore the possibility of exporting it to the whole of the South West
and by extension the whole country.

What can be done to widen
the acceptance base of the Yoruba film?

I don’t think that’s a problem because now we are moving into
the area of indigenous cultural expression. Countries like China, Japan or
India for instance, how [have their films] been accessible? The whole world has
been waiting, but the film has to be of a reasonable quality and standard.
Japan and India [make] films of quality standard, so that’s all we have to do.
Already, some of the films we have produced (at Mainframe) have been subtitled
in English, French and in the case of ‘Saworoide’, we did a Portugese
subtitling. So that’s what we should do. Of course, I will be excited about the
possibilities of meeting a great indigenous cultures like, for instance,
Japanese and Chinese, rather than looking to following Hollywood. So for me,
Yoruba cinema has a great prospect.

You’ve been filming
‘Ma’ami’ with Funke Akindele, Wole Ojo and the young man you are introducing to
cinema for the first time, Ayomide Abati. What has that experience been like?

Filming ‘Ma’ami’ is exciting because it has some element of my
childhood in it. For example, when we combed the whole of Abeokuta looking for
a primary school that has a football field, I realised it was becoming rare
because education standard has fallen so low that they don’t consider such
development part of education anymore. I had to return to my own Oke-Ona United
Primary School in Abeokuta and luckily we still had a kind of a field that we
used 50 years ago. It’s still there but in bad shape. The buildings are still
standing although they are crying out for [renovation].

Again, we scouted for possible appropriate locations but we
didn’t find any, so we had to return to my own family compound; and for me it
was like going back home. We had to repaint all the houses in the neighbourhood
and our single interior set for Funke Akindele and the boy actually was shot in
our own house. I found a boxfull of documents which my father had kept away.
Going through these documents, I found a Christmas card that was sent to me in
1960 – from a girl and it was ‘With love from Yetunde’. I couldn’t even
remember who it was! It was going back to my own childhood and my own
neighbourhood and I knew the terrain like the back of my hand. That’s why
making the film is special to me, I could see things from my growing up years.

There were reports you
had dropped Funke Akindele from the film but she’s still in it. What actually
happened?

It was a misunderstanding. After I had talked to her and
released the script to her, I was coming from my ophthalmologist and there was
a video shop. I saw the poster of a film called ‘Iya Mi’ and it was Funke
Akindele on the poster. I was shocked because of the closeness between the
titles, ‘Ma’ami’ and ‘Iya Mi’. For a moment I was concerned that it might
mislead some of the audience because I had received a few calls from people
asking me if the film was out. I was apprehensive that ‘Ma’ami’ might be
mistaken as Part two of ‘Iya Mi’. I sent for the film, I saw it and what I saw
was that Funke was not even playing the mother in the film, she actually played
the daughter.

I thought something was funny… I decided that we were going to
change her, to do another film entirely. She heard this news and came to me and
explained her own side of the story. I thought Funke needed the film, she
wanted to do ‘Ma’ami’. I thought she genuinely wanted to be in the project and
I was convinced.

Of course, there is a reason why I decided to work with Funke
Akindele because I have followed her career closely; and in (my films) ‘Narrow
Path’ and ‘Abeni’, she had played minor roles, supporting roles. I was waiting
for the right story to cast her. What was strategic for me, it was not a
glamorous role and in the film, she had a change of costume only once; wearing
the same thing again and again. She’s not the glamorous star that everybody
expected. I think this was a challenge for her and she had to play convincingly
the mother of a 10-year-old.

And the young man that
you cast as her child – you know what they say in Hollywood: never work with
animals or children. How was it?

Ayomide is a child in the neighbourhood in Oshodi where we live,
he’s quite lively and gets along with everybody. But my worry… at this point
I have to appeal to parents because we are gradually getting to a point where
it is becoming very difficult to find young or adult Yoruba actors and
actresses who can speak the Yoruba language. I think it’s becoming a challenge.
For about two or three days, we were really disturbed – both the young
Kashimawo (Ayomide Abati) and the adult Kashimawo (Wole Ojo) – because it’s now
a problem and this is a result of when consciously parents discourage their children
from speaking their own language or practicing their own natural culture.

I think that’s the result of an identity crisis and we had
identity crisis on the set. I think that Ayomide has learned from that
experience and I think he will be redeemed. But I think it’s a crisis in the
Yoruba nation. There is no doubt in my mind that the children of the elite and
the lower class no longer speak Yoruba in their homes. I doubt even the
lawmakers, if any of their children speak Yoruba at home.

Can you tell us more
about the making of Ma ami from a filmmaker’s point of view?

I think ‘Ma ‘ami’ is the beginning of another era because we are
at a point now in digital media where we have access to great technology and it
is the first and only film that I have shot digitally in what can be called 35
mm. You know they talk about shooting 35mm celluloid; this is the digital
equivalent of it. In other words, we shot in 4K-to-a-35mm-censor. I think this
is exciting. It is just like when I discovered photography in those days when I
was young, I was excited every day of my life. Now, I’m excited all over again
because of the various possibilities in the delivery of the content.

If there was demand and corporate sponsorship, we could get a
35mm print in celluloid for cinema release and we could do digital projection
on any of the four formats since our original format was resolution 4K. For me,
this is as topmost as you can get and I am happy I was supported by at least
four companies. ‘Ma ‘ami’ is a high-low budget film. It [cost] around 150,000
dollars, but I’m hopeful that it will be worth something like 700,000 dollars.
I have the objective to achieve more with less.

When can we expect to see
the film?

Work is going on on ‘Ma’ami’ everyday and I still have some bits
to shoot. We designed it in such a way that we rigged an editing system, work
is going on everyday. We have a digital laboratory and presntly we are doing
our first primary colour correction and then encoding into the editing format.
The rough cut of the film is almost complete.There should be a workable version
before the end of December because for Funke and some of the various expertise
on the film, I have to enter the film for the Pan-African Film and Television
Festival of Quadadogou (FESPACO). I think I’ll be in time to enter for AMAA
which closes December 15.

You have been able to
sustain a blockbuster career, what are you doing that the other filmmakers are
not doing?

I don’t think the films can really be called blockbusers but at
any time, they meant something. They show a progression and at any point, they
have been experimental either from point of technology or digital media. If I
thought that the future of African Cinema or world cinema will be in digital
media, then I think I’m right because officially the year 2010 has been mooted
by experts (as) the death of the chemical process of making films.

The collection of films that I have made have been successful ,
both universities both home and abroad use them as resource. Particularly for
‘Arugba’, there have been one or two universities that ordered copies for
African Studies. For me, that has been a kind of satisfaction and
encouragement.

You relocated to Benin
Republic where you shot the ‘Abeni’ series and the ‘Narrow Path’ but you are
back. What happened?

I couldn’t relocate totally because I’m one of the people who
subscribe to the notion that ‘ibi ori dani si laagbe’ and it was clear
throughout my career that I had options of staying abroad. I am happy and
grateful to God that I have been created in Yorubaland and so far He has made
it enjoyable. It is exciting for me, not only Yoruba culture but all Nigerian
cultures. What happened was that I went there to see the Yorubas staying there
and see how they are faring.

I didn’t stay just in Porto Novo, Akete, Isede, Pobe, Ketu; I
went as far as Dassa up north , Sabe. I did spend quite some there, about three
years. If you watch the ‘Narrow Path’ for instance, the marriage scenes, where
they sing marriage songs, that is the song in that community. It shows that
this is Yorubaland and these are Yoruba people. That was really exciting for me
and obviously we reaped good things because the experience kicked off the
Beninoise film industry. Now, they make a lot of home videos just like in
Nigeria. I believe that our cooperation started that film industry up to a
point that they make films regularly and I am not needed anymore.

Why don’t you do
collaborations with other filmmakers?

It depends on the project. For instance, I would gladly
co-produce any Nigerian film from other cultures if they will do things from
their vast literary resources like ‘Danda’ by Arthur Nwankwo or any of Cyprian
Ekwensi’s or any of Chinua Achebe’s work. ‘The Passport of Malam Ilia’, things
like that. Most of [Mainframe’s] works spring from literature because I read a
lot when I was young; I love novels and literature and I will be willing to
work with [other filmmakers]; it depends on the orientation, if they want to
follow Hollywood. I don’t want to follow Hollywood, I’m an indigenous filmmaker,
I believe in telling our own great stories and finding expression and taking
the audience through my own cultural background. So I’m not really comfortable
making a film the Hollywood style. The prospect of a co-production where Samuel
L Jackson will play Sango, I don’t think it excites me.

Or because I want to penetrate international or American market
and I would use Danny Glover as Kabiyesi in my story. That’s not quite what I
want.

Mainframe recently
collaborated with NANTAP and Dance Guild of Nigeria to stage ‘Yeepa! Solarin
Nbo’. Can we expect more of such?

Yes, theatre has always been my passion because when I was in
Form Two at the Abeokuta Grammar School around 1963, I was part of the
excursion team that travelled all the way from Abeokuta to watch ‘The Palmwine
Drinkard’ at the 0bisesan Hall in Ibadan. It was a privilege watching Kola
Ogunmola on stage and it was a production of the University of Ibadan. It was
the first time I sat in a theatre where I witnessed the effect of lighting; when
the light changed to black or came on, my head was this big. It must have made
a lasting impression on me. Again, I was privileged to have [seen] all the
great plays, like ‘Oba Koso’ and ‘Kurunmi’, for instance, and ‘Danda’. For me,
it’s seeing those people live on stage, appreciating them. Sunny Oti, Shodipo.
The thrill I got looking at Duro Ladipo on stage or Ogunde on stage, I thought
they were not human beings. It’s a disaster that we have not documented any of
the great classics, so I would really have loved to do ‘The Palmwine Drinkard’
on stage for the 50th anniversary of Nigeria Independence but of course we
couldn’t because of the shortage of time and then Lagos State came in at just
the time for us to stage ‘Yeepa! Solarin Nbo’.

What was exciting for me is the the possibilty of doing the
standard Yoruba presentation where you do an opening glee, because the Yoruba
theatre which has influenced me was ‘Total Theatre’. Before we watch the play
they will do an opening glee which is a song and dance routine – perhaps a
summary of the whole play in dance. And at the end of the day, they will do a
closing glee, so I conceived that and wanted to work with NANTAP and the Dance
Guild of Nigeria to do an opening glee and to use Ogunde’s ‘Yoruba Ronu’ and ‘Petepete’
by 9ice to give it a contemporary touch. We tried to bring it back during the
Ileya (Eid) festival with LTV and corporate sponsors because, coming out of the
play, I am seeing things like people saying: I have never watched a Yoruba
stage play in my life. People saying: we have never watched anything like this
in 25 years. This doesn’t even speak well of the country.

It’s a pity, a shame really and I think somehow, we have to find
a means of continuing and in my lifetime produce ‘The Palmwine Drinkard’ before
all the original cast die. I know where the material is. One or two people are
still alive and its been studied… I befriended Pa Amos Tutuola before he
died, I visited him at Odo Ona, Ibadan, several times.

What next after Ma’ami?

I have a string of projects lined up. First, I will like to do
an adaptation of Yinka Egbokhare’s ‘The Dazzling Mirage’, about sickle cell.
Then I will have to quickly do another Yoruba film to pacify the Yoruba
audience so I will do an adaptation of Femi Osofisan’s ‘Wuraola’ and then I
will love to do ‘Cordelia’, which is another Osofisan stuff. This is set
against a popular military coup and I have always wanted to do something about
one of our military coups. Then I will do ‘Dog’s on Lions Trail’ which I have
shelved for about seven years. It’s an adaptation of Kola Akinlade’s ‘Aja To N
Lepa Ekun’. It’s interesting because all those five or six films I have
mentioned are adaptations from literary resource.

We don’t have as much
production anymore in Yoruba literature; will there come a time when you run
out of resource?

It’s not possible because if I take to Ifa corpus, for instance,
those are more than a thousand stories. Our ancestors have already done all the
work and passed all these things to us. It’s another thing if we close our eyes
and turn our back on it and never look. It’s not possible in two lifetimes to
exhaust literary resource. We haven’t even touched any of Fagunwa’s works. Two
pages of D.O. Fagunwa is about two films. It’s all there.