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As part of
activities geared towards a successful inception, the Society of
Non-Fiction Authors of Nigeria (SONFAN), held its first press
conference at their National secretariat on October 25, 2010.

SONFAN, the
umbrella body for anyone in Nigeria engaged in writing academic and
non-fiction works, was incorporated in earlier this year and began
operation on October 1.

On hand for the
SONFAN briefing were: the group’ss interim President Osa Egonwa; the
treasurer, Fidelia Omusopa; the Executive Director, Inyang Ekanem and
other officials.

About SONFAN

In his address, the
president (also a professor of Art and Art History and Human
Development at Delta State University, Abraka) outlined the reasons
behind the establishment of the association and its aims and objectives.

“There arose the
need to organise writers of academic and non-fiction works in Nigeria
into an umbrella organisation that would serve their common and
professional interests,” he said.

“This became even
more pressing because writers in other fields have been organised and
the strength of the organisation has become evident in the vibrancy of
not just the associations but also in the activities they engage in,”
he added.

“Consequently,
SONFAN was incorporated to nurture, advance and promote intellectual
endowments, aspirations and pursuits in Nigeria as well as protecting
the intellectual property rights of authors locally and
internationally, individually and in collaboration with governments,
agencies, institutions and international partners,” Egonwa declared.

The president
decried the ignorance of many writers about the importance of knowing
and protecting their rights, especially in relation to intellectual
properties.

He argued that it
is not enough to publish a book or release an album and be paid a token
amount of money. Monies in the form of royalties ought to accrue to the
creator each time his work is used as a copyright material, Egonwa
insisted. So the job of the association is to enlighten people that
once you are an author of a non-fictional works, you have rights.

Interactive session

As he fielded
questions from journalists, the SONFAN president delved into some of
the key problems the association plans to tackle. The first is what he
termed ‘The evil of photocopying’.

Photocopying is one
of the major ways many non-fiction and even fiction writers are cheated
out of the gains that should be credited to them from their works. “It
is only in Nigeria that people photocopy indiscriminately,” he stated.

“In developed
countries, the photocopying machines have already been programmed with
information about the writers. So the monetary gains from photocopying
a particular writer’s work(s) will be paid to the necessary
royalty-collecting organization,” he pointed out.

Egonwa counseled
that people should photocopy rightly by obtaining a licence. Plans are
also afoot to enlighten and garner support from the National
Universities Commission (NUC) and various universities across the
country to institute the proper procedures for photocopying.

Regarding the issue
of piracy, SONFAN informed journalists that they are also involved in
the fight; however the NCC (Nigeria Copyright Commission) is already at
the forefront of

this battle, Egonwa noted.

On their bid to
inform writers about their rights, the SONFAN president expressed
surprise that even some academics are not aware of the rights covering
their works. In this regard, the association is already making contacts
with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other
professional bodies in order to create awareness.

Egonwa also shed
more light on the association’s relationship with the Reproduction
Rights Society of Nigeria (REPRONIG), the body responsible for
protecting the rights of the Print Media. It is licensed by the
Nigerian Copyrights Commission to collect and distribute payments from
users of copyrighted works to their owners. However, with the inception
of SONFAN, REPRONIG after collecting these rights will be able to get
to the

relevant authors to pay them their royalties.

Contributions in
the form of grants from supporting organisations and members’ annual
dues, are some of the means by which the association will be funded.

The group called on
all non-fiction writers, teachers and journalists – because newspaper
articles also qualify as non-fiction – to join the association, as long
as they have about 150 pages of work(s) they have written.

Members of the public interested in joining the association or
finding out more about it, can visit the SONFAN National Secretariat at
Adedayo House, 36 Abeokuta Expressway, Cement Bus Stop, Lagos.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives

By Lola Shoneyin

245pp; Cassava Republic Press

Lola Shoneyin’s
debut novel, ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ offers a critical
look at the Nigerian polygamous household. And quite like Abimbola
Adunni Adelakun’s ‘Under the Brown Rusted Roof’, the novel bares the
age-old matrimonial arrangement – warts and all.

‘The Secret Lives
of Baba Segi’s Wives’ is told in an alternation of first person
narratives and the third person omniscient observer, which very deftly
elevates the theme and chronology of the narrative.

The novel
chronicles the marital life of Bolanle and the challenges she faces as
the youngest and educated wife of Baba Segi’s four wives. It explores
the psychological metamorphosis of Bolanle, in the midst of rivals who
are made insecure by the same qualities that charm their husband.

Bolanle displays
an unsettling naivety even when confronted with threats such as
poisoning. The one-up Bolanle’s co-wives can boast is their fecundity,
and they use it well; as after two years, Bolanle’s belly remains “as
flat as a pauper’s footstool.”

This
underachievement in the sight of her husband and his wives ensures that
her place in her husband’s house remains insecure. And the significance
of this is illustrated with the analogy of the armchairs. Bolanle is
denied having her own armchair in the family living room, until she is
swollen with child.

However, Bolanle
does eventually fulfil the prediction of her senior wives; she turns
out to be a harbinger of misfortune in a house which before her time
had breathed deep of untold secrets and a traditional understanding.

One quality that
sets ‘The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives’ above many novels of its
ilk is the voice and language Shoneyin adopts – one rarely used by
Nigerian authors. Weaving a tapestry from different points of view, the
plot unfolds; equally employing an almost verbatim transliteration of
traditional Yoruba expressions like Iya tope’s description of her
daughters: “They have eyes in their stomachs”, which translates in
Yoruba parlance as ‘Oju Inu’ (perceptiveness).

Shoneyin also
exhibites dexterity in striking a balance in character development.
Though the novel is based on the experiences of Bolanle, the other
characters are given an equal voice, which makes them no less valuable
to the plot.

The author
displays a willingness to explore some thought provoking ideas such as
the dual existence of good and evil in the same being. Babe Segi is
both a rogue and a knight. He is quick to point Bolanle out as “the
barren wife” but just as quick to be philosophical in his
disappointment: “When you buy guavas, you cannot open every single one
for rottenness. And where you find rottenness you do not always throw
the guava away; you bite around the rot and hope it will quench your
craving.”

However, what the
novel enjoys in structure it lacks in vocabulary application, as the
author in a slightly pedantic manner employs elevated vocabulary where
only the basic is needed. If Shoneyin had maintained a third person
narrative the following statement may have been appropriate “What would
Teacher say, If he saw me here heaving like a pursued duiker?” Problem
is, Shoneyin wrote this statement while adopting the voice of Baba
Segi, an uneducated businessman living in a semi rural town.

The work
‘duiker’, which means antelope, is unfamiliar at best in an African
setting, even to the educated. Many such language inconsistencies
freckle Shoneyin’s narrative. One gets the impression that the novel is
set in an earlier time; therefore, it is also rather anachronistic that
Iya Femi cites Bantu, a contemporary African musician. The author seems
irrevocably caught between a pastoral imagination and foreign
civilisation.

Shoneyin makes
suggestions and allows the reader’s imagination to run riot without
subsequent guidance. One major cop-out is the implied lesbianism of Iya
Segi. Readers are led down an intriguing route when they read Iya Segi:
“I could not stop looking at her – everything about her fascinated me.
I was awash with lust.” But the author declines to pursue this,
Shoneyin missing the opportunity to widen the novel’s plot and make it
less predictable.

Despite attempts
to create an emotive personality in Bolanle, one cannot summon empathy
for her because she is not real. Everything about her character seems
fictional – her unrelenting naivety, her fascination with unusual
crockery, the drawn-out effect of a childhood ordeal and her choice of
a spouse. Bolanle fails to resonate; and quite frankly, save for a few
characters; the Alao family is a house of misfits.

Baba Segi is
perhaps the most rounded and intriguing character of the novel. We get
to know him better than we do any of his wives. And rather than fault
his decision at the novel’s conclusion, we applaud it because we know
and appreciate his personality. It is such descriptions as the
following that make him so: “Baba Segi was open ended, he could never
keep things in. his senses were connected to his gut and anything that
did not agree with him had a way of speeding up his digestive system.
Bad smells, bad news and the sight of anything repulsive had an
immediate expulsive effect: what went in through his mouth recently
shot out through his mouth, and what had settled in sped through his
intestines and out of his rear end.”

The conclusion is
one of the best parts of the novel though a few loose ends remain in
the exploration of the wives’s long-held secrets and the emotions
behind them. One had also hoped that Iya Tope would evolve in the
household beyond a single outburst.

Nonetheless, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is a book which
elucidates the intricacies inherent in the typical polygamous Nigerian
home. And the wonderful use of language and grammar, save for a few
editing oversights, ensure that it is an enjoyable read. Lola Shoneyin
possesses a strong adventurous voice and is representative of the new
crop of female writers who will undoubtedly play an important part in
promoting Nigerian literature.

The first Lagos
Jazz Series, held at three Lagos venues from November 5 to 7, lived up
to its billing. Jazz aficionados savoured performances from great
artists including Karen Patterson, Jimmy Dludlu, Somi, Chinaza, Bez,
and Morrie Louden at The Sofitel Morehouse, Ikoyi, on Friday; Federal
Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, on Saturday; and Muri Okunola Park on
Sunday.

Conceived by Oti
Bazunu to give Lagosians a unique experience of live outdoor Jazz
performances, the crowd that attended the three shows couldn’t have
wished for more. It was bliss soaring on the wings of great Jazz.

A natural

Patterson, Somi,
Chinaza, and Louden opened the series on Friday at The Sofitel
Morehouse. They took turns to entertain the guests, most of whom defied
that evening’s rain to attend the show.

The artists allowed
their music to speak for them, for the most part. They strummed their
guitars; blew the horns in soulful tunes; beat the drums; played the
piano, cello, and other instruments to create mellifluous sounds that
warmed the crowd.

Enamoured by
Friday’s opening event, guests returned early on Saturday to share in
the fun at Federal Palace Hotel. Somi, the first act who was
outstanding the previous day, didn’t disappoint. By the time the
Ugandan-Rwandan singer and her four-piece backing band finished, the
audience couldn’t resist applauding.

“Somi is a
natural,” said Tomiwa Aladekomo, one of the Lagos Jazz Series team. “I
so looked forward to this, and am happy Nigerians are easily connecting
with her.”

“This is a good
start already. And I have no doubt that this will become West Africa’s
answer to the Cape Town Jazz Festival,” noted a guest after Somi’s
performance. “It’s unbelievable that this is happening in Lagos.”

Saxophonist, Mike
Aremu, is a toast of Nigerian music fans and they duly applauded when
he came on after Somi. Aremu confirmed himself an excellent stage
performer with his delivery. Feet shorn of shoes, he sang hits from his
albums and engaged his three back-up singers in a call and response
routine to the saxophone. He also exchanged banters with the audience
and invited two guests to a ‘dance duel’ in the heat of the performance.

The 50-year-old
Louden was next. The star of the New York Jazz scene took over Lagos
the rest of the night together with his band, cleverly using horns and
strings to serve a sound that made many marvel.

Fusion

Ayetoro, led by
returnee musician, Funsho Ogundipe, was the opening act on the last day
of the Jazz series. The band, which has played well received gigs at
Lagos venues including the Oriental Hotel, proved its class on the big
stage in Muri Okunola. Television presenter, Oyiza Adaba, a major
enthusiast of the band, watched the performance from the audience at
the al fresco concert.

Adaba said of
Ogundipe and Co, “Being the first band in Nigeria to fuse Hip-Hop with
Jazz in 1996 with the track, ‘JT’s Tale’ (with the late JT West),
Ayetoro’s performance at the Lagos Jazz Series demonstrates the
maturity of the band’s music over the last 10 years.”

She observed that
the appearance was indicative of the next level for the band: “a fusion
of certain elements in different genres on their upcoming album.”

Award-winning South
African guitarist, Dludlu, was also on the bill at the well attended
series. The artist, who featured in the MUSON Jazz concert last year,
joined Ayetoro and others at Muri Okunola Park on Sunday to give Jazz
fans a memorable parting gift.

Up and coming act,
Bez, closed the show. For those who had seen him bring the house down
singing Fela’s ‘Water No Get Enemy’ at Keziah Jones’ Terra Kulture gig
months back, it would have been no surprise that Bez held his own after
Dludlu’s electrifying performance.

New ground

“We hope the
success of Lagos Jazz Series at Muri Okunola Park paints a different
picture on security in Africa’s most populous city,” said Bazunu.

Though security is
a major concern in Lagos, the Muri Okunola Park segment of the Jazz
Series ran from Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning
without any incident. The successful mounting of the show out in the
open air, turned out to be an endorsement of the park as a viable
entertainment venue.

On air personality,
Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi of Beat FM, praised the concert in the park. “We
keep complaining that there are not enough concert venues in Lagos, but
I think the organisers have just shown us that we need to be more
creative with how we choose our venues,” she said.

Mike Aremu was one of those who gave the artist’s viewpoint at the
end of the show: “Our artists keep looking for big stages to display
their talents at different festivals in Europe, America, and even South
Africa. I’m so glad that events like the Lagos Jazz Series are
happening. This is similar to any standard you’ll find anywhere in the
world.”

The Centre for
Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC) in collaboration with
the South Africa based Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society
(CASAS) recently organised an international workshop on the
harmonisation of indigenous languages. The workshop, held on October 26
and 27 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, brought
participants from several African countries for the first phase of the
project, with a focus on Hausa, Ijaw, Yoruba and Igbo languages.

Speaking at the
opening of the Abuja workshop, Minister of Culture, Tourism and
National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Muhammed said, “Despite Asia’s
multiculturalism and multilingualism, they have been able to maintain
their cultural and linguistic identities and have used them as
springboard for socio-economic growth and development. The Asian
countries have achieved a lot through the use and development of their
indigenous languages.”

As linguists got to
grips with the task in the different language clusters, Director of
CASAS, Kwesi Kwaa Prah spoke about his work on the preservation of
mother tongues.

Do the sheer variety of indigenous languages make it difficult to adopt them for wider use?

If you go to
England, in East End of London – Whitechapel, West Ham, Stepney – they
speak Cockney. Deep Cockney, you can hardly understand. If you go to
Yorkshire, in the village, they have another. If somebody from North
Yorkshire meets a man who is Cockney and they speak, you will think
they’re speaking two different languages. But they read the same thing
and speak it the way they speak. What is important is that the rules of
writing the language should be the same. If you are Igbo from Onitsha
and I’m Igbo from Awka… [we] should be able to read the same thing and
write the same thing.

On the language project so far

The linguists (in
the workshop) have worked with us for about 10, 12 years. I have a lot
of experience in doing this kind of thing. We’ve done about two-thirds
of Africa; we’ve harmonised languages. Take a language like Nguni.
[It’s] is a group of languages in Southern Africa – it includes Zulu
and Xhosa in South Africa; Ndebele in South Africa and Zimbabwe; Swati
in Swaziland; and Ngoni in Southern Tanzania and Malawi – it’s all
basically the same language, just different dialects. We have a
tendency in Africa to say: No, no, no, mine is different – when he can
perfectly understand the other man. My language, for example, is Akan
in Ghana – if you write [all its dialects] differently, you’ll get 15
different languages, when in fact it’s one. That’s why people make the
mistake; they say ‘in Africa, there are 2500 languages’, because they
count all the small dialectal variants and elevate them. It doesn’t
help us and makes it impossible to develop.

Language and economic development

I’m trying to find
a solution for us, the way that the Asians have found solutions. Nobody
in Asia who is serious is using English or Portuguese or French – they
were all colonised. The Dutch colonised Indonesia; nobody uses Dutch
there now. See how they are developing – they make cars, they make
everything. Malaysia was a British colony, it got its independent six
months after Ghana – today they do everything, they make aircraft. They
work in their own language. Vietnam, they were a French colony, but
they use Vietnamese now and they’re the fastest growing economy in
Asia.

We are the only
foolish people who think we can work in French and English. You can’t
compete with the Englishman in his own language. The moment you try to
do that, you are relegating yourself to second position and feelings of
inferiority, deep feelings of inferiority – it comes with this thing of
using a colonial language. That’s why you see our daughters and sisters
[doing] hair like European, imitating the European, some peeling their
skin. It’s all mimicry, it’s madness, it’s a sickness. It’s all because
we don’t have confidence in ourselves. The moment we start using our
languages, and the moment we can use our languages to make cars, we
have nothing to fear anymore from anybody.

We talk
about the need to bring our languages to the fore, but we’re carrying
out the discussions in European languages. The linguists in the
workshop – in the Yoruba cluster group – they are speaking in English.
Are we not going round in circles?

We have to start
somewhere. At each point on the circle, it’s possible to start, but we
must have an objective which is clear. We’ve produced some harmonised
orthographies which are translated in our languages. But to do the
thing you’re talking about, all the technical terms need to also be
available in our languages. We haven’t we even reached that point yet.

It could be the critique of Okot p’Bitek in ‘Song of Lawino’ all over again: “Tell the world in English or in French…”

I knew Okot
p’Bitek. That’s the struggle now between Ngugi wa Thiong’o and most of
these African writers. I agree with Ngugi against Ayi Kwei [Armah] who
I’ve corresponded with in debates about this same issue. So, everything
is a debate, everything is a tussle, everything starts as a battle of
ideas. And to some extent, these problems are still at the level of
ideas. But as the Chinaman said: even a journey of one thousand
leagues, starts with a first step.

Is there
any need for standardisation with languages like Hausa and Yoruba that
have a certain prescribed version that has been written down, that has
literature written in it for decades? Do we need any further
standardisation?

They need to be
improved. Take Yoruba for example, it’s full of diacritics. It’s like a
forest, it detracts from the reading. Take a newspaper that’s written
in Yoruba and the first thing you see is not a language; it’s the
forest of diacritics. It’s written as if it’s for a foreigner who wants
to read Yoruba, not for somebody who is a born Yoruba.

But the diacritics – the accents – it’s because of the tonality of Yoruba.

Many African
languages are tonal, you don’t mark all tones. If you ask an English
person: R.E.A.D – it can be Read (present tense), it can be Read (past
tense), it can be Mr. Read. How do you find out? Contextually.

English is not tonal, French is – and they do mark the accents on the French.

Yes, but the French
have certain habits which are not necessarily scientific. Not
everything they mark is based on science, it’s based on habit. We have
to write in a way that is user-friendly for our kids. When you’re
publishing a dictionary, you can use all these symbols, to clarify
differences and so on. But in a newspaper or a children’s book, if you
start using diacritics, you’re confusing the child. He or she will
never be a good reader, will not like reading and it’s self-defeating.
The people who wrote with all those diacritics, wrote to enable English
people to be able to learn Yoruba.

The policy of the many African governments do not work in concert with the harmonisation project.

You start with one
step. Be systematic about the way in which we tackle the politicians.
We should be able to start going from our constituencies, insisting to
our representatives that: please, when you go to parliament… these are
the issues that we want you to address, including language.

The truth about it
is, unless we develop our languages, there is no hope. You’re wasting
time. Understand that. You can never compete with an Englishman in his
language. Japanese make cars, not in English – in Japanese. Chinese are
also doing it, in Chinese. There’s no language which is from Adam a
scientific language. Language becomes scientific because people make
their languages scientific.

You suggested that the Igbo language hasn’t gone beyond Nigeria…

It’s not that it
hasn’t gone beyond. When was the border of Nigeria drawn? When was the
Igbo language born? So, which should come first, the border or the
language?

Going forward

This is my crusade.
I’ve been doing this for donkey’s years. I resigned from the university
to do this and I will carry on doing it till the day I die.

Tagged ‘Harmonisation and Standardisation of Nigerian and Related
Languages (Benin, Cameroon and Niger Republic), the concluding phase of
the project will hold in March 2011.

Western thinkers
often treat African issues with condescension and a patronising
attitude. I am exhilarated to report that I just watched a rare
exception in Fela! On Broadway. Dear reader, run, don’t walk, to go see
Fela! On Broadway. It would be a great tragedy to die without watching
that show. Okay, I am being melodramatic, but you get my point.

I attended the
play prepared to be miserable. I just knew there were many things that
would go wrong. As I went up to New York by train, I kept whining to
myself: “Why, O, why are foreigners doing a musical on Fela? This is
not going to work.” I stepped into the Eugene O’Neill Theatre,
optimistic that I would have to down several drinks just to make it to
curtain call. Wrong.

This was one fine
production, assembled with care, respect, and compassion. Fela would
have been proud of this show. I regret that once again, foreigners have
spent the time and resources to do what we ought to be doing for
ourselves.

This is a
must-see tour de force, thanks to the brains behind the show – Bill T.
Jones, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith.

When you step
into the theatre, the first thing that strikes you is the amount of
research and attention to detail that went into this production. The
set itself is tastefully done, and worth the price of admission. It
feels evocatively like a modern museum that tugs at one’s library of
memories. Characters in Nigeria’s checkered history appear and you
smile. This is a musical play deploying the historical accuracy of
heavy-duty research to create joyous faction.

There is a full
convergence of great artistic talent painstakingly assembled to
showcase the universality of music. It was my eternal luck that Patti
LaBelle performed that night as Fela’s mother. She was sheer poetry.
And Kevin Mambo as Fela was inspired. When he grabs the saxophone to
paw the air, a force grabs you to dance with reckless abandon.

Defiant to the
end, these children of the privileged gallantly mimic the song and
dance of the truly dispossessed. Just like Fela did. This is a brainy,
brawny, sizzling show, a great script creatively improvised. Everything
is here: Farce. Courage. Laughter. Sadness. Tragedy. Joy. Brutality.
The audience loved it when Fela showed up in a general’s uniform
strutting and preening through ‘Zombie’. This was creative
improvisation at its best. I must say that Fela’s attitude was
exquisitely captured that night.

It is true that
the real Kalakuta Republic shrine was grittier and more riotous, with
Fela’s girls in makeshift sets dancing the night away and all sorts of
mischief taking place in the shadows. Only the laws of the City of New
York prevented the highly creative producers and directors from totally
recreating the shrine. I saw enough to stir my all senses.

And Fela’s girls:
You should see their ‘gele’- head gears- lord have mercy. The girls
pounced on stage like hungry lionesses, fitted in skimpy outfits and
almost convinced me they had no bones in their lithe bodies, what with
the awesome dances they put on display. This was the best of Fela’s
shrine on display: waists swiveling 360 degrees, touts and thugs trash
talking, showing off moves, muscles, virility, and attitude. In dark
corners, Fela’s wives writhed in the shadows, shining a light into the
darkness with glorious waist power.

Back home in the
antiseptic clinic that houses my life in America’s suburbia, Fela won’t
let me go. As I wander the arid fields, Abami Eda, offspring of Esu,
follows me, arranging horns sobbing in formation, lining up the
oracle’s cowries. Now listen! I dey sing! I dey dance! I dey paint!
Without me you nor go happy at all! Uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew
am! Word! Tell them, Abami Eda!

His lunacy is
carefully scripted mayhem. His is the voice of the privileged
conducting the people’s orchestra. Hear the call of the master and
listen for the response of the dispossessed in the horns arranging
orgasmic rumbles North on Georgia Avenue, as I drive behind this bus
emitting mystic smells of Lagos. Ah, I miss Lagos. And Fela lives: “Now
listen! I dey sing! I dey dance! I dey paint! Without me you nor go
happy at all! Uniform na cloth, na tailor dey sew am!” Word. Tell them,
Abami Eda!

Fela! On Broadway
reminded me of the awesome power of Fela’s words; there is power
everywhere, even in the desolation wrought by thugs in uniform. Out of
the ruins of Kalakuta Republic, there is Fela rising in song, horns
braying, billowing loud marijuana smoke and attitude.

Silently, like
lionesses, his girls creep into you. Fela enters, monarch of the
dispossessed. Poetry. A triumphant song onto the lords of justice!
Anarchy barely controlled. Horns! The audience squeals with delight!
Fela orders his subjects: “Everybody, say, Yeah! Yeah!” And the
audience roars: “Yeah! Yeah!”

I am going back to New York to dance with Fela again. And Patti Labelle!

Those at the
opening ceremony of the fourth Festival of Indigenous African Language
Films (FIAF), held in Akure, Ondo State, last month won’t forget
veteran broadcaster and actor, Yemi Ogunyemi, in a hurry. He had all
laughing to his witty comments in English and Yoruba languages while he
remained poker faced. The Ibadan, Oyo State indigene confirmed his
status as a master compere during that session and others he handled at
the week-long festival.

That he was
excellent in his handling of the session shouldn’t have come as a
surprise, however. The talented Ogunyemi started the trade early. From
acting in primary school, he graduated to leading the literary and
debating society at Ibadan Grammar School where he also maintained a
column called ‘Window on Biafra’ in the school magazine, ‘The Viper’.
He also recited ewi on ‘Karo Ojire’ on WNTV/WNBS and featured in
children’s programmes before he started freelancing, first with the
Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria and then Nigerian Television. He
was a pioneer freelance staff when the first NTV Theatre was
established in 1977 before he became a full staff in 1979.

TV and I

The presenter of
‘En Balaya’ the first Yoruba quiz programme on TV recalls his journey.
“I got into television through acting. I was acting and doing other
things on a freelance basis. My journey into broadcasting started one
day when the controller of news met me on the corridor and said: you
will help me read the Yoruba news today. He gave me the script which I
translated into Yoruba and I read it well that they were happy about
it. The second day when they had a management meeting and a post mortem
of the previous day, they said I should be given a commendation letter.
The admin people told them I was a freelance artist, that how do we do
it? They were surprised and said they should interview me and give me a
letter of appointment. That was how I got into the news division.

“I was reading the
news but management thought it was conflicting; reading the news today
and acting a jester or houseboy the following day. They said I should
stop reading the news but I could present programmes. That was how I
was drafted to the programmes division to present programmes.” The ‘En
Balaya’ years

Ogunyemi started
presenting ‘En Balaya’ which brought him fame in 1979 after Funmilola
Olorunnisola, currently spokesman to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade
Sijuwade, left the show. “I ran ‘En Balaya’ from ‘79 to 2004. It was my
movement from NTA Ibadan to NTA Oyo that stopped the programme. It was
the first quiz programme in Yoruba and it ran the longest period. It
was my star programme because it was the only programme that nobody
ever took over from me or presented. I was doing other programmes but
that was my sole programme and ‘En Balaya’ became my second name over
time.” Though ‘En Balaya’ and ‘Tan’mo’, another Yoruba quiz programme
were popular then, the reverse is now the case. “Quiz programmes depend
on prizes. If you see people falling over themselves on ‘Who Wants to
be a Millionaire’, it is because of the millions there,” Ogunyemi
begins in trying to explain the current situation. “It is prizes that
attract participants to quiz programmes but with the state of our
economy, I don’t know. If not for telecommunication companies, which
company is ready to sponsor programmes of that magnitude? It is not
that we are not forthcoming with ideas but the sponsor has to be
there.”

Hazard on the job

His run-in with
security agents for punning on the name of the late Tunde Idiagbon,
then second in command to military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, is
one Ogunyemi describes as “one of the hazards of the job.” The day, the
man who featured in the popular ‘Koko Close’ says, “was one of my
saddest moments in life. I was on the sick bed at Alafia Hospital,
Adamasingba but we had a live programme. I didn’t want it to fail so I
asked my children to smuggle in my clothes and I asked my producer to
bring his car to the end of the hospital so I could steal into it. It
was that programme that put me into trouble and I was in trouble for
four months, 13 days. It was some overzealous security officers that
put me into trouble. They said I bastardised the name of Idiagbon.

“It was the
beginning of a quarter and I thought it was sacrilege for my programme
to fail at the beginning of a quarter so I was rolling out
instructions. Somebody said ‘ofin Yemi Idiagbon, o le ju ti Tunde
Idiagbon lo’ [Yemi Idiagbon’s rules are more stringent than Tunde
Idiagbon’s] I replied Emi ise Idiagbon, Idiope lemi’ [I’m not Idiagbon,
I’m Idiope] and that was it. I didn’t end the programme before the
security people came to pick me. I was suspended and I had to face the
music.” After months in jail, the case against him was dropped and he
was reabsorbed into the NTA.

While the Idiagbon
incident is one of his saddest moments, his happiest is the day he got
employment to appear on TV. “By 1977 when we started full time
freelancing with NTV Theatre, I had wanted to work in a TV station.
Each time they advertised, I applied but when they conduct interviews I
was not given a chance. I continued freelancing but had no chance to be
a full time staff. When the opportunity came without any interview,
either written or oral; they said: go and give him an appointment
letter after that management meeting. They gave me the letter on the
corridor of a one storey building at NTA Ibadan and I almost jumped
down from there to go tell my friends the news.”

Training is vital

Like most old
school presenters, Ogunyemi is of the view that though he had the
talent, the thorough training he received made him the consummate
compere that he is. “People are not trained nowadays. I laugh when I
see or hear presenters either on radio or TV; they are not prepared at
all. In our time, you have to script everything that you will say from
the beginning to the end. You will script like a teacher preparing a
note of lesson and your boss has to mark that script. You don’t go
outside that script for anything, you don’t add or subtract. That
prepared us for any eventualities. I don’t have ready-made jokes
because I’m not trained for stand-up comedy; we were trained as
comperes of occasions. It is what is happening that you use to make
people feel happy. You are not just to make people laugh without
substance.” He also insists that standard is falling among TV and radio
presenters. “During our time, TV was more of social services and if you
are giving social services, you have to do it well. What I see with
radio and TV these days is that producers don’t do any homework. The
other funny thing about TV and radio nowadays is that they just
introduce one topic and ask people to begin to comment. Also, a radio
or TV presenter will start his programme, the first five minutes, he is
praising himself. If you write your name twice on your script, they
will cancel it. When you mention your name on TV or radio, they think
you are projecting yourself; and you are not supposed to project
yourself.”

Fulfilment and retirement

Ogunyemi goes
philosophical when asked if he is fulfilled. “Fulfilment is a relative
word. Fulfilled in what sense? I have one rickety car; my house is
still uncompleted though I live in it. I became the general manager of
a station before I retired, so I will say I’m fulfilled, if you want me
to say so. And I don’t regret anything in my life. Anything that
happens to me, it has happened. In my younger days they called me Ariya
Manager because I’m always a very happy man.” He says of life after
retirement: “I’ve not been doing much, I have a farm I go to and I have
grandchildren I attend to. I have a farm behind my house which takes my
time and I have a compound I hoe. I’ve not been doing much because as a
retiree, the first few months were not comfortable. I have a full-time
housewife so at the end of the month, I discovered there was nothing.
The little I had in the bank, I was withdrawing and the first four
months, everything got finished and I still have two children in the
university. My father had some late children and I am sending three of
them to school so it was not palatable. God is taking care and I’m
finding my feet gradually,”

Why Art?

I can instinctively
say that it’s a part of me. Before I studied art, I studied Marketing
at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, in 1986, but it wasn’t my dream. It
was my Father’s. I was not satisfied. As I matured I figured out what I
wanted and went for it. Now I am fulfilled. As a kid I used to do
graffiti, scribbling on my workbooks and get distracted in class,
drawing on my books. So I figure I was meant to be an artist. You could
be earning a lot of money and be unfulfilled but for me, life is not
about monetary acquisition but about being true to yourself. Art is
somewhat trans-visceral for me, especially when I am working in the
studio. I get carried away and forget my immediate surroundings and
needs.

Training

I studied Fine Arts
at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, between 1992 and 1999 and graduated
with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons). I specialised in Painting because I
have a flair for colours. Colours are fluid and you can spread and
control them. I consider painting the queen of art.

Medium

I am of the opinion
that there is no one best medium, in the same way that all parts of the
human body are of equal importance. It’s a medley of all the parts that
form the human body. I handle all the mediums, but sometimes it depends
on my mood. I have worked with wood, nails, chalk and charcoal and many
other mediums, but I catch myself using more of oil on canvas. However,
I play with all the mediums because I like the diversity involved.

Influences

I have been
influenced by some of the best. Some of my favourites include: Leonardo
Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Thomas Kincaid, Salvador Dali, Jerry Buhari and
Abiodun Olaku, among others.

Inspiration

Any number of
things from Jazz music to the sea. I am influenced by a lot of things
because I am versatile by nature. Yoga is just one of my many hobbies.
Its meditative nature aids my creativity. Sometimes too when I am at an
ebb, I get highly concentrating and that becomes some sort of carthasis
for me. Pain and pleasure bring inspiration.

Best work so far

The best is yet to
come. I have had good ones though. However I keep expecting more from
myself, so I will not give tags as to which of my works is best or not.

Least satisfying work

I have them but I
will not name titles. When I compare my experience as a visual artist
now to that I had 15 years ago, I realise there is a lot of difference
and so some of my present works seem to me improved versions of the
ones of the previous years.

Career high point

Years ago I had an
exhibition in absentia in Canada, in which 40 slides of my work were
displayed. I got immense thrill out of that.

Favourite artist living or dead

Leonardo Da Vinci.
I admire him greatly because he was very dynamic. He did everything
from painting to inventing. His work will continue to inspire
generations to come.

Ambitions

Making impact that will continue to resound centuries after I am gone, like Da Vinci.

The next
generation of Nigerian film makers will surely surpass the efforts of
the current crop of Nollywood practitioners and will proudly take their
rightful place alongside their counterparts from recognised film-making
countries, America, India, Burkina Faso, and South Africa included. The
most obvious reason for this informed prediction is that this new
generation of Nigerian film makers will be better equipped to function
in the medium because of their specialist training.

Nollywood is a
classic example of the sarcastic irony implied in a song by Kio
Amachree titled ‘Any Dummy Can Play Guitar.’ This song, released in the
eighties, is also a commentary on the Nigerian situation in which
professions are infiltrated and virtually saturated with all manner of
charlatans, who by virtue of their financial success are automatically
equated as successful experts. Simply put, Nollywood is a trade, not an
art!

The new crop

Among the talents
currently ‘underground’ and unknown are the following: Chinedu Iregbu,
Mildred Ayendeng, Idhebor Kagho, Adaobi Obiegbosi, Akpor Kagho, Hafeez
Adeyemi, Osegba Abdullahi, Rahila Abubakar, Gbenga Soyinka, Nannak
Ndam, Uwemimo Ekpewo, Effiong Daniel, Ladi Dogonyaro, Usho Baba, Austin
Itshore, Saaka Victor, Janet Sambo, Esther Tujegbe, and Dike Okeh.

However, it is
from the above list that the new generation of genuine Nigerian film
makers will emerge. More importantly, they will be armed with the
essential tools with which to change the face of the Nigerian film
industry for the better. For now, they are among the fresh graduates
and advanced students of the National Film Institute, NFI, Jos; which
is the academic arm of the Nigerian Film Corporation, NFC, also based
in Jos.

These future
filmmakers ultimately earn degrees and diplomas in film making, awarded
by the University of Jos, to which the NFI is affiliated. What is so
heartening and reassuring for Nigeria, is the fact that the NFI Jos is
patterned after well-established film schools like the London Film
School, British Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, and the film
departments of the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of
Southern California, Los Angeles.

The bottom line
in all these schools is that all the students are given hands-on
training as well as theory courses in all aspects of film-making. They
actually get to make films as students and these are accessed by
external experts and juried for international student film festivals.

Trained and untrained

I recall, with
amusement, my days in the Nigerian Television Authority, Lagos, as a
consultant in the mid-eighties. The trend then was to employ graduates
with Mass Communications degrees from Nigerian universities.
Incredibly, unlike their counterparts produced by American
universities, these Nigerian graduates were never privileged to have
had any experience working on the television and radio stations of
their universities. Nigerian universities offering Mass Communications
courses had no television or radio stations then, and so offered just
theoretical training.

It was hilarious
watching these fresh graduates now producer/directors, working on set.
I suppose to them it was the ultimate mark of authority to shout
instructions like, “cameraman, give me a close-up, cameraman give me a
low shot.” The poor cameramen most times ignored them and took the
shots they thought were most appropriate.

The cameramen and
other technicians were usually members of staff who had risen up the
ranks, and although they had been trained on the job, they were
subservient in rank and salary structure to the fresh graduates. This
explains why for a very long time, apart from news programmes, NTA was
never able to produce good documentary or drama programmes.

For a long time,
Nollywood duplicated this production pattern in that the only trained
members of the crew were mostly the cameramen, soundmen, and editors
who actually ‘rescued’ the technical disasters that were churned out as
home videos or Nigerian movies.

What the NFI Jos
is thankfully trying to impress upon the film industry in Nigeria are
the facts that film-making is a collective team-collaboration and, all
members of the team must be well-trained to achieve a professional
end-result.

Thus, a
cameraman, scriptwriter, soundman, editor, and others are all graduates
who have majored in specific areas of film making. Predictably, this
ensures mutual respect and even inputs on set.

The right thing

It is within this
framework that the importance of the NFI within the Nigerian film
industry is better appreciated. Although there are now more than 40
Nigerian higher institutions offering Mass Communications training,
very few have radio stations and, nearly all don’t have TV stations and
newspapers for practical training.

We recently
witnessed the highly publicised and absurd situation in which a
supposed affiliate of a New York Film School trained some Niger Delta
youth in filmmaking, in the space of a month!

It is when we get
the right mix of well-trained film-makers and theatre-arts-trained
actors and actresses that the Nigerian film industry will finally come
of age. It is not about money, as Nollywood-lovers are bound to proudly
point out. It is not quite about the technical divide between
cinematographers and videographers. It is simply about doing the right
thing well.

The right thing
is that Nigeria now has a functional National Film Institute and the
Nigerian Film Corporation, is for a change, headed by a trained and
experienced film-maker in the person of Afolabi Adesanya. It is this
combination, with a little help from professional friends, that will
ensure that sooner than later, the next generation of real film makers
will emerge in Nigeria to reclaim and advance an industry which was
lovingly pioneered by the first generation of trained Nigerian
film-makers in the early seventies.

It will not be
easy for the new generation. As one of the NFI students pondered, “Will
Nigerian home video watchers recognise our better films, having been so
used to Nollywood films?”

Will these new generation filmmakers get funding away from the
Onitsha-Lagos cabal of trader-promoters who will want to keep Nollywood
stagnant in technical creativity and theme-direction just because it is
now a reliable cash cow? New money and new talent must come together to
steer the Nigerian film industry into a brighter future.

The next
generation of Nigerian film makers will surely surpass the efforts of
the current crop of Nollywood practitioners and will proudly take their
rightful place alongside their counterparts from recognised film-making
countries, America, India, Burkina Faso, and South Africa included. The
most obvious reason for this informed prediction is that this new
generation of Nigerian film makers will be better equipped to function
in the medium because of their specialist training.

Nollywood is a
classic example of the sarcastic irony implied in a song by Kio
Amachree titled ‘Any Dummy Can Play Guitar.’ This song, released in the
eighties, is also a commentary on the Nigerian situation in which
professions are infiltrated and virtually saturated with all manner of
charlatans, who by virtue of their financial success are automatically
equated as successful experts. Simply put, Nollywood is a trade, not an
art!

The new crop

Among the talents
currently ‘underground’ and unknown are the following: Chinedu Iregbu,
Mildred Ayendeng, Idhebor Kagho, Adaobi Obiegbosi, Akpor Kagho, Hafeez
Adeyemi, Osegba Abdullahi, Rahila Abubakar, Gbenga Soyinka, Nannak
Ndam, Uwemimo Ekpewo, Effiong Daniel, Ladi Dogonyaro, Usho Baba, Austin
Itshore, Saaka Victor, Janet Sambo, Esther Tujegbe, and Dike Okeh.

However, it is
from the above list that the new generation of genuine Nigerian film
makers will emerge. More importantly, they will be armed with the
essential tools with which to change the face of the Nigerian film
industry for the better. For now, they are among the fresh graduates
and advanced students of the National Film Institute, NFI, Jos; which
is the academic arm of the Nigerian Film Corporation, NFC, also based
in Jos.

These future
filmmakers ultimately earn degrees and diplomas in film making, awarded
by the University of Jos, to which the NFI is affiliated. What is so
heartening and reassuring for Nigeria, is the fact that the NFI Jos is
patterned after well-established film schools like the London Film
School, British Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, and the film
departments of the San Francisco Art Institute and the University of
Southern California, Los Angeles.

The bottom line
in all these schools is that all the students are given hands-on
training as well as theory courses in all aspects of film-making. They
actually get to make films as students and these are accessed by
external experts and juried for international student film festivals.

Trained and untrained

I recall, with
amusement, my days in the Nigerian Television Authority, Lagos, as a
consultant in the mid-eighties. The trend then was to employ graduates
with Mass Communications degrees from Nigerian universities.
Incredibly, unlike their counterparts produced by American
universities, these Nigerian graduates were never privileged to have
had any experience working on the television and radio stations of
their universities. Nigerian universities offering Mass Communications
courses had no television or radio stations then, and so offered just
theoretical training.

It was hilarious
watching these fresh graduates now producer/directors, working on set.
I suppose to them it was the ultimate mark of authority to shout
instructions like, “cameraman, give me a close-up, cameraman give me a
low shot.” The poor cameramen most times ignored them and took the
shots they thought were most appropriate.

The cameramen and
other technicians were usually members of staff who had risen up the
ranks, and although they had been trained on the job, they were
subservient in rank and salary structure to the fresh graduates. This
explains why for a very long time, apart from news programmes, NTA was
never able to produce good documentary or drama programmes.

For a long time,
Nollywood duplicated this production pattern in that the only trained
members of the crew were mostly the cameramen, soundmen, and editors
who actually ‘rescued’ the technical disasters that were churned out as
home videos or Nigerian movies.

What the NFI Jos
is thankfully trying to impress upon the film industry in Nigeria are
the facts that film-making is a collective team-collaboration and, all
members of the team must be well-trained to achieve a professional
end-result.

Thus, a
cameraman, scriptwriter, soundman, editor, and others are all graduates
who have majored in specific areas of film making. Predictably, this
ensures mutual respect and even inputs on set.

The right thing

It is within this
framework that the importance of the NFI within the Nigerian film
industry is better appreciated. Although there are now more than 40
Nigerian higher institutions offering Mass Communications training,
very few have radio stations and, nearly all don’t have TV stations and
newspapers for practical training.

We recently
witnessed the highly publicised and absurd situation in which a
supposed affiliate of a New York Film School trained some Niger Delta
youth in filmmaking, in the space of a month!

It is when we get
the right mix of well-trained film-makers and theatre-arts-trained
actors and actresses that the Nigerian film industry will finally come
of age. It is not about money, as Nollywood-lovers are bound to proudly
point out. It is not quite about the technical divide between
cinematographers and videographers. It is simply about doing the right
thing well.

The right thing
is that Nigeria now has a functional National Film Institute and the
Nigerian Film Corporation, is for a change, headed by a trained and
experienced film-maker in the person of Afolabi Adesanya. It is this
combination, with a little help from professional friends, that will
ensure that sooner than later, the next generation of real film makers
will emerge in Nigeria to reclaim and advance an industry which was
lovingly pioneered by the first generation of trained Nigerian
film-makers in the early seventies.

It will not be
easy for the new generation. As one of the NFI students pondered, “Will
Nigerian home video watchers recognise our better films, having been so
used to Nollywood films?”

Will these new generation filmmakers get funding away from the
Onitsha-Lagos cabal of trader-promoters who will want to keep Nollywood
stagnant in technical creativity and theme-direction just because it is
now a reliable cash cow? New money and new talent must come together to
steer the Nigerian film industry into a brighter future.

The first Lagos
Jazz Series, held at three Lagos venues from November 5 to 7, lived up
to its billing. Jazz aficionados savoured performances from great
artists including Karen Patterson, Jimmy Dludlu, Somi, Chinaza, Bez,
and Morrie Louden at The Sofitel Morehouse, Ikoyi, on Friday; Federal
Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, on Saturday; and Muri Okunola Park on
Sunday.

Conceived by Oti
Bazunu to give Lagosians a unique experience of live outdoor Jazz
performances, the crowd that attended the three shows couldn’t have
wished for more. It was bliss soaring on the wings of great Jazz.

A natural

Patterson, Somi,
Chinaza, and Louden opened the series on Friday at The Sofitel
Morehouse. They took turns to entertain the guests, most of whom defied
that evening’s rain to attend the show.

The artists allowed
their music to speak for them, for the most part. They strummed their
guitars; blew the horns in soulful tunes; beat the drums; played the
piano, cello, and other instruments to create mellifluous sounds that
warmed the crowd.

Enamoured by
Friday’s opening event, guests returned early on Saturday to share in
the fun at Federal Palace Hotel. Somi, the first act who was
outstanding the previous day, didn’t disappoint. By the time the
Ugandan-Rwandan singer and her four-piece backing band finished, the
audience couldn’t resist applauding.

“Somi is a
natural,” said Tomiwa Aladekomo, one of the Lagos Jazz Series team. “I
so looked forward to this, and am happy Nigerians are easily connecting
with her.”

“This is a good
start already. And I have no doubt that this will become West Africa’s
answer to the Cape Town Jazz Festival,” noted a guest after Somi’s
performance. “It’s unbelievable that this is happening in Lagos.”

Saxophonist, Mike
Aremu, is a toast of Nigerian music fans and they duly applauded when
he came on after Somi. Aremu confirmed himself an excellent stage
performer with his delivery. Feet shorn of shoes, he sang hits from his
albums and engaged his three back-up singers in a call and response
routine to the saxophone. He also exchanged banters with the audience
and invited two guests to a ‘dance duel’ in the heat of the performance.

The 50-year-old
Louden was next. The star of the New York Jazz scene took over Lagos
the rest of the night together with his band, cleverly using horns and
strings to serve a sound that made many marvel.

Fusion

Ayetoro, led by
returnee musician, Funsho Ogundipe, was the opening act on the last day
of the Jazz series. The band, which has played well received gigs at
Lagos venues including the Oriental Hotel, proved its class on the big
stage in Muri Okunola. Television presenter, Oyiza Adaba, a major
enthusiast of the band, watched the performance from the audience at
the al fresco concert.

Adaba said of
Ogundipe and Co, “Being the first band in Nigeria to fuse Hip-Hop with
Jazz in 1996 with the track, ‘JT’s Tale’ (with the late JT West),
Ayetoro’s performance at the Lagos Jazz Series demonstrates the
maturity of the band’s music over the last 10 years.”

She observed that
the appearance was indicative of the next level for the band: “a fusion
of certain elements in different genres on their upcoming album.”

Award-winning South
African guitarist, Dludlu, was also on the bill at the well attended
series. The artist, who featured in the MUSON Jazz concert last year,
joined Ayetoro and others at Muri Okunola Park on Sunday to give Jazz
fans a memorable parting gift.

Up and coming act,
Bez, closed the show. For those who had seen him bring the house down
singing Fela’s ‘Water No Get Enemy’ at Keziah Jones’ Terra Kulture gig
months back, it would have been no surprise that Bez held his own after
Dludlu’s electrifying performance.

New ground

“We hope the
success of Lagos Jazz Series at Muri Okunola Park paints a different
picture on security in Africa’s most populous city,” said Bazunu.

Though security is
a major concern in Lagos, the Muri Okunola Park segment of the Jazz
Series ran from Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning
without any incident. The successful mounting of the show out in the
open air, turned out to be an endorsement of the park as a viable
entertainment venue.

On air personality,
Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi of Beat FM, praised the concert in the park. “We
keep complaining that there are not enough concert venues in Lagos, but
I think the organisers have just shown us that we need to be more
creative with how we choose our venues,” she said.

Mike Aremu was one of those who gave the artist’s viewpoint at the
end of the show: “Our artists keep looking for big stages to display
their talents at different festivals in Europe, America, and even South
Africa. I’m so glad that events like the Lagos Jazz Series are
happening. This is similar to any standard you’ll find anywhere in the
world.”