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Why Art?

I fell in love with
art. Art is life and life without art is boring. I can see art
virtually in everything I do. It’s in my family lineage so I got a
share of it. Art makes me happy, focused, and when am so engulfed in
it, I wander if I will survive without Art. I owe my thanks to my
parents for their support. Daddy bought me colours, art materials to
help me nurture this talent. Mummy would exempt me from house chores
whenever was engulfed in it. In school I studied a mixture of art and
the sciences, almost studying Pharmacy. But today I see it as an act of
God that I had the freedom to choose what I had passion for. Art is
contagious and I will transfer the energy through projects with strong
multicultural and environmental themes. The joy of seeing is believing
that the sky is just the beginning.

Training

In 1991, I gained
admission to study painting at the IMT, Enugu. At FGC Ilorin, I won
some prizes in Art collegiate competitions. Having acquired HND in
Painting in 1996, I went back in 2003 to crown it up with a BSC Art Ed.
in Painting, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), 2007.

Medium

I desired to be an
experimental artist as a journey through the world of Art, since
variety is the spice of life .I did not want to be bored, so I tried my
hands in virtually all the media, starting from the pencil, charcoal,
pastel, oils on canvas etc. But today the Acrylics on canvas is gaining
more ground as it is more convenient to achieve the blend of my
technique and the Aboriginal style I implore in my painting.

Influences

Art is contagious,
my trips have influenced me a lot. For example the trip I made to
Toowoomba in 2006 has an influence on my current paintings, though they
do so in an exciting manner that compels the viewer to contemplate, and
to yearn to possess them. More so, a marriage seems to be going on as
the batik making technique is infused into it with the darker
background.

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from poetry, Bible stories, nature and dreams representing abstracts.

Best work so far

I have tried to
balance the elements of a good design in my paintings, and I have my
strong points in works like ‘The Dancer’, ‘Deforestation’, ‘Mother of
Sorrows’, ‘Faces in Sydney’. These are my favourite in recent times.

Last satisfying work

Am yet to discover
any of my works that will be tagged ’least satisfying’, but I know that
one man’s meat is another man’s poison, so I allow my critics to figure
that out for me.

Career high point

I hope to leave
behind a legacy by God’s grace for the foundation of children through
projects with strong multicultural and environmental themes. I wish to
transfer the energy.

Favourite artist living or dead

I do not have any
favourite now, but any artist who does projects to affect lives, the
future generation and contributes to a better environment, I will
acknowledge.

Ambitions

To make an impact
in the society using the work of my hands. To create new ways of
painting, using art to create wealth for needy children. Preparing the
resources we have to be aware of the knowledge God has stored in them
which is yet to be tapped. Sensitising the public that our resources
are not oil and gas, but our children.

Chimalum Nwankwo
is a professor of Literature at the North Carolina A & T State
University, Greensboro, USA, and a notable scholar and poet whose
career of three decades has produced five poetry collections and a long
list of scholarly essays. The last of those collections, a 189-page
magnum opus titled ‘Of the Deepest Shadows and the Prisons of Fire’,
was just freshly published when he visited Nigeria from May to June
2010 and undertook a reading tour of some of the country’s
universities, among other literary engagements. He spoke to NEXT about
literary and educational issues, including his controversial charge of
plagiarism against the celebrated poet, Christopher Okigbo.

Could you share your mission to Nigeria and its highlights?

I came to respond
to the invitation of some schools to read and talk about my new book,
‘Of the Deepest Shadows and the Prisons of Fire’. The principal campus
was Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, where there is an ongoing
discussion for a joint MA degree program in English between them and my
base University, North Carolina A & T State University, Greensboro.
I read at Nassarawa State University, Keffi. I spoke comparatively
about education in Nigeria and the USA on [television]; I also read at
the French Cultural Centre, Abuja. I moved on to read at the University
of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University.

What makes your new poetry collection an improvement on previous ones?

A Professor of
History at Nassarawa State University called the work “the best
marriage ever between Literature and History through poetry.” The work
is really more than an improvement because of the new tangent. I was
looking for a metaphoric podium which many different people can see and
enjoy and appreciate. A different kind of politics is at work in the
poetry, a politics of personal commitment and public meaning.

Having been
active as a poet and scholar for about three decades, what do you
consider the attributes of a good poem, especially from an African
perspective?

A good poem places
you on an emotional precipice from which you can look at the world and
the human condition multi-perspectivally—a subtle initiation into
truths taken for granted. The African poet has so much in stock, and
new or potential invention because of the beauty and diversity capsuled
or ingrained in the numerous African modes of reading and knowing the
world.

A fallout
of your recent visit to Nigeria was a publication in a newspaper in
which you reportedly alleged that the poet Christopher Okigbo was a
plagiarist. Some poets and scholars have contradicted that allegation,
including the eminent Niyi Osundare. What is your reaction to that?

I did not know
that anybody of substance contradicted me except Professor Osundare. He
is a seasoned academic and also another well-respected scholar-poet.
Osundare was nuanced in his reaction. He responded like one familiar
with what we all call the Critical Tradition. As for my suggestion of
plagiarism, kindly look at these two poems, and if you have any
godliness in you, tell the world what you see, truthfully. Here is part
of a poem, “For You,” written in the 1920s by the American poet, Carl
Sandburg: “The peace of great doors be for you./Wait at the knobs, at
the panel oblongs./Wait for the great hinges.//The peace of great
churches be for you./Where the players of loft pipe organs/Practice old
lovely fragments, alone//The peace of great books be for you,/Stains of
pressed clover leaves on pages,/Bleach of the light of years held in
leather.//The peace of great prairies be for you./Listen among
windplayers in cornfields./The wind learning over its oldest music.”

Here is part of
Christopher Okigbo’s “The Passage”: “O Anna at the knobs of the panel
oblong,/Hear us at the crossroads at the great hinges/Where the players
of loft pipe organs/Rehearse old lovely fragments, alone-//Strains of
pressed orange leaves on pages/Bleach of the light of years held in
leather://For we are listening in cornfields/Among the
windplayers,/Listening to the wind leaning over/Its loveliest
fragment….”

How many of
Okigbo’s words in the above poem belong to his creativity? I am going
to let readers call the above what they want, but they must please use
their dictionaries and see the meaning of the word “plagiarism.” While
at it, remember that Wole Soyinka, one of our biggest academic stars
ever, referred to Okigbo’s work at another international forum as
“derivative.” Okigbo’s one-time friend and house mate, the really
unsung late great novelist, Nkem Nwankwo, was less gracious; he
referred to Okigbo’s practice as theft. I have nothing more to say
about this issue, but if you are still curious, wait for my full
article on African Writers and the West in the 2008 Harvard University
International Conference publication, which will be out soon.

You started
off writing and lecturing in Nigeria. How would you compare the
experiences of operating at home and in exile as a writer and lecturer?

As a writer,
working at home, my creative impulse is razor sharp. Abroad, I strain
to harmonise audience and resources. Reception abroad is less
predictable. At home I know what will move or send my audience to
sleep. Lecturing is no different. The African young student is hungry
for knowledge and anxious to learn. Abroad, you are a great teacher
when the student is awarded an A, and you are a demonic jackass if the
grade is unflattering.

Are there ways in which writing from exile has affected the authenticity of your work in terms of content and style?

Never! I am a
thorough Igbo man. I hear women and village maidens singing inside me.
I hear the atilogwu and its lilting mesmerising flute as clearly as I
see the sadness of people in want roaming the streets of “home.”
Luckily, some of the songs from childhood which I remember stay fresh
and vibrant in my inner ear. Quite a few, of course, I deploy in some
of my poems.

In your
preface to Of the Deepest Shadows and the Prisons of Fire’, you object
strongly to your being compared with Okigbo “at this stage” in your
career. Was there a stage in your career at which you would have
embraced such comparison, and why?

My first outing,
Feet of the Limping Dancers, imitated everybody from all over the
place: Africa, Europe, America. Comparing my first work with Okigbo’s
is like comparing imitations with an original. That is crazy. And
crazier, at this point when I have generated what I conceitedly call my
own “aerial zone.” Okigbo and the pioneers were the past. We are the
present.

There are hints of
a strong affinity with African/Black heroes and with the radical
impulse, not to mention a thinly veiled nostalgia, in ‘Of the Deepest
Shadows and the Prisons of Fire’. What is the relationship with the
development of your poetic art and sensibilities?

Academics today
say that one should always speak “truth to power.” That is exactly what
it should be. I am therefore, most times, in support of radicals who
challenge a negative status quo. That is the kind of sensibility which
informs most of the poems in this new book. The poet searches for
beauty always but a beautiful world has to house that beauty.

Some
literary critics or analysts may describe your poetry as Nerudismo on
account of what appears to be its dominance by arcane personal imagery.
How would you respond to such a description?

The more
unfamiliar a world is, the more arcane certain things seem. Neruda’s
“Macchu Picchu” and quite a few other poems of his dig deep into the
past in exciting myth-making exercises. I do virtually the same. The
holy tree, ogilisi, features in a couple of my poems. It is an Igbo
holy tree used to mark graves and boundaries and so forth. Nzu, which
I, for linguistic convenience, refer to as “chalk” in my poems when I
speak of “inviolable chalkways,” is another ritual marker. If you
encounter those expressions and objects without cultural understanding,
they become classified as “arcane.” Such habits call for patience and
diligence in a reader. Soyinka’s most powerful plays, like “The Road”
and “Dance of the Forests,” cannot be understood without his Ogun-ism.
Do readers flee because these plays look arcane to the “outsider”? No.
You bend down and study.

What would
you say is Chimalum Nwankwo’s contribution to Nigerian, African or
world literature, his literary or artistic legacy if you like?

Chimalum Nwankwo
is the poet of the aerial zone, the zone of bright lights and of
biggest possibilities. Those possibilities in art must initiate from
the African world. If I meet the West where ever the possibilities take
me, fine. If not, that is because we live in different worlds, powered
by different realities. I am an African poet, in agreement with almost
all the issues raised by Chinweizu and his friends about decolonising
African Literature. I am more inclined to follow Susan Wenger to the
great Yoruba mysteries around Oshogbo or follow Uche Okeke, Obiora
Udechukwu, and Tayo Adenaike towards the silken trails of Uli. I will
follow Soyinka to the great brotherhood where Ogun and Amadioha rule.
If I am not happy with these Nigerian brethren, I will head to Ghana to
read the great poetic psalms in the drums of Atukwei Okai’s ‘fontomfrom
fontomfrom’. African culture is very rich and the diversity means
endless possibilities. When Ezra Pound was laying the foundation stone
for what we call the Pound Era in European poetry, he did not enjoin
Eliot and his friends to go and start astral travel. Pound declared the
European practice jaded, and screamed a deafening “Make it new!” Our
newness steers us away from the stilted and unwieldy cultural chains of
our colonial masters. The African battle cry, our own make it new, is
there in ‘Toward the Decolonization of African Literature’. And it is
very loud and clear. If I use anything from the West, I do it with the
caution of our immortal Mbonu Ojike, after only carefully “boycotting
all boycottables !!!” I therefore do not care about World Literature as
artistic target and legacy. When Chinua Achebe was writing ‘Things Fall
Apart’, I do not believe he was aiming at a World Literature. See where
we are now.

Poetry used
to be the dominant literary genre. But it is now generally regarded as
an endangered species compared to the other literary genres. What do
you think can be done to improve its fortunes and possibly restore its
waning glory?

Police the gates
of creativity. Do not allow charlatans, loud mouths, and half-educated
English teachers to slip by. If you do, the vicious circle continues,
from bad teachers to bad student writers who produce discouraging bad
poetry. Who wants to listen to a bad poet? Or buy a book of bad poetry?

What is your advice to younger poets, published and unpublished?

Make yourself and
your work available for criticism always. Learn to suspend your ego. If
you are better than one or nine professors, never let anybody hear you
say it. Those professors or their friends may be in a position to
destroy your creative career with one secret paragraph of negative
assessment to somebody. Even if your works have won a hundred prizes,
remember what W. H. Auden wrote in his memorial for W. B. Yeats: “The
words of a dead man/Are modified in the guts of the living.”

Anyone concerned
that this year’s Osun Osogbo Festival may not hold because of the
passing of the Ataoja, Oba Iyiola Oyewale, on August 4, need not worry.
The people’s festival will hold, and in a grand style.

“Before
colonialism, the Yorubas were democratic. Whenever something like this
happened, the Yorubas had a mechanism in place. I have been asked by
the Osogbo Traditional Council to say we are going ahead with the
festival,” said Jimoh Buraimoh, principal coordinator of the festival,
at a meeting with the press on Thursday, August 11.

Buraimoh, a
renowned artist and high chief of Osogbo, spoke against the backdrop of
fears in some quarters that the festival might be shifted or cancelled
because of Oba Matanmi’s demise. But speaking at the press conference,
Buraimoh assured that the festival will still take place from August 16
to 27 as originally planned.

Special festival

The representative
of the Osun Heritage Council wasn’t the only one who allayed people’s
fears. Ifagbenusola Atanda, executive secretary, organising committee
of the festival, also gave reassurances. The Aare Alasa of Osogbo noted
that though the king is very significant to the festival, Oba Oyewale’s
demise is the king’s challenge to the people to see if they will be
able to hold the festival without him. The people of Osogbo, he
reiterated, will not fail to venerate Osun, as is the custom, though
the Oba has joined his ancestors.

Atanda added that
all earlier announced programmes will hold as scheduled but that this
year’s festival will be a special one to honour Osogbo’s longest
reigning king who spent 34 years and eight days on the throne. What
will make the festival unique, according to Atanda, is a rite of
passage for Oba Oyewale on August 27, the grand finale of the festival.

“It will be a much bigger festival than before. There are lots of things you are going to see on that day,” added Buraimoh.

Asked who will play
the Oba’s role during the festival, Buraimoh stated that Osogbo, like
all Yoruba cities, has a regency system in place. The Ajaguna of
Osogboland, Gabriel Oparanti, next in command to the late king, has
taken over until a new Oba is selected. Though this is the first time
in history a reigning Oba will die before the annual festival,
Buraimoh, Atanda and Ayo Olumoko, chief executive officer of INFOGEM
Limited, the company marketing the festival, assured that it will go on.

Packed festival

The activities for
this year’s festival had earlier been unfolded at a press briefing on
August 5; news of the Oba’s demise broke later on the same day. The
festival opens tomorrow, August 16, with the Iwopopo ceremony, the
traditional cleansing of the town, while a festival sensitisation
workshop holds the following day.

The
Olojumerindinlogun ceremony, involving the lighting of a 500-year-old
16 point lamp, opening ceremony of the festival art exhibition and
inauguration of the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove Management committee –
will all hold on August 19. The fourth Osun Festival Olagunsoye
Oyinlola Golf Competition comes up on August 21. Explaining why the
competition is named after Oyinlola, governor of Osun State, Olumoko
explained that the indigenes of Osogbo did so to appreciate his efforts
in projecting the festival nationally and globally since he assumed
office.

Three events, the
Iboriade ceremony, cultural film show and final of the traditional
wresting competition are slated for Monday, August 23 while the Ayo
Olopon contest and HIV/AIDS promotional campaign, come up the following
day.

Memories of the
late high priestess of Osun, Susanne Wenger, popularly known as Adunni
Olorisa, will be rekindled on August 25 at a sacred colloquium in her
honour, while the Sisi Osun cultural beauty pageant will take centre
stage on the 26th. The winner of the pageant will walk home with a new
Geely car courtesy Hyra Motors while the first and second runner ups
will get a plasma TV and home theatre set respectively.

The grand finale of
the Osun festival itself, to be chaired by Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi of
Juli Pharmacy, will hold inside the Osun Grove World Heritage Site on
Friday, August 27. The rite of passage for the late Oba Oyewale will
also hold the same day.

Some music too

Fittingly, the
festival will be rounded up with a musical concert on the 27th. Bonsue
fuji king, Adewale Ayuba, who is headlining the concert, underscored
the importance of culture at the press briefing of August 5. He noted
that a river that forgets its source will dry up; adding that he will
sing and lecture on the origin and prospects of the festival. Ayuba
also backed Olumoko’s earlier disclosure that there will be corporate
fora next year in the US, Brazil and Mexico as part of efforts to
further sell the festival to a global audience.

Fuji star, Saheed
Osupa who has been part of the festival for a number of years and is
featuring this year, also reiterated his belief in promoting African
culture, at the interaction held on August 11. “I’m a true African man
and will always promote African culture, I will always be original.
Culture is supreme and this is why others have been borrowing from the
Yoruba culture,” he said. The fuji act also decried the desecration of
kings, wondering why presidents and governors are now ranked before
them when they used to be second only to God in ages past. Other
musicians that will feature in the concert holding at the WOCDIF
Centre, Osogbo, include Apala musician, Asindemade; Benny Black; SKUKI
and Sehinde Kenery.

As usual, this year’s festival has a number of corporate sponsors
including MTN, Hyra Motors, MicCom Golf Hotels and Resorts; Star;
Seaman’s Royale and Oak Nigeria Limited. Regional Manager, South West,
MTN, Laolu Osundina, said the theme of its involvement in the festival
this year is ‘Know Thyself’. He also spoke on the importance of
culture, noting that there are heroes of the past that “should be
celebrated and projected for our children to know and read about.”
Osundina said the telecommunications company wants every Nigerian to
know “their culture and tradition so that they can stand tall.”

The Minister for
information, Dora Akunyili, will be a guest speaker at the next edition
of Felabration, scheduled to hold from October 1 to 7. This was
announced at a press conference held on August 4, by the Felabration
committee, ‘Viva Africa’, along with other programmes of events for the
forthcoming celebration of the 72nd birthday of Afrobeat legend, Fela
Anikulapo Kuti. The celebration would also mark the tenth anniversary
of the New Africa Shrine.

Chatting with
Journalists, Fela’s daughter and founder of the yearly festival, Yeni
Kuti, disclosed that for the first time since its inception, some of
the activities will hold outside the New Africa Shrine. In what is seen
as a widening of the event, Yeni said, “For the first time, Felabration
will be leaving its traditional abode, New Africa shrine, for the Lagos
Island. The idea behind the move is to allow Fela’s lovers and
enthusiasts living on that axis to enjoy themselves under a convivial
atmosphere, close to home.”

Chair of the
festival committee, Theo Lawson, promised a two-pronged celebration of
both Fela’s birthday as well as 13 years since his passing. Lawson said
the event, which kicks off on Independence Day, will also commemorate
Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee.

Funding issues

Although the
Felabration committee plans big, funding remains an issue. Though many
international and home-based artists have been invited to participate
in the festival, the economic situation in the country may mean that
not all those who have shown interest in participating can be involved.
“A lot of the artistes want to be a part of Felabration 2010, but we do
not have enough money to buy flight tickets for them to come,’’ said
Lawson.

The festival, which
is to begin at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos on October 1, will
include: a debate on the Fela- documentary film, ‘Music Is A Weapon’,
which will also see the launch of the Viva Africa theme song. Other
guest speakers expected to participate at the debate are: lawyer and
activist, Femi Falana; Yemi Osibajo; and Theophile Obenga.

Some of the highlights

Other items on the
programme, include: quizzes, dances and musical performances by foreign
and Nigerian artists. Among these are masked musician Lagbaja and King
Sunny Ade who appear at the New Africa Shrine October 2 to October 4. A
documentary on the history of Fela will be shown; and a quiz on his
life, tagged, ‘Felamatrix’, which will be thrown out to members of the
audience. October 5 and 6 will be set aside for a celebration of Fela’s
birthday; and a carnival train will cruise through the Ikeja axis.

The grand finale of
the event will hold on October 7, the highlight of which will be a
concert featuring all the invited artists, as a tribute to the late
Afrobeat Legend. According to Yeni, “The grand finale will be at the
New Africa shrine, where fans of Fela can enjoy themselves”.

Responding to media
questions about security and arrangements for the press during this
year’s Felabration, Yeni assured that, “Provisions will be made for
journalists to move freely without any disturbance. Maximum security
will be available throughout the event.”

Finally, Yeni expressed her hope that more sponsors will come on
board to make the forth-coming festival a successful one. She appealed
for support as Viva Africa attempts to make this year’s edition of
“Felabration” the best since the commencement of the project, 10 years
ago.

Actor, Oladele
Akinseye, and writer, Karen King-Aribisala, jazzed up the occasion on
Tuesday, July 22, when Wale Okediran read from his latest novel,
‘Tenants of the House’, at the Faculty of Arts boardroom, University of
Lagos.

Akinseye sang
‘Peace, Love and Happiness’ to honour Okediran for winning the 2010
Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. Okediran was a joint winner of the
prize with South Africa’s Kopano Matlwa. It was a funny spectacle as
Akinseye tried to involve the audience in the acapella piece. The two
groups he asked to mimic musical instruments gave discordant tunes
while he belted the lyrics of the Afrobeat number.

King-Aribisala,
head of the Department of English and co-convener of the reading with
writer Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, also delivered her welcome address in a
song “in the spirit of what happened.” She called it the ‘Ouch, wow,
wow, wow song’. Some mischievous students taken in by the song kept
repeating ‘ouch, wow, wow, wow’ during Adimora-Ezeigbo’s introduction
of the guest writer.

Strange environment

Okediran prefaced
the four excerpts he read from the novel with explanations in an
attempt to provide context for his audience. The author disclosed
before he read the first chapter that he realised he was truly in a
strange environment when he got to the House.

“I found myself in
a different environment and started keeping a diary,” he said. The
former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) added
that he wrote a fictional account of his sojourn at the House because
his lawyer warned him he could be sued. He stated that the novel
generated mixed reactions from his colleagues in the National Assembly
when it was eventually released.

Okediran disclosed
that he still dodges three female members of the House who are unhappy
with him for portraying women as hard and having loose morals in the
novel. He then read the chapter where Lizzy attempted to seduce Bakura,
who wanted out of the plot to impeach the speaker.

The author of
‘Sighs of Desire’ and ‘The Weaving Looms’ also touched on the problems
he and other anti-third term lawmakers had with former president
Olusegun Obasanjo.

A long tradition

During the question
and answer session, students and lecturers grilled Okediran, who
recently established a residency for writers in Iseyin, Oyo State.

Asked if the
demarcation between science and arts students in secondary schools is
necessary, considering his literary achievements despite being a
medical doctor, Okediran said, “We have a long tradition of
doctor-writers. I’m sure many of you have come across Anton Chekov,
there are many of them. It has now been confirmed that your profession
doesn’t matter, it’s your innate talent. Now in America, poetry is
taught in medical schools to encourage doctors to see the beauty of
poetry and do some writing.” He added that curriculum planners have
nothing to lose by re-examining the issue and addressing it.

Child’s play

Elites shouldn’t
shy away from politics, Okediran said when Lasisi Bolaji, a student
activist asked how credible people can get into elective offices. “I
believe the more people of credible background we have, the better
politics will be at the end of the day. And you should have a job
before you go,” he reiterated.

Kayode Soremekun,
a professor of International Relations and Okediran’s squatter at the
University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) where he studied
English, asked his friend if there was a future for democracy in
Nigeria, going by actions of members of the National Assembly.

“What you have seen
now is like child’s play compared to what happened many years ago,” the
writer began. “It’s something of regret to many of us because we
thought that now, things should be getting better. The future of this
democracy lies in the hands of us, the so-called elites, because it’s
like we abandoned politics and democracy to the second eleven. Bola Ige
said when he wanted to drag me into politics that the bane of the
elites is that we don’t want to leave our comfort zones, we are not
interested in how government is being run.”

Love wins

He offered an
interesting insight into how love got into the story. “It will be very
boring to read a 300-page book just on politics. Love story is a winner
any day and I know that from experience. I went to Spectrum Books many
years ago with my first manuscript about my experience during NYSC. The
editor said: ‘this will not sell. If you want a book to sell, either
write a thriller or a love story’. So, I had to go back and write a
love story. That’s why my first book, ‘Rainbows Are for Lovers’ is
about the bestselling book published by Spectrum Books till today. And
from comments from readers, particularly the ladies, the love story
carries the day. When Professor Ayo Banjo reviewed the book in Ibadan,
he said I wrote two books in one. One about politics, the other on
love.”

Sidney Sheldon’s influence

Okediran revealed
the influence of the late thriller writer, Sidney Sheldon, on his work.
“I was maybe badly or positively influenced by Sidney Sheldon. I read
him and I’ve read his biographies. When he was asked why he liked using
female protagonists, he said: ‘you don’t know what you are missing.
Women can change their minds anytime and with a woman, you can get a
very good character because you don’t know what she will do next. With
a man, you can predict’. To a large extent, I think it’s true. That’s
why I used Lizzy to open my book. Sidney Sheldon also believes in
cliffhangers. That’s why I said maybe I was badly influenced because
some of my friends tell me: ‘your book is (only) a little above James
Hadley Chase and I say, let it be like that. That’s what I like. It can
actually be a problem because some reviewers want literary books, so to
say – ‘difficult’ books. They call some of us populist writers but I
think it’s good. I think the best compliment you can get as a writer is
‘I read your book and I couldn’t put it down’. That says it all.”

A book signing session for the students and guests including the
writer’s relatives, friends and Hope Eghagha, Delta State commissioner
for higher education, ended the reading.

The Apostolic Faith
church must share sentiments with Franz Alexander von Kleist who was
quoted as saying “Mozart’s music is so beautiful as to entice angels
down to earth.” And the church might have achieved just such a feat,
when on August 7, its 1000 member choir and orchestra raised voices to
the heavens, performing symphonies from Mozart and other famous
composers.

As part of
activities marking its annual convention, which holds till August 22,
the Apostolic Faith Church held its classical music concert tagged
“Behold, He cometh” at its ‘Faith City’ in Igbesa, Ogun State.
Resplendent in navy blue and white, the impressive choir performed 18
musical offertories to God, and the large congregation consisting of
monarchs, foreign visitors and church members.

The church’s
District Superintendent, West and Central Africa Headquarters, Reverend
Emmanuel Adebayo Adeniran, in his opening remark, stated that the
concert was “set aside to remind the world of the great time set aside
by God to create the world.”

And we were
reminded where we were when the choir, with its impressive collection
of orchestral instruments opened the concert with a rendition of
Mozart’s ‘Praise the Lord for He is Gracious’. A choir and orchestra
piece led with cello strings and accompanied by violins and piano tones
to create an uplifting spiritual feel that set the tone for the evening.

A clarinet quartet
by Beethoven complemented by the keyboard notes and produced delicate
notes that evidenced the precision of the instrumentalists. Various
other musical renditions followed in quick succession: Mozart’s ‘Werke
No 3 in G Major’, ‘Carest Thou Not’ by Lance Nathan, and ‘I’ve anchored
my Soul’ by K. Oje, performed by a combination of choir, string
instruments and keyboard.

Songs from the realm of peace

Two songs from
Joseph Haydn’s oratorio ‘The Creation’, a masterpiece which depicts and
celebrates the creation of the world as described in the biblical Book
of Genesis, were performed. In a mélange of voice and sounds from
violins, cellos and keyboards, the triumphant history of God’s creation
of the earth and its creatures, was retold.

The concert was
broken briefly with a sermon from Adeniran, who proclaimed the theme of
the concert thus: “One glorious day, the saints of God are going to
break the law of gravity and meet with the Lord.” He enjoined his
congregation to “desire to leave the storms of this earth for the realm
of peace.” And advised that they not allow money to stand between them
and God; “the greatest mistake of our age”, he said, “is raising
another god (money) before our God.”

The second part of
the concert kicked off with Schubert’s ‘Symphony No 5’; followed
immediately by violinist Dare Ogunsanya’s performance of ‘Czardas’ by
Vittorio Monti. The performance, possibly the most riveting of the
evening, was heralded by almost pin drop silence. Holding the audience
spellbound, Ogunsanya spoke the gospel in different tones, starting
with measured strings, then quickening to a canter and finally slowing
down to be interspersed with keyboard notes before culminating in a
crescendo worthy of a virtuoso. His performance, which included an
offering of the popular hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’, received the loudest
ovations and elicited several shouts of Hallelujah.

Local airs

Though mostly
classical, the concert did not neglect to bring in the Nigerian
flavour, in a section tagged ‘local airs’. Ethnic hymns in Igbo, Efik,
and Yoruba were performed with the audience joining in song. The event
ended with a final performance from Creation, by the thousand member
choir, with every chorister playing an instrument in accompaniment.

Music Director for
the church, Dotun Ewumi, speaking after the concert, attributed the
church’s preference for organising classical concerts to the foundation
laid by its founders. According to him, “Our founding fathers brought
up the church with music from America, and we have continued the
tradition since then.” Should we be looking out for any such concerts
soon? “Yes,” he said, “this is the second classical concert this year.
We usually hold three every year: during Easter, during our camp
convention and at Christmas.”

No doubt due to the
technical difficulties of assembling a choir this large, the
preparations for the concert had taken four months, with rehearsals
beginning in April. And the performances, conducted by Ewumi, and the
church’s director of worship, Kayode Oje, evidently benefitted from
this painstaking effort as the two-and-half-hour concert progressed
without any glitches.

Surgical precision

The sound quality
was wonderful, and the change of choir and instrumental for each song
proceeded with almost surgical precision. Also, the concert had all the
choristers reading sheet music, and boasted an array of instruments:
strings such as violins, violas, cello and double basses; brass such as
trumpets, trombones and French horns; clarinets; a grand piano; and a
giant keyboard.

Speaking on the
success of the event, Reverend Dwight Baltzell, Director of Africa
Works, attributed the hitch-free performance to the Almighty, and to
the efforts of the choir, whom he prayed will be paid with blessings
from God. Reverend Adeniran promised happily that the concert is
“growing from strength to strength. This is bigger than the last
concert; Next time, it will be even better.”

Classical music is perhaps the most tranquil and inspiring music one
can hear, small wonder it spoke the gospel so fluently, as performed by
the Apostolic Faith Church choir. One cannot but be impressed by the
church’s wonderful execution (save for an alto solo in ‘I’ll fly away’
that went awry briefly) of gospel masterpieces. The performance, is
undoubtedly one of the most remarkable one might be privileged to
attend in Nigeria. One expects that The Apostolic Faith Church
continues to, through the expression of classical music, propagate its
message of the love of God.

The just ended
exhibition, ‘Clockmania’, showcased an Aladdin’s Cave worth of novelty
timepieces to the general public. Organised by The Multicolour, an
interior design outfit based in Lagos, the exhibition’s opening took
place at The Place in Ikeja GRA, Lagos, on August 8. Nearly 40 people
braved the heavy rains on the day to attended the opening.

In her opening
remarks, the organiser of ‘Clockmania’, Adebusola Akinnubi, expressed
her appreciation to guests who made time out of their busy schedules to
attend the exhibition. Hinting at her motivation for the show, she
said, “I want to give people variety of clocks in their homes and
offices, to beautify homes, offices with unique clocks.”

Multicolours, which
has been delivering uniquely designed clocks to clients, decided to
make it a public business, and the best way to signal this was through
the ‘Clockmania’ exhibition.

Akinnubi used the
occasion to stress the need for Nigerians to pay better attention to
time and time-keeping. “When invited to any occasion, people arrive an
hour late for the event, which is not helping us at all in this
society. I do not believe in ‘African Time’ the way it is said in
Nigeria today. With this exhibition, I hope to encourage Nigerians to
be time-conscious in the society and in their everyday life.”

A ten percent
discount was on offer on all clocks sold during the exhibition. The
CEO- turned-curator, Akinnubi, informed that, “We have over 100
varieties of clocks. From small table clocks to wall clocks and floor
clocks such as grandfather clocks, which are not what people are used
to seeing every day.”

Guests viewed the
clocks on display and many marvelled at the designs, some ornate, some
playfully quirky, while others are fashioned after themes likes sports.
One guest who decided to purchase one piece, Chuks Ibeh, said, “I read
(about) this online and was moved to come to this exhibition. I love
lovely clocks in my house, and hope this continues in Nigeria.”

Akinnubi has
promised to make the exhibition an annual event. Having established a
‘clock house’ in order to provide people with beautiful pieces, the
Computer Science graduate of the University of Ilorin spoke about her
“passion for clocks”.

She declared herself encouraged by the public interest shown in the
exhibition, and the attendance. During discussions at the opening
event, it emerged that the clocks are largely imported from Switzerland
and other places. Perhaps by the time of subsequent editions, the
efforts of The Multicolour and Akinnubi would have helped to stimulate
the production of similar clock design artistry locally, thereby adding
to the variety on of pieces on offer.

U.S Filmmakers Bart
Weiss and Kim Snyder were recently in Nigeria to attend an American
Documentary Showcase organised by the public affairs section of the US
Consulate in Lagos and the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers.

The event, which
took place at the Ozone Cinema, Yaba, Lagos, afforded Nigerian movie
directors an opportunity to exchange ideas with the established
American documentary film experts. The highlight was the screening of
three American documentary films – ‘Come Back to Sudan’ (which
documents the lives of three ‘lost boys’ of Sudan and their adoptive
white American mother)), ‘Street Fight’ (chronicling the bare-knuckled
race for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, between 32 year old Cory Booker
and Sharpe James, the four term incumbent mayor) and ‘Wiz Kids’ (the
story of three remarkable and passionate scientists who compete in
America’s oldest and most prestigious science competition). After each
screening the facilitators fielded questions from the audience,
consisting of established and emerging Nigerian filmmakers.

A film of truth

In his opening
remarks, Bart Weiss, an award winning independent film producer and
founder of the Dallas Video Festival, introduced the audience to
various techniques of making a documentary, with emphasis on cinéma
vérité. Defining the term as ‘a film of truth’, Weiss said, “It
involves a camera man following his subject in real life rather than
constructing images. The crew follows things as they evolve. It helps
you experience the emotion because everything is not based on the
imagination of the director”.

Citing ‘Street
Fight’ as an example of Cinéma vérité, Weiss added that the intensity
or emotions of any story can never be lost if the technique was adopted
into use.

Looking beyond the challenges

Whilst challenging
young filmmakers to be daring, Kim Synder, who recently co-founded the
BeCause Foundation to produce a series of documentaries designed to
raise awareness about global issues and inspire philanthropy through
the power of film, said: “You do not have to wait until you have
sophisticated equipments before you shoot a short film or documentary.
Go out and shoot with minimal equipments which you have and you can
shoot a state-of-the-art documentary. Start with what you have and
collaborate with friends or professionals.”

The Nigerian question

As the discussions
progressed, the question about how Nigerian filmmakers could benefit
from the expertise of the visiting filmmakers arose. Weiss addressed
the issue, saying, “[Nigerian movie practitioners] can benefit through
exchange programmes as well learning the movie making techniques of
both countries.”

Although the
organisers expressed displeasure at the sparsely filled theatre hall,
despite the large number of invites sent out, the audience present had
more than enough lessons to take away.

As the event wound to a close, Weiss had a last word for upcoming
filmmakers: “If you want the government to partner and work with you,
it won’t readily happen so you have to be persistent and hard on
yourself. Filmmakers have a charge to help and encourage each other to
get things going because if you want to do it all by yourself, it is
going to be hard.”

Veteran arts
journalist, Ben Tomoloju, has cautioned media practitioners against
what he called the “laissez faire approach to culture and
commercialisation.”

He made the remarks
at the National Workshop on Propagating Cultural Values for National
Development, held at Merit House, Abuja on August 2. The culture
activist cited as example of such laissez faire approach a recent
advert by Wale Adenuga Productions, producers of popular television
series, ‘Super Story’ and ‘Papa Ajasco’.

As related by
Tomoloju, “The advert, which gives a sorry impression of what one
refers to as ‘audition by lucky dip’, called for entries from
prospective actors at a fee, for a major television drama to celebrate
Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary. Shockingly… successful
actors will be selected, not on the basis of a critical assessment of
their competence by a panel of experts, but by a sort of ballot, a
lucky-dip system of actors’ recruitment, which throws traditional
methods of talent appraisal overboard.”

Tomoloju criticised
the advert as “a very easy way of adopting mediocrity and marginalising
genuinely gifted artists. Without taking anything from the high
reputation of Wale Adenuga Productions… by this ‘audition by
lucky-dip’, the integrity of the electronic media, media arts
programming and culture production is seriously undermined.” Tomoloju
charged that the attention of media practitioners should necessarily be
drawn to such “unwholesome trend”, in order to ensure the sanitisation
of the culture sector. “Let us not deregulate our culture along with
deregulation,” he said.

Cultural values

Tomoloju was
speaking as a resource person for the workshop, organised by the
National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO). Among those in
attendance was the Emir of Potiskum, Mai Umar Bubaram IBN, who entered
the venue with much fanfare, preceded by a horn-blower and surrounded
by his courtiers. Others on the high table included Garba Mohammed,
President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ); and Ibrahim
Abubakar Ganyama, chair, Governing Board of NICO. The Minister of
Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Abubakar Sadiq Muhammed was
represented by the Director of Culture, George Ufot.

The theme of the
one-day workshop was ‘Cultural Values, Our Greatest Asset’. In his
opening remarks as chair of the occasion, Garba Mohammed commended NICO
“for organising this workshop at this particular time when there is
discussion about the need to expose our cultural heritage in the
development of the nation.” Responding, Barclays Ayakoroma, Executive
Secretary of NICO, congratulated Mohammed “on the release of your
kidnapped journalists”, noting that, during the crisis, the NUJ
secretariat had relocated to the scene of the action, Abia State.

Ayakoroma informed
that this was the second workshop in NICO’s programme of Propagating
Cultural Values for National Development; the first edition held in
May.

“On May 19, we
planted a seed and today, we can see that the seed is germinating,”
Ayakoroma said. He stressed the importance of such a talk-shop, saying,
“We cannot make appreciable progress without synergy between cultural
workers and administrators. It is my hope, therefore, that this
workshop would provide a platform for such synergy as well as afford
participants the opportunity to draw from the wealth of experiences of
our resource persons.”

In his remarks,
George Ufot affirmed that, “We are interested in a culture of
excellence, decency and respect… As we approach the national
elections, it is important we talk to each other.” Ufot also tasked the
media on the need to propagate culture as a means of developing the
nation.

Human relations

Ben Tomoloju and
the other resource person, Clara Obazele, engaged participants during
the Technical Session. Obazele, a veteran journalist, was first up,
with a contribution that focused more on the behavioural aspects of
culture. No mention of folklore, songs, dance, theatre or rituals in
her presentation, which treated such sub-themes as: good human
relations, sense of community, sense of respect for authority and
elders and the distinction between ‘clock time’ and ‘socialised time’.

Using references as
varied as Albert Camus and Nkem Nwankwo, Obazele’s was an engaging
presentation, somewhat compromised by the positioning of her Powerpoint
equipment, which meant that her back was to the audience most the time.
Her presentation later generated some debate about whether it was
possible to truly return to the values of the olden days, as she seemed
to be advocating.

Agenda setting

It was the paper by
Ben Tomoloju – written as he sat on the high table – that really got
the interest of the arts writers and editors present. Speaking on ‘The
Role of the Media in Propagating Cultural Values for National
Development’, the former deputy editor of The Guardian noted the
function of the media in “communicating culture through its reportage,
educative features and programmes, in critically analysing cultural
development and celebrating by way of conferring status (on) those
vital and noble aspects of the lives of people and institutions. The
cultural media is, therefore, central to national development.”

Tomoloju’s paper
charted some of the culture milestones achieved in Nigeria between the
years 1988 and 1997, designated as the World Decade for Cultural
Development by UNESCO. He drew attention to the agenda setting role of
the media and the ways in which this could be used for national
development.

“The media is close
to the people at all levels of the social hierarchy. They should
therefore serve as the barometer of public opinion and voice of the
voiceless, with the capacity to transmit the yearnings and aspirations
of the people to the leadership,” he said.

The culture
activist canvassed for the propagation of culture at all levels of
society, not just through to “monuments” like the National Theatre, but
via the establishment of cultural centres, operas, libraries and
theatres at community level. That way, “there is a graduation of talent
from the grassroots before it gets to national recognition.”

He advocated for
the return of craft villages to the level of traditional organised
guilds, noting that traditional skills had sustained the economies of
pre-colonial African societies. “All that China did during the Olympics
was based on their culture, not just technology. The computation had
been in the Chinese since Confucius.

Cultural action

Touching on the
potential of the media for mass mobilisation and cultural action,
Tomoloju said, “Film is a powerful tool for propaganda and cultural
diplomacy.” He recalled the colonialists’ use of Mobile Film Shows to
“subdue and subject” African societies culturally.

“Journalists and
media practitioners should maintain the required standards of their
practice” in order to be effective agents for the propagation of
culture for national development, said Tomoloju. For effective
communication, he urged against “the current trend of short-changing
the quality of indigenous languages in public communication.”

In this regard, he
praised the efforts of NICO, which has been running classes in
indigenous languages. “NICO is setting a fresh agenda in terms of
cultural praxis; a new visionary and pragmatic force of appeal that
will positively influence public consciousness on the viability of
culture in the creation of prosperity for the well-being of the
Nigerian populace,” Tomoloju said.

NICO Executive Secretary, Barclays Ayakoroma, spoke of plans to
extend the National Workshop on Propagating Cultural Values for
National Development beyond this second edition. He said, “We are
looking forward to a time when this forum will be a national event
[which] arts writers all over the country, not just Lagos and Abuja,
will attend.”

Fifty years ago
Chinua Achebe stunned the world with the novel, Things Fall Apart, a
muscular response to the stereotypical way the world viewed Africa in
her stories. Driven by fierce pride, recoiling from stories that had
turned Africa into a disease-ridden pit of mumbling savages, he set out
to prove the truth in the East African adage: “Until the lions produce
their own historian, the story of the hunt will glorify only the
hunter.”

Achebe was one of
an elite squad of super-bright intellectual leaders out of Africa that
jacked up conventional prejudiced opinion against the wall of the
world’s conscience. I am in awe of ‘Things Fall Apart’. I read it
regularly and I always discover something new and insightful in its
pages each time. I also marvel at the energy and fierce determination
that it took to produce such a masterpiece in a world without word
processors and the wondrous tools of the computer and the Internet.

Achebe’s
generation of writers certainly was seized by a grand vision and in
their books they laid it out often with sweeping imagery and majesty.
That generation’s energy and disciplined sense of purpose is awe
inspiring. Think of what it took to edit Achebe’s manuscript and the
energy it required to publish it overseas. It is impossible to detect
an editing issue in ‘Things Fall Apart’. This is a miracle considering
when, where and how it was written.

Achebe’s
generation also had the heavy burden of entertaining the community in
the absence of the ubiquity of television and the Internet. And they
delivered, writing books that even when bereft of any message or
ideology, simply delighted and entertained. There was coherence and a
consistency in quality and message and it was possible to define and
identify a great generation of African writers.

Fast forward to
today. Sad to say five decades later, the Nigerian publishing industry
is still virtually as inchoate as the environment that drove ‘Things
Fall Apart’ to be published abroad in the 50s. In many ways when you
adjust for all the enormous resources available to today’s publishers,
one could argue that the publishing industry has gotten worse since
then. Sure, there are bright spots, but these are sadly outliers.
Nigerian writers understandably continue to look to the West for relief
from the mediocrity at home. This is a shame; there are many reasons
why things are in near disarray; it is not all the fault of our
publishers: To say for instance that successive Nigerian governments
have been irresponsible is to engage in polite understatement. There is
not a shortage of passionate, talented writers willing to write today’s
story. But the sad quality of the production mirrors the sad quality of
virtually every production from virtually every Nigerian institution.
Art imitates life’s reality.

Many Nigerian
writers are worthy ambassadors and they do good things for Nigeria. The
best of them have been adopted by well funded Western individuals and
institutions. The unintended consequence has been to emphasise the
narcissistic individualism of our best thinkers. Too self-absorbed to
be relevant to Nigeria, they are busy grabbing prizes from the West
while giving Westerners condescending lectures for being avuncular and
patronising towards them. They openly eat the cake offered them and
demand it back.

Given the abysmal
state of today’s Nigeria it seems self indulgent for our writers to be
jetting around the world, lecturing white folks that we are humans
deserving respect. Many Nigerian writers seem obsessed with garnering
lucrative prizes, engaging in gimmicks to enhance book sales, etc. I
call it writing to the smell test of dollars. Short stories are
hurriedly written to order for the enjoyment of white Johns in return
for dollars: “Um, write us a story, fill it with huts, army generals
and peasants. I liked the line in your delectable short story, Things
Rotten in Nigeria “the fish in the egusi had a face! Brilliant!”

Apparently superciliousness is not exclusive to Nigerian writers. I
do love the Caine Prize for African Writing. It has been great for
African literature and I applaud the vision of its founders and
funders. The Sierra Leonean Olufemi Terry is the latest winner of the
prize. After winning, however, he assured the BBC that it was
“unhelpful” to see writers from Africa as a unique category. Hear
Terry: “There is a danger in seeking authenticity in African writing,”
He then hoped that winning the prize would help him get his book
published. This is where I lose it with our writers. Terry knew what
the Caine writing prize is all about. Hello, it is called the Caine
Prize for African Writing, for Heaven’s sakes. Nobody put a gun to his
head to compete for the prize. He wrote a short story to the test of
this particular prize and he won based on his very “African” short
story. He then proceeds to chide the West for calling him an African
writer. Olufemi Terry does not deserve the Caine prize. He should
return the prize.