Nigeria Content Online

The last Saturday
of every month is fast becoming something to look forward to on the
Lagos literary scene, especially after the monthly BookJam@Silverbird
sailed into its third edition. A heavy downpour across the city, did
not stop fans of the two-hour literary event from turning up for its
usual dish of readings, performances, discussions and book signings.

On the line up for
the month of April were Karen King-Aribisala, Uzor Maxim Uzoatu and
Theatre@Terra’s playwright, Wole Oguntokun.

Inspiring reading

Playwright and stage director Oguntokun, read from the prologue to his play, Gbanja Roulette, about domestic dissension.

The award-winning
author and scholar, King-Aribisala, delivered a powerful performance
with her dramatic poem ‘Another Kingdom,’ about the search for identity
and place.

After deciding to
settle for her kingdom however, the poet-persona discovers a safer and
more secure realm in Christendom. According to the author of ‘The
Hangman’s Game’, the entire piece is a play on her name King-Aribisala,
which reflects royalty (King) and finding shelter (Aribisala -one who
finds a safe haven). “You see what a lucky person I am,” she said.

King Aribisala’s performance was a mix of reading and singing, with a voice as powerful as her imaginative writing.

There was a story
behind almost every poem read by Maxim Uzoatu from his collection ‘God
of Poetry.’ He read ‘Words Singing on Paper’ – which he dedicated to
the late apartheid era poet Dennis Brutus – ‘God of Poetry’ and ‘A Poet
is Chewed.’

Uzoatu’s ‘Dear
Teacher and Pagan’ was dedicated to Wole Soyinka. It was inspired after
the Nobel laureate questioned Uzoatu for drinking beer during a
discussion in Soyinka’s home. Uzoatu had replied, “Sir, that’s how I
get my inspiration.” An ironic question from the poem read, “Is there
palm wine in paradise?” Popularly known as ‘The god of Poetry,’ Uzoatu
then read ‘We Shall Vote With Stones (To General Babangida)’ which he
said was inspired by the W.H. Auden quote that “Poetry makes nothing
happen.” The poem he said has recently become popular after Tunde
Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly read it in his church. Speaking in
no veiled reference to former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida,
the poem read, “We shall vote with stones/Now that ballot paper stands
annulled…/It is incumbent on stones/ To vote for our evil genius/Who
turned sap to stone.”

Twenty questions

Following a musical
performance by Kafayat Quadri, the audience had the chance to ask
questions. Host of the BookJam series, Igoni Barrett, wanted to know if
the voice in Another Kingdom’ was that of another Karen. “No, that’s
me. I’m quiet and am also not quiet,” replied the Guyanese-Nigerian
author of ‘Our Wives and Other Stories.’ Others in the audience wanted
to know if Uzoatu was advocating that Babangida be stoned on sight.

“The fact is that
this man annulled an election, took a way our voters’ card, so when you
don’t have a voter’s card what do you vote with? Stones! If you take
away the soft matter they will go for the hard matter,” replied Uzoatu.

“(Babangida) is the
man, who raised the issue, he has taken away our ballots so now we are
left with stones. Whether he runs or not we shall face him in the
field. Some of us have been guerrilla journalists before we can do it
again.” With 2011 approaching as a decisive election year for Nigeria,
the role of poets and dramatists as nation builders came once more to
the fore.

“The written word
is very powerful. Just do your best and you’ll never know where your
work will go. Whatever you do can influence somebody,” Uzoatu said.

Oguntokun also
agreed with Uzoatu on the decision to vote with stones saying, “Nothing
metaphorical: stones or anything harder.” He also stressed the
importance of the arts in national development. “It is possible for
literature to influence the way things go and that is a reason for
these things we do. It’s supposed to mirror the things we do and I
don’t know any undead person who would watch IBB come back to Nigeria.”
Sharing a humorous anecdote, King-Aribisala spoke of how the Kenyan
government had stormed a performance of an Ngugi Wa Thiong’o play with
the intention of arresting a fictional character, who they felt had
inspired the people too much to be unreal. “Literature can and does
influence the society,” she said.

Questions soon
followed on the message from some of the readings. Oguntokun, however
suggested that it was better to “make your own deductions and not
compel the author to tell you [the message]. You can see something
entirely different. There are different messages for many people.”

A writer’s obligation

Drawing comparisons
between her attempt at playwriting and Oguntokun’s dexterity at the
form, novelist Abimbola Adelakun Adunni wanted to know about his
playwriting process, Oguntokun replied that she probably tended
naturally towards writing prose than drama. The playwright admitted to
getting tired of writing prose, but was instead eager to see his works
go on stage.

A curious guest
wanted to know why Oguntokun’s performances always featured guns. “How
can I live in this country and not write about guns?” Oguntokun asked
rhetorically before pointing out that the assumption was half-right.
However, while reeling off a number of his works where the gun was
absent, he conceded, “I’ll be careful.” Uzoatu also fielded questions
about the intensity and the emotion behind his works. “My idea about
poetry is just writing the first line. You write the first line, you
get the next line to be better than the first line. That’s the way you
continue until you don’t have any line to write again. I don’t think
about the message, I just think of one line after the other until I
can’t find any other line.” The author of the Caine shortlisted story,
‘Cemetery of Life’, was taken up on his preferred decision to sit at
home and write. An audience member countered the claim saying his
responsibility was to attend fora like this and explain his work.

Swiftly, Uzoatu
said he had no obligation to explain anything he had written after it
is published. “Once you have put a book out, anybody can come to you
with any kind of meaning. I’m not there to legislate for the world. I’m
not a dictator.” “It’s not your work again,” Oguntokun offered.

Write now

A guest who
proclaimed no love for poetry wanted to know if King-Aribisala had any
non-satirical works; another was eager to discover the award-winning
writing tips of the three authors. All echoed similar sentiments.

“I have a premise
which I want to prove and the premise is almost mathematical and I work
it out on paper,” King-Aribisala said. She described a spirit-writing
period where, “I just write like crazy,” she said, paying no attention
to grammar. The editing then follows to make sure everything fits into
the premise. “The essence is being able to control the emotions of your
readers,” King-Aribisala said.

“Put down your
emotions. Let your spirit go, don’t restrict yourself. Once the thing
is inside you, get it out,. If you wait until you have measured
everything down to the last sentence, you won’t write anything,” was
Uzoatu’s advice to upcoming writers in the audience.

Oguntokun described
a writer as “a person, who has taught his mind to misbehave.” The
audience was however not done and wanted to know how the writers ensure
their books have a far-reaching influence on its readers.

“I don’t think you set out to make an impact,” King-Aribisala said,
“that would be constraining yourself. Allow your thoughts to just flow.
You could even come up with a new word and new ways of saying things.”
“Just do your writing. Let the society take care of itself,” Uzoatu
said. Beefing up this stance, Oguntokun, who maintains a weekly column
in ‘The Guardian’ said, “Your writing will not impact on society if you
are a bad writer. I don’t agree that everyone is born a writer.” With
these lessons and a lucky dip, the third edition of the
BookJam@Silverbird drew to a close.

Renowned writer T.M. Aluko is dead. Reports say he died at 4.02am this morning in a Lagos hospital. He was 91 years old.

Aluko, who had suffered a stroke that left him unable to use the right side of his body, was 91years old.
Despite this restriction, the author taught himself to write with his left hand and launched his “Our Born-Again President” in November 2009 a few months after his 91st birthday.

Aluko became popular amongst Nigerian readers for his satirical works like ‘One Man, One Wife’, ‘One Man, One Matchet’; ‘Chief the Honourable Minister’; Kinsman and Foreman’; ‘Conduct Unbecoming.’ He also produced the more autobiographical works like ‘The Story of My Life’; and ‘My Years of Service’, about his years in the Nigerian civil service.

Aluko was acclaimed both locally and internationally. Some of his works received international prizes and were broadcast on the BBC African Service. He was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) in 1963 and 1964 respectively.
Aluko, who schooled at the Government College, Ibadan, later studied engineering and town planning at the University of London. Before his retirement from public service, Aluko was director of Public Works in the former Western Region and a lecturer at the University of Lagos.
Born Timothy Mofolorunso Aluko in June 1918, he is survived by his children amongst whom is stage performer Tayo Aluko.

No member of the family was immediately available for comment.

I have just
plodded through Dead Aid, written by Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo
(Farrah, Strauss & Giroux). The book is, on the surface, bold and
audacious. In the past 50 years, over US$1 trillion in development
related aid has been funnelled to Africa from the rich countries of the
West. Moyo argues that the aid should be stopped, because Africa has
been further impoverished precisely because of her reliance on these
funds. Wow, this coming from an African, I eagerly looked forward to
reading the book. I was disappointed.

It is a pretty
book bearing empty promises of courageous conversations. Think of being
offered a placebo pill to cure your malaria. The pill is pretty but
your malaria rages on. Moyo is not a good writer and it shows
painfully. If she is a great thinker, it is not evident in this
should-have-been-an-essay production. I can understand why this book
was published. Moyo’s thesis taunts and torments liberal orthodoxy and
she resonates with the frustrations of weary donor-nations. This
messenger, at first glance, is a gift from God. Black, African,
articulate (oh, I hate that patronising word as it oozes out of
swooning Western reviewers, “Ah, look! A black woman! She is from
Zambia, you know, articulate, went to Harvard, worked for Goldman
Sachs, the World Bank, swoon, prattle, swoon!”).

Moyo does have
impressive credentials, but I have news for the West; there is more
where she came from, your prejudices are looking the wrong way. A
writer, however, she is not. What she is, is a trained economist used
to churning out carefully ironed wooden prose in those World Bank
proposals that go to Africa and other unfortunate places to die, places
like her Zambia. The research is awful and the prescriptions are
alarming tracts straight out of a neo-conservative economics textbook.
The Biafran war did not happen in 1971, as she breezily shares (p26).
Biafra officially ended in January 1970. She wants it to happen in 1971
because she conflates it with George Harrison the Beatle’s benefit for
Bangladesh that happened in August 1971! Go figure. And to dismiss the
Congo’s Patrice Lumumba as “a communist” is silly and reveals the
quality of her knowledge of African issues. Her core recommendation is
that African nations should access private capital (aka loans) in the
open markets rather than relying on the largesse of Western
governments. She obviously did not see the financial meltdown coming.
Her other recommendation that aid to Africa be ended within a five-year
period is unrealistic and troubling.

I do share her
misgivings, 100 per cent about what has happened to the money that has
been given to Africa as AID. It is not chump change. Aid-giving is a
multibillion industry that benefits mostly the NGOs and their assorted
pimps riding around Africa’s desolate lands in their convoy of SUVs.
There is little or no accountability for these funds. I am not an
economist but the economic theories she propounds are too heavily
aligned with the discredited world view of Ronald Reagan’s tenure in
the White House. Those theories are two decades old and quite frankly
have proven inadequate in today’s world of porous physical boundaries.
It is too land-based to deal robustly with today’s world. All this is a
shame because Moyo has several promising premises to work on. She
simply was not equipped to flesh out her thoughts in a muscular manner.

She is also right
when she says democracy has impoverished Africa. She says that Africa
should look to China for help. I actually believe that the empowerment
of the truly dispossessed lies outside Africa. It is sad and I don’t
know why, but our cognitive elite of leaders have demonstrated that
they are incapable of being altruistic when it comes to doing what must
be done for Africa. They are apparently wired to be self-serving
thieves.

It is easy to agree with Moyo; most of the aid to Africa and
so-called third world nations has been wasted. Moyo, however, gets the
issues all confused. Africa needs help, lots of it, and it is in the
world’s interest to give help. Why does Africa resist all attempts to
get her out of poverty? My parents simply want some relief from black
on black abuse. My father Papalolo points out at every opportunity that
he was happier under colonialism. Now, that really hurts. He has never
quite understood the difference between Sani Abacha and Obasanjo, same
difference. My mother waves her cell phone at me and predicts that the
white man will soon discover a wireless marvel that will supply her
light and water. She already uses her cell phone as a flash light when
the light goes out. No need for PHCN (Power Holding Company of
Nigeria). As far as my mother is concerned, each Nigerian regime should
be renamed PHCN — problem has changed name again. My parents await
external intervention to free them from the multiple tyrannies
unleashed on them by the mis-rulers of Nigeria. That relief is not
going to come out of Moyo’s book.

Art connoisseurs
and lovers came together on Saturday, April 24, 2010 to witness what
proved to be one of the best auctions in Nigeria in recent times, as
the last hammer came down to a cumulative sale of approximately N35m
worth of artworks. Aptly tagged the Golden Jubilee Auction 2010, the
event which held inside the Multipurpose Hall of Terra Kulture,
Victoria Island, Lagos was organised by Terra Kulture in partnership
with Nimbus 2000, and with the support of Guaranty Trust Bank.

The event which
once again confirmed the increasing market value of contemporary
Nigerian art, showcased works by celebrated Nigerian artists such as
the late Ben Osawe, Bruce Onobrakpeya, El-Anatsui, Jimoh Buraimoh,
Abayomi Barber and his son Olatunde Barber; and entries by legendary
Nigerian musician Sir Victor Uwaifo who according to the auctioneers
majored in Sculpture at the University of Benin.

Though beginning
slowly as the bidders and the auctioneers felt each other out, the
tempo of the event quickly heightened as the collectors sought to
outbid each other. Two pieces by El-Anatsui, a multimedia artist and
teacher at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, came tops at the auction as
his wood panel, Lot 72, ‘Time Window’ (147 x 61 cm, 2006) sold at
N3.8m; while Lot 61, from a series, ‘1004 Flat’ (40 x 40 cm) went for
N3.6m. And with these, the prolific artist made his first major sale in
Nigeria.

Other sales in the
top six were Ben Osawe’s bronze, ‘Queen’ (96 inch. 1991) at N2.1m; Gani
Odutokun’s ‘King’, NI.5m; Abayomi Barber’s ‘Knowledge is Power’
(bronze, 150 cm x 79 cm), N1.2m; and Jimoh Buraimoh’s Beaded work
(152cm x 76cm), N900, 000.

A wide range

The collection of
works presented at the auction was indeed a cocktail of artworks
collated to celebrate Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee while reminiscing on the
mythical and folkloric history of the nation with the presentation of
Lot 56, the Benin Warrior Head (A Goat Head Cap); Lot 59, Ajere 4, a
depiction of mother and children; Lot 60, Ekpoki (Jewellery Box) 1; Lot
53, The Portuguese Warrior Horse Rider; and Lot 57, Ife Head.

Managing Director
of Terra Kulture, Bolanle Austen-Peters, had earlier said that they
collected, sculptures, artefacts and other media of art expression,
just to ensure the event was not monotonic. This potpourri of works
gave an insight into the creative transformation of arts in Nigeria
over the last 50 years and more.

With a fine mix of
Nigerian and foreign collectors, the summation of the sales of over 70
percent of the works sold at prices which sometimes surpassed their
recommended retail price, once again confirmed the growing appreciation
that Nigerian art is worth collecting.

Some observations

This was the second
arts auction from the stables of Terra Kulture, and the level of
organisation which went into the preparation for the event from its
announcement some months ago, demonstrated that the lessons from the
maiden edition of the event were taken to heart.

The initial
concerns that works presented were not in accordance with the brochure
was allayed, as bidders received documents which showed them the
direction in which the works would be auctioned off. Moreover, caddy
boys carried the pieces as they were announced by the auctioneers,
while the use of a projector also left no doubt in the minds of the
bidders as to the pieces up for auction.

The one fly in the
ointment of the event was the salesmanship of one the auctioneers which
many faulted, due to her lack of composure, evidently caused by her
lack of proper knowledge of the works. However, the flawless manner in
which her partner, Seye Ogunlesi, wooed the bidders with his knowledge
of the works and the artists and his sense of salesmanship, more than
made up for her lapse. Despite the success of the event, this scenario
highlights the fact that there is a dearth of art auctioneers in
Nigeria and the dire need for the Nigerian art industry to encourage
more people with a flair for salesmanship to delve into this aspect of
the industry, as the business of art auctions seems to have berthed in
the country.

With the level of
success realised from this year’s auction and the challenges faced in
organising it, it will be expected that subsequent auctions by Terra
Kulture would draw lessons from this event and in subsequent auctions
continually open up a secondary market in the arts industry, thus
shooting up the price of art materials, Nigerian artworks, artefacts
and antiquities.

Darlington Abuda wrote in reaction to ‘Far From Golden’, published in NEXT on Wednesday, April 28, 2010.

The enigma of
photographer J.A.Green, is very-well described in the loaded
observation by Professors of Art and researchers Martha Anderson and
Lisa Aronson; that, “for more than a century J.A.Green was hidden in
plain sight!” Happily, Green’s works are still being frequently sighted
worldwide and consciousness about him and his background are now better
defined.

The good news is
that presently many Nigerian and non-Nigerian art critics, historians,
collectors and few buyers, are now genuinely surprised to learn that
creative photography by Nigerians is not only well over a century old
but also won international acceptance and appreciation more than three
decades before the plastic arts from Nigeria. Paradoxically, this fact
was hidden for a whole century whilst the identification and
recognition of modern/contemporary Nigerian plastic arts on the
international scene was spontaneous. It took a twist in history and the
long research of these two white female American Professors of Art to
unravel and properly situate the beginning of photography as well as
its prominent establishment as Art in Nigeria.

As from the early
1890s, captivating and poignant photographic images of the British
colonial military subjugation of Southern Nigeria and the Niger Delta,
as well as photographs of Europeans, colonial structures and
construction projects, individuals and family groups from the Niger
Delta in particular, were in circulation and the vogue in Britain and
Europe.

Some of these
photographs started appearing in books and periodicals as early as 1897
when the Illustrated London News (vol.110:122-23,397) published them as
well as illustrations based on these series of photographs, in the wake
of the notorious British punitive expedition to Benin City. Two of the
most famous photographs from this body of work, are of a distraught Oba
Ovonramwen of Benin (great grandfather of the present Oba Erediauwa) in
leg-chains on a ship on his way to exile in Calabar and; a photograph
of Chief Nana (and family) of Itsekiri also going on forced exile.

Mistaken identity
of exquisite technical quality, very creatively composed and
artistically accomplished; these distinguishing qualities of the
photographs, ironically, stoked a crisis of identity. Who was the
photographer responsible for these exceptionally powerful images? Most
times when these photographs were published, no credits were given.
However, on the photographs that ended up in private collections and
personal souvenir albums in Britain and Europe, was the stamp ‘J. A.
Green Artist Photographer’ at the back.

Given the
prevalent artistic climate in Europe at that time, and as a carry-over
from a primarily patronising and racist culture which did not believe
that the great Benin bronze, ivory and wood art-pieces that were taken
to Europe were actually produced by Black Africans, it was
automatically and wrongly assumed that J.A.Green was a white man;
either European or American! Green’s photographs which were facilitated
as a result of the fact that he was the ‘official’ and travelling
photographer of the core Niger Delta region and surrounds between 1890
and the turn of the century, were collectors’ items over a century ago
and, are still valued as priceless creative works. In the mid-1990s the
Photographic Archives of the National Museum of African Art in
Washington, U.S.A. acquired two albums of Green’s works. More than 170
of Green’s photographs have so far been documented in private and
public collections in London, Liverpool, Port Sunlight, Oxford and
Cambridge.

Reclaiming J.A.
Green By 1999 after much research viewing collections across Britain,
Anderson and Aronson finally established that Green is Jonathan Adagogo
Green, an Ibani-Ijaw from Bonny in present-day Rivers State. It is
interesting to note that Green was active when Bonny had the largest
number of resident expatriates; colonial officials and merchants, in
Nigeria! With the additional help of Emeritus Professor of History,
E.J.Alagoa and his Nigerian team which includes my humble self;
Anderson and Aronson are working on a book and exhibition of
J.A.Green’s works.

Adagogo Green was
of noble stock; son of a high Chief of a prominent Bonny House. He was
well-educated and socially very confident, all of which can be glimpsed
from his body of work. He became well-to-do from photography. died
rather young and is buried in an all-marble tomb imported from Belgium.

What do we learn
from Jonathan Adagogo Green? He was unquestionably Nigeria’s first
Master Photographer and Artist Photographer. He definitely had a
calling; which was, to properly document the whole spectrum of
political, commercial/industrial and social life around him. He used
his medium and profession to the highest levels and responsibly, as a
sensitive human being, to observe and document his environment, the
people and their activities, for posterity. He is indeed a Nigerian
pioneer in this genre and volume of documentation.

In the course of
his extensive work; and given the fact that he was not influenced by
the aesthetic and cultural tastes of Europe and the West, he was able
to establish what still remains an important cultural and aesthetic
yardstick on what African/Black beauty is, in terms of the feminine
face, physique, posture and adornment! His semi-nudes, which were in
demand by expatriates, were never erotic but rather dignified. Nor were
they posed in the now new manner of deliberate open-legged inviting
sensuality with buttocks stuck out, our Nigerian fashion and glamour
photographers have copied as the ‘new’ standards for
‘internationally-accepted’ Black beauty.

The social context
In Green’s photographs of colonial officials and white merchants of the
time, the view unmistakably senses that Green was in charge and in
control, although suppressed and deliberate traits of cocky racism are
well-frozen in the postures of these whites in group photographs with
Nigerian Chiefs and business partners, enlisted soldiers and policemen
and, their own all-white social groups. A refusal to look at/into the
camera/cameraman is one such gesture.

Green’s studies of
palm oil carriers, metal workers and craftswomen though a bit forced,
still imbue them with dignity. One of Green’s many classics is Akenta
Bob in her wedding dress. This and other photographs of Oba Ovonramwen
relaxed, smiling and yet regal-looking demonstrate that Green had a
wonderful ‘bedside’ and a charming intimacy that relaxed most of his
subjects.

His innovativeness, cultural awareness and linkages are best
appreciated in his use of locally-woven fabrics as backdrops; more so
as he also has photographs of women weaving these fabrics. He produced
postcards and photo-calendars. Thus J.A.Green, more than a century ago,
established a multi-dimensional culture of photography for Nigerian
photographers to emulate.

A blank frame Green’s place in the history of photography globally
is well-assured as one of the master documentary photographers of his
generation. Some of his iconic photographs are socio-political
documents that speak vivid volumes of the fate of African/Black leaders
who dared to challenge white colonial supremacy.

His Ovonramwem photos
are still being published in books, exhibition and drama catalogues
and, they anchor music videos, exhibitions and symposia that touch on
the stolen artworks from Benin, more than a century ago. He is a
precursor of the great African-American photographer James Van der Zee
who meticulously documented the Harlem Renaissance including Marcus
Garvey in plumed hat and ceremonial dress riding in an open carriage!
Jonathan Adagogo Green made it possible for the numerous great
photographers, including masters that Nigeria has produced in over one
century.

The only blank frame in the reel of astonishing artistic
achievements that document the growth and beauty of photography in
Nigeria is the sad fact that there is no known/available photograph of
Green yet.

“This project is
dear to my heart. It is not commercial but we hope the spill over
effect will rub off on the industry,” explained Teju Kareem, chief
executive of Zmirage Multimedia Limited. The venture dear to the heart
of the University of Ibadan Theatre Arts graduate is a three-in-one
initiative to revive live theatre, celebrate Nobel Laureate, Wole
Soyinka, and kick-start Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee in a grand way.

Beginning from
June, ‘Preemptive’, a play written by US-based Niyi Coker and directed
by Segun Ojewuyi, acting and directing teacher at Southern Illinois
University, Carbondale, US, will begin a tour of Barbados, the UK, US
and selected Nigerian cities. The play which emanated from a US
government sponsored workshop on American policies on terrorism,
focuses on inter-racial respect and people’s reactions to the US
government’s measures on terrorism.

The theatre
designer further said of ‘Preemptive’. “It is not only the political
and economic effects of the policies on terrorism but also the cultural
effects. How I talk, dress and speak. How, following the Mutallab
incident, I don’t even want to be known as a Nigerian when I’m passing
Immigration in the US.” The play, he added, has the objective of
“making the policymaker formulates policies that respects human
dignity, culture and consciousness.”

But perhaps the
most important goal for Kareem is its envisaged impact on Nigeria’s
theatre. “We want the play to perform the original role of traditional
theatre in terms of affecting people‘s lives even without losing its
entertainment potential.”

The play will
feature a cast of eight actors, with six of these coming from the US.
“For us, it is about humanity and world peace. The colour of the artist
doesn’t matter. Experience is about theatre as a medium of world
concern,” Kareem said in justification of the transatlantic scope of
the production. The executive producer of ‘Preemptive’ added that
people behind the initiative chose to partner with Southern Illinois
University because of close ties between them.

A fringe production
titled ‘Seven’ will make the round with ‘Preemptive’. Written by Rachel
Hastings, ‘Seven’ is about seven generations of women. It draws from
the past to showcase the fortitude of mothers hurting, healing, loving
and being remembered by their daughters. ‘Preemptive’ will be staged in
Barbados from June 24 to 29; the Shaw Theatre, UK, on July 1 and 2; and
the Tabernacle Theatre also in the Uk. The production will be staged at
the MUSON Centre from July 13 to 15; Cultural Centre, Calabar, on July
20 and 21 and the NUC Hall, Abuja on July 24.

Kongi @76

76 veterans of the
Nigerian theatre will walk the red carpet to celebrate the 76th
birthday of Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, on July 13 when the play is
staged at the MUSON Centre. “We don’t want to wait till the man passes
on, let’s celebrate him while he is here,” Kareem offered in
explanation of the glamorous celebration of Kongi.

Lari Williams, Baba
Sala (Moses Olaiya Adejumo), Ahmed Yerima, Sadiq Daba, Taiwo Ajai
Lycett, Olu Jacob, Bayo Awala, Joke Silva, Bode Sowande, Jimi Solanke
and others will walk the red carpet for Kongi that day. Some TV
stations, Kareem disclosed, have signed on to cover the event.

Financing the show

Kareem also touched
on the financing of the production. He stated that strategic partners
would collaborate with the organisers to raise the about $250,000
needed. His Zmirage Foundation will lead the way by providing technical
support expected to take between 15 to 20 per cent of the budget.
Southern Illinois University, under the aegis of its Africana Theatre
Lab comprising ex and current students of the institution, will finance
the trip of the team from the US while the Shaw Theatre has agreed to a
discount. Theatre Tabernacle will house the cast and crew in the UK for
three days and Nigerian restaurants will feed the cast and crew for
free. “We will give value back to every strategic partner,” Kareem
promised. He is not also afraid of incurring a loss. “We hope to get 50
per cent of expenditure from gate takings,” he stated confidently.

Something for all

The production and
its related activities won’t be about entertainment alone, however.
There is going to be an essay competition on the play and its theme.
The website address where entries will be submitted online will be
announced soon. “We are taking it beyond entertainment to educate and
add value to human life. It is open to everybody, students,
journalists, whoever is interested,” stated Kareem.

The last 15
contestants will get consolation prizes while the first prize winner
will get N100, 000 and a return ticket to watch the production in the
UK. The second and third prize winners will go home with N75, 000 and
N50, 000 respectively and see the play when it tours Nigeria.

A unique reality show will be included in the mix. The last five
finalists will be announced on May 30th and will camped in a house with
poet Odia Ofeimun, culture activist and newspaper editor Jahman
Anikulapo and two other adjudicators. The winner will be announced on
June 5.

Leader of Crown
Troupe of Africa, Segun Adefila, is still incredulous weeks after
‘Bariga Boy’, filmmaker Femi Odugbemi’s documentary on him and his
dance drama group won the Best Documentary at the 2010 African Movie
Academy Awards (AMAA). He says, “Every time these things happen to me,
I need to pinch myself to be sure that I am awake. And to be sincere, I
cannot even connect myself to them.”

He continues, “It
made me understand what I was doing. When I was doing the interview for
‘Bariga Boy’, I had to trek from home to DVWORX Studios at Gbagada a
couple of days because I had no transport fare. But after seeing
‘Bariga Boy’, it felt like I had a fixed account at the World Bank
because I saw a Duro Oni, Ahmed Yerima, Francesca Emmanuel and Jahman
Anikulapo talking about me. It did something big to me. ‘Bariga Boy’
says to me the society is watching out for you. And that’s what I think
everyone of us should think about; don’t think you are doing anything
in vain.”

The choreographer
and actor, though, is not a stranger to the AMAA. He was nominated as
Best Supporting Actor in 2009 for his role as Dauda in Tunde Kelani’s
‘Arugba’. Though he has shot three movies with Kelani between 2003 and
now, he insists, “I don’t do movies; I only do movies because it’s easy
for me to connect with the producer. Working with TK is not like going
to shoot your regular movie. I don’t want to go into anything if I
don’t have something intellectual or spiritual to take out of it. An
encounter with Tunde Kelani is like a school and ‘Arugba’ was an
opportunity to be myself.”

Crown Troupe and other tales

The now famous
Crown Troupe, Adefila discloses, started by accident in 1996. He wanted
to become a medical doctor but obtaining F9 in Physics and Chemistry in
his first Secondary School Leaving Examination put paid to that dream.
“It occurred to me that it was not what I was meant for. So, I went
into art and with the arts, I have never had to struggle.” He joined
the dance group, Black Image, but later started Crown Troupe with
friends in his house.

Adefila disagrees
that the interventionist stance of Crown Troupe might be responsible
for his genteel poverty. “I have not even paid the price my fathers
paid”, he states with passion. “If they had not done it, it would have
been worse for me and I don’t think I would have been able to survive.
I don’t think I don’t have money because I can achieve anything I want
in life anytime I need to. The beauty of life goes beyond material
wealth. This is the only thing I love to do, it comes to me, I don’t
have to think. I’m one of the laziest artists in the world. I want to
create a piece, all I need to is go on the street, walk around and open
my eyes, ears, pores of my skin and absorb the stories.”

He also doesn’t
want to dwell on the challenges. “There is nothing peculiar to Crown
Troupe that happens to only us. I don’t want to pay too much attention
to what I am supposed to have but I don’t have. If I do, I will just
say it’s not worth it.”

Since its
formation, about four sets of performers have passed through Crown
Troupe but Adefila, a Creative Arts graduate of the University of
Lagos, insists he doesn’t teach or mentor members. “My purpose is to be
a platform where we can all connect. I don’t teach people how to have
good voice because they already have; I don’t teach people how to act,
all I need do is say do you know you have this thing? So, use it the
way you are supposed to.”

He admits to not
paying attention to the activities of former members because “you
manage a group when there is something definite that everybody gets at
the end of the day. These guys just come around, they do their stuff
because they want to and I say to them: don’t [come here] because you
want to be a star, because you want to make money, come here because
what has to be done has to be done. Come because this is what you want
to do, when there is money, there is money. When there is no money, you
keep going.”

How wild can Adefila be when writing a script?

“I respond with my
shortest poem: “Creatively, I want to forever remain a child/My
Imagination, wild/ My horizon, wild” At heart, I’m a baby. Children
will pick items and do stuff with it. We, because we are mature, adult,
adul-te-rated, we can’t conceive of a pair of glasses becoming a phone.
When you operate at that level as an artist, you know how crazy a child
can be.”

Bariga and creativity

Even with his fame,
Adefila continues to draw nourishment from Bariga. “My mother’s house
is there, it’s my resource centre and a true artist is a reflection of
his environment. Being in Bariga has influenced my thinking, when I do
my thing, you can always taste the Bariga in it.”

Though the artist
who started wearing dreadlocks to save himself the hassles of going to
the barbers’ and combing his hair, desires good things including a
beautiful house in Victoria Garden City, jeeps etc, he doesn’t want “to
pay any price to be wherever.”

Money not everything

The indigene of Omu
Aran, Kwara State, has an ambivalent attitude to money. He will perform
free if organisers of an event are students but for those who can
afford his service, “There is no amount of money that you will offer
that I will say that is too much. When you give me enough money, I can
do whatever I want to do and can extend it to other people. When you
pay enough, it affords me the opportunity of doing what I want to do.
But it’s not the consideration for every performance. We do some good
shows and I turn down shows that run into thousands of naira.” He adds
that the Troupe will turn down a show if the client feels s/he is doing
them a favour and doesn’t appreciate their effort.

Be yourself

Adefila doesn’t
write scripts. He favours the ‘stage to script’ approach and admits
that he tries to make the Troupe’s performances accessible to people.
“I try my best to put my audience into consideration in anything I’m
doing but I don’t sacrifice what I want to say on the altar of who will
understand. Sometimes, you are within yourself, you express yourself
well and hope that it cuts across so usually, you balance the two. I
want to entertain but at the same time do some arty things. Find a
balance and find your own voice within it. I come from a tradition
where my forefathers, they will carve a mask, that mask might mean
nothing to a stranger but if they look at it, they will tell you that
this mask is a story. What can be more abstract than that? Opa
Oranmiyan, they say it’s a story, a tale on its own; each of the
strata. I come from that tradition, so once in a while, just go into
yourself.”

Edebo and Umola
Onoja are the key players behind the Sharon Rose Singers. Two years
ago, they presented their debut album, African Child, to the world. The
roll call of attendees at the launch, which was held the at Abuja’s
Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, included Charlie Boy, Tea Mac, Fatai
Rolling Dollar, Segun Arinze and Kenny Saint Brown, among others. There
was a good representation of people from political circles, the
entertainment industry, the diplomatic corps and the corporate world.

Twelve-years-old
Edebo Onoja, who is currently in JSS 2, started singing at the age of
six, encouraged by her parents who nurtured her talent by engaging a
music teacher to coached her. Already a talented songwriter, Edebo also
plays the clarinet and saxophone, and is grateful for the role played
by her parents in the development of her talent.

Umola Onoja, at ten
years old, is the younger of the duo. She plays the keyboard with the
kind of dexterity that would mark out a budding professional. Like her
older sibling, Umola says her role model is her mother.

Home and away

Since first making
their mark on the music scene, the Sharon Rose Sisters have been
performing across the country. Their very first public performance was
at an event of national significance, as part of the entertainment at
Aso Rock Villa during the inauguration of President Olusegun Obasanjo
in 1999. They have come a long way since, and have performed at other
forums in and outside Nigeria. One notable international gig was their
performance at a concert in Pretoria, South Africa. The Sharon Rose
Sisters have worked with many of the big names in the music industry,
ranging from Sound Sultan, to OJB, to ID Cabassa, to Kofi and Tuface
Idibia, to mention a few.

The sisters’ debut
album, African Child, is a medley of different music genres – Gospel,
R’n’B, Afro Hip Hop, Contemporary and Traditional/Folk music. The album
comprises 13 tracks, including the title song. Among the other tracks
are: ‘Celebrate’, ‘Obobo Alubasa’ and ‘Stella Obasanjo’ (a tribute

(for the late First
Lady, in recognition of her charity work for children). Edebo and
Umola’s rising profile has not gone without notice, and they have
received various awards in recognition of their talent. These include
an Award of Excellence by the Jos Chapter of Radio Television and
Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU) and the Global Excellence Award given
to them on March 20, 2010.

The Sharon Rose African Child Foundation

Buoyed by their
successes so far, the music-making sisters are using their talents and
resources for the welfare less privileged children. The Sharon Rose
African Child Foundation has been set up for this purpose. Edebo, who
wants to be a gynecologist, has insisted that they would continue to
sing. She hopes that their music will change society and be positively
influence the younger generations of Nigerians. “We want to use our
music to encourage all our peers to start building their lives when
they are young and gradually walk the ladder of life to the top,” she
said.

Their father, James
Onoja, said he identified the sisters’ singing talents early, and so
decided to nurture and invest in them. Mr. Onoja said of his daughters,
“They are not singing for money. They are singing because they like to
sing. They are singing for fun.” He disclosed that the decision to
establish the foundation was borne out of the sisters’ desire to be an
example of what an African child should be. “They want to help the
poor. They [decided] on their own to commit resources from their
performances to providing for the need. Thirty percent of their album
launch and other commercial appearances [will be] given to charity.

In a press release,
National Coordinator of the foundation, Tony Ogunlana, revealed that
the non-profit organisation would initiate various performances and
charity-based shows and awards to celebrate this year’s Day of the
African Child, to be marked in June. Through this, the Sharon Rose
Sisters would reach out to other,less privileged children.

The girls’ mother,
Rose Onoja, is the Vice President of the Sharon Rose Foundation. She
said details of activities to mark the day will be announced in due
course. “We shall harness their talents, as a lasting legacy to put
smiles on the faces of the poorest-of-the-poor in Africa,” she

concluded.

It was a marriage
of two great musical genres that incidentally borrow a lot from each
other at the ‘Afrobeat meets Jazz’ concert on April 24, 2010. At the
Ogunlana Drive, Surulere-based Moods Club, the presence of Louis
Armstrong, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Fela could be simultaneously
felt. This was combined with the creativity of Funsho Ogundipe, leading
his Ayetoro band in a performance that cut through the old and new
schools. His brand of music which is also called Ayetoro (“World at
Peace” in Yoruba) was the engine that drove the evening’s events.

Ogundipe was born
in Lagos where he created his own Jazz-based style. The composer and
pianist began playing the piano aged 17 and after regular visits to
Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s Afrika Shrine. Memorably, Ogundipe performed with
the Afrobeat legend in 1988.

In 1996, he formed
Ayetoro. The band’s music is influenced by the maestro Fela; Jazz
greats Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Sun Ra and Apala
persona Haruna Ishola. Due to constant travel, Ogundipe’s band exists
wherever he is based.

On this occasion,
the band existed in Lagos in a venue that was filled to capacity and
beyond for the evening’s performance. Lovers of Jazz and Afrobeat
trooped into the Club to listen to jazz and Afrobeat music played in a
unique fusion of the two genres.

The band led
listeners on a musical journey that cut across age: from the jiggling
photographer and culture critic Tam Fiofori to the foot tapping Sista
Soul.

The nine-man
Ayetoro band played songs that did not only combine contemporary
musical instruments like the trumpets or guitar, but added a very
African feel with the talking drum. Ogundipe’s use of the structure of
12-bar blues, diminished chords and whole tones to improve the band’s
sound distinguished his style of music. His combination of jazz, Afro
beat and highlife added more colour to the sounds produced by the
ensemble. The tempo of each tune was transmitted in waves that took the
audience from one musical high to the next with a few sober moments in
between.

At the end of the
first session which lasted almost an hour, the musicians took a break,
but the crowd did not disperse for fear of missing the second half of
well-served music. The next session featured other artists in vocal
performances. Veronny “Sista Soul” Odili rendered a poem on the Umaru
Yar’Adua administration’s Seven-Point Agenda, while another young
artist gave his impression of renowned Senegalese singer Youssou
N’Dour. It was indeed a job well done.

Sista Soul also
delivered a love song in the fashion of popular female jazz vocalists
like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Lena Horne.

The evening continued with more danceable jazz-inspired Afrobeat that kept the audience busy until it was time to go home.

Some of the popular
faces at the event were Reggae Musician Ras Kimono, photographers Unoma
Giese and Don Barber; and Society for Nigerian Artists (SNA) Chairman
Lagos Chapter, Oliver Enwonwu.

Funsho Ogundipe’s
‘Afrobeat Meets Jazz’ sessions are at Moods, 57 Ogunlana Drive,
Surulere, Lagos – every last Saturday of the month.

Skill, confidence
and ambition characterise the five stories shortlisted for this year’s
Caine Prize for African Writing. Chair of the panel of judges for the
2010 award, Fiammetta Rocco, made the observation when the shortlist
was announced on Monday, April 26, 2010.

Each hailed for
possessing “an added dimension – a voice, character or particular
emotional connection- that makes it uniquely powerful. The stories were
selected from 115 entries received from 13 African countries.

Despite boasting
last year’s winner in E.C. Osondu’s “Waiting,” no Nigerian writer made
this year’s shortlist. Nigerian authors Helon Habila (Waiting for an
Angel) and Segun Afolabi (Monday Morning) previously won in 2001 and
2005 respectively. This makes Nigeria the most successful country so
far in the Caine Prize, as the one with the most number of winners.
South Africa already has two winners, and may improve on the tally this
year, as it has two writers on the 2010 shortlist.

South African
authors Ken Barris and Alex Smith make the list with ‘The Life of Worm’
and ‘Soulmates’ respectively. They are joined on by Kenyan Lily Mabura
(‘How Shall we Kill the Bishop’), Zambian Namwali Serpell (‘Muzungu’)
and Olufemi Terry from Sierra Leone who completes the shortlist with
his short story, ‘Stickfighting Days.’

Literary editor
with The Economist, Rocco chairs a panel of judges comprising Granta
Deputy Editor Ellah Allfrey (who recently taught an editor’s workshop
in Lagos); Jon Cook, a professor at the University of East Anglia, and
Georgetown University professor Samantha Pinto.

The 2010 Caine
winner goes home with a £10,000 cash award and has the chance to be a
‘Caine Prize/Georgetown University Writer-in-Residence’ during a
one-month residence at Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Several well known
Nigerian writers have been previously shortlisted for the Caine Prize,
including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who went on to great acclaim with
her award winning second novel, ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’. Others include
Oprah Book Club selected author, Uwem Akpan; and Chika Unigwe (author
of ‘On Black Sisters’ Street’).

Previous winners
include: Zimbabwean author of ‘Harare North’ Brian Chikwava, Ugandan
Monica Arac de Nyeko for her short story, ‘Jambula Tree’; and maverick
Kenyan writer, Binyavanga Wainaina.

The Caine Prize
for African Writing was instituted in honour of Michael Caine, former
chair of the Booker Prize Management Committee. Chinua Achebe and a
Nobel Laureate-trio of Wole Soyinka, J.M. Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer
are patrons of The Caine Prize.

This year’s winner will be announced on Monday, July 5 during an award dinner at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, UK.