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NEXT’s contributor,
Tam Fiofori’s photography exhibition ‘1979: A Peep into History and
Culture’ has gone on display at the palace of the Oba of Benin, Benin
City, Edo State. A major feature of the exhibition are images of the
coronation of Omo N’Oba N’Edo Ukuakpolokpolo Oba Erediauwa,
photographed by Fiofori on March 23, 1979. The exhibition, first shown
last year at the Didi Museum in Lagos, has recently moved to the
Hexagon in Benin City, where it had been on display for three weeks.

At the Oba of
Benin’s request, the exhibition was moved from the Hexagon to the Oba’s
Palace, for a long weekend’s view, from Friday April 16 to Monday April
19, 2010.

Oba Erediauwa led
his entourage of chiefs to view the exhibition. Seeing hitherto
unexhibited images of his coronation ceremonies and related cultural
activities from 31 years ago, the king asked Fiofori, “You mean you
were there?” The Oba of Benin then acquired four of the works for the
palace archives.

The ‘1979’ Exhibition becomes the first photography exhibition to
have been held at the very prestigious Oba’s Palace. A travelling
exhibition, ‘1979’ is scheduled to move to other venues in Nigeria and
overseas, soon.

Slow and steady is
what best defines the Terra Kulture auction where artist El Anatsui’s
works raked in the highest sales. The organisers sold almost 70 percent
of the about 140 works that went under the hammer. What began as slow
sales ended in a blitz, which saw the top five sales rake in 12.2
million naira: a sign that the art market has not lost its flair. This
was the case at the second Terra Kulture’s “Golden Jubilee Art Auction”
which held at Terra Kulture on April 24. The works went on public
display three days before.

The collection
included works from masters like Bruce Onobrakpeya, Abayomi Barber, El
Anatsui, Jimoh Buraimoh and the late Ben Osawe.

It was a wide
selection, which also included works by younger contemporary artists
including Victor Ehikhamenor, Rom Isichei, Ini Brown and Edosa Oguigo.
There were also artefacts, including a jewellery box (Ekpoki), a Benin
Warrior Head, an Ife Head and a sculpture, ‘The Portuguese Warrior
Horse Rider’. The works on display cut across varying media and dated
as far back as the 19th century to as recent as 2009.

Forgetful Jones

The auctioneers,
Seye and Yvonne Emordi set the ball rolling an hour after the scheduled
start. Apart from being a drab duo, they mispronounced the names of the
artists right from the beginning. Providing little cause of excitement
until it was almost late, they seemed to forget some of the tasks
required of them as those wielding the hammer.

The main
auctioneer Emordi failed on a couple of occasions to call out the lot
numbers, even after bidders had insisted, her explanation that all the
works were not in the brochure did not move the audience.

As for her
assistant, Seye, he remembered to provide more information about the
artists and the work, but kept forgetting to use the auctioneer’s
hammer every time a sale was made. The boredom became obvious at some
point as a restless audience trooped in and out of the venue in search
of other distractions. It also seemed the perfect delaying tactic while
waiting for the auctioneer to call the piece they intended to buy.

Hurry up

The auctioneers
hurriedly moved from work to work, with no one showing interest in most
of the pieces. The unseen bidder got to buy the works in some cases as
no one was ready to top the price that had already been met. Like in
the case of Nse Abasi Iyang’s “At the Railroad,” no one was ready to
beat the N400,000 price that an unseen bidder had already agreed to
pay. “Time Window,” a wood panel by El Anatsui went for 3.8million
Naira. His “1004 Flat” series came in second with 3.2million, putting
the artist’s pieces among the highest sold at the end of proceedings.
Other works in the top five sales were: Ben Osawe’s “Queen”; “King King
and Queen” by Late Gani Oguntokun and Abayomi Barber’s “Knowledge is
Power.”

While art collectors Yemisi Shyllon and Sammy Olagbaju had left the
event before it ended, it appeared that the buyers already knew what
they wanted.

Joanna Lipper is a
rare combination of beauty and brains. The writer, filmmaker and
photographer has been in residence at Harvard University’s W.E.B.
DuBois Institute for two years. She was in Lagos recently as part of
the Black Heritage Festival where she shared notes and images from her
research work in Zanzibar.

Lipper, who runs
Seawall Entertainment, previously worked on a project called ’Growing
up Fast’ featuring a documentary, a book and a series of images about
teenage mothers in America.

She also speaks
about her work with children. “I’ve done a film as well about children
and their imagination; looking at children from all different
nationalities and looking at their creativity and imagination.”

Lipper’s debut feature film ’Little Fugitive’ was released in 2008.

NEXT caught up with her during her short trip to Lagos, to find out about her work and mission.

Woman with a mission

“I’m a film
director and a writer and so each project brings a new challenge, a new
field of research for me. If I’m adapting one particular novel, I do
all the research related to that so that I can bring that author’s
vision to the screen.

“So when I’m doing
something about teenage mothers, I spend several years immersing myself
in their culture and in their life. I immerse myself in research for
several years before completing a project. So it’s really to tell a
story through film and through photography and through writing.”

By recording her
work in film, books and pictures, the idea is for them to have a
positive effect and to be eternal. Her link to the communities in her
focus however does not end with each project.

“Most of the
communities that I have done work with have participated when the film
has been shown in different settings. The teen mothers in America did
several radio shows and they did some television appearances in the
United States and so they participated in having an impact on how
people perceived teen pregnancy and parenting in the United States.”

Described by none
other than Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka as “being active and
curious about humanity”, Lipper’s most recent project is the Zanzibar
series: ’Seaweed Farmers’ and ’Women in Zanzibar.’

The captivating
images of female seaweed farmers at work and the multi socio-cultural
existences of the Tanzanian island are a result of Lipper’s research
work on the island, which is a co-location for her proposed feature
film ’Girl from Zanzibar’.

Lipper co-write the
screenplay and will be directing the screen adaptation of the eponymous
novel by Roger King. The reason behind her choice is simple.

“I just thought it
was a beautiful novel and an amazing story.” The novel tells the story
of a young, Zanziban woman, who is of Goan and Arab descent.

In a coup of geniuses, Henry Louis Gates Jr., director at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute, is Executive Producer for the film.

Lipper’s photo
essays on ’Seaweed Farmers’ and ’Women in Zanzibar’ form part of her
continued interest in women and their professions. This interest has
also been piqued on her first trip to Lagos.

The photographer,
who has visited three other African countries (Kenya, Morocco and
Tanzania), did not want to reveal the exact details of her proposed
photography series on Nigeria. She however admitted that the theme of
the photography series would also focus on women and their professions.

“I’m very
interested in women at work and in women and their professions. I did
the seaweed farmers in Zanzibar and I’m interested in continuing to
explore women and their professions. I’m hoping to visit (Nigeria) as
much as I can and I’m hoping to see as much as possible (of the
environment)”.

Attracting attention

Her proposed collaborators on the forthcoming project are none other than the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND).

Amy Oyekunle,
executive director at KIND, said of the proposed venture, “KIND’s
mission is to strengthen organisations and create initiatives dedicated
to the advancement of women. Hence, all our programmes are geared
towards empowering women through capacity-building programs while
creating platforms that support them in Nigeria.

“We are
collaborating with renowned photojournalist Joanna Lipper in a ‘women @
work’ series photo exhibition for two reasons. First, it is to enable
us showcase to the Nigeria society that women have gone beyond
traditional roles – borders of work and have been and continue to
contribute to the Continent’s economic development in every way.
Second, it is to enable the Nigerian society value and appreciate the
work of women and their contributions.”

KIND joins a list
of Lipper fans and collaborators. Paula Tognarelli, executive director
of the Griffin Museum of Photography has already nominated Lipper for
the Prix Pictet based on her ‘Seaweed Farmers’ series. A solo show is
also planned for January – March 2012 at the Massachusetts-based museum.

Tognarelli’s comment on Lipper’s work was all-encompassing.

“I am interested in
Joanna Lipper’s body of work ‘Seaweed Farmers’ because it melds the
poignant issues of a fragile global economy, the infrastructure of
Zanzibar and the women, who live in its rural villages through the
lyrical vehicle of her photographs.

“Metaphorically,
she has chosen the women, who harvest the seaweed as her messengers.
The poetry of the imagery of these women brings meaning that lingers
long after words.” Lipper’s work also features on developmental
photography website SocialDocumentary.net, a visual database for
development issues affecting societies globally.

The Seaweed Center
has also been drawn to her work on seaweed farming in Zanzibar. Run by
a group of 28 students based in Goteborg, Sweden, the project is aimed
at supporting seaweed farmers on the Tanzanian island. Sebastian
Palmgren, one of the students, said their ”project aligns with the
issues Joanna is addressing with her exhibitions.”

For the cause

The eagerness to
work with Lipper is obvious from Palmgren’s words: “Our common vision
is to through the power of photography address the issues of gender,
cross-cultural communication and microfinance in an exhibition combined
by art and reality.

“We want to use the
power of photography to make people come to the exhibitions and make
the visitors connect and get interested in our endeavour in Zanzibar.”

To further Lipper’s
cause for empowering women across communities, The Seaweed Center is
also planning its own run of exhibitions.

“In order to raise
awareness about women’s situation in Africa, we are together with
Joanna working to get the exhibitions on various museum in northern
Europe and first of all in Goteborg’s Konsthall, The Göteborg Museum of
Art and The Museum of World Culture also in Göteborg.”

Lipper believes such attention is beneficial to the communities addressed in her work.

“As a photographer,
I am very interested in collaborating with organisations like KIND and
The Seaweed Center as they work tirelessly to include, empower and
educate women so as to enable them to participate more fully in the
formal economy, earning their own incomes.”

During her
presentation at the Black Heritage Festival, Lipper complained of the
absence of women empowerment in many communities, which led to their
being exploited by larger business organisations and government
policies. The need for literacy and business management skills, she
said could not be undervalued. She stressed the same point here
highlighting the effectiveness of photography in bringing these issues
to light.

“The crucial thing is for these women to have access to the necessary skills, knowledge, community support and opportunities.

“Photography is a
powerful tool because it has the capacity to make the potential of
women, who may previously have been deprived, underestimated and
marginalised, very visible and present with startling, undeniable
immediacy.”

Lipper, who recently joined the Harvard Faculty as a visiting
lecturer is excited about her proposed Nigerian project scheduled for
June this year and in teaching a course titled ‘Media across Cultures’.

He emerges from the screen of guesses

Into bright Katsina light:

He is no Odysseus, and she

Is no Penelope. None

Of his sons resemble Telemachus,

In the contradictory omen.

So, some mysteries remain:

If the blood of Sisyphus runs in him –

If he phoned from Jeddah –

Why it had to be BBC –

Why arrive at night?

Also who kept him from Anticlea

And what was there to gain?

There is a saying
that old soldiers never die. Rather, they simply fade away. Old
musicians also never die. The best of them mellow like very good wine
and, their music; as they grow older, can be quite intoxicating to
genuine fans. They pack so much experience, loaded with a storehouse of
emotions that span many decades, to overwhelm listeners and solicit
their heart-felt appreciation. One such musician who perfectly
demonstrates this reality of musical longevity and acumen is trumpeter
Afro John Odigwe.

Born of a Benin
mother and an Agbor father, his musical career started in 1957, after
his primary school education; at St. Paul’s Seminary in Benin City
where he was taught music by Irishman Father P. J. Kelly (later
Bishop), the then Head of the Seminary Diocese. The young John Odigwe
became a member of the church band. His initial ambition was to become
a Catholic priest but “diverted to become a teacher.” He also
literarily abandoned church music “because it was not paying and I
wanted to earn money as a professional musician.”

Now 71, Afro John
Odigwe, a seasoned Highlife-music trumpeter, leads his band in live
performance every Thursday night at the Hexagon Entertainment Centre
along Golf Course Road in Benin City. He has been at the Hexagon for
just over two years in a long musical career that has now clocked 41
years. You name them and trumpeter Afro has played with them – the best
Nigerian Highlife bandleaders across the country – and he enjoys the
pride of having been a member of their bands when they recorded the
mega-hits usually associated with them.

Fela and Rex Lawson

He started off with
Fela Ransome Kuti in Ibadan in 1967 during the Civil War; and moved to
Lagos with Fela’s band that included Henry Koffi on three-membrane
congas, Tony Allen on drums, Igo Chico on tenor saxophone, Lekan
Animashaun on baritone saxophone, amongst others. He recalls that Fela
who then was still playing the trumpet as well as the keyboards, taught
him “some keys on trumpet.” Strangely, they were not paid salaries, but
were given accommodation and fed. He left Fela in 1968 and joined
Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson as the second trumpeter and stayed until 1971,
again learning more about the trumpet from Lawson.

Not surprisingly,
he still holds these trumpeters and bandleaders in high esteem. “Of the
many trumpeters in Nigeria then, both were top trumpeters and
outstanding,” he recalls, adding that, “Jim Lawson was a raw highlife
specialist while Fela was an Afrojazz-Highlife specialist.” His musical
legacy with these bandleaders is that he recorded mega-hits like ‘Water
No Get Enemy’ with Fela and, ‘Love Adure’, ‘Mama Dey For Kumba’,
‘Udaja’ with Lawson and his Rivers Men Band.

Celestine Ukwu and Victor Uwaifo

Another unique
Highlife musician and bandleader Afro is proud to have played with is
xylophonist Celestine Ukwu and his Philosophers Band, based in Enugu.
“Celestine Ukwu was the lead singer and I learnt how to play and sing
his numbers. Celestine, Lawson and Fela were great and gifted original
composers, that is why they had so many hits that are still evergreen
today. I recorded the hits ‘Ijenu’ and ‘No Condition is Permanent’ with
Celestine Ukwu. They were simply the best composers because they were
very original. There used to be a lot of competition amongst Highlife
musicians and Rex Lawson came out first. Lawson’s ‘Love Adure’ was a
gold disc while Ukwu’s ‘Ijenu’ was a silver disc.”

Afro John Odigwe
can also be classified as a musical journeyman. He has played with
Victor Uwaifo, played on the same bill with the great Ramblers and
Black Beat bands from Ghana; and his last gig was with Eno Louis.

Highlife survivor

That Afro John
Odigwe plays the trumpet and sings sitting is as a result of a horrific
accident when Eno Louis’ band was travelling to fulfil a booking.
Invariably we get around talking about the occupational hazards of
Nigerian musicians as they zigzag across the country. “Celestine Ukwu
died in an accident at nine-mile in Enugu, Rex Lawson died in an
accident at Uronigbe near Agbor and Erasmus Jenewari died in an
accident in his new car at Obigbo. God knows why and I thank him that I
survived,” he observes philosophically.

What is his take on
the state of music today? “Most musicians who know the quality of music
have died,” he laments. “The present bands are involved in obituary
music. They play for obituaries and not in clubs anymore. That is why
the profession has collapsed.” He is not happy about the welfare of
musicians today. “Music is getting worse because most people that are
able to form their bands are not able to take care of their musicians
like hotel and club proprietors do – Bobby Benson in those days and
Omoregbe Erediauwa of Hexagon now.”

Highlife lives

Is Highlife dead?
“Highlife is not dead. If you go to civilised places like Ghana,
Highlife is still recognised and respected because Nkrumah had a School
of Music and, he gave prominence to Highlife. People in Nigeria are not
able to cope with the standard of the old seasoned musicians. People
now play Kokoma music which is a watered-down version of Highlife. Some
have diverted. I bring back memories of music on which older people
were brought up. Young people are not interested in Highlife. Even if
they can play instruments they cannot compose; and because of their
inexperience they only go for the music that is in vogue to earn money!”

Sadness and joy

Afro John Odigwe’s
band at the Hexagon has another old timer; 68-year old drummer Joe Uba,
a fantastic energetic drummer with vast experience including a stint
with Eddie Okonta. His ace guitarist, Splendour, has grown in the mould
of great Highlife guitarists like O.K.Jazz Otaru and was formerly with
Lagbaja. He attributes the fact that his band is tight and very
knowledgeable about the Highlife genre to the fact that “they have been
coached.”

Odigwe believes
that it is no accident that most of the Highlife greats “sang and
played in their personal language and rhythms. Rex in Ijaw, Uwaifo –
Edo, Celestine – Ibo, Olaiya – Yoruba and Fela started in Yoruba.
Everybody is playing in their dialects; Ghanaians too, although a few
Nigerians and Ghanaians sing in English.” Although he has composed at
least half-a-dozen songs he is yet to record them. At the Hexagon he
takes his listeners down the memory lane of Highlife’s golden age.
“They want us to play the old Highlife exactly as it was played
especially on the hit records. Some people might cal us copycats but
they still appreciate how well we play the old Highlife because we were
part of the bands that recorded these hit Highlife songs.”

Any regrets? “I regret I have no band because I cannot afford
instruments. I regret because I should have been better known.” However
when Afro John Odigwe raises his trumpet to his lips or sings into the
microphone, he continues to produce sounds of joy!

Teju Cole’s book, Every Day is for the
Thief is published by Cassava Republic, a Nigerian publishing house. In
this highly engaging book, a Nigerian living in America decides to take
a trip to Nigeria after a long stay away from home. Hurrah for Cassava
Republic. There is hope for Nigeria’s publishing industry. This is a
pretty little book. I absolutely love the cover; earth tones seeping
gently into black and white truths. Indeed, there are many things to
like about this little book. It exudes the quiet confidence of a
brilliant writer properly centered in the beauty and challenges of his
art. It is refreshing that ‘Every Day is for the Thief; does not
pretend to be perfect. If I had to do it over, I would employ an artist
to draw charcoal sketches of scenes from the chapters. The binding
could be stronger. In editing and in general, there is considerable
evidence of a gallant struggle for excellence.

Cole has a reverence for the carefully
documented journey as opposed to sloppy hagiographies. From the middle
passages the voice rises, lumbers to an alert at attention relentlessly
flogging the reader’s conscience. We see firsthand the effect of
capitalism unchecked. Cole describes in sombre but frightening terms,
what “democracy” has brought to Nigeria. We are introduced to a Nigeria
innocent of an abiding set of core values and a coherent spirituality –
a consumer nation at its crassest defined largely by the absence of a
reading culture. Soaked in the effluvium of the new Christianity,
Nigeria is host to a relentless scourge of new “pastors” gouging their
destitute congregation to near-death.

All connoisseurs of history should
simply read Cole’s rendering of the slave trade as it pertained to
Nigeria. The writer has a historian’s keen sense of observation – and
sees little things that portend huge seismic shifts. He observes hard
working professionals like medical doctors who are paid in Naira but
who pay for their subsistence in dollars. And every day they make
furtive plans to flee Nigeria. What this democracy has brought to us is
pregnant and nursing a baby at the same time. Nigeria unravels before
the eyes – a society in slow motion decay wrapped in suffocating
mildew.

In this book, Nigeria is pathetically
a-historic. Nobody seems to remember much. Even Biafra has evaporated
from the conscience of those who should remember. Museums house filth,
indifference, and hagiography. General Murtala Muhammed’s Mercedes Benz
in which he perished in 1976 is there with a hagiographical note
attached. Missing is this man’s misadventures during the civil war.
Gone is his own admission of his thievery and selective remorse. A
murderer and an armed robber adorns Nigeria’s currency and has her
International airport named after him. No one cares. Only in Nigeria.
The courtyard of the National Museum is rented out for funerals and
Owambe parties. I am reminded of Wole Soyinka’s retelling of his
quixotic 1978 adventure to return a stolen artefact from Brazil. The
goal as he tells it in ‘You Must Set Forth at Dawn’ is to return the
mask to Nigeria where it belongs. We have our ancestors to thank for
turning a well-intentioned initiative into a bumbling farce. Where was
Soyinka going to put the ancestral mask, in one of these ‘museums’? How
would he like it if his revered papers were left to the mercy of mildew
and termites in one of those ‘museums’?

It is not all despair. There is balance
to Cole’s story. The protagonist actually goes around documenting hope
wherever it sprouts. He is relentless in his belief in hope and
redemption – it is not all ceaseless despair and irredeemable filth.
Instead the book asks questions that point to structural flaws that are
exploited by men and women of no character. The protagonist wanders the
land seeking that elusive spot of earth called hope. And each time he
finds one, his parched throat erupts in lusty song.

I commend Chapter 27 of this book to the gentle reader. It is quite
simply stunning in its application of poetry to prose. Cole succeeds in
adorning Lagos with a well deserved veil of dignity after the quick
peek into a deeply mysterious place. “And sitting there, a memory of
Lagos returns to me, a moment in my brief journey that stands out of
time.” (p125) The enduring mystery of Lagos triumphs over even the
keenest eyes, over even the prettiest of prose and poetry. Lagos is a
teeming pot of mystery – it trumps even the best story teller, the best
photographer, the best bard. Fela Anikulapo Kuti was close but still no
cigar. Lagos will take her secrets with her to our graves. In the end,
Lagos remains a frustrating enigma. Lagos lifts her skirt. She allows a
peep and shuts it down. And the musky aroma of a sensuous experience
lingers on. Buy this book. Read it and think of the perverse mysteries
unfolding in Nigeria.

The grand finale
of this year’s Anioma Festival held on April 5 at the Arcade Ground,
Asaba, attracted thousands of residents in the Delta North Senatorial
district of the state.

The Organisation
for the Advancement of the Anioma Culture (OFAAC), organised the
seventh edition of the annual celebration themed ‘Promoting Cultural
Tourism for Sustainable Development’. It featured dances, music,
fashion, food fair, and other arts peculiar to the people.

Opening glee

Members of a group
which appeared unable to contain its excitement left their seats as
gaily costumed troupes poured into the venue. They paired and showed
off their dancing skills to onlookers before the formal commencement. A
traditional flutist welcomed people while the MC, Tony Emordi,
acknowledged the royalty present.

Traditional title
holder, the Omu of Anioma, Obi Martha Dunkwu, arrived in style. A
traditional flutist trailed her while an older woman in her entourage
of seven women shrieked intermittently. Governor of Delta State,
Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was expected, failed to show up. Secretary to
the state government, Ifeanyi Okowa, who is from Anioma, was however
part of the celebration. He led guests on the high table to view the
display of local foods, beads, Akwa-Ocha woven cloth, and artworks
mounted in an exhibition in the course of the programme.

Surprise winner

Troupes from
primary schools were the first to present their dances and they awed
the audience with their dancing skills. Though they knew they were
competing for a prize, they chose to enjoy themselves and entertain
guests while at it.

Donne Foundation
School, Kwale, and Abuano Primary School, Ogwuashi – Uku, were
outstanding in their costumes and dances, so much so that people
assumed one of them would win the primary school category. The Santa
Maria school troupe, Kwale, which arrived late, however carried the
day, while Abuano School and Donne Foundation came second and third
respectively.

Dances and masquerades

Professional
cultural troupes that vied for honours at the festival were from nine
of the 25 local governments of Delta State inhabited by the Anioma
people. Some groups from Enugu State also participated. Though the
Omadu Boys Dance Troupe danced vigorously, the crowd was more
interested in the antics of the troupe’s masquerade – a male that
dressed and behaved like a beautiful lady.

The Ebubedike of
Ashaka Dancing Troupe’s masquerade however, beat the Omadu masquerade
in the showing off stakes. Though not as good as the Omadu masquerade
in sashaying, the Ebubedike ‘female’ masquerade got familiar with some
students in the audience. A young boy looked the masquerade in the eye
and called out “Fine boy.” It rewarded the cheeky boy by shaking its
raffia skirted buttocks at him.

The second
masquerade of the Ebubedike group commanded the greatest attention. It
was a big scary one that sent little children fleeing into the safety
of their mother’s arms. It also won for the Ebubedike Troupe, the prize
in the masquerade dance category.

The dance
performance that appealed most to the mature members in the audience
was the Agwuba Royal Dance, performed by the Anioma Cultural Troupe.
The stately dance steps were mirrored by philanthropist, Newton
Jibunoh, his wife Elizabeth, and Nkem Ajufo (from the Delta State
Tourism Board) – as the trio joined the dancers on the field.

The group, Ebu
Wonder’s performance won’t be forgotten in a hurry. People wondered
what was in the three feet long box the magicians in red brought into
the field. But they did not wait for long as the box opened to release
a 12-feet-long masquerade which danced around, stood from both ends,
and became as flat as a pile of clothes laid on the floor, before being
bundled back into the box. This wasn’t all the group had to offer. One
man went round with a basket full of water and not one drop leaked from
the basket, to the amazement of the crowd.

The ‘Heavenly
Steppers’, comprising three young girls, incorporated some gymnastics
and the wave making ‘Alanta’ dance into their performance. They
squealed in excitement when they were announced winner of the
contemporary dance category.

The Onu-Anioma
group eventually won the overall first prize at the end of proceedings.
They got a trophy and N300,000 for their efforts. The group, which also
won the prize last year, performed a striking planting and harvesting
dance. The applause which greeted their victory was deafening,
affirming that the audience supported their victory. Uloko Dance Troupe
of Ishiago from Issele Asaba came second, while the African Voices
Group from Kwale, was third.

The wrestlers

While the Egbulu
Akiti group emerged winner in the war dance category, the pantomime
performed by Otu Ita Buisi Biani Troupe from Ogwashi-Uku, won in the
storytelling category.

Accompanied by
drums, the Ekwe Troupe performed a story about how a beautiful maiden’s
pot was broken by two young men. The maiden cried home to her parents
only for both men to come bearing gifts of yam and palm-wine, asking to
marry the maiden. When both men refused to pick from the maiden’s
friends but insisted on her, it was decided that a wrestling match
would settle the matter.

The pantomime was
a good way of announcing the wrestling event which came up next.
However, the wrestlers were too anxious and they contravened some of
the rules of traditional wrestling in their anxiety. The umpire had to
end the event in order not to encourage personal vendetta amongst the
three wrestling groups. The already excited audience was disappointed,
naturally.

Telecommunication company, MTN, partnered with the organisers and
conducted a raffle (separate from OFAAC’s own raffle draw) as part of
the festivities.The fiesta finally ended with the OFAAC raffle draw.
Winners went home with generators, motorcycles, bags of rice, and
standing fans.

There is a saying
that old soldiers never die. Rather, they simply fade away. Old
musicians also never die. The best of them mellow like very good wine
and, their music; as they grow older, can be quite intoxicating to
genuine fans. They pack so much experience, loaded with a storehouse of
emotions that span many decades, to overwhelm listeners and solicit
their heart-felt appreciation. One such musician who perfectly
demonstrates this reality of musical longevity and acumen is trumpeter
Afro John Odigwe.

Born of a Benin
mother and an Agbor father, his musical career started in 1957, after
his primary school education; at St. Paul’s Seminary in Benin City
where he was taught music by Irishman Father P. J. Kelly (later
Bishop), the then Head of the Seminary Diocese. The young John Odigwe
became a member of the church band. His initial ambition was to become
a Catholic priest but “diverted to become a teacher.” He also
literarily abandoned church music “because it was not paying and I
wanted to earn money as a professional musician.”

Now 71, Afro John
Odigwe, a seasoned Highlife-music trumpeter, leads his band in live
performance every Thursday night at the Hexagon Entertainment Centre
along Golf Course Road in Benin City. He has been at the Hexagon for
just over two years in a long musical career that has now clocked 41
years. You name them and trumpeter Afro has played with them – the best
Nigerian Highlife bandleaders across the country – and he enjoys the
pride of having been a member of their bands when they recorded the
mega-hits usually associated with them.

Fela and Rex Lawson

He started off with
Fela Ransome Kuti in Ibadan in 1967 during the Civil War; and moved to
Lagos with Fela’s band that included Henry Koffi on three-membrane
congas, Tony Allen on drums, Igo Chico on tenor saxophone, Lekan
Animashaun on baritone saxophone, amongst others. He recalls that Fela
who then was still playing the trumpet as well as the keyboards, taught
him “some keys on trumpet.” Strangely, they were not paid salaries, but
were given accommodation and fed. He left Fela in 1968 and joined
Cardinal Rex Jim Lawson as the second trumpeter and stayed until 1971,
again learning more about the trumpet from Lawson.

Not surprisingly,
he still holds these trumpeters and bandleaders in high esteem. “Of the
many trumpeters in Nigeria then, both were top trumpeters and
outstanding,” he recalls, adding that, “Jim Lawson was a raw highlife
specialist while Fela was an Afrojazz-Highlife specialist.” His musical
legacy with these bandleaders is that he recorded mega-hits like ‘Water
No Get Enemy’ with Fela and, ‘Love Adure’, ‘Mama Dey For Kumba’,
‘Udaja’ with Lawson and his Rivers Men Band.

Celestine Ukwu and Victor Uwaifo

Another unique
Highlife musician and bandleader Afro is proud to have played with is
xylophonist Celestine Ukwu and his Philosophers Band, based in Enugu.
“Celestine Ukwu was the lead singer and I learnt how to play and sing
his numbers. Celestine, Lawson and Fela were great and gifted original
composers, that is why they had so many hits that are still evergreen
today. I recorded the hits ‘Ijenu’ and ‘No Condition is Permanent’ with
Celestine Ukwu. They were simply the best composers because they were
very original. There used to be a lot of competition amongst Highlife
musicians and Rex Lawson came out first. Lawson’s ‘Love Adure’ was a
gold disc while Ukwu’s ‘Ijenu’ was a silver disc.”

Afro John Odigwe
can also be classified as a musical journeyman. He has played with
Victor Uwaifo, played on the same bill with the great Ramblers and
Black Beat bands from Ghana; and his last gig was with Eno Louis.

Highlife survivor

That Afro John
Odigwe plays the trumpet and sings sitting is as a result of a horrific
accident when Eno Louis’ band was travelling to fulfil a booking.
Invariably we get around talking about the occupational hazards of
Nigerian musicians as they zigzag across the country. “Celestine Ukwu
died in an accident at nine-mile in Enugu, Rex Lawson died in an
accident at Uronigbe near Agbor and Erasmus Jenewari died in an
accident in his new car at Obigbo. God knows why and I thank him that I
survived,” he observes philosophically.

What is his take on
the state of music today? “Most musicians who know the quality of music
have died,” he laments. “The present bands are involved in obituary
music. They play for obituaries and not in clubs anymore. That is why
the profession has collapsed.” He is not happy about the welfare of
musicians today. “Music is getting worse because most people that are
able to form their bands are not able to take care of their musicians
like hotel and club proprietors do – Bobby Benson in those days and
Omoregbe Erediauwa of Hexagon now.”

Highlife lives

Is Highlife dead?
“Highlife is not dead. If you go to civilised places like Ghana,
Highlife is still recognised and respected because Nkrumah had a School
of Music and, he gave prominence to Highlife. People in Nigeria are not
able to cope with the standard of the old seasoned musicians. People
now play Kokoma music which is a watered-down version of Highlife. Some
have diverted. I bring back memories of music on which older people
were brought up. Young people are not interested in Highlife. Even if
they can play instruments they cannot compose; and because of their
inexperience they only go for the music that is in vogue to earn money!”

Sadness and joy

Afro John Odigwe’s
band at the Hexagon has another old timer; 68-year old drummer Joe Uba,
a fantastic energetic drummer with vast experience including a stint
with Eddie Okonta. His ace guitarist, Splendour, has grown in the mould
of great Highlife guitarists like O.K.Jazz Otaru and was formerly with
Lagbaja. He attributes the fact that his band is tight and very
knowledgeable about the Highlife genre to the fact that “they have been
coached.”

Odigwe believes
that it is no accident that most of the Highlife greats “sang and
played in their personal language and rhythms. Rex in Ijaw, Uwaifo –
Edo, Celestine – Ibo, Olaiya – Yoruba and Fela started in Yoruba.
Everybody is playing in their dialects; Ghanaians too, although a few
Nigerians and Ghanaians sing in English.” Although he has composed at
least half-a-dozen songs he is yet to record them. At the Hexagon he
takes his listeners down the memory lane of Highlife’s golden age.
“They want us to play the old Highlife exactly as it was played
especially on the hit records. Some people might cal us copycats but
they still appreciate how well we play the old Highlife because we were
part of the bands that recorded these hit Highlife songs.”

Any regrets? “I regret I have no band because I cannot afford
instruments. I regret because I should have been better known.” However
when Afro John Odigwe raises his trumpet to his lips or sings into the
microphone, he continues to produce sounds of joy!

Why Art?

Art is a calling. I
had good grades in school and could have had my pick of courses at the
tertiary institution. Art was the last course people expected of me
with my grades but from a tender age I had always been inclined to the
arts. Though I had to embark on hunger strike as a 16-year- old before
my parents allowed me to study art, it was worth it then and to the
present. I simply followed my calling.

Training

I studied Arts and
Design at Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State. I specialised in painting and
illustration. The same year I was offered admission to study art at
Auchi Poly, the University of Benin also offered me admission into
their Geography and Regional Planning department from where I could
have moved to the Architecture department.

Medium

Oil, acrylic,
watercolors, charcoal, and pastel, there’s none I can’t work with, but
now I tend to use oil more. I had 40 works on display in a recent
exhibition, 28 of these were in oil paint and the rest, mixed media.

Influences

I really had no one
to look up to as a little boy but I had once read about a Russian
artist who lived in America and how he arrived at his own exhibition in
a private jet. The success story of Picasso also helped me make up my
mind about being a good artist. In Auchi, I became acquainted with the
likes of [Kolade] Oshinowo and others but they were basically teaching.
Yet I maintained this silent conviction in me that the story of the
Picassos of this world could also be mine.

Inspirations

A mood or a song, a
message from the pulpit may also inspire me to do an artwork.
Generally, things that happen inspire me but it takes those moments
that are so fleeting to get me going. I’m very concerned about the
content of my work though. And though I ensure that my works look good,
they might not be very beautiful. Nevertheless, art is like a woman,
you just don’t look at the beautiful face, you look at the inside too.

Best work so far

Each work to me is
like my child, my soul is in every work. I put a lot into my every work
and I like to think that is why my works sell.

Least satisfying work

There was this
particular work I did for a certain Alhaji Mohammed. I got a loan from
the bank to facilitate the making of the work, yet he took such a long
time to pay that the interest piled up. That is the only work I can
think of as a least satisfying project.

Career high point

I’ll say my first
solo exhibition held at Didi Museum, Lagos in 1991, my graduation from
art school with the best result and winning all the available prizes.
My first exhibition abroad and the fact that my work was well accepted
as far back as then make up my career high points for now. I still
believe I’ve not started though.

Favourite artist living or dead

In Nigeria, Ben
Enwonwu and Kolade Oshinowo. I respect both of them; Enwonwu for his
consistency and Osinowo for his paternal approach. Whenever we meet, he
will whisper to me, “I am proud of you.” Outside Nigeria, I once had an
exhibition with a German artist named Ted; I can’t pronounce his
surname, but I like his works and his person.

Ambitions

I want to get to the pinnacle of my profession and be known wherever
man lives. Yes, I want [to get to] the Picasso, Da Vinci and
Michelangelo level.

Obi Nwaegbe’s art
exhibition, ‘Tainted Visions: Nomad Series’, opened at the Omenka
Gallery on April 16. On display were about 25 paintings and drawings,
which the young artist was inspired to produce during his service year
in Northern Nigeria.

In the brochure,
the University of Nigeria-trained fine artist said that the “exhibition
as illustrated by the works on display, is a realistic approach to
documenting the lives of ordinary people living in a society basically
at subsistence level.”

Breaking news of the poisonous Chinese Milk scandal influenced the title ‘Tainted Visions.’

Remaining productive

Speaking at the
opening event, the artist said the Fulani nomads, who are the focus of
his exhibition, have a bold way of expressing themselves. “For me as an
artist, I think it was something that is worth putting down,” he said.

Capturing their
daily existence through sketches and photography “was not a very easy
process,” Nwaegbe admitted. After his service year in Nassarawa State,
the artist spent time in Kebbi State observing the Fulani nomads in
their natural habitat, something he described as “a really good
experience.”

The Fulani people, their cultures and their environment form the nucleus of his Nomad Series.

Some of the images
show the herdsmen at work, or at play. Others show women attending to
their daily chores or to their physical appearance. It also shows the
migrant group across generations. Nwaegbe’s featured works were in
Conte, Acrylic, and Charcoal media.

Commenting on how
he managed to be productive in unfamiliar surroundings, Nwaegbe said,
“If you are waiting for the muse, you are not going to paint in a long
time.” The resulting works are a mix of reality and his imagination.

Investing in art

Recounting his
recent experience at the Africa Now Art Auction in New York, Frank
Okonta, who chaired Nwaegbe’s opening, said he was impressed to see
artworks by many Nigerian artists featured prominently at the auction.

“Don’t give up,”
the president of the Art Galleries Association of Nigeria (AGAN) said,
encouraging the artists to remain dedicated to their profession.

As an art
collector, Okonta advised the audience to invest in art. “There’s
plenty of money to be made from art. It’s good for you to start
collecting now,” because the value goes up, he said.

Bisi Silva, director of the Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), could not help adding, “And you make a lot of tax-free money.”

Art patron Rasheed Gbadamosi and gallery owner Biodun Omolayo were also at the opening.

Nwaegbe’s message
for all who viewed the week-long exhibition was simple: “If you don’t
travel around, you don’t understand how different we are. There’s a
need for us to interact and understand each other.”

‘Tainted Visions’ (Nomad Series) was at the Omenka Gallery on Ikoyi Crescent till April 23.