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The winner of the
Lagos Black Heritage Festival/Caterina de Medici painting competition
was unveiled on April 8, during an award dinner at the Civic Centre in
Lagos.

Kelani Abass
emerged winner out of 30 artists, who had been selected as part of a
competition themed ‘Lagos, City of a thousand masks.’ The competitors’
works had been exhibited earlier in the day at the Lekki-based, Nike
Art Gallery.

The Steve Rhodes
Orchestra dished out soul lifting and body soothing jazz tunes and
played at intervals for the duration of the occasion, much to the
delight of the audience.

The Lagos State
governor Babatunde Fashola, his deputy Sarah Sosan, visual artist Ondo
State Commissioner of Culture Tola Wewe, African-American scholar Henry
Louis Gates Jr, and filmmaker Tunde Kelani – were some of those at the
event.

From Italy with love

The annual
painting competition, which began 2002 in Florence, Italy, came to
Nigeria for the first time this year in honour of the festival. A
Nigerian, Olubunmi Ogundare had participated in the first Caterina de
Medici painting competition and was adjudged one of the best 10 artists
in the world.

African
representative of the Caterina de Medici Foundation, Foluke Michaels,
said during her speech that Nigerian artists participate actively on
the international level and are a force to reckon with. Samuel Ebohon,
winner of the 2009 Caterina de Medici international painting award was
also a Nigerian, Michaels noted.

She disclosed that
the 30 shortlisted artists were selected out of 108 who had indicated
interest in this Festival-based edition of the competition.

Chair of the 2009
award jury and also a consultant to this year’s Black Heritage
Festival, Wole Soyinka, had more to say about the judging of last
year’s entries. “The jury was totally different from those that conduct
the Nigerian elections,” he said. This was his way of saying he neither
influenced nor rigged the decision of the jury, which had comprised
people of diverse nationalities.

Behind the mask

Soyinka said some
people had come up to him asking why he chose to title the competition
‘Lagos, City of a thousand masks.’ He however explained that he had no
particular reason for the title but that it was just an expression.

“People say: Eko
gb’ole o gb’ole (Lagos makes space for the thief and the lazy) and I
think it is because Lagos wears so many masks. Like all works of art,
Lagos is a mystery.”

Commodore Sottani,
who started the Caterina de Medici competition in 2002, spoke next,
after a stimulating performance by female drummer Ara and her band.

Speaking in
Italian, with the assistance of an interpreter, Sottani was full of
praise for Soyinka and Michaels, who he became acquainted with at the
formation of the international painting competition.

Sottani said it
was his second time in Lagos. “I am happy to be in Lagos and I would
like that everyone here visit the beautiful city of Florence, Italy,”
he said. Sottani’s pronouncement and praise for his home country had
many in the crowd dreaming while others sniggered loudly, obviously
thinking of the tedious process of getting an Italian visa here in
Nigeria.

Sottani thanked
the organisers for the opportunity to present an award to renowned
painter and textile artist, Nike Davies-Okundaye, in appreciation of
her contribution to Nigerian art at home and abroad.

The interpreter,
however, said Sottani was grateful for the award Davies-Okundaye was
giving to him – leading to some raised eyebrows in the audience.
Soyinka also received an award for excellence.

And the winner is…

The Nike Cultural
Troupe performed a beautiful Bata dance sequence, it was then time to
put down the wine glasses and applaud the winning artist.

Visual artists
Jerry Buhari and Ndidi Dike were in the jury that selected the 2010
LBHF/ Caterina de Medici award winner for Painting. The final 30 works
were displayed at various points in the large hall, with the
participating artists all eager to know if theirs would be the winning
artwork.

The fifth place
winner, Osagie Aimufia received a silver medal and a cash prize of
$5,000. Moses Zibo came fourth with a cash prize of $7,500 and a silver
medal. Folarin Razaq was happy as he ran upstage to receive his $10,000
prize and silver medal as the third place winner while the second place
winner went home with 15,000. Other participating artists took home
medals.

Kelani Abass, who
emerged the winner of the LBHF/ Caterina de Medici 2010 Painting Award
carted home a cash prize of $20,000 and the lone gold medal.

Abass had words of
thanks tumbling from his lips while two female ushers took the winning
painting round the hall for guests to get a good look.

“It was a tough competition and I am still amazed that my painting was selected as the winning work,” said the joyful winner.

Acting Director
General of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Martins Adaji, partially
fulfilled his promise to resuscitate the music department of the troupe
on April 4 and 5 when the organisation held a chorale as part of the
Easter festivities. Adaji had told reporters during his maiden meeting
with the press earlier in the year that reviving the moribound music
unit was going to be one of his priorities.

“I promised you
some time ago that we will give you a musical, now it is here. This
show is not the usual, we have a lot to offer you this evening. I don’t
want to waste your time with a lengthy speech so let’s get started,”
Adaji reiterated minutes before the command performance started on
Sunday, April 4 inside Cinema Hall II, National Theatre, Lagos.

The supposedly ‘not
the usual’ concert however flagged at some points as the evening wore
on. The organisers would have done well to get better sound and musical
instruments; assistants holding up music notes for the director, Femi
Ogunrombi, while playing the keyboard wasn’t professional either. The
beautifully costumed choir and guest artists including Yinka Davies,
Afresh, Biodun Olododo and others nonetheless rendered some good music.

Opening numbers

An adaptation of
‘Ise Oluwa’ by Ogunrombi, Dan Aldridge’s ‘It wouldn’t be enough’,
Bach’s ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring’ and William Gaither’s popular
‘Because He Lives’ were the opening songs by the choir. Though ‘Because
He Lives’ has since become a public song, the choir added some flavours
to make their version unique and enjoyable.

The choir revved up
their performance with the next set of songs. They added a touch of
Highlife while doing ‘Yak Ikom Abasi’ by Benjamin Chukwu and a dash of
Makossa to an adaptation of ‘Onu Odum’ by Fine Face.

‘Afresh’, an a
cappella group comprising Austin David (baritone); Julius Adegoke
(second tenor); Uche Osondu (bass) and Jackson Oshile gave a good
rendition of ‘Old Gospel’, the group’s adaptation of popular Southern
gospel, ‘Old Time Religion’. The audience happily obliged when the
group asked them to join in singing Bobby McFerrin’s ‘Don’t Worry, Be
Happy’ but the quartet saved their best for the last. Their last piece
was a Twi number from Ghana which Yinka Davies joined them in singing.
Her effortless though playful mimicry of trumpet sounds while doing the
Highlife song, drew laughter from the audience who also rewarded the
group with a generous applause.

More entertainment
came in the form of ‘Masu Kudi Gurmi’ a trio of Hausa musicians from
Kano. Though the crowd didn’t hear all what they said because they
declined to use microphones in order to play their goje and drums,
their funny dances/gestures made people laugh. The occasional “Khaki no
be leather” and “Orobokibo kibo rocky” part of their chorus which
filtered into people’s ears, inspired even more mirth.

Baritone Uzor
Enemanna did ‘Our God is Real’ accompanied on the keyboard by
Ogunrombi, who also moonlights as an actor- he once played Papa Ajasco
in Wale Adenuga’s popular series of same name.

One day song

“Thank you for
allowing me mess up the stage. The choir just learnt this song for one
day, don’t be angry with us if we mess it up,” singer Yinka Davies
explained as she came on stage again with the choir. She was quite a
spectacle as she skipped across the stage like a little girl while
doing the fast tempo song. The songstress reaffirmed her rating as one
of Nigeria’s great vocalists with the solo parts she took in the song.

Saxophonist Biodun Olododo sang ‘Ponmilodo’ before the choir now
spotting beautiful Yoruba, Fulani, Efik, Igbo and Tiv costumes took the
last set of songs. They did some popular tunes including ‘Oritse Mo Be
O’ by Emmanuel Aringhinho; Fatai Rolling Dollar’s ‘Won Kere Si Number
Wa’ and Loius Armstrong’s touching ‘What a Wonderful World’. They also
sang national songs like ‘In One Accord’ and ‘Together as one’ adapted
by Ogunrombi, and Arnold Udoka’s ‘Sonayan’. On the whole, it wasn’t a
bad outing for the music section of the troupe currently being
resuscitated.

Acting Director
General of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Martins Adaji, partially
fulfilled his promise to resuscitate the music department of the troupe
on April 4 and 5 when the organisation held a chorale as part of the
Easter festivities. Adaji had told reporters during his maiden meeting
with the press earlier in the year that reviving the moribound music
unit was going to be one of his priorities.

“I promised you
some time ago that we will give you a musical, now it is here. This
show is not the usual, we have a lot to offer you this evening. I don’t
want to waste your time with a lengthy speech so let’s get started,”
Adaji reiterated minutes before the command performance started on
Sunday, April 4 inside Cinema Hall II, National Theatre, Lagos.

The supposedly ‘not
the usual’ concert however flagged at some points as the evening wore
on. The organisers would have done well to get better sound and musical
instruments; assistants holding up music notes for the director, Femi
Ogunrombi, while playing the keyboard wasn’t professional either. The
beautifully costumed choir and guest artists including Yinka Davies,
Afresh, Biodun Olododo and others nonetheless rendered some good music.

Opening numbers

An adaptation of
‘Ise Oluwa’ by Ogunrombi, Dan Aldridge’s ‘It wouldn’t be enough’,
Bach’s ‘Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring’ and William Gaither’s popular
‘Because He Lives’ were the opening songs by the choir. Though ‘Because
He Lives’ has since become a public song, the choir added some flavours
to make their version unique and enjoyable.

The choir revved up
their performance with the next set of songs. They added a touch of
Highlife while doing ‘Yak Ikom Abasi’ by Benjamin Chukwu and a dash of
Makossa to an adaptation of ‘Onu Odum’ by Fine Face.

‘Afresh’, an a
cappella group comprising Austin David (baritone); Julius Adegoke
(second tenor); Uche Osondu (bass) and Jackson Oshile gave a good
rendition of ‘Old Gospel’, the group’s adaptation of popular Southern
gospel, ‘Old Time Religion’. The audience happily obliged when the
group asked them to join in singing Bobby McFerrin’s ‘Don’t Worry, Be
Happy’ but the quartet saved their best for the last. Their last piece
was a Twi number from Ghana which Yinka Davies joined them in singing.
Her effortless though playful mimicry of trumpet sounds while doing the
Highlife song, drew laughter from the audience who also rewarded the
group with a generous applause.

More entertainment
came in the form of ‘Masu Kudi Gurmi’ a trio of Hausa musicians from
Kano. Though the crowd didn’t hear all what they said because they
declined to use microphones in order to play their goje and drums,
their funny dances/gestures made people laugh. The occasional “Khaki no
be leather” and “Orobokibo kibo rocky” part of their chorus which
filtered into people’s ears, inspired even more mirth.

Baritone Uzor
Enemanna did ‘Our God is Real’ accompanied on the keyboard by
Ogunrombi, who also moonlights as an actor- he once played Papa Ajasco
in Wale Adenuga’s popular series of same name.

One day song

“Thank you for
allowing me mess up the stage. The choir just learnt this song for one
day, don’t be angry with us if we mess it up,” singer Yinka Davies
explained as she came on stage again with the choir. She was quite a
spectacle as she skipped across the stage like a little girl while
doing the fast tempo song. The songstress reaffirmed her rating as one
of Nigeria’s great vocalists with the solo parts she took in the song.

Saxophonist Biodun Olododo sang ‘Ponmilodo’ before the choir now
spotting beautiful Yoruba, Fulani, Efik, Igbo and Tiv costumes took the
last set of songs. They did some popular tunes including ‘Oritse Mo Be
O’ by Emmanuel Aringhinho; Fatai Rolling Dollar’s ‘Won Kere Si Number
Wa’ and Loius Armstrong’s touching ‘What a Wonderful World’. They also
sang national songs like ‘In One Accord’ and ‘Together as one’ adapted
by Ogunrombi, and Arnold Udoka’s ‘Sonayan’. On the whole, it wasn’t a
bad outing for the music section of the troupe currently being
resuscitated.

The hammer of
auctioneer Yvonne Emordi will fall on April 24 to signify the
commencement of the ‘Golden Jubilee Art Auction,’ organised by Terra
Kulture. About 140 works will go under the hammer at the event
supported by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) and Nimbus 2000.

The auction,
earlier scheduled to hold at Terra Kulture’s Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria
Island premises in February, was postponed due to lack of sponsorship.
It viewing opened Tuesday April 20, culminating in the auction proper
on Saturday April 24.

Terra Kulture held
its first auction in December 2008, to sell works from the art
exhibition organised to coincide with the Commonwealth Head of
Government Meeting (CHOGM). This second auction, according to Managing
Director of the centre, Bolanle Austen-Peters, is the organisation’s
way of ushering in Nigeria’s 50th Anniversary celebration. “This is our
way of supporting the art industry and the auction is one vehicle for
pushing art forward,” she said.

About 200 works
will be available for public viewing; these were sourced from private
collections and the artists themselves. The collection includes works
from masters like Bruce Onobrakpeya, Abayomi Barber, El Anatsui, Jimoh
Braimoh and the late Ben Osawe. There is a wide selection, including
works by younger contemporary artists including Victor Ehikhamenor, Rom
Isichei, Ini Brown and Edosa Oguigo.

Austen Peters
assured that all exhibits on offer are authentic artworks. She
disclosed that the organisers got assistance from artists, people from
the rural areas where the works were discovered and experts who could
date the mostly bronze artefacts. The artefacts include a jewellery box
(Ekpoki), a Benin Warrior Head, an Ife Head and a sculpture titled ‘The
Portuguese Warrior Horse Rider’.

Programme director
at Terra Kulture, Temitope Sanya, said, “We are trying to create a
storyline and the yesteryears of art in Nigeria,” while disclosing the
criteria for selecting the works.

Austen Peters also
explained the rationale for the auction. She said the organisers
believe auctioning the works will benefit the artists more as they will
go to the highest bidder and also provide more excitement for art
collectors. She did not hide her disappointment that most of the
auctions held for Nigerian works are not organised by Nigerians. She
said this was why Terra Kulture felt a yearly auction was necessary.

The director also
disclosed how they would strike a balance between exhibitions and
auctions so that artists do not withhold their works hoping to make
more money at the auctions. Austen Peters noted that it is works from
the masters that sell more and with auctions being held once in a
while, it would not make sense for artists to toe that line.

“We have works you won’t see in galleries. There are works from
Victor Uwaifo and Jimoh Braimoh that won’t be found in any gallery,”
Austen Peters said while reiterating the uniqueness of the auction. She
also hopes that the auction will produce bids that will surpass that of
Onobrakpeya’s ‘Greater Nigeria’ or even Ben Enwonwu’s ‘Dancing Child’.
Onobrakpeya’s work went for nine million naira at last year’s Art House
Auction while Enwonwu’s ‘Dancing Boy’ sold at over N13 million at the
Bonhams Auction held recently in New York.

According to its website, the third edition of the Lagos Black
Heritage Festival (with the theme “Memory and Performance in the Return to Source”)
was conceived to “broaden and deepen the linkage between the African continent
and its Diaspora… through a focus on the lives and works of three eminent
representatives of, and close collaborators in this racial mission, all three
now ancestral figures: Aime Cesaire, Alioune Diop and Leopold Sedar Senghor.”

With this in mind, any guest at the Festival concert, which held
on the evening of Thursday, April 8, on the grounds of Oceanview Restaurant in
Victoria Island would be forgiven for arriving with outsized expectations.

Black Heritage Idols?

When I walked into the concert tent at 9.30pm, one and half
hours after the show was supposed to have started, it was devoid of seats, and
only a handful of people loitered around, a good number of them technicians.
Onstage guitarist Bez Idakula was doing a sound check. There was nothing – not
in the dismal pre-concert publicity, or in the venue’s half-hearted lighting,
or in the manner in which guests trickled in – to hint that a grand concert was
in the offing.

The show eventually kicked off at 10pm. Bez was the first act,
his performance punctuated by complaints (from him) that he couldn’t hear his
guitar onstage. After enduring the next two performances by unknown hip-hop
acts I was left wondering if this wasn’t actually an audition for a ‘Black
Heritage Idols’. One of the acts dished out lines like “Omo you dey high me /
let’s go to Miami” – totally lost on him was the irony of a “let’s go to Miami”
call in a Festival celebrating “the Return to Source.”

The next set of performances featured Jazzman Olofin, Kenny
Saint Brown and Zaaki Adzay, for me an invitation to wonder if the show wasn’t
after all a Career Resuscitation gig. (By the way, one of Olofin’s offerings
was a love song in which he crooned: “Omo o fly like helicopter… you can be my
bread let me be your toaster… I’m Jay Z will you be my Beyonce…”)

Fela on trumpet, but
without the girls

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola walked in during Olofin’s
performance. Flutist and former PMAN President Tee Mac Itsueli mounted the
stage next. Only then, to be honest, did it seem that the festival had
commenced.

After Itsueli came the masked one, Lagbaja. As his band
assembled on stage, the talking drummer launched into a passionate intro.
Behind me someone screamed a praise name: “Omo Baba muko muko!” The
sax-clutching Lagbaja emerged from the rear of the hall, sending the crowd into
a frenzy. But he did only one full-length performance (“Never Far Away”) before
leaving the stage. Expectedly, the audience roared in displeasure; they wanted
a lot more.

At midnight, Hugh Masekela came onstage, to (in his own words)
“pay tribute to [two] great musicians from Nigeria; Orlando Julius and Fela
Kuti.” In a white buba and black trousers, trumpet in hand, his nimble energy
belied his 71 years. He recounted his first visit to Nigeria, in 1972. It was
around that time that he first met Fela, who would become an enduring
influence. Effortlessly he brought “Lady”, a Fela classic, to life. I summed up
the performance as “Fela on trumpet, but without the girls.” Masekela then
played a 1973 Orlando Julius song, ‘Mura Sise’. Admonishing the audience to
dance (“Make we stand up I beg you!”), he joked: “Some of us have had too much
iyan today and egusi; some of us don quaff some Star today…”

Twenty minutes into Masekela’s performance, Governor Fashola
decided to make his exit. Being a Governor, and this being Nigeria, there
couldn’t have been such a thing as an indiscreet exit. I wondered why Mr.
Fashola couldn’t wait for Masekela to finish his performance. But then, long
ago I resigned myself to the fact that I will never understand the ways of
Nigeria’s politicians.

After Masekela another South African band performed, and then
Nigerian R’n’B act Banky W. A gospel performance by Uche, a rousing mélange of
popular gospel melodies held together by a vigorous makossa bassline, got most
of the audience dancing.

A final performance by Masekela ended the show. In between his
passionate trumpet solos, and the occasional recourse to the sekere and metal
gong, he shared a bit about his homeland. South Africa, he told us, is one of
the “top ten drinking nations in the world”. Then an explanation. “Before 1961
the African people of South Africa were not allowed to partake of alcoholic
beverages. Because it was illegal it became a business,” he said. “I was born
in a shebeen (neighbourhood shack that housed an illegal pub) myself.”

‘Forgiving but not
forgetting’

A stirring speech by Governor Fashola, just before Masekela’s
first appearance was one of the highlights – and few saving graces – of the
concert. “We have forgiven the slave trade, but we do not forget it,” Mr.
Fashola declared, to loud agreement from the audience. “From that point of no
return, through the collaboration with our brothers and sisters in Diaspora, we
intend to make a triumphant return. A triumphant return to lead the world,
because clearly the leadership of the world has rested with what our people
have done in Europe and America; their sweat, their toil and their blood built
those economies. If they could build those economies we can rebuild the economy
and the infrastructure of Africa by working together.”

Another highlight was the fashion event, which ran alongside the
musical performances. It consisted of a fashion show by children, and a fashion
competition, “My Lagos Of Old”, which saw contesting designers put forward
retro looks created from local fabrics.

Marked by absence

But on the whole this was a Black Heritage Festival Concert
painfully marked by its lack of grandeur, and by the intimidating calibre of
its absentees. Where were Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Aretha
Franklin – world famous musicians whose roots are African, whose ancestors had
endured one-way Trans-Atlantic trips in slave ships centuries ago? And where
were the home-based greats of ages past and present: Victor Olaiya, Victor
Uwaifo, Fatai Rolling Dollar, Sunny Ade?

Considering the fact that the moving spirits of the festival;
Cesaire, Diop and Senghor were from Francophone Africa, certainly a Youssou
N’Dour wouldn’t have been out of place. Even the Steve Rhodes Orchestra and
Seun Kuti, mentioned in the absurdly brief promotional material (buried
somewhere in the festival brochure – there was no concert brochure) did not
turn up.

It was obvious that not much care went into putting this
festival together. The organisers, despite their deep pockets (Lagos is not
only one of the richest states in Nigeria, its annual budget would actually
dwarf that of a lot of African countries) blew an amazing – and rare –
opportunity to truly celebrate the resilience and survival of the black race,
in the face of centuries of slavery and colonialism. This could easily have
been the musical concert of the year, if not the decade. But what the
organisers did was to under-promise (the festival information mentioned only
three performers) and then under-deliver.

By the time the concert ended, at two in the morning, the audience (which to
start with hadn’t been that large; a few hundred people at the most) had
dwindled significantly. It was rather disheartening to see a 71-year-old
African music legend – whose concerts are sold out everywhere else in the world
– perform, with unflagging energy, to a mostly empty hall. How can anyone
possibly consider that a celebration of black culture?

Popular Hollywood actor Danny Glover was placed on the hot seat
at the Lagos Black Heritage Festival’s pre-colloquium on Sunday, April 4. For
many, who loathed him as Albert Johnson in 80s film, ‘The Color Purple’, it was
time to get back at the villain. When the event was over, though, many
remembered why Danny Glover was beloved (no pun intended) in the first place.

Glover, who had arrived at 5.30am after a flight and visa hitch,
had to rest before his appearance at around 2pm. While in England en-route
Nigeria, Glover discovered his visa had expired by two weeks. The combined
clout of Glover and Soyinka made sure the Hollywood actor could fly to Nigeria
all the same.

The ‘Mandela’ actor, who introduced himself as no stranger to
the post-colonial struggle and accomplishments on the African continent, said
it was his fifth time in Africa in the past year.

Getting it right

A man like Glover needs no introduction, but he went ahead and
did it anyway. Taking questions on how the negative image of Africa can be
changed internationally, the ‘3AM’ actor said it was in “being able to tell our
own stories.” His mother’s first images of Africa, he said “were initially of
Tarzan, which showed Africans as being incapable of developing themselves. As a
cultural worker and as an artist-citizen or citizen artist, it becomes my
responsibility in my profession to begin to show various other versions of my
experience, and of what Africa needs to be.”

Paying too much attention to breaking into the Western markets,
the Lethal Weapon star said, is in itself “missing the point. How do we build
the audiences within our own constituencies? This is important to our own
artistic and cultural development.” Quoting Ossie Davis, Glover said, “It’s
going to take artists to save us from machines.” Known for his roles in
numerous action flicks, Glover referred to himself as a disciple of the late
African-American performer and activist.

He questioned the desire for profit, which seemed to be the
drive for many Africans in the Diaspora whenever they were asked to return and
develop their homeland. The usual response, Glover said, was “How can I make
profit?”

He however asked the curious audience what story people here
could tell that would inspire a return to the homeland from the Diaspora.

Filmmaker Tunde Kelani agreed with Glover on the need to cater
for a massive local market before targeting the foreign. Co-panelist Wole
Soyinka who provided an informal moderation for Glover’s talk, gave the example
of the Bollywood as a film industry with hardly any care for success abroad.
Kelani said plans were afoot with the Lagos State government to provide at
least 50 cinemas across the state.

The movie director then asked Glover what became of an
initiative with late Senegalese filmmaker Sembene Ousmane, to bring 50
filmmakers together from across cultures. Responding, Glover listed the
challenges that had affected the proposed idea. “In this climate, there’s not a
lot of resources available. How can we bring tactical experience, technical
equipment to this industry? In Kigali, there’s not even one theatre.” He
however praised the efforts of the founders of the Rwandan Cinema Centre for
being forward-looking and bristling with ideas.

Hard work is good

Considering the gruelling journey the actor had undertaken earlier
in the day, Soyinka suggested ending the session early, but the spirited Glover
insisted on carrying on, saying, “Hard work is good!”

Recalling his favourite scene from the 1985 film Silverado,
Soyinka told of how Glover’s character Mal Johnson had defied a group of racist
white drinkers in what the writer called “one of the most beautiful moments of
whisky drinking I’ve ever seen.”

Testifying to the power of cinematic illusion, Soyinka was later
to discover that what Glover had drunk so admirably was tea and not whisky.
Considering how many takes of that scene would have occurred, it would not have
been positive thinking if the glass had actually contained alcohol.

In response Glover said, “You never know the value of what you
are doing.” After that movie, some youth had also walked up to him, much to his
surprise, to say, “You knew how to take care of yourself. You didn’t need a
white guy to come help you.”

Speaking on the rise of knife crime in the United Kingdom, a
member of the audience asked if this was due to a lack of role models. Glover,
who along with fellow actors Mike Farrell and Harry Belafonte had been involved
in youth counselling projects in Los Angeles, said “Let the youth know they are
valuable and you can diminish the violence.”

The actor as role model

Glover, who played President Thomas Wilson in the recent box
office hit ‘2012′, told the audience of the various projects he was involved in
across Africa, including ‘Shared Interest’ in South Africa.

The 63-year-old actor said he would continue “finding ways I can
nurture the connection in all these countries and to encourage young people to
engage in discourses like ‘how can I support films (coming) out of Nollywood?’
We’ll continue to find ways to do that and I won’t be saying I’m too old for
this shit.”

That’s not all. “I founded a company and kept it going because
I’ve refused to let a certain group of people be the articulators of our
experience.” Some of those at the forefront of championing African-American
rights in the United States, he said were charlatans. He however had faith in
Thomas Carlyle’s quote that “No lie can live forever,” a line also popular with
the late Martin Luther King Jr.

For those who lost their lives fighting for equality in America,
Glover said, “Struggle is therapeutic.” This he said was because they knew that
their souls would be transported back to Africa.

Asked when he would stop all his “wandering all over the world”
and settle in Nigeria, Glover was quick to say, “There’s always that
possibility.” But for an actor who’s visited 22 African countries, “Every
country that I go to, people say ‘Buy a house.’ But I’m home. Home is where the
heart is.”

Glover continues to be involved in African-related film and social issues as
a member of the Trans-Africa Forum and with his involvement in the US-based Pan
African Film Festival.

Amongst the many surprises that was thrown up in the city of
Lagos during the Easter period, was Sheryl Lee Ralph’s ‘Sometimes I Cry.’ The
one-woman show was a performance of stories inspired by women living
positively, and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The performance came to Lagos under the auspices of Sheryl’s non-profit
DIVA Foundation, as part of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival. The one-woman
act has been performed across the United States and elsewhere.

An hour and a half after the show was meant to kick off, Sheryl
appeared on stage in a bejewelled Ankara skirt and a long-sleeved black jersey
top. Her hair was sleeked back and packed neatly at the centre of her head. She
could have been anybody, which was just her plan for the evening.

“Tonight,” she said, “I have some stories to share with you;
just a few stories from my sisters from around the world.”

No more silence

She set a good mood for the audience with stories about her
Tony-award nominated debut role on Broadway in 1981. She was Deena Jones in
Dreamgirls and “got to share the stage with some of the most talented people of
my generation.” Some of these talented people were soon to start dying off from
an unknown ailment. When its name was eventually known, “Shh! Nobody was saying
anything.” This disease was HIV/AIDS.

The personal decision for Sheryl to do something came in 2002
when she heard a group of women sharing stories about HIV/AIDS. These were not
just stories, though, but the womens’ individual experiences.

When she first started telling these stories in the US, people
reacted with disbelief, citing the example of the “good-looking” former
basketball star, Magic Johnson.

“Yes, Magic Johnson looks good and he ought to,” she said
pointing out the sportsman’s wealth and access to “platinum healthcare” and
“highly active anti-retroviral treatment”, which the former athlete takes
“regularly, the way he should, on time.” She also emphasised that the former
basketball star got tested early. But then, “People do not care about their
health until they don’t have it.” She called it “sad” that a preventable
disease continues to spread in silence. “People do not want to talk about it
because you know what? People do not have sex.” This had the audience laughing
in agreement. It, however, was not going to be laughter all the way.

Living positively

The artist was already in full performance mode when she
‘became’ her first character. She deftly switches accents to represent a
well-read city girl, and “entrepreneur of the year with the business to watch”,
who is abandoned by her husband after she discovers she is HIV positive.

“I guess my living didn’t fit into his schedule of playing
dutiful husband to a dying wife, especially since I am positive and he is
negative.” She also develops a hump on her back, an incurable yeast infection,
suffers drastic weight loss, and soils herself “in a very upscale 5-star
restaurant for everyone to see.” A weeping Sheryl has the audience spell-bound
at this point with her uncanny reenactment of the powerful woman reduced to
cleaning her own waste with expensive clothes. She however, recovers herself,
“And I walked out of that restaurant, just the same way that I walked in: with
my head held high and all eyes on me, acknowledging the end of a good day.” Her
tears and her situation echo in the audience as many in the audience are moved
to tears as well.

Grandma, the 68-year-old character had “friends talking about
osteoporosis (and) friends forgetting to talk about Alzheimer’s.” She’d had
five children with her husband whom she’d known since she was 11 and he was 11
and a half. She however, gets the disease after her husband’s death, from an
affair with a friend. The doctor tells her sex has changed from what it was
back in her day.

Being the faithful party in a relationship is not always
guarantee against infection. That’s the lesson from the next sketch, where a
young African asylum seeker in America told the story of how her sister was
lucky to get married to “the man she liked.” The wife was faithful to her
husband, who was unfaithful.

The long-distance lorry driver spent excess money on “sex-women”
and refused to use protection when sleeping with his wife. The narrator watched
her sister suffer physical abuse and emaciate as a result of HIV. She herself
suffers stigmatisation after her sister’s death and burial in an unmarked grave.

No ‘victim song’

The audience had the choice to pick what story they wanted to
hear next. It was the story of a ‘ghetto-fabulous’ care-free woman, who was a
sex maniac. She eventually contracts the disease and spreads it with no qualms.
The morning after though, she is suicidal. The mark of this attempt remains
with her still, reminding her of her one-time irresponsibility.

Sheryl had the audience laughing the most with her
characterisation of this persona. Strutting her stuff across the stage, she showed
she still had groove at the age of 53. She effortlessly became and reenacted
each character with the ease of a superb actor. Her voice and characterisation
never slipped, even when her microphone began to act up.

Through these stories, Sheryl pointed out the need for people to
be responsible, to respect, love and lift themselves up in the face of the
deadly HIV/AIDS virus, which, she said, knew no race or talent. “I hope that
maybe just one of you would have heard something because we are HIV positive, and
sometimes I cry.”

Her uplifting and emotive 90-minute performance over, the
audience gradually erupted into a standing ovation and shouts of “We love you!”
She also thanked the audience for coming, despite probably having other
appointments. An interactive session followed where members of the audience
said they had been inspired by Sheryl’s stories to go out and do something.

Her opening song says this clearly enough: “I am an endangered species, but
I sing no victim song. I am a woman. I am an artist and I know where my voice
belongs.”

The pre-colloquium event of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival
explored the theme of ‘Memory and Performance in the return to source.’
Featuring Wole Soyinka, Joanna Lipper, and Danny Glover, the event took place
at the Civic Centre on Sunday, April 4. African-American scholar, Henry Louis
Gates Jr., was unable to make the event.

Nobel laureate and foremost social critic, Wole Soyinka, led the
way with his paper on ‘African Aesthetics as seen through the eye of an Irukere.’

‘Irukere’ in the eye of
the beholder

Focusing on aesthetics and utility in what many will call the
‘paraphernalia of office’ or ‘the insignia of power,’ the paper traced the
history of the military man’s swagger stick vis-a-vis a king’s ‘Irukere’ (fly
whisk or horse-tail whisk to the uninitiated). The paper also focused on how
the appearance of structures reflects its business, emphasising especially, how
the rundown facilities in some Nigerian educational institutions (across all
levels) reflect in the performance of its graduates. He asked the audience to
compare products of merely utilitarian structures to those from more condusive
environments.

He, however, underlined that, “I do not say for one moment that
the mind cannot overcome any adversities (or) that the most adverse
environments have failed to produce geniuses.”

Soyinka used the example of the ‘Irukere’, which “when swished
has the advantage of comparative silence.” The hilt of the fly-whisk, he said,
was etched with intricate designs because it was used by not just anyone, but
by kings and hunters. The ‘Irukere’, he said, was therefore a perfect
combination of both beauty and purpose.

In the midst of all the scholastic communication, Soyinka
infused some comedy. He referred to Mobutu Sese Seko’s assumed native name as
‘that long incantation of a name’, which he translated to mean ‘the fearless
one who mounts numerous wives at the same time without the aid of Viagra.’ This
naming ceremony was, of course, for him an African validation of his African
authenticity. “Such were the interventions of the clowns of African leadership
into a serious minded soul-searching agenda.”

Mobutu was perhaps, not the only clown of such extraction.
Soyinka reminded the audience of how a former military administrator in Lagos
State began an exaggerated horticultural expedition, in which flower beds
planted state-wide would bear his name. This man, Mohammed Marwa, would in the
future run for president, sparking in people’s minds the image of flower beds
bearing his name running across the length and breadth of the nation.

Referring to the schools and housing scheme introduced by former
Lagos State governor, Lateef Jakande, Soyinka said, “Those structures were
tailor-made for eventual slumification.” In his conclusion, the Nobel laureate
said, “Environment can inspire or douse inspiration. When the environment
decays, its contents also follow suit.”

Girl from Zanzibar

Soyinka introduced the next speaker, Joanna Lipper, as “being
generally active and curious about humanity.” Her presentation, he said, would
soon prove that much. It also proved her knowledge of her subject matter.

The filmmaker, writer, and photographer, displayed a series of
multimedia slide shows completed last year in Zanzibar while she was doing
research for a feature film based on a screenplay she co-wrote, ‘Girl from
Zanzibar.’ The story is based on the eponymous novel by Roger King.

“Some of the work you’ll see today is just very early
preliminary research on the project,” Lipper said. The film is about a girl of
Goan Indian, Portuguese, Arab African and Catholic Muslim parentage. She is the
result of an adulterous relationship between a Goan Indian Moslem and a
Portuguese Arab African Catholic couple.

The scholar said, “For me, the concept of a black heritage
festival returning to the source involves collective travelling back through
our cultures and conscious memories, cultural histories, and forms of
representation, to arrive at the core of how each individual perceives his or
her own life experience.” In her presentation, Lipper provides the social,
political and historical context within which we can better understand the
heritage of Marcella D’ Souza, the proposed film’s protagonist, vis-a-vis the
overall Zanziban experience.

“As a film director, I use photography as a way of organically
and spontaneously exploring and breaking down components such as emotion, mood,
tone, narrative, identity, relationships, tension, intimacy, distance, theatre,
opaqueness, transparency, and a sense of time passing.”

Her first slide show was of seaweed farmers on the east coast of
Zanzibar. Lipper’s images showed the women in their work environment,
highlighting their faces with close-ups and distance shots, showing them
against the sunset. Some of the shots were similar but showing only the passing
of time, a technique Lipper said was influenced by the work of impressionist
artist, Claude Monet.

Seaweed farmers

Lipper said, “There’s something sacred about the seaweed
farmers’ proximity to nature and something deeply spiritual about the total
absence of intrusive mechanical machinery, something reassuringly pure and
uncomplicated about the direct contact between the water and the seaweed. But
the truth is that the thin thread that connects them to the global economy and
to their meagre income is growing thinner by the day.”

Throwing in some statistics to illustrate the pros and cons of
seaweed farming, Lipper said 3% of the population in Zanzibar is involved in
seaweed cultivation, accounting for 20% of Zanzibar’s export earnings. The
United States, she said, imports $50 billion worth annually.

On the down side, the mostly female seaweed farmers lack the
required education and business skills to make the most of their venture.
Quoting from Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s ‘Half the Sky,’ Lipper said,
“In many poor countries, the greatest unexploited resource isn’t oil fields or
veins of gold. It is the women and girls who aren’t educated and never become a
major presence in the formal economy.” The images in Lipper’s Seaweed Farmers
series have been nominated for the Prix Pictet environmental photography award.

Slavery and
multiculturalism

The next slide show was of Stone Town, the Zanziban capital, and
centre of “global cosmopolitanism, cultural borrowing, and appropriation of
foreign elements.” The variegated influences from Portugal and India were
reflected in the architecture of this town. Its slave history was represented
by a monument in the image of two slaves chained together. Not only the
architecture is different, the various peoples also show the city’s
multiculturalism: a perfect home for the Marcella, whose heritage means she is
from everywhere but belongs nowhere.

According to Lipper, Arabs introduced slaves into Zanzibar and
expanded the slave route. It became the centre of the East African slave trade.
Indian merchants were also involved. There were about 5000 slaves in Zanzibar
alone at the beginning of the 18th century. Many more worked on farms or were
transported to Persia. “By 1866, their number had grown to 20,000 a year.”
After 150 years of slavery and oppression, the locals had had enough. A
revolution took place in January 1964 and the sitting government was
overthrown. Arabs and Indians were killed in their thousands. Others were
forced into exile or to relinquish their amassed wealth and property. Lipper
noted that the overthrow was the climax to years of growing racial and ethnic
tension on the islands and a violent rejection of Zanzibar’s cosmopolitan heritage.

It was the end of “150 years of Arab and South-Asian economic
and cultural hegemony in Zanzibar, forcing into exile tens of thousands of
non-African minorities, ending Asian and Arab domination of the island
economy,” Lipper said.

Lipper’s work has already drawn the attention of The Seaweed Center and the
Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND). She is currently the Sheila Biddle
Ford Foundation Fellow at Harvard University’s W.E.B. DuBois Institute.

I first heard about Dr. Barbara Plankensteiner in glowing terms
from Mr. Daniel Inneh; a former Secretary to the Omo N’Oba N’Edo Ukuakpolokpolo
Oba Erediauwa of Benin, and a direct descendant of Chief Inneh, hereditary head
of the Bronze Casters Guild of the Benin Kingdom, based in Igun Street, Benin
City.

We were both working together towards facilitating an
I.W.C-B.B.C film project on ‘The Lost Kingdoms of Africa’; a segment of which
was an interview with Oba Erediauwa on the status of the looted Benin bronzes
and artworks, now in the British Museum and, a documentation of present-day
bronze casting in Benin.

Inneh’s references to Dr. Plankensteiner were centred on the
magnificently-produced and informative 540-page catalogue for the equally grand
touring exhibition, ‘Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria’ she had
curated. I met her in December 2009, in Lagos, when she visited my 1979
photography Exhibition and, characteristically, she showed an interest in my
photographs of Oba Erediauwa’s coronation ceremonies and activities. It was no
surprise that Plankensteiner was present at the opening ceremony of Peju
Layiwola’s ‘1897.Com’ exhibition, which revisits the cultural trauma and
consequences of the Benin bronzes and artworks stolen in the guise of war booty
by the British.

A mammoth exhibition

Why and how did she get to curate the mammoth Benin exhibition?

“Since I am the curator of the Sub-Saharan African Collections
and, our museum also owns a big Benin collection; my Director General asked me
to do the exhibition on a large scale with the introduction of Benin
collections from other museums in the United States of America, Britain,
Germany, and the Nigerian National Museum. I got permission from Oba Erediauwa
himself who wrote an introductory note to the catalogue, and worked with the
then D.G. of the National Commission for Museums, Dr. Eluyemi Omotosho.

“It took over four years to prepare the exhibition and I came to
Nigeria four times. There were about 300 works in the exhibition; bronze, ivory
and wood artworks, coral beads, textiles as well as historic and contemporary
photographs, and videos about bronze casting and festivals in the Oba’s palace,
so that people could better understand the art on display.”

Naturally, Plankensteiner is happy about the huge success of the
travelling exhibition, which was first staged in May 2007 at the Museum for
Volkerkunde, Vienna, Austria and ended at the Art Institute of Chicago, US in
September 2008.

“It was very popular and people were very much impressed about
the quality and history of the art; particularly about the history of Nigeria
and the Benin Kingdom since the 16th Century,” she enthused. “It was new to
them,” she continued. “People didn’t know that there are still Kings and nobles
and festivals and, a living culture in Benin. The exhibition gave a larger
picture of the whole culture.”

A thorny issue

I had to seek Plankensteiner’s view on the thorny and recurring
questions of why these great Benin works of art are still in national and
private museums in Britain, Europe and America; their current legal status, and
the possibility of their return to the Benin Kingdom, the original owners.

In his introductory note, Oba Erediauwa had explained that,
“bronzes were records of events in the absence of photography,” and made
viewers aware that they, “will be reading as it were the pages torn off from
the book of a people’s life history; you will be viewing objects of our
spirituality.” Barbara Plankensteiner was both diplomatic and knowledgeable in
her answers. “I am not in a position to represent an institution, but I think
the museums of the world are well aware of crimes committed in the past,” she
points out.

“We are trying to open a
dialogue towards solving the problem. It was the first time a European museum
went to Benin City and [created] awareness on this issue. It was an initiative
and it will take and, must be, a collaborative effort to find a way to put
things right. It is a long time and as the laws now have no legal basis, since
it happened too long ago; the laws are outdated. Now, it is a moral issue. It
is not an easy question and all the parties involved have to work on it.
Whether there is restitution or not, we don’t know. We have to exchange
knowledge and support ourselves and things will work out well. We should not
forget that in Nigeria, there are great collections of Benin art in the Lagos
and Benin City museums and, some of the highlights of our ‘world’ exhibition
came from Nigeria. Oba Erediauwa sent four representatives including his
brother, Prince Edun Akenzua.”

The history of lace

Dr. Plakensteiner is currently in Nigeria working towards a huge
exhibition slated for October 2010 in her museum in Vienna, Austria. As is with
her style to achieve excellence, she has been meticulously working on this
exhibition since 2008, involving many visits to Nigeria. The exhibition is on
LACE; technically, industrial embroidery for which Austria is famous.

“The exhibition,” she explains, “is a cooperative project
between our museum in Austria and the National Museum in Lagos. It is about the
history of the use of lace in Nigeria and the history of the trade in lace from
Austria. It began in Austria when they started to produce a particular type of
lace inspired by tastes from Nigeria in the 1960s.”

There is also an exploratory angle to the exhibition, which she
highlights. “The Swiss always sold lace, but Austria developed a kind of lace
with Nigerian importers. In the beginning, lace came through Lebanese trading
houses. With independence, Austrian manufacturers came to Nigeria and started
dealing directly with Nigerian merchants. So we will be looking at how it
started, how it was introduced, and how the styles developed in the 70s. The
development of embroidery started in Austria. We are trying to get all the
perspectives and document how lace was used in the past. It is established that
the centre of the lace trade was the Lagos-Ibadan axis from where it spread to
other parts of Nigeria. The main users of lace are the Yoruba.”

The Lace Exhibition starts in Vienna in October 2010, at the
Ethnographic Museum and it will be shown at the National Museum in Lagos in
March 2011. There will be an accompanying catalogue with photographs and
informed articles on the different topics represented in the exhibition.

Four Nigerian designers will be chosen to design styles from
lace materials provided by Austrian manufacturers. For now, the final designs
will be displayed on mannequins; and the designs will also be published in the
exhibition catalogue.

Again, Barbara Plakensteiner is trying her tested hand in curating Nigerian
culture for global exposure.

Scores of poets and performers were on the bill for the poetry
component of the third Lagos Black Heritage Festival. Themed, ‘Poetry, Song and
Memory,’ the afternoon of performances and readings held on Wednesday April 7
in the Agip Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

“In three weeks of running around the world, we’ve been able to
produce a very coherent group,” said compere Odia Ofeimun. He noted that the
poets on the bill fitted “every permutation of the generations in African
literature, from the oldest to the youngest.” He promised that the show would
present a composite image of poetry as it’s supposed to be, with performances
from The Steve Rhodes Orchestra; and Highlife greats Orlando Julius and Tunji
Oyelana. “Poetry is song is music is drum and drama,” affirmed Ofeimun, whose
co-presenter – the actress Joke Silva – was away “finishing a film that is
refusing to finish.”

The event was dedicated to Aime Cesaire and Leopold Sedar
Senghor, “Two exponents of Negritude poetry, which many of us have had to rebel
against but under which we continue to labour,” According to Ofeimun. Joke
Silva had been due to perform poems by Cesaire; these went unrendered, due to
her absence. The audience was however treated to Senghor’s poetry in
performance, thanks to the Crown Troupe of Africa. The late Senegalese
President’s poem ‘Mama Africa’ was followed by ‘Prayer For Peace’, which
dramatises Africa’s suffering at the hands of “white Europe”.

Eddie Aderinokun, Ogochukwu Promise (who read her poems, ‘Lagos’
and the racy ‘You Didn’t Tell Me’) as well as the group Nefertiti – provided
the interlude after a threatened walkout by Mabel Segun, in protest at an
outdated biography on her in the event’s brochure. On the stage eventually,
Segun recalled her early life before reading ‘Corruption’, saying, “I was very
influenced by the Bible, but not in the way people are influenced by it now. I
hardly read [the Bible] now; I read so much of it at school, I know it backwards.”
She also read ‘A Horizon Receding’ and the well received ‘The Plea.”

Gabriel Okara

Next on was another octogenarian, Gabriel Okara, whose classic
novel, ‘The Voice’ was published in 1964. Introducing him, Ofeimun said,
“Gabriel Okara wrote ‘One Night At Victoria Beach. Whoever read Literature at
school read ‘One Night At Victoria Beach.” Before reading his famous poem, ‘The
Call of the River Nun’, Okara spoke about the inspiration for the piece: “I
lived on the banks of the River Nun, swam there, fished there. I wrote this on
a hill, far from the River Nun. It was on top of the hill that this poem came
to me.” Then he read ‘You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed’ – about Europe’s
mistaken belief that Africa had no culture. The poem echoes ‘The Voice’ in its
use of the Ijaw concept of a person’s ‘inside’.

After his poem addressed to a young, innocent child, ‘Once Upon
A Time’, Okara, in an afterthought, decided to read one more poem, this time
from his most recent collection, ‘His Dream and His Vision’. The poet dedicated
the collection to all who suffered the tyranny of military rule and to MKO
Abiola, who – Okara reminded – once said at a rally, “You the people of this
country made me what I am today, and I will give you back when I am president
of this country.” But rendering ‘The Dreamer’ straight from the book (earlier
poems were read from printed A4 paper), Okara began to falter. He soldiered on
and the audience listened respectfully, but the faltering only got worse.
Eventually, he said, “I’m sorry, I have to stop,” leaving his audience wishing
he’d stopped on the third poem, on a high.

Femi Fatoba

The younger generation then got showcased, beginning with Tolu
Ogunlesi who read ‘Still’, for Haiti. Bringing the widow of Femi Fatoba onto
the stage Ofeimun said, “She is a performer in her own right” but on this day
she would be reading her late husband’s poetry. Lanre Fatoba read ‘June 12
1993′ and ‘2011′ from ‘They Said I Abused The Government’.

A third poem, ‘Aso Ija Mi Ti Ya’ was in Yoruba. She apologised
to those who did not know the language, explaining that, “I have a particular
attachment to [‘Aso Ija Mi Ti Ya’] because it was the last poem we wrote
together before [Femi Fatoba] left home and never returned alive.” Moreover,
“sometimes Yoruba is just not translatable.” She then went on to read the
piece, laden with the artful insults of a belligerent woman who hilariously
insists she does not want to fight. It left many in the audience with open
mouths. “This is to prove that poets don’t die,” said Ofeimun, after the
performance. Femi Fatoba wrote a whole collection on the city of Lagos, in
Yoruba. A translation of one piece, is the longest poem in ‘Lagos of the
Poets,’ the new anthology edited by Ofeimun.

Remi Raji et al

When it was his turn to perform, Remi Raji sang as he walked up
to the stage – to an unhurried introduction by Ofeimun – stopping to hug South
African poet Lesego Rampolokeng in the front row. Some in the audience hummed
along with Raji, who said, “So that I will not wait to hear Lesego, I will read
just one poem” from his volume ‘Gather My Blood Rivers of Song’. The poet said
it was “the most controversial collection I will ever write,” referring to his
controversial disqualification from the 2009 NLNG Prize for Literature.

Referring to glitches that bedevilled the event, Ofeimun
informed the audience that, “I skipped Amanze Akpuda because his flight has yet
to arrive. In fact, one of the [markers] of this reading is that some people
had to drive straight from the airport to Agip Hall.” Poet Emman Usman Shehu
was introduced as “the man who once sued the Zamfara State government for
introducing Sharia.” Shehu read ‘Not Asking For Much’ and ‘Next Ancestor’ from
his forthcoming collection, ‘Icarus Rising’.

After Akeem Lasisi (who read ‘Oshodi’ for the transformed Lagos
locale) and the instrumental girl-band, Topsticks – came a memorable
performance by Ghanaian Kofi Anyidoho. “African poetry is about poets like Kofi
Anyidoho,” said Ofeimun.

Lesego Rampolokeng

Then came dub poet Lesego Rampolokeng, who gave a wonderfully
hyperactive performance, hopping onto the stage and fishing his books at speed
from a bag and throwing them on the stage floor. Nigeria, he said, was the only
country so far where he’d had to bribe a customs officer to be allowed in. The
bribe was a copy of his own book. Rampolokeng talks at the same frenetic pace
as his poetry delivery. “I was walking alone. Singular. Solo,” was how he began
one anecdote. In his country, he said, “You have to be black to be a foreigner.
There are no white foreigners in South Africa.” The poet read ‘Bantu Ghost
& Lackey’ and ‘Syphilitic Theories’.

Adebayo Faleti and others

Adebayo Faleti, whose writing reputation was made in Yoruba,
delivered his performance in the language. In a dramatic and humorous turn that
transcended language, he rendered poems including ‘Onibode Lalupon’ (The Border
Guard of Lalupon), which played on the ‘speech’ of the talking drum. Of the
three elders on the day – others being Segun and Okara – Faleti was the most
triumphant, even dancing off the stage.

By now the programme was being rushed, as it had seriously
overrun. Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Funmi Aluko, Iquo Eke and Ismail Bala Garba read a
poem each. Jumoke Verissimo gave just five lines of her popular piece, ‘Ajani’.
Many did not get to read at all. One of the highlights was a flamboyant
virtuoso performance by Orlando Julius who dazzled the audience; who needs a
poem when you’ve got a saxophone?

The Crown Troupe came back for an abridged version of ‘I Love Dis Lagos I No
Go Lie’, adapted from the 80s’ original featuring Wole Soyinka and Tunji
Oyelana. Then the man himself, Oyelana, came on to wrap things up with
infectious Highlife standards. At this point, it felt like the afternoon should
never end.