Category: Arts & Life

This year’s National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) opened on a brighter note with a command performance of a play entitled Osusu, as a clarion call on Nigerians to continue to work together for the unity of the nation.

The production was by the Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture on Monday night at the National Institute for Sports, National Stadium, Lagos.
The play dwells on the need for Nigerians to work as united people, could not have come at a better time than now considering the many.challenges confronting the existence of the nation.

It.calls on all to work.assidiously towards the peaceful coexistence of the different ethnics while respecting each others differences.

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The main thrust of the play Osusu, which in Yoruba language is symbolic and means bunch of brooms that is not.easy to break, is promotion of unity. And.to.further achieve.this, the production thrilled the guests to musical tunes rendered in different indigenous languages, while sensitising Nigerians to jettison greed, pride, nepotism, moral decadence and kidnapping, as well as to embrace unity and peace.Also the play which lasted about an hour focused on the importance of hardwork, honesty, sincerity and imbibing the nation’s beautiful, unique and rich culture.

As a throwback to the good old days, the troupe entertained a to musical works of the oldies by the likes of Victor Uwaifor, Fela Anikulapo Kuti when afro hair and mini skirt were in vogue. The costumes were also a reminder of the changes in fashion.D

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At the Yatch Hotel, Lagos, where the show happened, guests were amazed to see the level of excellence to which photographers have gone to depict yesteryears events. The artists are: Godstime Uche, Francisca Willy, Adegbola Adetayo and Oluwayemisi Onadipe who are all graduates of Fine Arts, but have taken to photo documentation art-form to express their art in what is termed once upon a time. They spoke to Edozie Udeze.

Photography has finally become a way of life in Nigeria and to some extent, the larger society.  Daily, more fine artists are reverting their attention to photography as a form of visual art-form to live and exhibit.  Most of these photographers are well-trained visual artists who have indeed found their artistic fulfillment and flavor in expressing their joys via the cameras.  This is what is happening in the lives of four artists at the moment.

The artists are Godstime Uche Godfrey, Francisca Willy, Adegbola Adetayo and Oluwayemisi Onadipe.  The theme of their exhibition which opened on October 29th and ended yesterday is: Once Upon A Time.  The show took place at the Yatch Hotel, Lekki Phase I, Lagos, where each artist displayed photography  works that dwelt extensively on the voyages of life.  Most of the works zeroed in on the environment, on the stages of life in certain settings.  As the photographers spoke, they displayed deep convictions about the theme – Once Upon A time.  After all, some of the photos were taken in years past, about events that cannot be replicated or replayed or repeated.  They all show some sort of documentary photos that happened as those events were in motion, in recent past.

The management of The Yatch Hotel Lekki, Lagos accepted that part of their business strategy is to use the visual to intersperse the beauty of the hotel.  The inclusion of art exhibition was to help expand the frontiers of the business of using arts to enhance the colourful ambience of the hotel.  The approach paid off handsomely well as the hotel found a good partner in Udemma Chukwuma, art promoter and enthusiast who also curated once upon a time.

Francisca Willy, a Fine Arts graduate of the University of Calabar is one of the exhibitors.  She described herself as a documentary photographer.  Yes, all her works showcase environmental issues, mostly about the Niger Delta people; how they live with air and sea pollutions and environmental degradation.  Francisca’s works are keen on how the waters have been polluted, how the people, young and old, rich and poor, have come to adapt to the ugly situations, pretending that it does not matter.

You know pictures do not lie, so also the cameras.  So Francisca brings to the fore the realisms and realities of the deplorable human existence on the waters, on the lands and so on.  All these pictures prick on human conscience, begging the government to act to save the ecosystem and the people within the system.  Francisca said: I love taking pictures of our cultural displays.  I love taking pictures to express what people go through, what they are compelled to live with.  These are pictures of our people; our environment.  The pictures show daily affairs of the people.  Yes, black and white pictures, for me, are classical ways of taking and keeping pictures that last longer”.

Some of the pictures were taken in recent years in Lagos, in Niger Delta.  Some are pictures of migration on water, showing how busy the waters can be.  For those who cannot go through intensive traffic, life on water becomes very topical, very binding to their way of existence.  This is why Francesca’s works are explicit, showing clearly that the camera is vivid, the camera truly is a pivot way to do photo documentation of human existence.  She also concentrates on rural way of life.  “People are going fishing in this picture.  This boy is only ten years.  You can now see what people go through in this environment to eke out a living.  When I need such pictures, I just sneak around them.  Most times they do not know I am there to snap.  But it is all part of it – fun, you know.  Yes, through the camera you have lots of stories to tell about the people, about the things we live with”.  Francisca who lives in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, but shuttles to Lagos often, has nine works for the show.  She is passionate about photography and therefore goes the extra mile to make it stick, making it an endearing legacy.  The joy of drag, one of her works shows it all about pollution.

Adegbola Adetayo, a Fine Arts graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ife, Osun State, does more of images and portraits.  He finds favour with portrait pictures in which he does his best to extract ordinary elements to subsume history.  He likes to preserve facial tribal marks.  An Ibadan man himself, he knows what facial beauty represents.

However, his pictures are mostly bold, large, big  and ambitious to symbolize history, history that juxtaposes once upon a time.  For him history is kind to those who preserve today’s events for tomorrow.  It is good for people to look back into time to remember what it was like in the years of yore.

Adetayo said “I am a documentary and portraiture artist.  This is piece here is about the old and the young.  The whole idea is to dwell on once upon a time.  It shows a staircase.  It shows stages of journeys connecting from one end to the next.  Life itself is a journey; a journey that comes in stages often rigmaroles like a staircase.  The picture is telling about the journey.  And you know we derived our theme from events of the past that also define today”.

He also has taboo.  Taboo is like when a woman is in her period, her mood tilts and her person becomes moody.  The red background in the picture signals those moods and the pains women go through.  The lady herself is beautiful, showing also that sometimes a woman blossoms more when she is passing through this torment.  Red shows danger.  Also red can depict beauty and hope.  And because Adetayo loves symbolic portraits, he goes for the most remarkable to be able to justify once upon a time.  In this way, you see pictures that help you look not only inward, but back into time.

So taboo symbolizes a kind of feminism movement in which the women folk gather to talk their talk, do their own thing.  In those days women could not openly discuss or tell when they were in their period.  Now, it is no longer the same.  It can be openly talked about now.  So, the theme once upon a time is well-represented in this picture.

Adetayo moves about with his camera.  Sometimes too, people come to him to have their pictures.  He finds this fascinating because in the end, it comes out in a way to justify the beauty of the piece.  He does life pictures.  There are situations where he makes up a lady and she poses for him.  This sort of life portraiture gives him an edge over other photographers.  There is total life and colour to the pieces that he produces.  For the exhibition he has some series that are too catchy to resist.

Once upon a time is a series of journeys.  And with eight works on display, Adetayo is in a world of his own.  The image of the man with tribal marks is peculiar here.  “Let me tell you how I got this picture.  The man walked into my studio and said he wanted his picture taken by me for a musical album.  It was then I convinced him to stay for a portrait.  I did it to show how I love it.  I did not initially find someone to pose for me who had tribal marks.  So, my encounter with this man was a good one for me, a blessing in disguise.  It is for me to document this because time will come when tribal marks will be a thing of the past.  As it is now lots of communities have even begun to forget it”.

As for his preferences for the complexion of women he takes their pictures, Adetayo said thus: “I actually prefer black complexioned women.  I go for real  African women.  Yes, it gives me more pleasure to take pictures of real black African ladies.  Their beauties are exceptional, black to me, is total beauty and we need to appreciate and cherish it”.  He also draws inspiration from people around him, and the environment itself.  Some of the pictures x-ray the inner mind and this helps me to bring them to the fore.  The human mind is deep and sometimes too, you can use the pictures to draw them open”.  He shows also the other side of man, the role of birds and trees and nature.  These days, in most surroundings, we do not have such pleasures.  As a photographer, who is in total love with nature, Adetayo is not happy some of these things have disappeared.  Therefore capturing them, or those he could locate, makes them part of once upon a time.

Yemisi Onadipe studied Fine Arts at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos.  But for her, photography is a way of fulfilling her artistic dreams.  Her works justify her profuse love for the camera, using same to document human activities and the role of nature in the environment.  Her greatest moment is when she fiddles with her camera shooting it to produce uncommon results.  “Yes, this work is exceptional.  It reminds me of my childhood memories, those years of innocence, peace and plenty of beautiful things surrounding me at home.  The title is a boy.  Yes, the memories of a boy, even though I am a girl.  “It is the symbolism of a boy.  And I had to tell the story.  The other picture is titled bus stop.  It is the bus stop at Ikeja, Lagos, a symbol of the beauty of the city”.  She has nine works for the show.  Another work is play time because Onadipe is in love with children.  She portrays them a lot to justify their importance.

The outing was fully infused with dances by different cultural groups. This year’s Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) convention which just ended in Abuja was aptly spiced with dance-dramas that made it more stimulating and electrifying. Apart from the usual serious literary discussions, the gathering was an admixture of cultural and literary fanfares. Edozie Udeze reports.

For four days last week, authors gathered in Abuja for the annual convention usually organized by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).  This year’s theme was: Literature and National consciousness: The story as a catalyst.  But the most interesting highlight of the confab was the induction of more new members as ANA fellows.  The programme was well-attended with only a few new members who could not be present physically.  Although the over all attendance by members was low this year, the beautiful ambiance of the hall provided guests with enough aura for relaxation and reflection.

The opening show on Thursday was peopled more by professors and academics from different departments of the Humanities who came from all over the nation.  Both the old and younger professors and academics were in good mood to deal with different literary issues that bother a nation that is almost on the precipice.  Professor Ernest Emenyonu spoke glowingly on the need for authors, story tellers generally to tell more of our stories.  He believes Nigeria is a good society where people; writers, poets, novelists, name them, can still thrive excellently.  “This edifice is good, it is an excellent place for authors to converge to discuss literature” he said, referring to the mainbowl of ANA House situated at the famous Mamman Vatsa’s Writers Village, Mpape, Abuja, venue of the confab.

“ANA must continue to embrace great minds”, Emenyonu, a member of ANA board of trustees, charged as the hall responded warmly.  “We should also accommodate authors who write in local Nigerian languages.  And beyond that, Nigerian government should entrench literature into the curriculum to make it wholesome in schools.  African literature is good for societal growth and development.  In the main, ANA has sowed a good mustard seed.  Today we are the envy of the whole world, for this headquarters stands out as one of the very best in the world.  We have to take a cue from Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka who paved the way and today we reap bountifully from it all.  In 1958, Achebe hit the literary world with Things Fall Apart imbued with our story.  In 1986, Soyinka became the first Black African man to win the Nobel prize for literature.  To the two literary giants we owe a lot”, he surmised to the delight of delegates and guests.

Earlier, Professor Olu Obafemi had talked eloquently on the sequences and importance of being an ANA fellow.  A fellow himself, he dwelt on the different categories and what qualifies one to be so honoured.  He said thus: “There are two categories of ANA fellowship.  It is mainly given to members who have worked ceaselessly to make the association great.  More so, anyone admitted into it has to work continuously to make the association enviably the best.  However, we have had to streamline our association, enhanced the entry qualification and other salient conditions to make the admission highly commendable”.  He also highlighted the role of the executives in this regard when he opined, “Even though the executives of ANA has the right to nominate those to be so admitted, the criteria are paramount.  Each nominee has to be a writer, thoroughly committed to the trade.  He must have contributed in many ways to the growth and development of writers affairs in Nigeria”.

In other words, you also have those tagged foundation fellows, overseas fellows, honorary fellows.  Nevertheless, all fellows should, in all intents and purposes, serve ANA.  They have to be duly inducted and sworn in accordingly.  In the end, all fellows have to work diligently to strengthen ANA and to allow it grow from strength to strength”.  Today it is glaring that the association is united and progressively tackling the task of writing and telling our stories via all genres of literature.

At this juncture, there was an interlude of dance, showing an interface between drama and prose and poetry.  The Benue State Cultural Troupe, a troupe that has won several cultural laurels was invited to thrill the people.  Decked in their national costumes, easily identified as Tiv and Idoma ensemble, the dancers took the stage by storm.  The drums pelted, beating slowly, powerfully, provocatively and as the tempo rose, the height of musicality took over the earth.  Moving slowly in measured snake-like form, the dancers twisted their whole dance patterns to sychronise with the heavy percussive sounds of the drums.  The flutist got unto the stage in a frenzy way to raise the rendition to a palace-like performance.  He gyrated, blew it harder, lauder as he walked gingerly and resplendently round the stage.  Suddenly, the marriage between dance and written literature blossomed.  Even professors naturally given to stoic lifestyles responded positively to the acoustic renditions that made their mood exceptionally refreshing.

The dazzling costumes were colourfully made.  The dancers equally selected special dance patterns and movements that celebrated unity in diversity.  The union of fishing and harvest dance patterns indeed set minds back to the rural areas where safety and the means to live and sleep and work have become rudderless and arduous.  Yet, the simplicity of those dance steps, the classical way they were delivered permeated souls and reignited the hall with excitement.  The dances were simply good tonics to dilute the academic nature of the gathering.  This was why some of the guests went out of their way to spray money to the dancers.

Delegates came from different states, even when some states shunned the august gathering. It was obvious no foreign artist came this year.  A lot of close observers related that to the bomb scare which trended profusely while the confab lasted.  But then those who came from Nigeria, had their ears to the ground.  People walked with controlled trepidation, minding the company they kept and being careful who they mixed with.

On behalf of the new fellows, Linsay Barret, great columnist, author and artist who responded, felt the honour was too good to be true.  Obviously elated Barret, father of A. Igoni Barret, internationally recognized author, said: “This is my first fellowship in Nigeria, in fact anywhere in the world.  In fact this is my first award.  I did not go to school, formal school, you know.  Therefore on behalf of others, I can authoritatively say that we are extremely happy.  We deserve this for we have worked the best we can for the interest of ANA.  But I still feel my colleagues deserve it more than me, even though it is obvious ANA believes in transparency”.

He went on: “I am therefore happy because all my life I have stood on the principles of what I believe to be true.  We also thank those who are here for us, who came all the way from different locations for us.  It is a mark of respect.  So, to have this award is an honour and we will work to keep it sacred,” he told the audience.  Again, it was time for the students of Theatre Arts, University of Abuja to take to the stage.  Clad in costumes made to represent different tribes and cultures in Nigeria, the students opened the stage with dance-drama anchored solely on the wings of love and togetherness.  They chanted unity; they demonstrated poise waived within different dance movements.  They had different instruments that fitted the dances they showcased.

Their giant drums represented traditions, customs that predated history.  They were evocative, booming with loud vibes piercing the hall.  Graceful, elegant dances, with songs rendered to sooth nerves, some in praise of Nigeria, equally doused the atmosphere.  “We honour and bless Nigeria”, they sang as the Ibibio and Efik cultural costumes some of them wore dominated and overshadowed the rest.  “God bless Nigeria.  God bless ANA”.  At this, the cheering by the audience became more enthralling.  Indeed, the students were beautifully outstanding, showing that dance can also be used to forge for a total cohesion.

ANA president, Camillus Ukah who handled the induction session however confessed about how he had inducted some person outside the official arena.  This confession did not go down well with some.  Yet while the session went on, he commended ANA for having worked harder to achieve lots in recent times.  “This is Africa’s largest gathering of writers” he re-echoed.  “This literary clan is the most productive and we are proud that like Achebe said, African literature is a celebration of life.  The list of fellows is not exhaustive.  As time goes on, we will add more.  These are people who have been doing their best to promote literature in our clime”.  It is for reason, he contended, that there is this season, a season when and where writing and story-telling blossom endlessly.  It is for this reason also that Nigerian writers have been winning literary awards everywhere.  Their level of resilience remains unprecedented even in the face of chaos, insecurity, poverty and uncertainty in almost all facets of human existence.

African countries are reportedly targeted destinations for counterfeit goods such as pharmaceuticals, foods, and beverages. With the mind of curbing it experts converged in Lagos to tackle the issues of counterfeiting in Nigeria.

The two-day consultative roundtable had as special guest the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo.

According to him, the fight against counterfeiting requires all hands on deck.

The hybrid event covered counterfeiting and piracy in various industries, that include the film industry, pharmaceuticals, alcohol trade, and agriculture.

Counterfeit products, experts say, can be life threatening, as a result, the Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation Project in Africa (AfrIPI) put together the Consultative Roundtable on Counterfeiting in Nigeria for stakeholders to exchange knowledge, ideas and experience on the socio-economic implications of counterfeiting and IPR infringement. Intellectual property rights (‘IPRs’ or ‘IP rights’) are legally enforceable rights over the use of inventions or other creative works.

By striking the right balance between the interests of innovators and the wider public interest, the experts say, the IP system aims to foster an environment in which creativity and innovation can flourish.’

The IPR Expert, AfrIPI, Nancy Samuriwo, said: “The consultative roundtable was used to raise awareness of the dangers of counterfeiting and piracy and increase respect for intellectual property rights; was a platform for international experts to discuss trends, challenges, and best practice in IPR enforcement to curb counterfeiting.

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“It also was also a platform for IPR enforcement stakeholders to share their experience and best practice in IPR enforcement matters. At the end, a network was established among participants to support, facilitate and coordinate IPR enforcement and strengthen their efforts and systems to detect, deter and punish the trafficking of counterfeit goods.”

Chief Stella Ezenduka (Trademarks, Patents & Designs Registry, Commercial Law Department), who represented the Minister was of the view that the roundtable is a step in the right direction, “if we must curb the menace”.

Some of the key stakeholders who were in attendance at the roundtable, included the Delegation of the European Union to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the World Intellectual Property Organization (Nigeria Office), the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, INTERPOL and Africa International Trade and Commerce Research.

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Elesin Oba, a film based on Prof Wole Soyinka’s ‘death’ and the Kings horseman, directed by Biyi Bandele and produced by Mo Abudu, is on at EbonyLife place, Lagos.

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A preview by select art journalists shows a film that surpasses films based on African cultures and customs.

The film opens in cinemas on Friday and it sure shows the richness of Yoruba heritages.