The Nation Newspaper

Tag: poetry

  • CULTURAL DANCE, MUSIC, POETRY AS STELLA MARIS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

    CULTURAL DANCE, MUSIC, POETRY AS STELLA MARIS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS

    IN line with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) clamour for a rethink of local languages and culture which is gradually being eroded, foremost educational institution, Stella Maris Schools, Abuja, has shown before parents and all, its commitment to a sustainable Nigerian languages, music, dances, foods and other cultural traditions.

    In a series of displays marking the 20th anniversary celebrations of the school which began on Monday, May 23, 2016, colourful traditional attires, fashion accessories, musical instruments  added verve to the tribal performances by pupils of the Life Camp and Area 1 branches of the school in the Federal Capital Territory, spanning Tuesday and Wednesday.

    The shows which are in line with the United Nation Millennium Development Goals was a fun moment as it put the parents to a test on their ability to speak their local languages fluently.

    There were dances from Igbo, Yoruba and Gbagyi representing the three major ethnic groups while students and parents where dressed in different fabrics representing the best from Nigeria.

    The school also ensured that only traditional delicacies were served the guests as part of the cultural promotion.

    The Academic Adviser, Stella Maris Nursery and Primary school, Mr. James Arlloo who conducted the language fun test for the parents emphasised that the cultural day celebration among other lined up event was to promote indigenous culture such as food, cloths, work of arts among others.

    The Managing Director, Stella Maris Schools, Mr. Chukwuemeka Anyaene disclosed plans of the school’s management to likely establish a standard institution of higher learning.

    Anyaene said having contributed immensely over the years to the education sector, it became important to consider extending the good work to a university.

    “We have actually grown from grass to grace. It’s been 20 years of different challenges, opinions and structure but we thank God today that the school has been upgraded from the way it was when our late mother left to the way it is now.

    “So 20 years from now, the school might grow into a higher institution. We are very prudent people and we are a bit conservative. At the moment, we have five schools and one more coming up which will bring us close to about 4, 000 students.”

    He added that the school was not into any competition but ‎excellence and discipline.

    “We have won several awards as the best school in FCT, and recently third best school in FCT, we have a standing name and we also learn from our competitors. We are not there to win trophies but excellence which ought to thrive through the child’s days in life,” he stated.

    In his remark, the Principal, Stella Maris College, Mr Jacob Dawodu said the college started 24th September, 2001 with only 17 children.

    He added that the children population comprised 13 in JSS1 and four in JSS2, with about 13 teachers including him.

    However, Dawodu who is also the college academic adviser described the school’s growth as product of hardwork and commitment with about 543 students currently in the college.

  • Today is World Poetry Day

    SIR: Today Monday, March 21, the world over commemorates the 2016 World Poetry Day. The decision to proclaim March 21 as an annual World Poetry Day was adopted during the 30th session of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference held in Paris, France in 1999.

    One of the main objectives of the Day is to support linguistic diversity through poetic expressions, and to offer endangered languages the opportunity to be heard within their respective communities. In celebrating World Poetry Day, UNESCO recognizes the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the human mind.

    From the middle of twentieth (20th) century, poetry has sometimes been more generally regarded as a fundamental creative act that employs language. Because of its nature of emphasizing linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another. A possible example of this is the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary.

    Howbeit, poetry has indeed created an enormous positive impact on literature, and has contributed immensely in the promotion of languages, cultures and education in general. No doubt, poetry has succeeded in awakening man’s quest for learning or discovery as well as his interest to educate, entertain or inform his immediate society through the use of any language within his reach.

    As the global community marks the World Poetry Day, I enjoin every individual across the globe, especially Nigerians, to endeavour to promote the unique role of poetry in literature by understanding the fact that poetry reaffirms our common humanity by revealing to us that individuals, anywhere in the world, share the same questions and feelings. Thus, we ought to comprehend that poetry is the mainstay of oral tradition; and over centuries, can communicate or convey the innermost values of diverse cultures. Above all, we should always note that poetry is the only genre of literature that saves time, space as well as energy, and can be written or expressed in any language as it pleases the writer.

    I urge every concerned sector and stakeholder such as the parents, guardians, counsellors, teachers and various citadels of learning, to vigorously contribute their respective quotas towards ensuring that the unique art of poetry will no longer be considered as an outdated form of literature, but one which enables any society to regain and assert its real identity.

     

    • Comr Fred Doc Nwaozor

    Owerri, Imo State.

  • At Freedom Park, agidigbo meets poetry

    At Freedom Park, agidigbo meets poetry

    At the Freedom Park, Lagos, a new entertainment experiment has been put in place to see how traditional music of agidigbo and poetry can be fused together for weekend relaxation.  Edozie Udeze reports.

    Many keen followers of the agidigbo brand of music would think that it is dead now.  But it is not.  This brand of music which surfaced in Nigeria in the early 1970s was invented with wholly local instruments.  The music is basically folkloric in its pattern and presentation, dwelling on stories of human lives and other emotional encounters that define what man sees and does from day-to-day.

    Last weekend at the Freedom Park, Lagos, Captain Jimi Badmus, one of the few survivors of the agidigbo music performed, not only to thrill the audience, but to also bring back memories of this brand of music that hinges on true life experiences.  With him also was Akeem Lasisi, a Lagos-based journalist who has consistently turned poetry performance into an elevated platform to draw people’s attention to love, romance and social issues.  The combination of poetry and agidigbo was done purposely to introduce an entirely new and noble approach to entertainment.  It was an infusion that paid off handsomely, for it enabled most thespians and traditional Freedom parkers to feel a new lease of romantic atmosphere imbued with soothing euphoria of music and chants and theatre.

    With a six-man band, Badmus took over the stage most of the evening rendering soul-searching renditions that truly pierced the heart.  The Agidigbo drums, the maracas instruments and the continuous singing and beatings further melted the heart of many, as people sat in clusters of three and four, sipping their drinks and savouring the beauty of the evening.

    Soon it was time for Akeem Lasisi to join the band on stage.  His introduction of poetry into the arena, along with his Songbirds singers indeed added more vibes to the arrangement.

    Lasisi explained that what took place was a foundation for a regular performance that would soon take off.  It is a foundation where traditional music meets poetry in a way to marry the two for effective musical jamboree.  “Yes, it is for us to perform poetry with the traditional agidigbo music.  It is also a way to see how modern poetry can work with some traditional genres of music and other forms of entertainment,” he said.

    “Tonight was the first time I’d be performing with an agidigbo musician and the first time, I’d be playing with my new Songbirds, a team I have just constituted.  This was why I had to do just three chains of poems.  The first one was just an Ijala, a way to mount the stage and introduce myself and my group.  Ijala, as you may know, is Yoruba hunter poetry of old.  It is a part of my old collection of poetry entitled Wonderland.”

    Using the Ijala to pay homage to the people present, Lasisi and the Songbirds went on to render performances on Eleleture which means not a small word.  It is a love poem which touched on the need for people, mostly lovers and couples to give time enough to love issues in their lives.  After that, a poem dedicated to the Late Bola Ige, was rendered in a way to pay tribute to the Cicero of Esaoke.  The last one titled Udeme was really too romantic that a few lovers took to the stage to romantise the music.  “Yes, we went back to poetry here, to soften the night,” Lasisi intoned.

    And because the atmosphere was ripe to make people feel love in the air, the Udeme output was totally in tune with the mood of the people.  “We went for love poetry also to enable guests relax because this was not an academic atmosphere”

    Essentially, Lasisi has continued to work on his poetry to redefine it as a way to make it musical both in approach and presentation.  This is why he has continued to produce musical albums based on that.  As at now, he has an agreement with some marketers at Alaba International market who will be handling his works very soon “I am happy that as of now, I have up to fifteen poetry videos.  I have exposed up to 3 to the market and others will soon follow.”

    For Badmus, however, the joy of being on stage with his band emboldened him with renewed energy throughout the whole evening.  An old man of 74 years, he did not even feel fagged out as he practically took over the night, singing away and making the drums appeal to the people.

    Formed in 1979, the Salam Salam Agidigbo Natural Band led by Badmus was the trend in those days.  In an interview, Badmus shed more light on the genesis of his musical career.  “I learnt to play the guitars as a kid but I chose the agidigbo drums because of the flavour it gives to my brand of music.  When I began to sing in the 1970s, agidigbo was popular and that was why I joined in playing it,” he said.

    Although he has not waxed any record yet, he finds solace in playing at social functions.  His greatest worry now, though, is how to raise funds to put things right.  “I make small money here and there, but it is not enough to push me on.  People appreciate me and what I do, yet all I need is the necessary push to get to the top.”

    For now, Badmus and his band perform regularly at the famous High Society Club, Fola Agoro, Lagos, where the high and mighty go to watch him most weekends.  For him, agidigbo has to come back now; it is good for the soul.

  • January One

    This bait-and-switch supremo

    Brings us to a new berth

    This birth

    In which we are adults

    At its dawn, our new dawn

    But Child-like

    We initialed our first

    Tiptoes to its promise

     

    We are blind who took

    With sanguine eyes of animal zeal

    We ponder the path

    Plucking fruits

    From nodding boughs

    And stumbling

    In choreographed forays

    Falling wild

    And rising

    Waiting

    For wings to fly

    Out of the trail

    Of inexorable pangs

    And lights too dim

    Happy New Year.

     

    – Sam Omatseye

     

  • POETRY: The rhythms of love

    Can I help but kneel before you

    Help but crawl in

    Can I help returning to you

    Even as the bucket

    Repeatedly returns to the well

    Anxious yet calmly descends

    Hits its liquid assets

    Bowing bubbling is drawn down

    A rocking pleasure

    A knock out joy

    Heavy weary is hauled up

    To return repeatedly

    To the humbling hole

    Can I help but stand naked before you

    Help but crawl in

    To find faith and comfort

    In a lightless hole

     

         II 

    To fall before you

    To crawl up to you

    And to find you

    Reaching up to pull me in

    To help my fumbling hand

    Unlock the wet gates

    To help me through a panting path

    That winds up the heart’s healing home

    Isn’t that pure heaven

    By: Ebinyo Ogbowei

     

  • Olajubu, 13, wins poetry prize

    Olajubu, 13, wins poetry prize

    One of the greatest surprises of this year’s Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) was the discovery of a whiz kid named Motunrayo Olajubu. Young Olajubu who is thirteen years old won the poetry prize in literature for teenagers. It came as a surprise to everyone because poetry is not usually an area of literature where children are known to be that proficient.

    After beating other contestants, Olajubu emerged the winner to the delight of everyone. Her entry titled Hidden Truth is an excursion into the world of her grandmother. It is a collection that speaks volumes on the smooth and cordial relationship kids usually have with their grandmothers. It is a special world where those who have time for their grandmothers can key in to have fun.

    In an interview, Olajubu, a student of Attwool College, Lagos, said, “Oh, I am so excited. As you know, this is a prize for teenagers. And I started writing this collection July last year and finished it up this year. When I began writing, it was mainly about my grandmother. Gradually, I began to go beyond that. Indeed, my grandmother was like a mother to me although she is dead now”.

    Olajubu explained how she got to know about the prize. “Oh, yes, a friend told me about it. She was even the one that helped me to enter for it. I didn’t really know that I’d win the prize. When it was announced, I was very surprised. When the governor, Olusegun Mimiko came to hold me and my mum to take pictures, I was elated. I was excited too because I didn’t know the governor can be so humble and so understanding.”

    The young poet also has her eyes on the greatest things she intends to do with her talent. “Yes,” she enthused, “I hope to devote more time to writing. Since my parents, especially my mother want me to be a writer, I look forward to being one of the best in the future. My parents want me to grow into a bigger writer with time,” she said.

    The award ceremony which was given during a state banquet, saw governor Mimiko of Ondo State who hosted the writers’ convention, challenging them to do more to lift the status of the society. “it is your responsibility to address the ills of our people,” he said. To him, once a writer ceases to point the way forward, the society is in serious quagmire. “Therefore, do not relent. Do not feel the situation is too big for you to tackle. You are the ones who shape the nature of the state with your works, with the power of your pen. So keep it up,” he said.

    Other winners of the prizes were Chijioke Amu Nnadi (poetry), Chike Chukwumerije (prose) and Jude Idaga (Drama). The category in the environment was not awardedbecause no entry was able to meet the conditions.

  • Two Spaniards

    Two Spaniards have come

    Calling at our office,

    Calling twice in as many days,

    Settling in the same lowly seats

    On both visits,

    Like sediments of good cheer

    In the warm glasses

    Of our hospitality;

    One named Irama Vega Pueyo

    The other Juan Carlos Jover,

    They were a charming pair

    Like the Great Bear

    Beside a blue crescent moon.

     

    Bringers of good humour

    And better wine,

    Not theirs the frozen airs

    That stifle genuine warmth

    Among the races

    A prince of camaraderie

    Beside his equal half

    Equal in her power

    To strike with joy!

     

    Time rose lightly

    On the warm currents

    Of their presence

    And soared away

    On spread and silent wings

    Till night crept in on us unnoticed;

    And yet the room glowed

    With the presence

    Of the two Spaniards

  • THE NEW SLAVERY

    THE NEW SLAVERY

     

    When many years ago

    I was born

    On a Friday morning

    A boy, little and innocent

    I was a reminder

    Of the mustard seed tale

    A new gun was brought

    From the community foundry

    And the smith’s face beamed

    Caressed by a smile

    Or grimace, maybe

    With a forlorn fire

    In his deep-set eyes

     

    The birds scurried

    Off the treetops in fright

    Whispered gossips in their flight

    As the thunderous sounds

    Broke the morning

    Jarring the neighbourhood

    To an instant waking mood

    Piercing the virgin innocence

    Of the stirring infant day

     

    But mother earth continued

    In her merry dance

    Around her Mr. Charm, sun

     

    I grew up a man

    In and out of loin clothes

    Relevant to all calls

    War, peace, virility

    Living among megastars

    Driving the amazons

    And big-time feminists

    To their frenzied limits

    Watching years start and end

    Celebrations come and go

     

    But suddenly, wham!

    The years are gone

    The rhythm is different

    Asking for new dance steps

    How youth sneaks away

    Valour gone, virility lost

    I am no more the man

    That I used to be

    When men were men

     

    Today I woke up

    To a gray invasion of my hair

    In the head, in pubes, everywhere

    And what do I find hanging

    On my already sagging shoulders

    Mountains of debts left behind

    By fast-departing progenitors

    The grand inheritance they promised

    The new slavery

     

     

  • Standard of poetry defines Nigerian literature

    Standard of poetry defines Nigerian literature

    Dr. Andrew Aba is an associate professor of English at the Benue State University, Makurdi. He has authored so many books and was a member of the NLNG Nigeria Literature prize panel that selected the 2013 winner. He was also the director of NYSC in three states of Plateau, Benue and Rivers before he went back to the classroom. In this encounter with Edozie Udeze, he bares his mind on the state of education, why poetry has come to stay in Nigeria and the reason for ASUU strike and lots more. Excerpts.

    You served as the director of the National Youths Service Corps in three states before you withdrew your services. What was the experience like in those days?

    Well, for me, it was quite exciting. It was good and it gave me a lot of insight into how to manage young people. Inevitably that meant I had to be patient with them. I do exercises now, but then it was a must that you did it with them every day. If you did that then, it would keep you in good shape to be able to lead the young minds. We did Man-O-War, road walk; In fact I trekked long distant places with young corpers and so on.

    However, the other side of the coin was the challenging aspect of it. Running corpers meant that you represented government for them and whatever government told you, you had to get it across to the people concerned. One understood that every now and then, one had to make up stories to douse them, to appease them, even when it was not true. You did this on behalf of government. At a stage, that became painful to me; to tell stories that were not correct.

    That indeed contributed to what made me to withdraw my services when I was serving in Rivers State, which was the third state where I was a state director. Today, I have gone back to the University to teach.

    You were a member of the NLNG Literature prize panel this year. What was the experience like?

    First I must say it was a privilege to serve on the panel, among professors from other universities. I think it was good too. I am also a writer and author. I have contested in the past. Now, I have learnt from this experience how to write and how to win. That is why as a judge, NLNG says you can’t contest until two years after you’ve served on the panel. That means after two years, you may have forgotten all the tricks you learnt while serving as a member.

    It has given me the opportunity to read a lot more. For us to read 201 entries, well, it was Herculean and tough; that meant one had to read all of them. So, willy-nilly, you are reading more books than you may have read before. I am an associate professor of English. The two people I worked with are my seniors and well-respected academics. These are well known names and so working with them was a good opportunity to learn more. I saw also how academics can put heads together, which means we taught as a body. This also afforded me the opportunity to get out of the hinterland of Benue to Lagos to be with these people and work with them. It gave me a kind of breather away from a rural town.

    How is the standard of literature in Nigeria now from what you have examined?

    Well, I can talk about poetry because we’ve just done poetry. I am impressed with the volume and quality of works we had. It became more impressive after we got the shortlist. It was very difficult to discriminate between them because they were all good works. The quality was high.

    Our external consultant from Ghana, Professor Kofi Anyidoho, can confirm what I am saying. Among the three last from where we chose the winner, any of them could have won the prize. That’s just the honest truth. Very high quality works, more so that it is poetry. This is not Dugbe market area for writers.

    When you write your creative works, what informs what you write?

    Okay, number one, for me, I write from the force of conviction. I write from my Christian background. So, my fiction, if you like, call it evangelistic fiction. As soon as I write… In fact I can’t just write for sake of entertainment. You have to see a source of salvation in the story. So, as you are reading the story, you encounter how it can impact on your life. And then, I must say I am gifted in communication.

    How do you assess the level of literary awareness among the youths?

    Ah, I must say disappointing. They are not ready to read or study. Even the minimum reading books, they are not interested at all. If you are in the Humanities, for instance, you are expected to read beyond your own recommended books. Children of these days are not ready to read; they are not prepared to do that. And it shows in what they do as students. You can’t force them to love books or read. They don’t want to learn; rather they look for short cut. Some of them get friends to read and download for them.

    That’s a wrong attitude and so it is difficult to teach them. And my kind of teaching is inductive, interactive; when you try to engage a student in an argument to be able to know his/her level of literary appreciation. The thing is very strange; it is difficult to teach them like that.

    What is your stand on ASUU strike?

    Very simple. Number one, the ASUU strike is not a new strike. It is a continuation of an old strike which had been put off for several times in the past, due to pressures from Nigerians and other quarters. So, ASUU is saying now for once and for all, let us continue this matter. We do not want to accept pressures to postpone it again. No. The moral argument which is our stand is that simply an agreement was entered into. It was signed by both parties. All these talk about not this regime or so that signed it with us, is rubbish. Government is continuous. It is a shame that government is saying there’s no money and so on.

    This kind of rubbish, I am afraid, will surface in the promises government made to the staffers of PHCN. They haven’t kept their words and they want to remove them and give PHCN to private individuals. That is the kind of thing that’s not just right. Government has to do what it promised to do and should not agree to do what it cannot do. You see, in May when the strike was about to start, I told my students to get ready for a protracted ASUU strike and they did not believe me. I told them to think about what to do and they were shouting. Now, many months after, the strike is still on. I do not see the end in sight.

    Does this in anyway compound the already dwindling fortunes of education in Nigeria?

    That is a very big question. ASUU is just peripheral; there are deep profound challenges regarding the education sector in Nigeria. ASUU is just a tip of the iceberg. I don’t even want to go into it but there are deeper issues relating to the factors that militate against education in the country. But of course other issue of concern is the deplorable conditions in the whole universities across the nation. You can’t learn in such situations. The standard is now low. But government would like to focus on ASUU, the earned allowances and so on, while it does not live up to its responsibilities to the universities. The government does not protect the interest and standard of education. That is indeed the main reason for the strike.

    What is the solution?

    You see, the strike and standard of education are linked. So, I know in fairness to the government because of the magnitude of the problems, the solution can’t be found in short term. I think ASUU wants to see sincerity of purpose on the part of government. I guess that government should therefore show some seriousness, taking reliable steps towards resolving the matter. Let them begin by reworking the physical standard, that’s by putting the necessary infrastructures in place. I see a lot of wastages in the political circle. Why not use that to resolve the issue of education so that the standard will improve? When they carry money about in bags yet you say you do not have money to tackle fundamental issues that border on the state of the nation? And until that is done the state of development in Nigeria will remain as it is now.

     

  • Cave in her heart

    O! sister Monica

    You who grew by the riverside of youth

    Swimming from bank to bank

    Riding the slums day and night

    Seeking the love of all men

    Now I hear your dark whispers

    Love is fresh palm wine

    Leaping inside a calabash

    And frothing over its rim

    But your love Monica

    Is a splash in a basket

    And from a million holes it drains

    The torrents of your love

    Fall like Calabar rains in sheets

    Drenching the beauty of your cheeks

    Washing the powder away from your forehead

    Sweeping the cobwebs from your brows

    And like blinkers they shield your eyes

    O! sister Monica

    What have you seen?

    Is it the gloss of pain on your soul?

    Is it the flesh-bare fossils of passions?

    It is the emptiness of lust?

    Is it the phantom of love?

    I hear a bellow within your soul

    The banks of your heart are flooded

    Let the tide sweep your pains ashore

    I taste the salty tears on your cheeks

    But in the crevice of your hidden world

    I hear a song of penitence

    Have you seen this daughter of my Kin?

    Who sells fresh flesh?

    This daughter of my womb

    Denudes herself everywhere

    Should you dare search this maze

    Surely you’ll find her somewhere

    Stranded, frightened and angered

    Daring to fight back

    For her missiles of rocks

    Don’t give up

    In the rain of her brimstones

    Don’t give up

    When her thunder hunts you

    Wear the insulator of peace

    Please speak peace to her

    Tell her we are waiting for her

    Bring her home in peace to us

    We will wash her in our flowing streams

    Rub our oils on her ebony skin

    For the fruit of woman is beautiful

    But good deed surpass all beauty

    Good deeds are good thoughts

    We sing them in sweet melodies

    Sister Monica

    The fruit of woman is beautiful

    But good deeds surpass all beauty

    Let your good thoughts speak

    Again and again forever

    Shield yourself with cloak of wisdom

    From the carnal hounds of mankind

    Look in the cave of your heart

    Listen to the true lovesong within

    Hold well the sword of discernment

    Battle your blinkered eyes

    Sweep the cob-web away

    And guard the wisdom of love

    O! sister Monica I feel your renewal

    Let the tears of your penitence

    Like flowing rivers to delta

    Wash the pain in your soul

    Into the bountiful ocean of God

    That you restore and start anew

    And bloom into a beautiful flower

    With a heart full of joy