The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Queen Amina

  • Sango, Queen Amina, Shaka Zulu, others resurrect in Legends the Musical

    For three days, theatre buffs will be treated to inspiring and spectacular stage performances when LEGENDS the Musical lights up the stage at MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos, from October 19 to 21.

    The musical drama is a collaborative production of Seeing Through the Arts and Declassical Arts & Entertainment, in partnership with 22nd MUSON Festival of the Arts.

    Though, in the past few years, the genre has had rather trickling success in the country, there is a new “Sheriff in town”, who seeks to shake up the landscape and raise the bar. The LEGENDS is outstanding for its masterful concern with the deeds of a select African leaders and making their ancient, lofty achievements relevant to the 21st CenturyAfrican, in order to revive self-belief and reliance on their capabilities as a people.

    In appearance are five popular African heroes: Sango (Nigeria), Nana YaaAsantewaa(Ghana), Neferneferuaten Nefertiti (Egypt), Shaka Zulu (South Africa) and Queen Amina of Zazzau (Nigeria) drawn from different African countries, who must come together to save ‘Modaland’ from a common foe.

    Theatre veteran and artistic director, Crown Troupe of Africa, Segun Adefila, is one of the lead characters saddled with the role of Sango. In this interview with him and Segun Dada, they spoke on what the audience should anticipate at the show.  For Adefila, LEGENDS is a unique production for so many reasons.

    Considering your background, what makes the LEGENDS unique?

    “First and foremost is the approach of the producer and director. These guys are phenomenal.  I have seen a couple of their works in the past—musical and then dances. For me, though my approach to theater is different, I find their approach unique because it is a huge attempt at looking where our arts should be focusing on at the moment. The idea of telling our story in a language that can be understood by all generations.

    “When you hear the names of these legends, they wouldn’t be strange to you. And if you are young and don’t know anything about your culture or tradition, the way the idea of the musical drama has been deconstructed makes it easier for you to appreciate and understand. There is a somewhat level of blend and that is what I think our arts should be doing at the moment— repositioning all the materials we were given, recreating modern narratives from cultural or traditional narratives, and bearing in mind that, everything called traditional today was once an innovation.

    These are ancient leaders; how important are their past glories in today’s modern society?

    All the things our young people look at and tag “old school” were innovations some years ago. LEGENDS the musical is placing these under a new lens for us to reevaluate and then talk about who we are. There is the metaphor in it too, a lot of humour and spectacle. Ultimately, there are plenty things to take home from these ideas. Man is the solution to his problems. If there is any enemy to defeat, it is you, and once you can conquer self, then, you are in control of every other thing. You become deified and gain ascendancy over everything. All of these legends we are talking about had some level of control over themselves, over the things they could do.

    Popular people we venerate today such as pastors, we must go and find out some of the sacrifices they made to be who they are. They dare not do the things we as ordinary humans do and this already places them on a pedestal. It doesn’t mean they are flawless either but the ideas LEGENDS the musical tries to explore and the reasons for such endeavor are interesting to me, which is the approach to tell our own story in our own way without too much attempt at appropriating western values. We are saying to the world that our Legends are the real deal. You could bring the legend out of Sango, you could bring the different foreign legends out of ours, but we are not bringing ours from your point of view. What we probably might do with our costume for instance, is a hybrid of ideas, to say listen, Africa is not isolated but developing with the rest of the world, which is a global village. We are developing with you but with lots of our rooms.

    The idea of Sango for me is one of the most contemporaries of all ideas. Let’s take it from the dance, Bata dance is a contemporary dance till tomorrow because, people keep reinventing it and it responds and never gets stuck. Basically, it is about Staccato beat and movement.

    Sango in today’s age and time would be the minister of mines and power because of his ability to conduct electrical energy. Mark Zuckerberg in about two thousand years from now would have become a legend due to his current innovative ideas. I have not been able to place Sango or any of the legends in the past with the way the script has been   treated, I can only see them through a modern eye in the light of things that confront us.

    A rising star in the industry, Segun Dada is quite a familiar name. In his words, LEGENDS he musicalis the best thing that has happened in a while. He plays the role of the South African warrior— Shaka Zulu, and shares his thoughts and excitement in this incisive conversation.

    How has it been like in the rehearsal room bringing authenticity to your character?

    I have done some musicals in the past, which were great but the first time I read this script; the idea of bringing past legends and icons, and the concept of fusing them into the present era is fascinating. You want to know how these legends behave and of course, the story to fight one common foe is really charming. It has been good so far trying to tell the story and absorb the Zulu character.

    Have you found the unique accent and click sounds of the Zulu language difficult to learn?

    I have had to take lessons, and do researches into the character, the accent, the pronunciations, bringing all of these together into the rehearsals. Working with Gbenga and Ayo has been really good. Basically, those are the challenges; giving life to this character. I am not a South African, but I am doing my best to create believability, here are three clicking sounds in Zulu language. Fortunately, I don’t have too much of the click sounds in the character. Learning the accent has come natural to me being an African. I am really looking forward to the audience having a swell time while we do what we like doing and bringing authenticity to these characters.

     

  • ‘Queen Amina’ as gauge of today’s girl child

    IT is unfortunate that up till the 21s century, the need to free the female folk from several forms of deprivations continue to hit the front burner of campaigns by social activists, religious bodies, and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Such gender imbalance in a male-dominated world are painfully being fired by certain cultures and religions, and there is no gainsaying the fact that these values are detrimental to the breakthrough that today’s world needs in the areas of politics, business , and technology.

    I grew up hearing the cliché that when you educate the girl-child, you have educated the world… and it gets clearer to me each time, because indeed, the family unit which is largely ‘managed’ by the woman is the most viable tool of measuring the society. Therefore, it defies logic why any society which desires the best would relegate the girl child.

    At the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), in Canada, last September, I saw a documentary entitled ‘He Named Me Malala’, and was thrilled by a ‘little’ girl’s determination to change the world. And I said to myself, if the historic warrior Queen Aminatu was an old story, here is a current true life account of a girl who defied all odds, battled religious idiosyncrasies, and risked her life for the right of the girl child to education.

    ‘He Named Me Malala’ is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban, and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.

    “One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” is the statement that resonates from the campaign of this young girl who was also in Nigeria to see former President Goodluck Jonathan over the abducted Chibok girls by the dreaded Boko Haram. And it is heart-warming that not only is this campaign accepted by discerning minds around the world, the documentary, shot by Davis Guggenheim has received an Oscar nomination for 2016.

    In Nigeria, the partnership between Bank of Industry (BOI) and Nollywood, through a single-digit interest loan scheme known as BOI NollyFund, BNF is using the story of the legendary Queen Amina of Zazzau to re-enact this crusade. This is expected to be a double-dose for the Nigerian film industry, with the campaign for the rights, equality of the girl child in every sphere of the society on one hand, and the production of a film that would bring the story to filmic reality, and a product of international standard.

    History may repeat itself in this case, because the man whose project is Queen Amina is the same man who in 1992 produced the acclaimed Nollywood first film, Living in Bondage. This man, Okey Ogunjiofor, is deploying the best hands to this project, including Izu Ojukwu, a notable epic movie filmmaker to direct Queen Amina.

    As Nigerian as the origin of this story may be, it remains one of the highly recorded global stories about women who ruled their kingdoms with the strength likened to that of men, if not stronger. And Ogunjiofor, who is obviously learned in this area, having researched the Queen Amina story for 20 years, enumerated the significance of this African story to the global audience.

    “In the history of the world, there are five notable queens that have held their own, and Queen Amina of Zaria was one of them. The second is Queen Cleopatra, and Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, and then we have Queen Izenga of Namibia, and Queen of Sheba from Ethiopia, from the days of Solomon. They were all African queens and most of them have been celebrated. Queen of Sheba is still in the history books because it’s in the Bible, Nefertiti and Cleopatra are there… But today we don’t talk about our own queen Amina,” said Ogunjiofor.

    It is heart-warming to know that in today’s world where exuberance has been given as an excuse not to relinquish power to the youths, the story of Amina comes handy, telling us that not only are the young capable of taking up leadership positions, the female child, often perceived as the weaker vessel can perform wonders.

    Ogunjiofor likened this to parenting when he said, “Forget what some other people who didn’t do research are telling you. I have done research on this subject for 20 years. Barkwa Turunku did not have a male child, and although he was considering the traditions and the culture of the people which he didn’t want to subvert, yet he trained the girls to ride horses, how to wield weapons, and fight their way through. Also, he never told them one day to come and sit on the throne. When you give children the type of equipment, natural skills and training, the values will be there for all to see when they grow up. We need to train our children to say no to certain things so that when they grow old, they will say no to what they have to say no to.”

    To understand the import of this project is to see it as an African film, telling a global story through universal sounds. “There is no woman anywhere in the world that will not resonate with this story,” said Ogunjiofor, who relates the Amina experience to what is happening with the Chibok girls.

    “With the incident of the Chibok girls, this Amina movie is also another platform to present to the girl children the fact that no one is actually holding you down; cultures and traditions cannot. There has always been conspiracy against either male child or female child, but the thing is that when you are well-parented and you decide where you are going, you will always get there. So, they need to rise and begin to take their destinies in their hands because the time is now. What Amina suffered 500 years ago is what the Chibok girls just suffered and people think it’s new. But Amina broke the Jinx. And irrespective of what tradition and culture was saying, she sat on the throne. She was the world general, and she ruled 13 emirates. I don’t know how many men can do that these days.”

    Queen Amina lived in the age of man in a man’s world. In an ancient world of brutal conflicts, ferocious animal passions, suppressive timeless customs, and reckless, heroic exploits, she must have resolutely carved out a part for her life in the face of scandalized tradition and antagonistic male dominance. To grasp her destiny, she must have proved herself not just as able, but infinitely more capable than any man alive. This is also Ogunjiofor’s story for every girl child in Nigeria, and by extension, Africa, where sometimes, culture is seen as an end rather than means to an end.

  • Queen Amina of Zazzau marries theatre, Nollywood

    Queen Amina of Zazzau marries theatre, Nollywood

    The staging of Wale Ogunyemis play Queen Amina of Zazzau at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja in November is reminiscent of Hollywood stars vying to perform on Broadway in New York. Tthis

    time it will be Nollywood that will be in wedlock with the Nigerian stage. To take place in two shows in two days on Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14 at 4pm and 7pm the announcement of Jumoke Olatubosun as taking the lead role of Queen Amina in the play is already causing a buzz in Nigeria’s entertainment circles. Olatubosun, a star of the stage also has very intimidating credentials in Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry and the country’s television.

    Nominated for the United Kingdom-based ZAFAA in 2009 as the Best Upcoming Actress for her role in the Nollywood film Greatness, she has had over 30 marvelous stage performances to her credit. Among her television appearances is the soap Band of Five currently showing on ONtv. Others performances include ‘Wetin Dey’ which took television by storm and ‘Nimi’ (in Yoruba) both BBC initiatives. The other films to the credit of the Jos-based Olatubosun are: Sitanda, White Waters, Pensioners, Laviva, Five Apostles, Heart of a Father and Nadia.

    The performance is produced by the indefatigable Patrick-Jude Oteh, the artistic director of the Jos Repertory Theatre (JRT), who said tickets are already on sale and will go on at the door on the day of the performance.

    Last Monday JRT held two other plays at the Lagos Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja with Pedro Antonio De Alarcon’s ‘The Three –Cornered Hat’ as part of the Spanish Week celebration. The other play, ‘Last Stand’ by Sefi Atta, will be staged on Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5 at the French Institute, 52,

    Libreville Street, Off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja by 7pm daily. Tickets will be sold at the gate and Oteh promises that the Jos Repertory Theatre will be going the extra mile as is always the case with the group’s performances to not just enlighten and entertain but to also thrill those who find time to attend.

    Jos Repertory Theatre was founded in 1997 as a not-for-profit independent theatre organisation and started full programme implementation in 2000. JRT as the organisation is fondly called does play/poetry readings, production of scripted plays and the creation of theatre-for-development plays.

    It has done very well in the mission of utilising theatre to confront and challenge crucial issues which affect the society with the ultimate aim of educating and entertaining audiences.

    JRT organises the annual Jos Festival of Theatre which has become a nurturing ground for new playwrights, new directors as well as creating an insight into the Nigerian theatre repertory. Featuring plays from the international repertory, new plays as well as landmark Nigerian plays, the festival is currently the only existing private independent theatre festival in Nigeria.

     

  • Jos Repertory returns with Queen Amina

    The Jos Repertory Theatre is returning to Abuja with the production of Wale Ogunyemi’s Queen Amina of Zazzau, which is a story of the life and times of the legendary Queen Amina of Zazzau in what is presently known as Zaria.

    It will hold at the Merit House, Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, from November 29 till December 1.

    Queen Amina’s reign in the 16th century witnessed tremendous growth in territory, commerce and relationships with cities, which Queen Amina conquered or which she forged friendships with. Her territory extended all the way from ancient Zazzau to the Sudan with the first markings of what later became the trans-Saharan highway. She exerted tributes of kolanuts, gold and slaves from territories that she conquered and from territories that wanted friendship with Zazzau.

    Queen Amina’s reign witnessed a lot of infrastructural development and her reign pioneered the use of iron coat armour which was used by her soldiers in their military campaigns and conquests. The famous Zaria wall is attributed to her reign and ingenuity.

    She was a very remarkable leader who developed and built a court founded on justice and fairness. Her subjects also prospered during her reign and according to her – “you will prosper if you work hard as food does not grow on trees”.

    Historically, she is not known to have married though a lot of Sultans and Chiefs desired her hand in marriage. She had only one sister, Zariya from an illustrious Queen mother, Barkwa Turunku who was Queen before Amina’s reign. The fact of her being single did not go down well with her subjects some of who also desired her hand in marriage and it was a relationship with one of her subjects which led to her untimely death after reigning for thirty four years.