Showing posts with label Edition 183. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Edition 183. Show all posts
Monday, 4 May 2009
In her Sacred City...
SHE has worked at all the main cosmetics counters in Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Joined the Estee Lauder Bureau, which is the in-house team of consultants of the Lauder Group of companies. Among the members of the group are Clinique, MAC and Bobby Brown. An okay timeline for an adult, a more than impressive one for the then teenage aspiring makeup artist. By the time she was 18, she was offered the chance to launch Iman Cosmetics in the UK as one of their main makeup artists on their flagship counter. In her free time, she was working non-stop as a freelance agent on countless photoshoots, catwalk shows, music videos, beauty pageants and also did some print/editorial work. Eight years later, Sacred City was birthed — a one-stop agency for makeup artists, hairdressers, photographers and stylists. Fashionafrica.com meets its creator, LOLA MAJA, self confessed bad driver; average scrabble player; accomplished make-up artist and holistic therapist, a true African pioneer.Beginning
I owe it all to my mother. I grew up in a family full of women but I was a real tomboy. On my 13th birthday, she sat me down and told me I was now old enough to wear makeup. I’ve never looked back! I’ve always been in love with art; I studied painting, photography and digital editing. Makeup was just something that came naturally to me. I started working while I was about 15, while I was still at school and worked for beauty agencies throughout college and when I started university. I’ve taken several specialist courses but the majority of my learning has come from hands-on experience. I’ve worked with a lot of people who have spent time and money training to become professional makeup artistes, and while it is important to understand the technical side of makeup, the health and safety aspects and good practice skills, no one can teach you how to be artistic. Working in store gave me a good grounding in the industry. I was trained by several different companies constantly dealing face to face with clients, and whether they were Black, White, Oriental, Asian, male or female I learnt to perform makeup on them all. After about eight years, I decided to establish Sacred, which gave me a chance to allow new makeup artistes to get experience in the industry by training and also give them the chance to shadow me on jobs as I didn’t have these opportunities when I was starting out.
Do you ever plan on having your own make up line?
It’s become very popular for make-up artistes to have their own brand. I’ve considered this option and it’s not something that I’ll ever rule out entirely but I’ve been blessed to be sponsored and named Head Makeup Artist by a professional brand of cosmetics called Pr1mero (Pr1), which is so far only available to makeup artists. They specialise in custom blend makeup for all skin tones as well as having a full range of products, which are suitable for humid climates. They also carry a line of mineral makeup as well as fair trade natural products. I am, however, planning on having my own line under the Pr1 brand name. The range will soon be on general release to the public. So, watch this space. A lot of time and money goes into researching and producing top quality cosmetics. I would rather put my name on products, which have been made by dedicated specialists. Products which I have worked with, are tried and tested and have been put through stringent certification procedures to make sure that they are of the highest quality. I’m currently developing a range of professional makeup artist brushes and accessories. I’ve been frustrated over the years with the cost of good brushes, especially considering many of the top name brands aren’t even 100 per cent natural yet they carry a premium price tag just for the label.
What should we expect from Sacred-City in the near future?
We’re going to be traveling a lot more in the next year or so. Expanding further into the African market not just in makeup but also to promote Holistic Therapy for everyone — male, female, adults and children. We as Africans need to understand how our lifestyles and the food that we consume affect us as a whole. I’m working with a Pharmacist to develop a range of organic custom blended skin care to target specific individual’s skin conditions. The range will only be available after one to one consultations with a qualified therapist to ensure each product is truly personalised. I want to bring a fresh approach to the way we see makeup in our every day lives, for weddings and also in fashion in general. Helping to train Makeup Artists and Holistic Beauty Therapists. After all… Beauty is Sacred’
How do you see the make up industry in Africa?
Africans love makeup. Unfortunately there just simply isn’t a wide enough choice of products. In America brand name cosmetics have now realized what we’ve known for a long time, that there is big business in cosmetics for ethnic skin tones, and they are now developing colours and starting to incorporate darker shades into their lines. However this hasn’t quite crossed over the Atlantic. The problem is that there is so much variety in darker skin, it’s not as easy to develop foundations, powders or highly pigmented eye/lip shades which will stay on and compliment our skin tones. Base products either end up too red or without enough depth leaving the skin looking ashy/grey. Even in Europe you’re hard pressed to find a vast range of cosmetics for non Caucasian skins. If you need to buy a base product you’re restricted in your choice of brands, which are available on the market, but luckily for other items such as shadows, lipsticks and glosses the choices are nearly endless.
The fact that a lot of the major brands are simply not interested in expanding to Africa in general means that we simply don’t have the choice of products that we should. The African market is a totally different entity. We need cosmetics that 1) compliment us and 2) stay on in the heat. This is where the trouble lies and people end up applying too much to compensate. It’s not just makeup as such but cosmetics and skin care in general. As Africans we have to change our view of and relationship with the beauty industry. But this can only be done through education. We need more products available in stores with trained professionals, who can work with you to explore and create different looks. Makeup is not a one shade suits all type of thing. It’s very personal to each individual. You can change your whole image to suit the occasion whether it’s a corporate look, daytime casual or evening. We don’t always have to use the same colours in the same way. Experiment and have fun. After all, if it’s not working for you, you can always take it off!
There has been quite an uphill struggle to get the industry regulated and professionally recognised. In the past, working as a makeup artist in general wasn’t considered to be a real profession; thankfully times are changing with several well known artists now being highly respected. But we still have quite a way to go. Beauty and Fashion are so closely linked in the media. Africa as a whole is expanding and new magazines like Haute and cosmetics houses are being launched bringing in an influx of fresh ideas, reflecting modern women and the way we view ourselves. Photographers such as SubySinem and modeling agencies like Confidence Models are dedicated to the same principles. We have beautiful women who can compete on the international stage and designers such as Deola Sagoe and Oswald Boateng who can stand side by side with top names. We can show who we really are as Africans, sophisticated and imaginative. As we fall in love with ourselves again, the world will follow suit.
Lola is now an accredited member of the Perfume Studio — they create hand made personalised custom blended fragrances. Working with you to create a unique and individual scent which will then also be named by you. No two people will ever create the same blend.
Courtesy of fashionafrica.com
‘I’m a casual person... but give me classy cars’
HE is the president of Association of Motorist Clubs of Nigeria. Beyond that appelation, the Akwa Ibom-born Otu Ukpana, is a top model. Over the years, he has modeled for companies such as Glo, MTN, Guiness and Coca-Cola, among others. Hetells DAMILOLA ADEKOYA more about his love for cars and fashion.Definition of fashion
It’s something within. Fashion is something that tells who you are.
Style of Fashion
I’m a casual person. I love wearing jeans a lot.
Favourite piece of clothing
Body fitted tops. I love to flaunt what I have.
Most expensive item
It depends on what you define as expensive. I’m the president of the motorist club, also, I’m a collector and I have range of classy cars, which I could describe as priceless, though they may mean nothing to you. For instance, I have a 1970 Rover (2002); in the world, only 31 pieces of it were ever produced. So, it’s extremely rare, for me; it’s priceless to me, but for you, it could be a piece of junk.
Favourite designer
It’s Alvins. His designs are a bit crazy and I love them.
Favourite signature
Manny Gold.
Most cherish possession
My cars.
Turn on
Cars. I love cars; I can borrow money to get a car. I have five cars and I still want more
Turn off
Playing smart on me.
Memorable moment
It was when my twin brother was ordained a priest in Rome.
Most embarrassing moment
I can’t really think of any because I watch what I do.
Growing up
It was fun and challenging. I’m from a family of seven children, among whom is my twin brother, who is a Catholic priest, while I’m a model, but that doesn’t make me a devil.
Journey into modeling
I will be 11 years in full time modeling by August 15. I was discovered by Modela in 1998, for I never in my widest dream thought of becoming a model. I’m a seaman by profession; I finished from the Maritime Academy of Nigeria and worked in board ship for two years, but because of the nature of the job and Nigeria not having enough ships, l left for modeling. Two days after I joined modeling, I was short listed to shoot a job for Guiness, so, Guiness was my very first job and since then it’s been fine.
Inspiration
Apart from the glamour, I have a good body that can attract people. But basically, the glamour inspires me a lot.
Most paid job
I can’t really think of any, but I have done several modeling jobs. I have gone into endorsement, which ran for a period of time and I was paid some good money. But I have modeled for Glo, MTN and Coca-Cola billboards, among others. I’m also a photographer and at the same time I do voice over. So, I have been involved in the three major part of modeling.
Role models
I don’t really have anybody that I look up to, but my greatest challenge right now is to replace Tyson Beckford and I believe in getting there because there is an agency in the UK that is really interested in me.
If you are given a chance to change something in Nigeria, what would it be?
Nigeria is a big country with so many things to change. I will begin from the leadership down to other areas. However, its not a thing that can be done over night by one person.
Projection into the future
In the next five years, I want to have a family of my own and in the next 10 years, I want to bring formula one racing to Nigeria. I want to set up a race track in Nigeria and that is my dream.
Ruffles
BY NDUKA CHIOMA PAMELA
THESE days, ruffles are the hottest pick on the red carpet. With the economic recession and most fashion houses going retro, ruffles are beginning to step up economically viable option for the fashionistas.
Coming in different forms such as waterfalls, crisp, pirate, feminine, tailored, tiny, huge, around collars, down the fronts of blouses, on the edges of a sleeve, across a skirt, on coats, made from cotton, leather, among others, create cute, they are attractive and stylish.
Some fashion historians trace the emergence of ruffles to Yves Saint Laurent in 2006. But many other fashion documentarists believe they have never gone completely ‘out,’ but only became visible, recently.’
Wearing your ruffles
• Wearing a top with a ruffled neckline is the best way to get into the trend, as it always bring out the elegance in a look.
• Voluminous ruffles are great for girls with smaller chests, who want them to look a bit more ample.
• A woven top with a layer or two of large ruffles and a V-shaped neckline are best for this type of figure.
• Busty girls should opt for very small ruffles around the neckline and down the front of a knit or woven top.
• For sleeves, be careful of tops with ruffled cap. They usually stick straight out and have an effect similar to shoulder pads, which doesn’t work for everyone. They often give some girls the illusion of a smaller waist.
• One mistake to avoid is wearing all over ruffles. That is, wearing tops that are completely layered or have any kind of ruffles around the waistline. These styles will make you look bigger. It’s a great way for very thin women with boxy shapes to add to their curves, but for everyone else, it’s not very flattering. If you’re dying to try this trend wear a layered ruffled top or dress with a thick belt; this will cinch your waist and make it look smaller.
THESE days, ruffles are the hottest pick on the red carpet. With the economic recession and most fashion houses going retro, ruffles are beginning to step up economically viable option for the fashionistas.Coming in different forms such as waterfalls, crisp, pirate, feminine, tailored, tiny, huge, around collars, down the fronts of blouses, on the edges of a sleeve, across a skirt, on coats, made from cotton, leather, among others, create cute, they are attractive and stylish.
Some fashion historians trace the emergence of ruffles to Yves Saint Laurent in 2006. But many other fashion documentarists believe they have never gone completely ‘out,’ but only became visible, recently.’
Wearing your ruffles
• Wearing a top with a ruffled neckline is the best way to get into the trend, as it always bring out the elegance in a look.
• Voluminous ruffles are great for girls with smaller chests, who want them to look a bit more ample.
• A woven top with a layer or two of large ruffles and a V-shaped neckline are best for this type of figure.
• Busty girls should opt for very small ruffles around the neckline and down the front of a knit or woven top.
• For sleeves, be careful of tops with ruffled cap. They usually stick straight out and have an effect similar to shoulder pads, which doesn’t work for everyone. They often give some girls the illusion of a smaller waist.
• One mistake to avoid is wearing all over ruffles. That is, wearing tops that are completely layered or have any kind of ruffles around the waistline. These styles will make you look bigger. It’s a great way for very thin women with boxy shapes to add to their curves, but for everyone else, it’s not very flattering. If you’re dying to try this trend wear a layered ruffled top or dress with a thick belt; this will cinch your waist and make it look smaller.
Culture Club
BY WOLE OGUNTOKUN
FOR a few days now, The Whisperer has had a song playing in his head. It is that one written by Boy George, and his band, Culture Club, the massive musical entity that reigned years ago.
What to remember about the androgynous musician who dressed in that inimitable way? The lyrics of his most famous song, ‘Karma Chameleon’, “…and you used to be so sweet I heard you say; when we cling, our love is strong; when you go, you’re gone forever…”
For the past few weeks, I have wandered through some of the most famous theatre halls in the world, meeting people from different parts of the earth, listening to other people tell their own stories, in their own ways, and I have been reminded again that the world is like a large painting on canvas.
I have listened to practitioners of the art I love so much show me that the earth is full of masters of the trade and specialists in the craft.
In this field, there are many layers of paint, many shades, many hues that you might not notice if you do not look carefully or pay attention to the painter.
Time after time, I have been reminded of how similar we all are, and yet in the similarities, how very different at times.
There are things we take for granted in the little worlds we have built for ourselves, for our families, our loved ones and our friends at the points of the earth we reside in; we take for granted the responses of partners and friends who know our local ways, the reactions of those who love us and ‘understand’ our every whim and caprice...
We imagine that everyone should be able to comprehend the way we think, the reason for our silences and our actions.
Yet in the multi-national world the earth has become, we have to be careful when we meet with other cultures that we are not misjudged by our ways. Those who love us, will love us, but still we should not give them a hard job of it.
I have seen every kind of relationship and friendship in this land, relationships inconceivable just a century ago; Asians and Africans, Asians and Caucasians, Caucasians and Africans.
Do these relationships exist just because all these races live in the same country, or is it as a result of these people having learnt to be more tolerant of each other?
AS I stood in the sun completely surrounded by tourists a few days ago, waiting for a friend by one of the most famous columns in the world, I felt the eyes of three people, one male and two females, on me.
At first I thought it was because they needed someone to help them with their camera as they posed by the lions beneath Admiral Nelson’s vantage point.
I finished my conversation on the phone and turned to them with a smile, stretching my hand for their camera so as to help them take the group picture I imagined they wanted.
But the man in their midst shook his head and said no, one of the females wanted to take a picture with me and would I please give her the pleasure. The Whisperer agreed and posed with the lovely lady in question who was on holiday from the Czech Republic, and then handed over his own camera so he could have a copy for himself.
After the picture was taken, Kristina, that was her name, kept looking at the picture on her camera and smiling. I asked the fellow who was interpreting why this was so.
He said simply, “She’s very happy with the photograph”. That made me quite happy too, two strangers trying to catch the sun in one of the most popular capitals of the world and crossing cultures to hold hands.
Why did she want her picture taken with me? There were many Africans who were wandering around, purposefully and otherwise.
Was she smitten by my very good looks? Did she intuitively know she stood in the presence of a Whisperer (Even I have to smile at these thoughts)?
HOWEVER, it was, Kristina who was in London on holiday, had stretched her hand to hold mine across cultural divides and had trapped that moment in time through a photograph.
“When we cling, our love is strong”
If we stay behind cultural walls and divides, we will miss out on the grand experience called life, an experience made up of meeting others, sharing, learning and growing.
I sat in ‘The Century’, a members-only club in the heart of Soho, three days ago with friends, listening to Javier De Frutos, the member who had invited me in, reminisce about his work and the things he had done.
I smiled as he spoke, experiencing the ‘Culture Club’. He was born in Venezuela, had schooled and worked in Britain and America and had just concluded work on a play from the heart of Yoruba land. Dream-like? In some ways maybe, but a truly remarkable experience.
I have listened to other not-so-mature people tell of their biases and prejudices in respect of other nations.
The entire painting on any piece of canvass cannot be painted in one colour. There are always tones and undertones, dark colours, to make a complete picture but the bright colours are the most attractive.
Rufus Norris, the British theatre director of Death and The King’s Horseman and also one of my favourite people, put me in a taxi and took me to see “Don John” in another theatre.
It was an adaptation of the story of the irresponsible lover, “Don Juan”, the lead-role played by a gentleman from Iceland, and the cast made up of people from all over the world.
I thought to myself, “the world itself is one big Culture Club and its members-only status is for those who choose to be open to others”.
Even within borders, people of the same nation but of different cultures sometimes refuse to open themselves to the immense possibilities of being friends or partners with other tribes.
A major uplifting experience in life is to the ability to enjoy and celebrate other cultures. The world is a beautiful place if you have the right perspective and Hakuna Matata should be our problem-free philosophy.
FOR a few days now, The Whisperer has had a song playing in his head. It is that one written by Boy George, and his band, Culture Club, the massive musical entity that reigned years ago.
What to remember about the androgynous musician who dressed in that inimitable way? The lyrics of his most famous song, ‘Karma Chameleon’, “…and you used to be so sweet I heard you say; when we cling, our love is strong; when you go, you’re gone forever…”
For the past few weeks, I have wandered through some of the most famous theatre halls in the world, meeting people from different parts of the earth, listening to other people tell their own stories, in their own ways, and I have been reminded again that the world is like a large painting on canvas.
I have listened to practitioners of the art I love so much show me that the earth is full of masters of the trade and specialists in the craft.
In this field, there are many layers of paint, many shades, many hues that you might not notice if you do not look carefully or pay attention to the painter.
Time after time, I have been reminded of how similar we all are, and yet in the similarities, how very different at times.
There are things we take for granted in the little worlds we have built for ourselves, for our families, our loved ones and our friends at the points of the earth we reside in; we take for granted the responses of partners and friends who know our local ways, the reactions of those who love us and ‘understand’ our every whim and caprice...
We imagine that everyone should be able to comprehend the way we think, the reason for our silences and our actions.
Yet in the multi-national world the earth has become, we have to be careful when we meet with other cultures that we are not misjudged by our ways. Those who love us, will love us, but still we should not give them a hard job of it.
I have seen every kind of relationship and friendship in this land, relationships inconceivable just a century ago; Asians and Africans, Asians and Caucasians, Caucasians and Africans.
Do these relationships exist just because all these races live in the same country, or is it as a result of these people having learnt to be more tolerant of each other?
AS I stood in the sun completely surrounded by tourists a few days ago, waiting for a friend by one of the most famous columns in the world, I felt the eyes of three people, one male and two females, on me.
At first I thought it was because they needed someone to help them with their camera as they posed by the lions beneath Admiral Nelson’s vantage point.
I finished my conversation on the phone and turned to them with a smile, stretching my hand for their camera so as to help them take the group picture I imagined they wanted.
But the man in their midst shook his head and said no, one of the females wanted to take a picture with me and would I please give her the pleasure. The Whisperer agreed and posed with the lovely lady in question who was on holiday from the Czech Republic, and then handed over his own camera so he could have a copy for himself.
After the picture was taken, Kristina, that was her name, kept looking at the picture on her camera and smiling. I asked the fellow who was interpreting why this was so.
He said simply, “She’s very happy with the photograph”. That made me quite happy too, two strangers trying to catch the sun in one of the most popular capitals of the world and crossing cultures to hold hands.
Why did she want her picture taken with me? There were many Africans who were wandering around, purposefully and otherwise.
Was she smitten by my very good looks? Did she intuitively know she stood in the presence of a Whisperer (Even I have to smile at these thoughts)?
HOWEVER, it was, Kristina who was in London on holiday, had stretched her hand to hold mine across cultural divides and had trapped that moment in time through a photograph.
“When we cling, our love is strong”
If we stay behind cultural walls and divides, we will miss out on the grand experience called life, an experience made up of meeting others, sharing, learning and growing.
I sat in ‘The Century’, a members-only club in the heart of Soho, three days ago with friends, listening to Javier De Frutos, the member who had invited me in, reminisce about his work and the things he had done.
I smiled as he spoke, experiencing the ‘Culture Club’. He was born in Venezuela, had schooled and worked in Britain and America and had just concluded work on a play from the heart of Yoruba land. Dream-like? In some ways maybe, but a truly remarkable experience.
I have listened to other not-so-mature people tell of their biases and prejudices in respect of other nations.
The entire painting on any piece of canvass cannot be painted in one colour. There are always tones and undertones, dark colours, to make a complete picture but the bright colours are the most attractive.
Rufus Norris, the British theatre director of Death and The King’s Horseman and also one of my favourite people, put me in a taxi and took me to see “Don John” in another theatre.
It was an adaptation of the story of the irresponsible lover, “Don Juan”, the lead-role played by a gentleman from Iceland, and the cast made up of people from all over the world.
I thought to myself, “the world itself is one big Culture Club and its members-only status is for those who choose to be open to others”.
Even within borders, people of the same nation but of different cultures sometimes refuse to open themselves to the immense possibilities of being friends or partners with other tribes.
A major uplifting experience in life is to the ability to enjoy and celebrate other cultures. The world is a beautiful place if you have the right perspective and Hakuna Matata should be our problem-free philosophy.
laspapi@yahoo.com
Ehikhamenor... home with Mirror & Mirages
''As an artist, I paint from memory. Since we choose what to remember and what to forget, I use my art to define what I have not forgotten... my past and present environments have continuous influence on my works. Growing up in a natural environment and mentally colonised country, which is deep in both African religion and Christian belief, has been a big source of influence to my work...''
BY GREGORY AUSTIN NWAKUNORVERY near the Obalende bridge, some metres away from the MacGregor Canal, sits the office of Victor Ehikhamenor, but this afternoon, we meet in a ‘pleasure dome’. Not his apartment actually. He has driven up 30 minutes from his office to keep this appointment.
Seated in a vast room, which seems a reception, with sunlight streaming through the window, Victor casts a blank look at the object by the window side. His phone rings. He stands up and smiles, which comes out loosely; quite innocently. He looks through the window to see the other side of the road.
“It’s good to be home, to do what one has passion for,” he retorts. His eyes reveal an eagerness to say something. He muses, “home is sweet.”
He calls out a guy, who brings a bottle of mineral water. He sips a little and heaves ‘Home is good’… for the umpteenth time.
“You care for one?” His tone is very warm.
“I don’t mind,” I reply.
As I drink, he snaps me out of the reverie of the Island atmosphere, with the echo of Mirror and Mirages, the title of his show, which opens on May 24.
There’s an excellent atmosphere in the room and suddenly a fit of laughter fills the air.
“Ehikhamenor, is it with an R or without?” I ask.
He looks surprised, but answers, “Oh… with an R.”
THE fair complexioned artist, who is dressed in a white shirt and trouser, a colour that lends gravitas to the chiselled palette of the discussion, says, “Mirror and Mirages is about self examination. It’s about the notion of home, after 15 years. I’m back to Nigeria again and I’m trying to figure out what exactly is home and where exactly is home.”He adds, “ it is to showcase my new body of works since I returned home. Most of the works are done here in Nigeria as opposed to my previous works executed in America.”
Fate clearly has a sense of humour. And for Victor, he had a dose, when one of his paintings in Farafina’s office influenced the colour palette Mario Garcia, a renowned newspaper designer, used in designing NEXT; and also, University of Maryland, College Park, awarded him a fellowship for an MFA in 2006, before graduating, he won the prestigious Breadloaf Writer’s conference award, but he turned it down to join the NEXT newspaper team in Lagos.
“I have to make history in my own country, Breadloaf can wait: plus I know I can always win the award again.”
As one of the country’s respected contemporary artists, he has returned home to become the Creative Director of NEXT, a new newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria.
“This is great that I can come back to my homeland and to find a new means of expression, and to be part of a new newspaper. For me to take this giant step from the world of fine arts, to a totally new medium — print and web, and the business of news — is right on target as far as my professional development is concerned. I am learning much already, and the learning curve is quite high, but I am up to the challenge,” he says.
The show, Victor says is another way of expressing his company’s interest and involvement in arts. Timbuktu Media, publisher of NEXT, is sponsor of the show.
BORN in Udomi-Uwessan, Edo State, the multi-talented visual artist, photographer, poet and writer graduated from Bendel State University, Ekpoma (now Ambrose Alli University) with a BA degree in English and Literary Studies. He also holds an MS in Technology Management from University of Maryland, University College, Adelphi. In 2006, the department of English at the University of Maryland, College Park awarded him a fellowship/scholarship to pursue a Master’s of Fine Art (Creative Writing) degree.
Victor’s sojourn in visual art is ‘modern folklore’. The ambitious youngman, with avuncular charm, learnt the art of painting and drawing scapes at home. When he was much younger, he watched his mother paint her hut and compound. He also studied the beautiful paintings on shrines.
As a young boy, he was privileged to witness many festivals that were highly spiritual, which now form parts and pillars of his creativity. By the time he became old enough to go to secondary school, he told his parents he wanted where he could draw. But his parents didn’t allow him.
“My mother felt I was too young to go to boarding house and insisted I remained a Day student. And the option available didn’t offer me opportunity to draw. I was just doing it at home.”
Victor shoots an affectionate glare and winks; “my brother had an experience in boarding house that was not palatable and mother didn’t want me to face such…you know, as the last born.”
“As an artist, I paint from memory. Since we choose what to remember and what to forget, I use my art to define what I have not forgotten,” he muses.
The artist, who maintains a home in Nigeria and US, smiles, “my past and present environments have continuous influence on my works. Growing up in a natural environment and mentally colonised country, which is deep in both African religion and Christian belief, has been a big source of influence to my work.”
His works are eclectic, because, as he says, “I create artworks from everything and anything. I continuously reinvent myself, which is very evident in my new body of works that will be displayed in the show at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island.”
OVER the years, Victor has had numerous juried exhibitions, group shows and solo exhibitions, around the world. He was the first Nigerian to be shown at the Science and Industry Museum, in Chicago, Illinois in 2008 at the Black Creativity exhibition. He has participated in shows such as Invasion of Privacy, Jennings Gallery, Washington, D.C (2008), Labyrinth of Memories, Didi Museum, Lagos, Nigeria (2007), Beyond The River, Embassy Of Grenada, Washington, D.C. (2006), Divine Intervention, Howard University A J Blackburn Center Gallery, Washington, D.C. and Talking Walls, BB&T Bank, NW Washington, D.C. (2005), Discovering the gods, Monroe Gallery, Arts Club of Washington, Washington, D.C. (2001), Spirits In Dialogue, The Brazilian-American Cultural Institute Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2000), among others.Among his group shows are Black Creativity, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL (2008), Rhythms & Blues, Sarah Silberman Gallery, Montgomery College, MD (2007), Memories: 2Griot, JoySmith Gallery, Memphis, TN (2004), Symbols and Metaphors, Underwood Studio, Chevy Chase, MD (2003), Home of African Concepts Gallery, Kent, WA (2002), Patuxent Art League Members Juried Show, Laurel, MD (2001), Same Tree, Different Roots, Howard University AJ Blackburn Center Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2001) and National Geographic Society Staff Show, Washington D.C. (1999).
He has also received several awards and honours such as the Leon Forest Scholar Award for fiction, New York (2008), Breadloaf Writer’s Conference Scholarship award for Non-Fiction, US, Familiar Streets Writing Contest award for A Beautiful Freedom by Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival, Washington, D.C. (2006), Short Story Award for The Supreme Command by Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, London, UK (2003) and First Place, Arts Club of Washington Juried Exhibition. Juror, Dr. Kimberly A. Jones, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (2000).
SOME of Ehikhamenor’s selected publications include The General’s Bulldozers, (short story) The Literary Review, USA, Money, Friends and Greed, (anthology and book illustration) Hodders Publishers, UK, Who Will Bury The Dead (short story) Wasafiri, London, Passport To Heaven (short story) Ecletica Magazine, USA, Echoes From The Valley, NTA Documentary, Nigeria, The Supreme Command (short story) CBA London, UK, Life is Short and The Washington Post, USA.
Book covers that he has illustrated include Songs of Absence and Despair by Toni Kan; Salute without Gun by Ikeogu Oke; Money, Friends and Greed; Anthology published by Hodders Publishers, UK, Measuring Time by Helon Habila, Dreams, Miracle & Jazz: New Adventure In Africa Writing. Ed. Helon Habila & Kadija Sesay. Picador, South Africa, Sky High Flame by Unoma Azuah, English In Africa Journal of the English Dept. of Rhodes University, South Africa, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie and Feeding Frenzy by Jonathan Luckett.
The Pianistic Andrew Hill
BY BENSON IDONIJE
CALL him the piano master, piano virtuoso, pianissimo, pianistic Andrew Hill. The man deserves all the accolades you can heap on him.
Listening to his music, it is natural yet advanced; visionary yet approachable; beautiful and free. Since Andrew Hill came back to Blue Note records in 2006 with the release of Time Lines standing at the number two slot of that year’s Top 50 jazz songs, his profile has advanced remarkably. Evidenced by the list, 2006 was the year of the jazz elder statesmen, such as Ornette Coleman, who topped the list with Sound Grammar, Sonny Rollins at the third place with Sonny please and even the Art Ensemble of Chicago with Non cognitive aspects of the city long after the exit of its leader, Lester Bowie. This phenomenon proved convincingly that musical virility does not necessarily equate to youth.
As a pianist, Hill’s note choices remain cryptic, his phrase shapes angular and his movements scurry. As a composer-band leader, he created exotic, darkly luminous aural landscapes that inspired soloists- qualities you can find in his recorded works.
Andrew Hill created some of the very finest jazz albums of the 1960s. Quantifiably, perhaps the only difference between him, and for instance, Miles Davis is that Hill’s albums sold in relatively modest numbers; musicians like Miles became a public face of jazz, while Hill was one of those rare figures who sustained a probing internal dialogue with the music, pensively gazing in from the sidelines and imperfectibly nudging it in whatever way he saw fit.
Hill’s name of course remains inseparable from the outstanding series of recordings he made for Blue Note, beginning with Black Fair in 1963. At the core of these albums stood Hill’s own radical overhaul of the piano, a language cunningly positioned in a hinterland between Thelonius Monk’s surreal harmonic meltdown and Cecil Taylor’s absolute ‘outness’, a point of departure that allowed him to look both ways at once.
Not that anyone could mistake Hill. His touch was as brittle as a twig and as malleable as putty, as though preparing a white canvas for future development. The most immediately striking aspect of his style was a liberated ebbing and flowing robato that used the rhythm section not to plot out fundamentals, but as energy to ricochet against. Hill built sonic sounds that were filled with inquisitive asides and pregnant silences, each solo imbued with a sense of transforming the material at the same time as discovering what that material might be.
Hill has recorded quite some ground-breaking jazz. When his So in love was reissued in 2001, those eager for a fully formed vision of their hero were disappointed, but So in love remains a pathologically surprising record. Hill, bassist Malachi Favours and drummer James Slaughter were all high school friends and So in love was born of their discursive chewing-of-the- cord about music.
The prevailing influence on Hill is clearly Bud Powell; his Penthouse Party is a re-write of Powell’s Un Polo Loco, but his ability to distil multifarious inspiration is already emerging. A joyous Old Devil Moon is draped in a manically funky guise that audibly radicalises the Powell influence.
Another Hill original, Chiconga, juxtaposes a complex overlay of Latin rhythms with vocal intoning to produce a steely, blues – driven lament. But most revealing of the future is the title track. Hill opens with percusive gestures that sound like a xylophone compared to the graceful chordal sweeps that were supposed to introduce ballads. He also plays merry with the tune’s structure by abruptly accenting passing harmonic landmarks in the first chorus and, during his solo, crossing the plod of the rhythm section with implications of satellite tempos and alien meters. Here’s a pianist quite obviously far ahead of the game.
Seven years later, now in New York, and the true beginning of Hill’s career, he recorded Black Fire for Blue Note. Although he added ominous undertones to Joe Hendenson’s ‘Our thing a few months earlier as a sideman, the intriguing thing about Black Fire is that it defines itself as much by what it isn’t as what it is.
Although the opening track, Pumpkin, has something of the strident attitude of hard bop, Hill’s tricky identity which he then forensically deconstructs is evident. The title track is another example of Hill’s tightrope counterpoint between clarity and complexity.
At its core, his composition is a simple melody that odd digressions have turned into a stunner. Listen to Hill’s backing as Joe Henderson bravely orientates himself through the theme. He floats freely between dense scales and clusters, harmonic sequence pushes- to a more conceptual place; and his solo inhabits a different orbit. There is a profound unity of purpose between Hill’s oblique harmonies and his obliging of the instrument to reveal fresh timbral potential. If Monk achieved a similar feat in a brusque and succinct fashion, Hill deals in more light-footed, swift passages of sound that help to establish the groove in the process of providing a running commentary. Hill’s life-long custom of coolly viewing matters from the distance is operational.
HOWEVER, Smoke stack is perhaps his first genuine masterwork. The most immediately striking thing about it is, of course, the two bass line up, although Hill makes no bones about the fact that Richard Davis is his frontline partner and Khan is the bass player.
The title track opens with a marvellous Hill solo that has barrelhouse energy, even if the style itself has been jettisoned. The solo has a joyous lilt that contradicts the brooding archetype Hill likes to portray. A sonorously ‘open’ melodic interval rolls in to curt dissonant reprimands and it sounds like Hill is having fun. Davis and Khan create busy ambiguities nowhere more so than on the slippery modality of wailing wall, which builds a structural argument by jumping between ‘arco’ and ‘pizz’ bass, and having a different harmonic pattern to accompany each. The final piece, 30 pier Avenue finds Hill unveiling the full range of his gestures and what a surreal combination they make: single notes are tested against stacked dissonances as long jumping lines mediate.
Judgement was cut a month later and is worthy rather than stunning. Vibes player, Bobby Hutcherson sounds reluctant to match the provocations of Hill’s piano style and jams himself into an ambient middle ground. Most intriguing development of Hill’s piano style is Flea Flop in which rhythmic independence between right and left hands is pursued to the point of being cryptic.
Other sessions worth listening to are Points of departure, Compulsion, Change, Grassroots, and Dance with death among others. And in all these recordings, Hill demonstrates not only the ability to hold a combo together with the cohesiveness of a tight rhythm section unit, he is also able to create a unique sound that makes the trio setting of piano-bass-drums less boring to the jazz listener.
Born in Chicago in 1937, Hill had already acquired a comprehensive musical training by the time he relocated to New York City in 1961. He got encouragement from no less a figure than Earl Hines and a chance encounter with Paul Hindemith, a Chicago resident at the time, led to informal lessons with the great German composer. Hill then took a pattern followed by many emerging jazz musicians of the era. Playing in Rhythm and Blues bands was a right of passage, but more significant was his experience backing musicians travelling through the city like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.
Andrew Hill was highly addicted to cigarette-smoking. When his wife who was his supporter and soul mate died, it became obvious that he himself was living on borrowed time. That he shouldered on until lung cancer claimed him in April 2007 says much about the magical elixir of his music. With a poignant sense of closure, Hill was re-signed to Blue note in 2005 and delivered them Time lines, a masterly valedictory statement.
When the obituaries were written, he was properly mourned as a jazz great, even if the sorrow was tinged with certain collective culpability – why was such a potent figure in our music allowed to drift away, and for so long?
From newsroom to pushing the rhythm
My encounter with Anenih, Osumbor the armed robbers...
BY CHUKS NWANNE
He had come around to see a friend, but he was soon trapped into a chat. I mean this is the well notable Abdul Okwechime, a journalist, who has seen many ‘battles’ and earned a place among the rare breed of reporters of the eighties through early nineties fondly called the golden boys of the press.
He had little time to spend but I ended up tricking him to hitch a ride to his next destination, his office at the the Murtala Mohammed Airport; while we chatted.
“I was a journalist; I’ve been everywhere. I worked with Sunday Times while I was in the university,” Abdul retorted as we drove to his office.
Were you combining the job with academics?
“Yes, they gave me the job; I didn’t apply for it.”
How?
“In those days, I used to do some freelance job with Ophelia Magazine when I was in the University of Lagos. At some point, I interviewed Peter Tosh, when he came to Nigeria; but the story was not published because Ophelia folded up.”
Determined to let the story see the light of the day, Abdul headed for the Daily Times newspapers, where he met the late Andy Akporugo, then editor of Sunday Times.
“I gave him the story and he asked if I had a picture for it, I said, no. He asked me not to worry that they would source for the picture in their library. The following Sunday, I saw the promo in the front page of Sunday Times saying, ‘watch out next week, Peter Tosh speaks to Sunday Times.’
“I knew I had won; I wasn’t a staff, just a student in UNILAG. They ran the story in parts — part one and part two. I was satisfied; my lecturers saw it too, and that was for me the icing,” he beamed with smiles.
You were paid for the story?
“I wasn’t thinking of money then or even thinking of working as a full time journalist. I was just freelancing and enjoying myself.”
Akporugo was so impressed with Abdul’s copy to the extent that he personally traced him to UNILAG.
“I was in the class when Apkorugo came for me. He said, ‘my friend, you write very well, come and work with us; that’s how I got the job. I worked with them as a student, and also did my youth service there.”
AFTER a stint at The Guardian, Abdul got a PR job with Leventis Group together with Victor Oladokun, the popular presenter of Turning Point.
“He was the PR manager, and I was offered PR manager (Media). As I was going to take the job, I met Nduka Obaigbena of Thisday (then This Week). He showed me a copy of what he was planning to do and I joined them. I left the paper as an assistant editor, before I completely left journalism.”
Meanwhile, right from his school days, Abdul had always shown interest in music, which actually spurred him to conduct an interview with Peter Tosh.
“I love writing music. In King’s College, we were paid to learn music. So, you can listen to music and tell if it’s good or nonsense; music is something I do without stressing myself. I take up my pen and talk music; I didn’t talk about their person, but their music.”
But it’s not easy telling artistes the truth
“Yes, but at some point, some of them realised I was telling them the truth. I told them what they were doing right and where they were going wrong.”
ANOTHER area Abdul excelled in journalism was crime reporting, where he won various awards.
“I reported crime not police, I opened up places. Like when they were going for anti-robbery raid, I rode with them in their van to report the story. Sometimes, I followed them when they went to attack armed robbers; it was very risky.”
Have you ever experienced shootouts between the police and robbers?
“Ah, I’ve had many,” he retorted. “But that wasn’t what I will consider it a risk because, anytime I went with them, they always ensured that I was safe. They were always conscious that I was with them and would protect me.”
For Abdul, his most risky assignment on the beat was trailing the notorious armed group led by Anenih, who was rampaging the whole of then Bendel State.
“One day, my editor said, ‘look, this Anenih case, we have to break into it’; and I said, ‘why not?’ Then, there was curfew in the whole of Bendel as it was called then.”
Notwithstanding, Abdul took off from Lagos at about 8 pm and entered Benin in darkness, in search of Anenih for an interview.
“I stayed in Iyaro, then to Ekpoba slope, just to feel the city; I was almost like This Week Bendel correspondent. I was there until I got a link to Anenih; I had an interview with him before he was caught. The police were surprised when they saw the interview and asked me how I managed to get him. I told them I was not a police informant and just described the place for them.”
But you didn’t disclose the exact place?
“Of course, they went there, but did not find him; he wasn’t that stupid to stay in one place; that’s why they couldn’t catch him.”
Did he know you were recording the conversation?
“No, when we got there, everybody was smoking…you have to do the things they were doing just to get information. You talk as if you were interested in what they were doing because those guys were very smart. I even had to go and interview Anenih’s mother when the police were torturing her, piercing her body with broken bottle just to make her disclose her son’s whereabouts; the story was not published.”
WHAT kind of man was Anenih?
“ He was the product of that society. In Benin at that time, you could see anger on the faces of all the youths; what angered them, I didn’t know, but you could feel it. So, Anenih was just a manifestation of the Benin kid. As he said to me then, ‘I dey work for police; if I thief 10 naira and I give police eight naira, no be police I dey work for? So, you see he knew what he was doing.”
For Abdul, Anenih was more compassionate than Monday Osunbor, his second in command.
“He was very ruthless. There was this story they told me about their doctor. The doctor all of sudden, said he wasn’t going to treat them again. Monday said to Anenih, ‘dis man don see we face oh! If he no wan work with us, we go kill am.’ But Anenih said, ‘no, this guy has been very good to us, treating all our wounds… he had been very nice.’ So, he said, ‘we should go to his house if he saw us in his compound, that will send fear of the lord into him; even if he had the intention of betraying us, he would swallow that.” That was Anenih’s plan.
“They first snatched a man’s Santana car and Monday wanted to kill the man and Anenih objected to it.’ So, they took everything from him, leaving him with just his pants.”
He continued: “They drove the car into the doctor’s apartment in GRA, Benin. As soon as he saw them, he escaped through the window. Acting on impulse, Monday ran after him and shot him dead, that wasn’t their original plan. So, you could see the difference between these two men; Anenih was more passionate.”
...My Person-to-Person affair with Femi Kuti
Abdul’s relationship with the Anikulapo Kutis dates back to his university days, when he lived in Fela’s Kalakuta Republic in Ikeja.
“I was in my first year then and I was going to the campus from there; music got into me then.”
However, in between his reporting career, Abdul was into music promotion, though not everyone knew about that.
“I was doing it, but the only thing I wasn’t doing was making money out of it. I worked for a group called Harmatan Records as an operations director for free. Harmatan Records then was Sunny Ade’s international managers; they were part of the team that took Ade to Island Records.”
Abdul was instrumental to the formation of Femi Kuti’s band, the Positive Force, when Fela was still in prison.
“We took boys from his father’s band, because they were the only ones strong enough to play Afrobeat the way we wanted it and the way Femi wants it. They rehearsed and we paid them with Femi leading the band.”
The arrangement did not go down well with some of Fela’s men, who went to Maiduguri to tell Fela that Abdul had scattered his band.
“Even when I went there to see Fela, his countenance changed, but I wasn’t bothered because I was convinced, I was doing the right thing. So, I just let him be. When he came out of jail, we had lined up shows for Femi; one of them was in Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, where he was invited as the special guest.”
TODAY, Abdul has resolved to do fulltime music promotion with his outfit, Person to Person Ltd. He recently entered into an agreement with Femi to promote his music within and outside the country.
“If you look around the world, you will see that people are scratching every corner to re-create Fela’s Afrobeat; it’s a shame that it was when he died that they started taking him seriously. Jay Z has done a remix of Water No Get Enemy; I heard Alicia Keys and co are working on their own remix.
“When Fela was alive, I complained to him that his songs were getting too long. He replied that, he was playing what he felt and that the next generation of Afrobeat musicians could cut it into dance hall the way they feel, which is what Femi is doing.”
Meanwhile, Femi is at the verge of releasing his latest work, which Abdul described as ‘awesome.’ “You need to listen to the songs. Everything that Fela never did in his music career, Femi has done them in the new work. I won’t tell you much about it now, but soon, you will hear from us. I’ve watched him play in Monaco, France, during the World Music Day. After his performance, Carlos Santana said to him, ‘some people have it, some don’t. You, you have it.”
Continued Abdul: “We intend to do a lot of things for Femi. We are going to put him where he rightly belongs; we are not going to compromise our own stars for any other. People pay foreign artistes millions of dollars to perform here and then look at Nigerian stars and say, ‘take 5000 or so.’ All the big artistes, who had played in Nigeria, always ask of Femi.
FOR Abdul, it’s high time Nigerian artistes started making their own rhythm.
“People say that if you go to parties today, what you hear is Nigerian music. But if you look at it deeply, they are just sinking; if you remove the songs, they all sound alike. It is the song of one person that differentiates him from another musician. Here it will sell, but you can’t take it out; can you take those songs to America where they have good singers? We need to build our own rhythm; rhythm is plenty here and we can feel it.”
By Abdul’s judgement, “Femi is an artiste we think is doing what musicians should do. If eventually things go as planned, we have a studio, you come with money you will be recorded. But if we have to record you and promote you, then you have to play the kind of music that we want.”
BY CHUKS NWANNEHe had come around to see a friend, but he was soon trapped into a chat. I mean this is the well notable Abdul Okwechime, a journalist, who has seen many ‘battles’ and earned a place among the rare breed of reporters of the eighties through early nineties fondly called the golden boys of the press.
He had little time to spend but I ended up tricking him to hitch a ride to his next destination, his office at the the Murtala Mohammed Airport; while we chatted.
“I was a journalist; I’ve been everywhere. I worked with Sunday Times while I was in the university,” Abdul retorted as we drove to his office.
Were you combining the job with academics?
“Yes, they gave me the job; I didn’t apply for it.”
How?
“In those days, I used to do some freelance job with Ophelia Magazine when I was in the University of Lagos. At some point, I interviewed Peter Tosh, when he came to Nigeria; but the story was not published because Ophelia folded up.”
Determined to let the story see the light of the day, Abdul headed for the Daily Times newspapers, where he met the late Andy Akporugo, then editor of Sunday Times.
“I gave him the story and he asked if I had a picture for it, I said, no. He asked me not to worry that they would source for the picture in their library. The following Sunday, I saw the promo in the front page of Sunday Times saying, ‘watch out next week, Peter Tosh speaks to Sunday Times.’
“I knew I had won; I wasn’t a staff, just a student in UNILAG. They ran the story in parts — part one and part two. I was satisfied; my lecturers saw it too, and that was for me the icing,” he beamed with smiles.
You were paid for the story?
“I wasn’t thinking of money then or even thinking of working as a full time journalist. I was just freelancing and enjoying myself.”
Akporugo was so impressed with Abdul’s copy to the extent that he personally traced him to UNILAG.
“I was in the class when Apkorugo came for me. He said, ‘my friend, you write very well, come and work with us; that’s how I got the job. I worked with them as a student, and also did my youth service there.”
AFTER a stint at The Guardian, Abdul got a PR job with Leventis Group together with Victor Oladokun, the popular presenter of Turning Point.
“He was the PR manager, and I was offered PR manager (Media). As I was going to take the job, I met Nduka Obaigbena of Thisday (then This Week). He showed me a copy of what he was planning to do and I joined them. I left the paper as an assistant editor, before I completely left journalism.”
Meanwhile, right from his school days, Abdul had always shown interest in music, which actually spurred him to conduct an interview with Peter Tosh.
“I love writing music. In King’s College, we were paid to learn music. So, you can listen to music and tell if it’s good or nonsense; music is something I do without stressing myself. I take up my pen and talk music; I didn’t talk about their person, but their music.”
But it’s not easy telling artistes the truth
“Yes, but at some point, some of them realised I was telling them the truth. I told them what they were doing right and where they were going wrong.”
ANOTHER area Abdul excelled in journalism was crime reporting, where he won various awards.
“I reported crime not police, I opened up places. Like when they were going for anti-robbery raid, I rode with them in their van to report the story. Sometimes, I followed them when they went to attack armed robbers; it was very risky.”
Have you ever experienced shootouts between the police and robbers?
“Ah, I’ve had many,” he retorted. “But that wasn’t what I will consider it a risk because, anytime I went with them, they always ensured that I was safe. They were always conscious that I was with them and would protect me.”
For Abdul, his most risky assignment on the beat was trailing the notorious armed group led by Anenih, who was rampaging the whole of then Bendel State.
“One day, my editor said, ‘look, this Anenih case, we have to break into it’; and I said, ‘why not?’ Then, there was curfew in the whole of Bendel as it was called then.”
Notwithstanding, Abdul took off from Lagos at about 8 pm and entered Benin in darkness, in search of Anenih for an interview.
“I stayed in Iyaro, then to Ekpoba slope, just to feel the city; I was almost like This Week Bendel correspondent. I was there until I got a link to Anenih; I had an interview with him before he was caught. The police were surprised when they saw the interview and asked me how I managed to get him. I told them I was not a police informant and just described the place for them.”
But you didn’t disclose the exact place?
“Of course, they went there, but did not find him; he wasn’t that stupid to stay in one place; that’s why they couldn’t catch him.”
Did he know you were recording the conversation?
“No, when we got there, everybody was smoking…you have to do the things they were doing just to get information. You talk as if you were interested in what they were doing because those guys were very smart. I even had to go and interview Anenih’s mother when the police were torturing her, piercing her body with broken bottle just to make her disclose her son’s whereabouts; the story was not published.”
WHAT kind of man was Anenih?
“ He was the product of that society. In Benin at that time, you could see anger on the faces of all the youths; what angered them, I didn’t know, but you could feel it. So, Anenih was just a manifestation of the Benin kid. As he said to me then, ‘I dey work for police; if I thief 10 naira and I give police eight naira, no be police I dey work for? So, you see he knew what he was doing.”
For Abdul, Anenih was more compassionate than Monday Osunbor, his second in command.
“He was very ruthless. There was this story they told me about their doctor. The doctor all of sudden, said he wasn’t going to treat them again. Monday said to Anenih, ‘dis man don see we face oh! If he no wan work with us, we go kill am.’ But Anenih said, ‘no, this guy has been very good to us, treating all our wounds… he had been very nice.’ So, he said, ‘we should go to his house if he saw us in his compound, that will send fear of the lord into him; even if he had the intention of betraying us, he would swallow that.” That was Anenih’s plan.
“They first snatched a man’s Santana car and Monday wanted to kill the man and Anenih objected to it.’ So, they took everything from him, leaving him with just his pants.”
He continued: “They drove the car into the doctor’s apartment in GRA, Benin. As soon as he saw them, he escaped through the window. Acting on impulse, Monday ran after him and shot him dead, that wasn’t their original plan. So, you could see the difference between these two men; Anenih was more passionate.”
...My Person-to-Person affair with Femi Kuti
Abdul’s relationship with the Anikulapo Kutis dates back to his university days, when he lived in Fela’s Kalakuta Republic in Ikeja.“I was in my first year then and I was going to the campus from there; music got into me then.”
However, in between his reporting career, Abdul was into music promotion, though not everyone knew about that.
“I was doing it, but the only thing I wasn’t doing was making money out of it. I worked for a group called Harmatan Records as an operations director for free. Harmatan Records then was Sunny Ade’s international managers; they were part of the team that took Ade to Island Records.”
Abdul was instrumental to the formation of Femi Kuti’s band, the Positive Force, when Fela was still in prison.
“We took boys from his father’s band, because they were the only ones strong enough to play Afrobeat the way we wanted it and the way Femi wants it. They rehearsed and we paid them with Femi leading the band.”
The arrangement did not go down well with some of Fela’s men, who went to Maiduguri to tell Fela that Abdul had scattered his band.
“Even when I went there to see Fela, his countenance changed, but I wasn’t bothered because I was convinced, I was doing the right thing. So, I just let him be. When he came out of jail, we had lined up shows for Femi; one of them was in Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, where he was invited as the special guest.”
TODAY, Abdul has resolved to do fulltime music promotion with his outfit, Person to Person Ltd. He recently entered into an agreement with Femi to promote his music within and outside the country.
“If you look around the world, you will see that people are scratching every corner to re-create Fela’s Afrobeat; it’s a shame that it was when he died that they started taking him seriously. Jay Z has done a remix of Water No Get Enemy; I heard Alicia Keys and co are working on their own remix.
“When Fela was alive, I complained to him that his songs were getting too long. He replied that, he was playing what he felt and that the next generation of Afrobeat musicians could cut it into dance hall the way they feel, which is what Femi is doing.”
Meanwhile, Femi is at the verge of releasing his latest work, which Abdul described as ‘awesome.’ “You need to listen to the songs. Everything that Fela never did in his music career, Femi has done them in the new work. I won’t tell you much about it now, but soon, you will hear from us. I’ve watched him play in Monaco, France, during the World Music Day. After his performance, Carlos Santana said to him, ‘some people have it, some don’t. You, you have it.”
Continued Abdul: “We intend to do a lot of things for Femi. We are going to put him where he rightly belongs; we are not going to compromise our own stars for any other. People pay foreign artistes millions of dollars to perform here and then look at Nigerian stars and say, ‘take 5000 or so.’ All the big artistes, who had played in Nigeria, always ask of Femi.
FOR Abdul, it’s high time Nigerian artistes started making their own rhythm.
“People say that if you go to parties today, what you hear is Nigerian music. But if you look at it deeply, they are just sinking; if you remove the songs, they all sound alike. It is the song of one person that differentiates him from another musician. Here it will sell, but you can’t take it out; can you take those songs to America where they have good singers? We need to build our own rhythm; rhythm is plenty here and we can feel it.”
By Abdul’s judgement, “Femi is an artiste we think is doing what musicians should do. If eventually things go as planned, we have a studio, you come with money you will be recorded. But if we have to record you and promote you, then you have to play the kind of music that we want.”
TEETH 4 TEETH
BY JUSTIN AKPOVI-ESADE
Zach Orji’s A Faithful Husband
THERE is one distinctive thing about Nollywood star, Zach Orji; whereever you saw Uncle Zach, just look closely, there is aunty Ngozi, his wife. Hardly will you see the actor without the wife. In fact, when most Nollywood stars will decide to take ‘handbags’ along to many occasions, Zach flaunts his wife. However, some of his colleagues are no longer comfortable with Zach’s ‘behaviour’, they feel the actor’s wife is beginning to know too much about their escapades (truth is, most of them change ‘handbags’ like freebies) and this group of disgruntled Zach’s friends (I no call names o o o) were deep in a meeting at O’jez last week. Just as they arrived at a conclusion to confront him, in walked Zach and Ngozi, smiling and waving at everybody. In fact, you needed to see the face of the ‘conspirators’. Anyway, shame for bad people, whoever wan put asunda wetin God don join, Holy Ghost o o...
Yemi Sax’s ‘Identity Card’
THE saxophonist Yemi Sax, does not need to introduce himself anytime he walks into a crowded place. Aside from his trade mark dreadlocks, he now has another form of personal identification. In case somebody is about to take you in that he is Yemi Sax, just ask him to show you his left hand bicep, you will then be convinced he is either an impostor or the real saxophonist. But to help you in your task, this is a tip: what you will find on Yemi Sax’s left hand bicep? A bold tattoo with the wordings Yemi Sax inscribed in the middle of something (not sure what the tattoo actually looked like). See, the guy does not need a national ID card again, public note.
Daddy Monso... Lost But Found
NOLLYWOOD star, Daddy Monso, is missing in action. He just vanished from the entertainment horizon and all efforts aimed at finding out what caused the ‘sudden’ disappearance of the Ejike Asiegbu sideman, had until last week Wednesday, proved abortive. I was shocked to run into Monso at O’jez, sweating even with all the powerful air-conditioners turned on at high frequency. An investigation revealed why the actor was sweating like no man’s business. A bottle of a popular beer was sitting pretty in front of Monso, who was watching over a plate of the club’s ‘notorious’ peppered meat. Why im no go sweat for head like who dey kill meat dey sell for Mushin market? Since the actor declined comment on his whereabouts for close to a month, a detractor claimed Monso was so broke, he resorted to going to Winnis, where his brand of beer is sold for less the price at O’jez. “His economy has improved that is why he is here now. This stardom, you know it is a burden...” the detractor went on and on. Trust T4T, he confronted Daddy Monso with the ‘allegation’. In his reaction, he described the detractor as someone jealous of his ‘fortune’. Nice reaction. Anyway, if Monso disappears again, we now know why.
... And Diggity Dunhill Too
IT seems Nollywood fringe actor Digitty Dunhill has perfected Daddy Monso’s disappearing act. He has simply vanished. Oh, you don’t know Dunhill? Let me refresh your memory. It is the dreadlocks actor that T4T ‘claimed’ he saw inside his car near the artistes’ hangout at about 11pm, looking dazed (some say from alcoholic substances, others claimed it was from sleep). But then, he was looking for where to get fuel for his car that night. That is Dunhill. Now, he has vanished. Some people have been on his trail (as if im owe dem money). So many audition grounds have been searched, no Dunhill. His favourite corner at Winnis and O’jez, Dunhill has not visited for weeks. Well, we later learnt Dunhill lives in Igando surburb of Lagos; such that coming to Lagos every evening in the name of being a star has taken a toll on his pocket (he is a family man), so he discovered a joint close to his area where a bottle of beer sells for the same price like all ‘mama put’ beer parlour. And he is the only star there, so Dunhill is now a big fish in a small pond. No be me talk am o o, na im detractors.
Emeka Enyiocha’s Latest Babysitter In Town
SINCE he got married last December, Nollywood star Emeka Enyiocha, hardly hangs out now. Gone are the days Emmy Boy used to nearly pass the night at O’jez every Friday with his soul mate, Chidi Nwaekebia, a Nollywood producer. Since his wife gave birth to a baby girl, the situation is even worse. A close detractor claimed Emmy Boy is now the babysitter. So, while madam goes about preparing meal, the Nollywood star is always busy rocking the baby and cooing sweet things into her ear. Na now you go no say, to be a man is not a day job. Anyway, it is nice to be a (responsible) father for a change. But women, according to sources, consider you a lost sheep, who when it returns to the flock, the shepherd will be most happy. Recall that verse in the Bible? A word is enough for the wise.
Ras Kimono’s ‘Air-conditioned’ Car
RUB A DUB Master, Ras Kimono, saw hell in a typical Lagos traffic around Ikeja recently. Recall I told you when he was sighted at the Silverbird Cinema complex recently. Yes, this incident happened shortly after the sighting (as if Kimono na U F O). T4T was driving his tuke tuke besides a small looking SUV and instinct told him to look closely at the occupants of the car and behold, there sat our dear Kimono looking majestic in his reggae paraphernalia. As the traffic grew thicker, T4T noticed that Kimono was sweating (like Daddy Monso) yet the glasses of the car were all rolled up. The nickel dropped, the car the musician was travelling in had a faulty air-conditioning system. Kimono was ‘codedly’ using his handkerchief to wipe his face. Someone swore he saw him looked around stealthily before wiping his face. That peson wey carry Kimono na wicked peson, why im no kuku say the AC no dey wok make dem wind down the glass?
Zach Orji’s A Faithful Husband
THERE is one distinctive thing about Nollywood star, Zach Orji; whereever you saw Uncle Zach, just look closely, there is aunty Ngozi, his wife. Hardly will you see the actor without the wife. In fact, when most Nollywood stars will decide to take ‘handbags’ along to many occasions, Zach flaunts his wife. However, some of his colleagues are no longer comfortable with Zach’s ‘behaviour’, they feel the actor’s wife is beginning to know too much about their escapades (truth is, most of them change ‘handbags’ like freebies) and this group of disgruntled Zach’s friends (I no call names o o o) were deep in a meeting at O’jez last week. Just as they arrived at a conclusion to confront him, in walked Zach and Ngozi, smiling and waving at everybody. In fact, you needed to see the face of the ‘conspirators’. Anyway, shame for bad people, whoever wan put asunda wetin God don join, Holy Ghost o o...
Yemi Sax’s ‘Identity Card’
THE saxophonist Yemi Sax, does not need to introduce himself anytime he walks into a crowded place. Aside from his trade mark dreadlocks, he now has another form of personal identification. In case somebody is about to take you in that he is Yemi Sax, just ask him to show you his left hand bicep, you will then be convinced he is either an impostor or the real saxophonist. But to help you in your task, this is a tip: what you will find on Yemi Sax’s left hand bicep? A bold tattoo with the wordings Yemi Sax inscribed in the middle of something (not sure what the tattoo actually looked like). See, the guy does not need a national ID card again, public note.
Daddy Monso... Lost But Found
NOLLYWOOD star, Daddy Monso, is missing in action. He just vanished from the entertainment horizon and all efforts aimed at finding out what caused the ‘sudden’ disappearance of the Ejike Asiegbu sideman, had until last week Wednesday, proved abortive. I was shocked to run into Monso at O’jez, sweating even with all the powerful air-conditioners turned on at high frequency. An investigation revealed why the actor was sweating like no man’s business. A bottle of a popular beer was sitting pretty in front of Monso, who was watching over a plate of the club’s ‘notorious’ peppered meat. Why im no go sweat for head like who dey kill meat dey sell for Mushin market? Since the actor declined comment on his whereabouts for close to a month, a detractor claimed Monso was so broke, he resorted to going to Winnis, where his brand of beer is sold for less the price at O’jez. “His economy has improved that is why he is here now. This stardom, you know it is a burden...” the detractor went on and on. Trust T4T, he confronted Daddy Monso with the ‘allegation’. In his reaction, he described the detractor as someone jealous of his ‘fortune’. Nice reaction. Anyway, if Monso disappears again, we now know why.
... And Diggity Dunhill Too
IT seems Nollywood fringe actor Digitty Dunhill has perfected Daddy Monso’s disappearing act. He has simply vanished. Oh, you don’t know Dunhill? Let me refresh your memory. It is the dreadlocks actor that T4T ‘claimed’ he saw inside his car near the artistes’ hangout at about 11pm, looking dazed (some say from alcoholic substances, others claimed it was from sleep). But then, he was looking for where to get fuel for his car that night. That is Dunhill. Now, he has vanished. Some people have been on his trail (as if im owe dem money). So many audition grounds have been searched, no Dunhill. His favourite corner at Winnis and O’jez, Dunhill has not visited for weeks. Well, we later learnt Dunhill lives in Igando surburb of Lagos; such that coming to Lagos every evening in the name of being a star has taken a toll on his pocket (he is a family man), so he discovered a joint close to his area where a bottle of beer sells for the same price like all ‘mama put’ beer parlour. And he is the only star there, so Dunhill is now a big fish in a small pond. No be me talk am o o, na im detractors.
Emeka Enyiocha’s Latest Babysitter In Town
SINCE he got married last December, Nollywood star Emeka Enyiocha, hardly hangs out now. Gone are the days Emmy Boy used to nearly pass the night at O’jez every Friday with his soul mate, Chidi Nwaekebia, a Nollywood producer. Since his wife gave birth to a baby girl, the situation is even worse. A close detractor claimed Emmy Boy is now the babysitter. So, while madam goes about preparing meal, the Nollywood star is always busy rocking the baby and cooing sweet things into her ear. Na now you go no say, to be a man is not a day job. Anyway, it is nice to be a (responsible) father for a change. But women, according to sources, consider you a lost sheep, who when it returns to the flock, the shepherd will be most happy. Recall that verse in the Bible? A word is enough for the wise.
Ras Kimono’s ‘Air-conditioned’ Car
RUB A DUB Master, Ras Kimono, saw hell in a typical Lagos traffic around Ikeja recently. Recall I told you when he was sighted at the Silverbird Cinema complex recently. Yes, this incident happened shortly after the sighting (as if Kimono na U F O). T4T was driving his tuke tuke besides a small looking SUV and instinct told him to look closely at the occupants of the car and behold, there sat our dear Kimono looking majestic in his reggae paraphernalia. As the traffic grew thicker, T4T noticed that Kimono was sweating (like Daddy Monso) yet the glasses of the car were all rolled up. The nickel dropped, the car the musician was travelling in had a faulty air-conditioning system. Kimono was ‘codedly’ using his handkerchief to wipe his face. Someone swore he saw him looked around stealthily before wiping his face. That peson wey carry Kimono na wicked peson, why im no kuku say the AC no dey wok make dem wind down the glass?
ogbuus@yahoo.com
Ready for the 12 Ambassadors deal
When the President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) led Royal Pictures to introduce Legends of Nollywood — a programme dedicated to the promotion and propagation of the success story that has become the Nollywood, little did he know that, that singular effort will give rise to a yearning for another programme that will further unite the country and serve as a tool for image laundering. It was on the strength of that call, that Obazele again led Royal Pictures to introduce a reality show dubbed The 12 Ambassadors and powered by Unity Bank Plc, designed to introduce 12 hot and fresh talents that will join the growing league of the fellowship of the tube. Obazele told Moviedom that 12 out of over 50,000 youths that participated in the audition exercises across the country will in a matter of weeks be given a place of pride in the history of movie making in Nigeria. Excerpts.BY SHAIBU HUSSEINI
WE are at the stage of rewarding all those who made it to the finals. We have been able to complete the entire task with the 20 people. Basically we are at the stage where we have to sieve and award prizes to the 12 ambassadors as it were. Then we would run on AIT for three months, every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Meanwhile and because of the little delay we experienced in arriving at this stage, we had to take the finalists to different locations — some are shooting soap operas and working on different programmes
It’s worth the effort
It has been time consuming, but yet a wonderful experience because it is Nigerian, it is original — no one sold the idea to us from outside. It’s what I can call a proudly Nigerian initiative, which we launched unaware that Nigeria as a nation will be talking re-banding later. What I wanted to do was to affect the minds of the youth. The truth is that most of them were skeptical at first because they had taken part in a number of reality show that disappointed them. So, they had every reason to be skeptical. But after participating in our auditions, which we took round the length and breadth of this country and after working with us, they have not stopped telling people that there is a difference between this and others. So far, we have been able to affect and mould their minds. We have also been able to prepare them for the challenges of playing in an industry like ours. We took them through a well-planned learning process and hooked them up with people who are tested like Adim Williams, who with his Oxford Academy grilled them as it were. Generally, we have been able to talk to people who are very hungry — I mean hungry for the arts and people who are true Nigerians and who want to give their hearts for the nation. We are also making arrangement for them to be trained through the entrepreneurial scheme we have arranged.
Support from Corporate Nigeria
As we speak, Unity Bank is the main sponsor. So far, they have kept to their obligation and we are happy at their response. The only thing that is left is to give out the 12 cars to the eventual winners. The grand finale is planned to hold in Abuja and preparations are in top gear.
Reality show and prize redemption
The beauty about Royale Pictures, especially with the kind of support we have received from our sponsors, is that beyond the cars we are giving out, they are going to form a major part of works that will be undertaken by Royal Pictures. It will also be our responsibility to source jobs for them and make them that which we promised them to be.
12 Ambassadors diet 2
Of course, second edition will be greater than the first edition. We have already started receiving entries for the second edition even when we have not rolled off the first. That says a lot about the popularity and effect of the 12 Ambassadors Reality show programme. What we have decided on is that the first 100 people who will get their short messages (SMS) in would be automatically admitted into the 12 Ambassador house. It’s automatic. So, the next edition will be better and bigger.
The State of Nollywood
Talking about the state of the industry, we are appealing to the government to help us combat piracy. We have a big problem with piracy as you know, and I am beginning to think that most people we have been running to, to help with the fight are themselves involved in piracy, if not why is it that they have not done anything concrete to combat it. Everyday people are engaged in one form of piracy or the other. The new one is that people now ship our works abroad to sell. As I speak to you now, there is a big problem in Zimbabwe — people are pirating our works — and we have it on record that the government in Zimbabwe has frowned at the act. They have written to us and we have copied our authorities here, but our own authorities are yet to response. We keep shouting about providing something in the mould of a Film Fund for us, but no one is doing anything about it, yet there is so much talk about re-branding Nigeria. I keep telling people that when this country was in lacuna, when foreigners saw us as a nation of drug peddlers and fraudstars among other ills it was Nollywood that helped in the re-branding campaign at that time and it is still playing a significant role in that direction. I think government should be more interested in the growth of the industry and get this Film Fund issue off the ground outside building infrastructures that will support sustainable growth.
The sight, sound of Eyo.... E-e-e-e-e-s-u-a!
BY ANDREW IRO OKUNGBOWA
WHAT was meant to be a joyous carnival for Lagos residents and visitors; and also, an opportunity for them to feel the relaxed nature and warmth of the state within the cocoon of the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) actually lived up to is billing.
From the cries of ecstasies and conviviality, it was obvious that their expectations were met.
The former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Kofo Bucknor-Akerele, who was one of the high profile guests and celebrants at the festival, surmised the expectation of the crowd: “Everybody has had a very good time, with an out of this world’s colourful carnival.”
The event, which held on Saturday, April 25, was the staging of Eyo Festival, one of the cultural heritages of Lagos. It is held in awe and high esteem because of its unique nature; and the glamour as well as the dread it invokes on the people.
Traditionally, the festival, which essentially is a masquerade display, as explained by Bucknor-Akerele, is held in honour of a departed Oba of Lagos or ascension to the throne of a new Oba as well as in honour of a departed son of the land. “It is not usually performed on a regular basis; it is only performed as the final funeral rite of a prominent son of Lagos,” Bucknor-Akerele said.
Last Saturday’s celebration was in honour of the late Chief Theophilus Owolabi Shobowale (TOS) Benson — who died and was buried last year — for his contribution to the development of the state.
According to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Kunle Abass, “we have staged this event in his honour and to encourage the youths to be hardworking and responsible citizens.”
Another point of interest was that for the first time in its long history, the festival was celebrated outside its traditional confines – Idumota. Abass explained the reason for this. “This is the first time we are bringing the festival here (TBS). It is just to promote tourism.”
He added, “it is the first time that this is happening. After the ceremony here, we are moving to Idumota. That is the tradition. All the masquerades would have to go back to Idumota and from there to their various homes.”
THE traditional white outfit of Eyo dominated the stands with the men of substance having a brown coloured damask cloth tied round their shoulders while the women had the traditional gele to complement their dressing.
The festival, which ended up as a massive carnival with long procession of masquerades escorted by crowd of celebrants from its traditional home through the Igbosere Road into TBS, was enlivened by the presence of people of diverse backgrounds — children, teenagers, youths, adults and the elderly.
Wasiu Ayinde KWAM 1, who was the main artiste, also added colours to the celebration with his performance, especially his many chants and incantations that were the ethos of the day.
D’ Banj took over from where KWAM 1 stopped.
The Executive Director of Bruce Onobrakpreya Foundation, Ejiro Onobrakpeya, an artist and one of the cultural consultants to the festival, said: “Today is a historic day, anybody that is witnessing today is witnessing history, and history is coming to life in an organised manner courtesy of the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola.”
He noted that the festival not only promotes unity among Lagosians, but among Africans, as it is one of the finest moments of Africa’s cultural heritage. “This historic occasion of Eyo is a celebration of Africa oneness and we believe that with this Eyo festival, the unity of the Lagosians and the hospitable nature of the people would further be exhibited.”
Frederick Vandervefe of CNBC Africa, who was one of the many foreign journalists that covered the festival, said the rich culture and tradition of the festival impressed him, describing it as a great celebration. “I think it is great because it is associated with history and tradition.”
Besides, students were not left out of the celebration. Over 12 Tourism students from the National Open University were at the event. They came not only to enjoy themselves, but also to learn as they followed every bit of the action with their video recorder, pens and papers.
Akomolafe Oluwaseun, one of the students, said, “the festival is very unique in the world. In fact, it is the best of the masquerades that you can ever see in Nigeria because of its uniqueness and colourful nature as well as the glamorous packaging.”
Part of their mission was to see what they can learn from the event and how best they can assist in the promotion of the country’s tourism industry.
Putting A Tourism Stamp On
Eyo Festival
THE state government has been commended for staging what many have described as a near-flawless event; an event that went without violent and dreadful acts, for which it was noted.
The state’s involvement couldn’t have come at a better time when it deployed good security to make the event a huge success.
Well articulated media coverage, provisions of free transportation and good management, as well as proper packaging, no doubts, were some of the elements that ensured its success.
What the government has demonstrated is a clear-cut vision, commitment and employment of the right mix of personnel and tools, especially those of culture and tourism to attract people.
FOR Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, one reason for government’s engagement in the festival is to develop it into a flagship tourist event for the state, and to create a forum for families to relax and enjoy themselves.But one question everybody is asking is, will the tempo achieved be sustained years to come?
Trying to put Eyo on the global tourism map is something that Fashola would need to contemplate deeply on except if he wants to symbolically stage the event yearly without linking it to the funeral rite of anyone. Otherwise, we all may just be bidding farewell to the vision of ever having an en core in terms of the fun and celebration that unites all Lagosians.
Indeed, if the governor wishes this great carnival, which he has just birthed to continue as a yearly event, even in a symbolic manner, then he must seek to widen the scope and enter into immediate dialogue with tourism stakeholders.
And for it to have that desired impact on the economy, the state’s planning must be earnest.
Though last Saturday’s celebration recorded a good turnout, attendance by foreign tourists was low because of late planning. Tourists need plenty of time to decide on whether to attend events and possibly, save towards it.
Governor Fashola has already made a bold statement, he must, however, not let his dream of making Lagos a tourism hub to die.
We hope the shout of Eyo …Osun… Eyo… ooo! Would once again rend the air by April 2010. Oga governor, shall we say… amen?
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