GRIOT RADIO

2012-01-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

Adieu My General

2012-01-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

Odum egwu

Idi m' egwu

When you speak

your eyeballs speak

every word from your mouth

that all may behold

the yearnings of your heart

Odum Egwu

Idim Egwu

The one who knows no fears

The one who takes the bull

by the horn

The lion heart

Though humble, mesmerizes

Odum Egwu

Idim Egwu

Whose spirit guided

Whose spirit strengthened

Creating valour in ordinary men

To fight for their survival

Against hunters of their heads

Odum Egwu

Idim Egwu

You put all you had in line

Your life, possesions and all

For the love for your people

Your silverspoon to the trash

To save your people from crashing

Odum Egwu

Idim Egwu

Chukwuemeka

for giving us a man like you

At a time we needed such most

May God be with you

Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu

2011-10-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

A FRIDAY OF FOOTBALL & ROCK'N ROLL

Friday 14th October2011 was one of those fridays when the saying 'Thank God it's Friday' lives up to its meaning.

The FARE (Football Against Racicm) Tournament

It started with a game of football between a select team from my organization Liikkukaa ry's different teams of various levels against a select team from the Helsinki Referees Association. This was part of HDS, a liikkukaa member organization's FARE project, (Football Against Racism)

It was great fun playing outdoors in a cold autumn night. We beat the team of referees though that is not the most important aspect, what is most important is the good game spirit and of course the bounding effect of soccer.

The field we used for the game has got one of the narrowest bathrooms, and it was funny watching a bunch of naked guys cramped in the bathroom cracking jokes and waiting for their turns to have a shower. That is the beauty of soccer.

Enter Rock'n roll ...Ft Vanity Ink!

My good old friends, The Vanity Ink, a power-packed Finnish Rock Band just ended their long European tour and were to have their first welcome back gig in Helsinki, and guess what, on the same Friday night. They asked me to join and party with them at the venue, 'The Semi-Final'. I have not been with the rock quintette since after Bosnia in 2007. Man was I excited? So after a game of soccer, the CEO of Liikkukaa ry, Christian Thibault and I headed for Semifinal.

It was simply a night of pure rock'nroll fire. Sam Juni's rythmic staccato, kept the wild machine on track with his tight beat on the tympanium, while Miki (The Wild One) Peltola pumped his bad ass bass to give more meat to the groove. The whinning guiter work of Jussi guarded the frame work, asJuha Bandit sprayed the entire house with hot lead, like the bandit he is. Annabella! OMG!Annabella! a package that packages and deliver itself. The best female frontliner any rock band can wish for. She jumped on stage and got down to business right away, electrifying both the boys and the audience.They set Semifinal on fire but before the fire service could get there, they put off the fire themselves.

Oh, what a night. The audience went frenzy and wanted more, but as it is often said, good things do not last forever, we just had to digest the ones we got, and wait for another opportunity. One other magical thing about Vanity Ink's majestic frontliner, Annabela is that whenever she walks off the stage, she transforms back into just Annabella the sweet and humble.

I want to thank Vanity Ink for being such a lovely down to earth rock band. They have been together for many years and are still waxing stronger. I wish you guys more success in you music carreer while I wait with the rest of the fans for another blast.

Yea! So now I guess one can understand what I meant, when I said last Friday lived up to the saying 'Thank God It's Friday?

VANITY INK ROOOOOOCKS! VIVA VNITY INK

Enugu (Land of My Ancestors) a song in the making

2011-08-27T09:19:00.001-07:00

Enugu (Land Of My Ancestors) by Hamattan

BIAFRA ON THE ROCK CHURCH

2011-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

At this time every year,
I have endeavored to write a piece to mark one of the major water-shades in the history of my country Nigeria, 'The Nigerian Civil War', what became known as 'The Biafra war'.
The reason behind this yearly endeavor being that the defunct Republic of Biafra was declared on the 30th of May 1967, and to mark this year's remembrance, I have written this piece with a seemingly strange title 'Biafra On The Rock Church'. Well, in the Nigerian parlance they say, "Do not worry about the inscription on a bus, just hop in' So just do exactly that and find out more.
The Rock

The rock is a very strong symbol in Christianity. Jesus walked the wilderness with his disciples a lot during his lifetime, and the wilderness of the Middle East is littered with rocky mountains and deserts with outcrops of rocks which Jesus and his followers sat on when they rested. Many paintings that described the life and times of Jesus depicted him sitting on the rock. Also Jesus spoke many parables using the rock as a symbol, and Saint Peter’s name means the rock.

Why am I drawing these analyses one may ask. The reason is not far fetched, and here it goes.

In 1968, The Finnish Lutheran Church embarked on a project of building an over a million dollar valued church that is to be carved out from a huge outcrop on granite rock. By the way, talking about granite rock, it is found in large amount in Finland. Indeed everywhere you turn, every inch of ground you dig, there is granite. Sounds kind of mysterious doesn’t it, that a land within the cold region of the Nordic should have such a geographical feature. The land on which Finland is presently sited was supposed to have formed under a tropical environment thousands of years ago, at least based of geological information. Well, that is just by the way as Finnish geography is not our topic of the day, so let’s rock on.

Nigeria 1966

Thousands of kilometres away in tropical Africa, a political unrest was setting in 1966 after a brutal military takeover in Nigeria. The Nigeria Nation was in turmoil. A counter coup and pogrom followed suit leading to secession and declaration of the Biafra nation, and then civil war ensued. By 1967, Biafra had turned into an enclave due to economic blockade initiated by the Nigerian government, the war degenerated to immense human suffering in Biafra and the outside world was shocked by the level of sufferings and death especially of children, due to starvation. All over Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, shocking images of starving and dying children were seen on television, and in news magazines.

Finland 1967

Back in Finland, A huge outcrop of granite rock somewhere in the Töölö district of Helsinki was being dynamited and excavated for the purpose of building a modern piece of architecture in the form of a church. Millions of dollar is being sunk into the project.

While this was going on, some concerned students led by a Marxist priest were very upset and unhappy that the Lutheran Church should be wasting such huge amount of money to build such a church which they believe was more for ecstatic reasons, and at such a time thousands of children were dying of starvation in Biafra. They argued that the money used for the project should rather be sent to alleviate the sufferings of the children of Biafra. For this reason they rallied around other students and carried out a protest against the building of the church which was later to be known as the Rock Church.

As usual, it is often hard to win such fights, but the students made their point. The echoes of their protest were heard all over Europe and beyond as it made headlines. It also still stayed relevant today as one cannot tell the history of the Rock Church of Finland which turned out to be a major tourist attraction in the country, without mentioning Biafra and the students protest.

To bear witness to the protest, the inscription BIAFRA written with white paint on top of the rock by the protesting students still exists. I remember my first visit to the Rock Church some twenty years ago. The first thing my Finnish host did was taking me up to the top of the rock overlooking the roof of the Rock Church and pointed to a white inscription that said BIAFRA. And that was when I was told the story behind it. It almost brought tears in my eyes as I imagined that while the struggle lasted many people genuinely cared, even though that the few with the power to stop the killings were rather fuelling it up, as their objectives were totally different, the drive for wealth, yes, oil wealth.

MORE ON FINLAND AND BIAFRA

Do you know that the music of the Biafra national anthem was adapted from the composition by renowned Finnish composer Jean Sibelius? The piece is called Finlandia.

Apart from being an acclaimed piece of musical composition, Finlandia is also seen as a good example of how music can be used effectively to convey the moods of a nation. This was what jean Sibelius succeeded in doing with Finlandia which is often referred to as a Symphonic Poem.

The Finnish nation went through a very rough and tough terrain in their quest for independence, first in the hands of Sweden and then Russia. Jean Sibelius captured this entire struggle in the piece Finlandia.

Here is what is written on Wikipedia regarding the composition

“Most of the piece is taken up with rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people. But towards the end, calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic Finlandia Hymn is heard. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the Hymn section is of Sibelius's own creation.^[1]

Although initially composed for orchestra, in 1900 Sibelius arranged the entire work for solo piano.^[2][3]

Sibelius later reworked the Finlandia Hymn into a stand-alone piece. This hymn, with words written in 1941 by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi, is one of the most important national songs of Finland (though Maamme is the national anthem). With different words, it is also sung as a Christian hymn (Be Still, My Soul), and was the national anthem of the short-lived African state of Biafra (Land of the Rising Sun)”.

Whether the adaptation of Finlandia as the national anthem of Biafra was done with its historical background in mind I do not know, but all I can say is that it was a most suitable coincidence.
Click hear to listen to Finlandia full classic version Finlandia hymn, instrumental rock version ft Nightwish
Ikechukwu Ude-Chime is a media expert based in Finland

Nigerian Choral Music, FRCN Choir

2011-04-27T08:08:00.001-07:00

I am not an expert in this field, but suffice it to say that i am an ardent lover of choral music and I sang in several choirs while growing up. I remember in my younger days, the airwave blasted lots of local Nigerian choral compositions often referred to as ‘Native Airs’, I guess the name must have been given to this genre by the colonialists to differentiate it from the English airs.

There are a load of names that contributed in the development of classical and choral music in Nigeria, and the ones that come to my mind often are names like Steve Rhodes, Sam Akpabot, Professor Laz Ekwueme, Joy Nwosu, Fela Sowande, T.K. Ekundayo, Ayo Bankole, Israel Oludotun Ransom- Kuti, Christopher Oyesiku, Akin Euba, Sam Ojukwu, Emeka Nwokedi, Joshua Uzoigwe, Wilberforce Echezona, Felix Nwuba, Adam Fiberessime, Emeka Nzewi, James Adekunle Lawrence Emeka, Alphonso Okosa, Rev Cannon David Okongwu, and more.

THE FRCN CHOIR

One cannot talk about FRCN National choir without the mention of late Sir Lawrence Emeka (MON), for the choir was formed under his leadership as far back as the early sixties. It first started as the Enugu musical Society and by 1970 became the NBC Enugu Choir.

Over the years, the choir passed through many capable hands and rendered a mosaic of repertoire that reflected the diversity of Nigerian nation.

Alphoso Okosa (Ango) of blessed memory, a very easy going talented musicologist took over the running of the choir through the 70s to 1980. During his tenure the choir produced classic compilation of Nigerian folk songs, songs included the Igbo folk rendition ‘Enenebe Ejeghi Olu which he arranged.

ENENEBE EJEIGHI OLU

Others are ‘Iwe Kiko’ a Yoruba song originally written by Rev Israel Oludotun Ransom- Kuti, father of Fela Anikulakpo Kuti.

Iwekiko

'Watarana’ a hausa folk rendition, and many others.

The saintly Rev Cannon David Okongwu took over the mantle of affairs of the music department of FRCN Enugu around the mid 1980 and consequently that of the FRCN Choir.

As a long standing composer,Reverend Okongwu had an enviable list of compositions to his credit. The first time I heard the name long before he became a reverend was as a 9 year old chorister of the Christ Church Choir, Uwani Enugu. We did series of songs composed by him. Meeting him and working in the same radio house in later years was very humbling to me. One personal observation I had of him was his ability to reflect his stammer in his compositions, for he stammered. His compositions were mostly religious songs among others. Some of them are ‘Weta Ihe Onyinye’ (Bring forth the offerings) and ‘Ozo Dingba’(Gorilla the restler).

The FRCN choir was converted to a national choir by the then DG Dr Eddie Iroh. It was rechristened the FRCN National Choir to reflect its national status. Today it is under the leadership of Kenneth Idemili who happens to be my contemporary. The choir still maintains its position as a leading trailblazer in the sphere of choral music in Nigeria.

Ike Chime is a media specialist based in Finland

A MASSIVE EXHIBITION OF AFRICA IN FINLAND

2011-04-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

For over twenty years of my active life here in Helsinki Finland, issues concerning Africa is often relegated to the alternative culture. As a multicultural activist of many years, I have often wondered why. Other continents feature in the mainstream cultural events, but not Africa. It belonged to the development aid related activities where mostly the music and food from the continent are consummated amidst the staring pictures of starving children, suffering mothers and burn out men. There is still a lot of negativity towards things African among many Finns, and the prototypical approaches of the mainstream media have not helped much either. This is why it becomes necessary to feel the other side of the story to avoid what the renowned young Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie during a talk given at the TED, referred to as The Danger of the Single Story.

Well, suffice it to say that after many years of waiting, at last Africa is being given a big break in the mainstream high culture. An Exposition in no other place than the renowned Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Arts, KIASMA.

I was privileged to witness the opening of this mass

ive exhibition which covered the entire sections of the museum with works in assorted mediums, and a cross section of African artistes of different generations both from Africa and from the diaspora, and also that of non African artistes whose work center on the continent and its people. The exhibition is titled ARS 11

On the exhibition, this is what the museum had to say -- “The ARS 11 exhibition investigates Africa in contemporary art. In addition to artists living in Africa, the show also features others who live outside the continent, artists of African descent as well as Western artists who address African issues in their work. The exhibition features some 300 works by a total of 30 artists. The Kiasma Theatre also has a programme of ARS events and performances.

The themes of the exhibition, such as migration, environmental problems and urban life are global, issues that affect us all. At best ARS 11 can produce new understanding and also provide background information on the situation in today’s Africa. The exhibition will extend the idea of what Africa, contemporary art and African contemporary art are today”.

Walking through the entire exhibition brings Africa alive through audio arts, video arts, photography, and installations. On stepping towards the doorway, you will be greeted with the sound of the busy Oshodi district of Lagos through the audio art on African urban life put together by a youthful artist, Emeka Ogboh. Blasting sound bites from the busy Oshodi bus stop made one feel the pulse of Lagos, one of the most conjested cities in the world.

I was also impressed by the photographic works of the octogenarian Nigerian photographer, Pa, JD Okhai Ojeikere.

Part of his exhibition included a chronicle of events in Nigeria, side by side with his own life history.

There was also the works of Romuald Hazou, an artist from Benin Republic who uses scrap metal and plastic to create figures, masks and installations to mention but a few. There are thirty artists involved in the exhibition.

The opening of this exhibition on Thursday the 14^th attracted a huge crowd. The museum was so filled up that it took a long waiting to leave jackets at the entrance. The timing of this exhibition also could not be better, as according to a Finnish lady I spoke to “This is good, and the timing is perfect” she said, and when I asked her why she thought so, she referred me to the present trend of the Finnish politics. I could not but agree with her.

The exhibition lasts until 27.11.2011, and please if you live in Finland or travel to Finland withinthis time, this is the exhibition to visit. and for more details on this visit -

h ttp://www.kiasma.fi/calendar/exhibitions/ars11/ar tists

YOU ARE STILL THERE

2011-04-02T02:22:00.000-07:00

The Nigerian civil war, also called the Nigeria-Biafra war is a sad but important event in the history of the great nation called Nigeria.The battles were fought mostly within the Biafra heartland. The war ended in the defeat of Biafra in 1970 after a gruesome thirty months during which many lives were lost, and the Biafrans suffered untold hardship due to hunger caused by economic blockade of the region.

Hilltop Enugwu Ngwuo overlooking the coal city of Enugu was a strategic war front during the advance of the federal troops. After the end of the war I lived in one of the colonial bungalows on top of the hill 'Enu Okwuneghe' Ngwuo. While digging up the garden in front of my house I struck some objects - two rusty helmets with holes in them, and a rifle magazine.

Being a veteran of the war, these were not just ordinary objects to me, they emitted a whole lot of emotions in me, driving me on a mental roller-coaster on reverse, replaying some of the numerous gruesome and near death experiences I went through.

I put up a stake and hung the objects in front of the house. I sat in the garden most evenings after work staring at the objects. It was during one of such evenings the following words formed on my mind.

YOU ARE STILL THERE

The battle’s been fought,

many souls lost.

only scares remained

no victor, no vanquished.

but you are still there,

telling the gory story bare

Of terrors

and horrors.

rust-infested riffle

magazine, twin helmet

with punctured crowns.

long busted and weathered by time.

helmets, worn by brave hearts

once upon a war

for survival

between brothers.

riffle magazine,

once upon a battle

held by young braves

who’s lives to a meaningless war gave.

blasted to bits

by shrapnel.

your owners are gone

but you are still here

telling the gory story bare.

of terror and horror,

booms! Whams!

and bangs!

Ike chime. Nov 1985

Promise Me You Will Be At My Funeral

2010-10-11T04:07:00.000-07:00

She looked me straight in the eyes, wearing her usual friendly smile that I have been used to for years, she held my hands and she said,” Ike, promise me you will be at my funeral; and I smiled back, squeezed her tender hands gently and answered, I promise.

The above quote is not an excerpt from a fiction, it is a real dialogue I had with my long time friend yesterday. I have known Meria since 1996, that is some 14 years ago. We both attended the same multicultural theater course organized by the city of Helsinki. It was a difficult time then as Finland was in a depression after the fall of the Soviet Union. The authorities were designing all kinds of way to keep professionals busy while seeking new ways of stabilizing the economy. The theater course for the promotion of multiculture was one of such hence it attracted a group of high quality artistes as participants. Meria was one of them. She holds a masters degree in theater arts and has worked in many major production companies in Finland. We all had a great time during the course and the subsequent productions that followed. Meria was very active and got along well with everyone. She was always willing to take up duties others shy away from, and like the rest of us, she loves to party after a hard days job.

At the end of the project, we all went our ways pursuing our personal interests, and would cross paths once in a while. Meria was one of those people I ran into often after the project because my family moved into an apartment within the same area where she lives. We meet once in a while in the local pub. It was during one of such meetings sometime in 2008 she reviled to me that she has got cancer. It was a sad moment for me when she told me that. Such a lively, friendly, fun loving young lady, to be struck by cancer?

From that moment on, Meira kept updating me with the progress of her treatment. It was mostly a mixture of good news, often signed off with a tincture of uncertainty. She will often say something like, “Ike, I will be off to the clinic tomorrow for chemotherapy, well let’s see how it goes regarding the spread” Other times she will say “Yippii, I am still alive and kicking, there was no spread this time, and I just take it by the day”. This continued for couple of years and I got used to talking freely with her about her condition. What struck me mostly was that she never for once showed any sign of depression. She was always the Meira I know, lively, ever-smiling, great sense of humor, etc. One day at the local, she insisted on buying me a pint against my rejection. Seeing how adamant I was, she looked me in the eyes and with a cynical smile said, “You know Ike, this could be the last opportunity I may have to buy you a pint” Then I gave up, and she busted into laughter, saying “got ya”. That’s typical Meria for you. Ever lively, ever joking. She loves life, but certainly understands that the end is near, but does it matter?

All the while, I kept hoping that someday she will gladly announce to me that she has been totally cured, but that was just wishful thinking because yesterday she told me the inevitable. “It is over, no more therapies, no more worries” she said with her usual smile. “ I am glad, she continued; that at last I do not have to keep guessing about my condition anymore, the moment the doctors told me there was no need to go on, I quickly accepted it, Ike, I am ready to go” she said. It was then I realized I was not ready for this. But while observing her, I did not find and change in her disposition; she was the same old Meira. She kept teasing and taunting her boyfriend in her usual manner. Everything seemed ok, and I had to play along. That evening we talked deeply about the concept of life and death. We debated on which way is better; Knowing that death is coming and waiting for it, or death coming suddenly and unannounced. It was also during this conversation she held my hands and asked me to promise her that I will be at her funeral, to which I promised. l also had to exchange telephone numbers with her boyfriend so that I will be duly informed when the inevitable happens.

At first it sounded to me like I was being invited to a friend’s birthday, weeding or such party, but getting home that evening when I laid my head down and thought over the whole thing, it dawned on me that a living friend invited me to her funeral. Then I wondered how many people ever got such special invitation.

NOTE

This article is in celebration of Meria’s courage even in the face of death, it is also for we all to realize, even though we already know it, that life is a mere journey and the most significant essence of it is the landmark we leave behind.

My friend is not gone yet, she has been assigned a place at the special hospital for terminal illness. According to doctors, she still have some months to live, and she comes home on weekends depending on her physical condition. I chose not to wait till she is gone to celebrate her life.

Ikechukwu Ude-Chime is a media specialist based in Helsinki Finland

THOSE GREAT NIGERIAN RADIO AND TV CLASSICS; WHERE ARE THEY?

2010-07-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

When I think back to the days as a young producer with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN in Enugu, I relish the opportunities I had to meet and interview a lot of people, most especially great Nigerian musicians like Victor Uwaifo, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, Onyeka Onwenu and so many others. Among the numerous programs I produced was the one called ‘Artiste of The Week’, a one-hour artiste personality program that featured different artistes every week. I often wished I could listen to any of those productions again. I made attempts to find any from the FRCN archive without success.

This brought to mind the issue of our preservation attitude.

I can vouch for the FRCN establishment that it had a well-established archive in its music library department. I have used them in those days. Also in the early eighties when I was still a staff of the corporation, it was made sure that highly rated programs were saved in the archive. I also remember that we once had a program called ‘Vintage’ which featured vintage programs. It once featured one of the earliest radio drama series in Nigeria ‘The Adventures of Sheki-Sheki, and Alawo, a hilarious drama about the adventures of a ‘Bolekaja driver and his conductor. This was the creation of non other than our director then, late Mr Ralph Opara, in the 60s when he was a young producer,
The re-run of this vintage material brought joy to a lot of people, especially older ones whom the program took on a memory trip, back to the days when things were better. I am also convinced that all other older radio and television houses in Nigeria preserved most of their highly rated productions. I do hope that NTA for instance has intact programs like ‘Village Headmaster,’ excerpts from key live shows like ‘Bar Beach Show’ and so on. I also do hope that drama series like ‘Cock Crow At Dawn’, ‘Icheoku, Masquerade, Samanja and numerous other classics of the past are safe somewhere, and one thing I keep asking myself sometimes is why they do not run these programs once in a while. One aspect of the western media I admire very much is the pain they take to make sure that materials are preserved and later broadcast for the benefit of the future generation. It gives a special feeling to watch a drama or music program that was popular say in 1950 for instance. It gives an instance on the way of life at that time, the mood of the people, their values and so on. The old people will remember their youth, the younger ones will ask enthusiastic questions, they will understand better how their society evolved, and will be more proud of who they are. But why is it not the case in our society, why are our old programs not being re-issued?

Apart from the classic radio and television programs of the past, there were films the preceded them. My father had told me with pride about a documentary captioned ‘Sunset In Udi’ or something like that. Where is it today? All the pre independence and early post independence documentary films made by the film division of the Ministry of information, where are they. I remember one I watched as a child in the 60s, I do not know the title, but it was on the new Nigeria after independence and featured the highlife musician E C Arinze. Here in Europe materials in black and white, even as far back as the era of silent pictures are still used as materials for regular television programs. Classics like the works of Charlie Chaplin feature regularly.

My fear is that most of our classic audio and video materials may have been lost, either in parts or as a whole. Despite the fact that our archival, our preservative culture may not be well developed, there are other more dangerous factors that may have aided the disappearance of such materials.
Here is one classic example. At a particular time in the mid eighties, Gen Ibrahim Babangida introduced ‘Austerity measure’ an era of untold hardship for ordinary Nigerians. Every other month featured waves of entrenchment of workers, creating a high level of job insecurity. Salaries were not paid on time, and no one was sure when his pay check will be in his pocket. It was a devastating time for everyone since it was a new experience. I remember in those days in Radio Nigeria Enugu we usually get essential commodities from the then Kingsway supermarket (ironically one of the big supermarket chains killed by ‘austerity’) These commodities were peak milk, sugar, washing soap and so on. These commodities were so scarce that even if you had the money, you will not find them, unless you are connected. It was a situation reminiscent of the days of the old Soviet Union. If you walk the streets those days, you will find queues here and there. People join such queues even without knowing what it is all about, Only knowing that therehas to be something edible at the other end. Every government office also had its own arrangement on how to lay hands on the essential commodities.
For us at the FRCN, we were getting things once in a while through some arrangement made by the welfare department of our workers union. People were malnourished at that time. Some even got sick and died. We had mango trees in the compound of the broadcasting house, and each day during work hours, senior officers will order their messengers to climb tall mango trees to pluck mango for them. I remember one occasion when one of such messengers fell off a mango tree and was lucky to break just a few bones.

If the Austerity had such impact on the daily lives of the workers, imagine therefore what negative impact it had on their jobs. The whole system of production in the radio house at the time went upside down. As a producer, I was running some budget especially for the two drama programs I produced, Radio theatre, and ‘Ayakata’ a fifteen-minute drama sketch. Due to ‘Austerity, there was no funds to run these programs. I could not hire actors or scriptwriters. There was no money to pay them, but you are expected to produce a new program. We were allowed to repeat programs once in the month. In those hectic days I became a scriptwriter, actor and producer all in one. We created a kind of in-house help system where every producer uses the talent of another to produce his program; even secretaries and messengers became artistes. Now, how about the tools needed for the job, especially magnetic/ celluloid tapes that were commonly used in those days. These were nowhere to be found. People where hiding the few they could lay hands on. As the situation got worse, producers started cleaning old programs so as to record new ones. Tapes where so scarce that everyone was locking up their tapes in their desk compartment as they could be easily cleaned for use by others. No sources of recorded tapes were spared in this process, including the archives. This was a nationwide situation, from NTA headquarters to all the zones. From FRCN Lagos to all the zones, and of course all the state radio and television houses. Now you can understand my fears regarding the safety of our great radio and television classics.
All said, I still do sincerely wish my fears are not true, that at least some of these wonderful classics are safe somewhere. I do also wish that the radio and TV houses realised how important it is to re-issue these classics once in a while.

I found some old cassette tape in my store house by accident, and to my surprise one contained one of my old programs, Artiste of the week. This was a special edition released in December of 1986, containing excerpts from selected artistes from previous productions. Those featured in this edition are – One World, Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, and Onyeka Onwenu. It gives me pleasure to sharethis interview with Oyeka Onwenu with you all.I hope to post more when I finish digitalizing them. Peace!

Listen to an excerpt from one of my programs at Radio Nigeria Enugu in the 80s,Artiste of the week' featuring Onyeka Onwenu.

BY THEIR DANCE STEPS WE SHALL KNOW THEM - a flshback

2008-03-05T01:38:00.000-08:00

During my graduate school days we had this public lecture series that ran once every month. It was called 'Professional Seminar'. It involved inviting an expert guest- speaker who presents papers on a choice subject in his or her professional field . After the lecture , there was often the usual interaction session with the students on the subject matter. In those days, unless for some unavoidable reasons, I made sure I attended the sessions.

But of all such seminars I attended, one particular session stood out on my mind, it was a lecture by a renown Nigerian musicologist and educationalist, the late Professor Sam Akpabot. What made this session unforgettable was this brilliant dons choice of subject and his method of presentation. It was a highly interactive session from the start to the end, and was packed with humour. The title of the lecture was 'The psychological impact of music and dance on a people'.

The college auditorium was full as usual with students and lecturers. We did not realise that Professor Akpabot came to the lecture with some simple musical instruments stuffed in his pocket. On mounting the rostrum, immediately after introducing the subject, he took out a rattler from his pocket and started rattling it, and then he asked, 'what will be your reaction to this kind of sound, anybody? Immediately, without a thought,I started to ululate. Of course hundreds of staring eyes got fixed at me, and I felt like, 'oh my... what did I do? suddenly Dr Akpabot stopped the rattling and excitedly shouted 'That's is, that's it, who did that, could you please stand up' I jumped on my feet and the entire auditorium resounded with loud applaud. It felt good.

From that moment, the lecture gained momentum. It was full of interesting information about the beauty of diversity, which is Nigeria. From this lecture I learnt that the way we walk has a lot to do with the way we dance and the kind of music we play in our community. If you consider the footsteps of an average African American, you will get the point more clearer. For instance Professor Akpabot drew an analogy on the connection between the way the people from the three main ethnic nationalities in Nigeria dance and the general perception of the attitude attributed to them by their fellow countrymen.

Hear him. "When the Yoruba people dance, they dance with pride, they practically swell up, trying to look larger than their size. The men let the sleeves of their 'agbada' flow down giving the dancer a sense of strength and princely look. He will seem to be saying 'Hello! check me out' The women on the other hand show off their back side, they also constantly tie and untie their upper wrapper cloth as they dance." According to him, this attitude the Yoruba portray while dancing speaks dozens about the general perspective of the ethnic group as a people who love having a good time. A people who use every available opportunity to showcase their pride and beauty and possessions. And a people who will first try to use boastful threat to scare away intruders, before taking any other actions.

For the Hausa-Fulani ethnic nationalities, the learned professor demonstrated the way they dance. Their basic dance step according to him was - one step forward, one step backwards; One step forward, two steps backwards. This is repeated several times as if they are undecided on what will be the next move, then suddenly they will jump up, but still standing at the same spot. He said that if you compare the space used by the Hausa/Fulani dancer during his performance, with that of the Yoruba dancer, the Hausa/Fulani dancer would have used less that half of the space covered by the Yoruba dancer.

Their dance moves according to him is in tandem with the perception of the Hausa/Fulani as a people who watch events very carefully for a long time before making a move. They prefer to stay within the limit of what they know, and will take the next step only after a long and satisfying consideration, that is, if they decide to move at all.

And finally on the Igbo he had this to say, "they dance in every direction, jumping gyrating, writhing, breaking every boundary, even into the audience. They even move objects within the arena, pointing and making faces to imaginary challengers.

This according to him also goes with the general perception of the Igbo ethnic nationality as a people who are all over the place. A people who approach everything they do with aggressive interest.

I am sure that if we extend this theory to the remaining ethnic nationalities that make up our great country, we will find related results. The same goes if we use the test on any other nationality anywhere in the world.

I will also like to use this medium to pay tribute to great minds like the late Professor Sam Akpabot who contributed a lot in the education of the youths of our country Nigeria, he also did a lot of work in the arts especially music. His great musical 'Opera Jaja' which was a national success in the late 70s and the beginning of the 80s comes to mind. I do wish someone in that field will revisit that work for a possible reproduction.

Having said all that, I will like to present you this short entertainment before I leave. A video of Igbo cultural dance featuring the Enugu State Cultural Troupe. I shot this video in March 2005 during an Easter entertainment program at a popular eat-out and entertainment outlet in Enugu called 'Bush House'. Enjoy

Are Most African languages and culture Facing extintion? - a case for the Igbo language and culture

2008-02-20T08:37:00.000-08:00

In recent times there has been a lot of hues and cries about Igbo language and culture facing imminent extinction. To me I believe that those making such assertions are not far from the truth. But then again, it requires an extensive research to know how deep our Language and culture has been eroded. The problem mostly is that it is difficult in present times to find among Ndiigbo, dedicated academics who will make out time and do thorough research work like their predecessors. Pioneers like Professor Kenneth Dike, Professor B. N. Okigbo Professor A. E. Afigbo Professor Donatus Nwoga, Professor Emmanuel Obiechina, professor V.C. Uchendu, Professor Ben O. Nwabueze, F C Ogbalu and the rest did extensive work on Igbo people and most of the information and other data we have regarding Igbo today were works of these great men. If Igbo language and culture is dying, we need to know what aspects, and at what rate it is being eroded. We need to have an idea of the factors and circumstances responsible for it. This is the challenge I throw to present day Igbo academics. They have to create a dedicated group of experts to lead us in finding a way out of this seeming danger. It is also the duty of all the Igbo groups both at home and abroad to initiate some action and delegate experts to find solutions. These groups should be more proactive by looking inwards rather than concentrating mainly on political issues as if that will solve all the problems of Ndiigbo. In other words, the Ohaneze, WIC and the rest of such apex groups should prove themselves by looking inwards, and finding solution to the problems related to language and culture of Ndiigbo.
I want to make it categorically clear that I am not solely holding the above-mentioned groups as the only ones the onus of salvaging Igbo language and culture falls on, no, that is not the case. It is the duty of every Igbo person at home and in the diaspora. It is the duty of every Igbo parent to pass on the folktales, folk songs, history, moonlight games, and of course Igbo language to their off springs, for its perpetuation. The demand I am making on the Igbo academics is for them to create a solid ground for a worldwide campaign among the Igbo people on the issue. Stating clearly the facts with clear data, and warning about the disastrous result if something is not done, I believe this will motivate people into action.
Before I conclude, I will like to draw on the words of The Igbo erudite, professor Emmanuel Obiechina in his presentation during the famous Ahiajioku lectures in 1994 in his lecture titled ‘NCHETAKA: THE STORY, MEMORY, AND CONTINUITY OF IGBO CULTURE, “ The story is at the heart of the understanding of the Igbo culture and the Igbo mind. It has been a mighty force for the conditioning of the personality and defining of a vision of life. In the past the Igbo mother had been the custodian of the humanizing process that enable the Igbo child to absorb the values that prepared it for participation in adult complexities”. Then he added this note of uncertainty. “Now, we run the risk of losing this important formative influence, and I fear, this loss will lead to loss of cultural memory and an abandonment to a life of rootlessness”.

Today the fears this great Igbo mind envisaged over a decade ago has caught up with us, but what thing the great professor did not envisage was that apart from Igbo culture dying from our inability to pass on simple but all-important things like stories that nurtured us, we have also failed to pass our mother tongue to our younger generation. As if these were not enough, we have, with our own hands, and out of zealousness towards foreign cultures, destroyed a whole lot of the symbols of our culture, our shrines, together with the stories, songs, music, musical instruments, poems, festivals and artefacts that go with them.
Taata kabu gboo. It is still early to act.

Starlet Cradle - a Christmas special

2007-12-17T07:10:00.000-08:00

First of all, a big shout out to everyone in this Yuletide season. As expected I have been thinking hard on what to offer during at this time of celebration , something with which to brighten the celebration of the birth of Christ. It took days and weeks of thinking, and nothing came up until last weekend when I stumbled into some old works of mine. And did that sweetened my heart? I bet you it did. Now, you must be wondering what it was I stumbled into, I will tell you. I was looking for an important document and couldn't find it, I checked everywhere it should be, but to no avail. You know how it feels. You go looking for something in places you were sure the object you are looking for will never be. Well that was what happened to me, I looked into an old shoe box full of old papers, a shoe box I have not touched for years. But at a point I forgot what I was searching for, for the box started yielding some interesting papers; Old letters, drama scripts, personal notes, poems and so on. One of the papers contained a drama script written by one Mr Tony Ozoalor.

Now, let me briefly tell you about this gentleman. Tony Ozoalor hails from Ngwo in Enugu state of Nigeria. I first knew him when I was a college student. At that time he was a tenant in my fathers house in Enugu. A very genial fellow, jovial and friendly to all. That was the much I knew of him then. Years later I was to find out another side of this gentleman, his intelect. He is well gifted with the use of words be it English or Igbo. He is a creative writer as well as speaker. His writing ability covered a wide spectrum, from prose to poetry, even speaches. Indeed I still do not understand why he did not publish many of his works. I can only remember one which he co-authored, "One Hundred Quotable Quotes and Poems of the Rt. Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. by Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dons Eze and Anikwe, FI and Tony Ozoalor ..." It is also possible that there are other published books by him I am not aware of. He is really a very talented person. He wrote short plays, stories and poems, that were published in many Nigerian newspapers. I also learnt that at a time he was the speach writer for one of the military governors of Enugu state, I do not remember which one it was. He retired as the zonal public relation officer of the NITEL Enugu zone.

His script that I found was a drama script he wrote which, I was supposed to produce for the program 'Radio Theatre', one of the programs I was handling at the time. Unfortunately due to the austerity measure in the country at that time I was not able to use the script until I left the shores of Nigeria. How the script ended up still being with me, beats me, but surely, the find made my day. It made my day because I quickly remembered that Mr Ozoalor also featured prominently in my other program 'Poetry Time'. Many of his beautiful poems were featured in the program. Among some of the copies of my old productions that are presently with me, is a Christmas poem he wrote that was aired in December 1987. I searched for it, found it, and will like you to listen to it, hoping that it will brighten your Christmas

The program was presented by Oseloka Zikora, one of many gifted and well trained announcers of that time. I must admit that the standared and quality of most of present day voices heared over the Nigerian airwave are not encouraging. There is the need to improve standard through training and selecting trainable persons for the job, not just anyone. I guess this may be the topic of my next post.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Listen to Starlet Cradle

THE IGBO GRIOT

2007-11-28T06:52:00.000-08:00

Whenever the word griot is mentioned ones mind races to the old Mali Empire, where griot or Jali tradition is prominently established as a cast. This does not mean that the concept is peculiar only within the regions of old Mali empire where in this modern time we have countries like Mali, Senegal, Gambia and Guinea Conakry. The
griot tradition is found all over Africa in one form or another. In Nigeria for instance, the tradition exists in all the ethnic groups that made up the country. In the Northern part of the country, among the Hausa, Fulani, and other tribes of the north, a well established court musicians and custodians of the peoples art, and folk ways existed. And today there are modern griots from that region to confirm this. Great griot like Maman Shatar is a good example. In the Western part of Nigeria, the home of the Yoruba there had been court musicians, historians and praise singer also. The Yoruba poetry 'Ewi' is a specialty of the Yoruba griot. They use it to covey historical events like wars and actions of great sons and daughters of the land. These days you still find a continuation of this practice. Among other ethnic groups of Nigeria like the Igbo,Edo, Kanuri, Izon, Efik, Tiv, Igbo and so on, this tradition exists.

Griot Tradition Among Ndiigbo

Among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria the griot culture is a bit different. Different in the sense that the Igbo do not have kings, so the idea of a court musician/historian never existed. Despite this situation, the oral tradition system was well established. There existed individuals who took up the duty of perpetuating the peoples tradition through songs, poetry, and other art forms. 'Igbu Avu' for instance existed among the northern Igbo of Enugu, Nsukka and Abakaliki axis. It is a form of oral epic poetry that traces the generation of an individual’s family, while at the same time giving vivid report of events in the lifetime of each of the ancestors, and the role they played therein. The Igbo Poet 'Ogbu Avu' carries out this duty during occasions, especially during the mourning of the dead. His repertoire brings out different forms of reaction from his audience depending on the message he conveys. They heave sighs and shook their head when certain names are mentioned, in remembrance of the life of the subject in the rendition. People can sometimes get carried away that they would not know when they for instance jump over fences in excitement as great deeds of their ancestor is narrated, or they may express their joy through shouting the traditional Igbo greeting ‘Cha-Cha-Cha Ibenyi Kwenu! to which the crowd responds 'Iyaa! This will be followed with what the Igbo call 'Ida Iya' in which the subject excitedly runs in one direction, raises one of his legs high, and brings it down with a bang. His leg hits the ground with a corresponding ‘Iyaa’ from the crowd. This reoccurs in succession as many times as he repeats the act. This is an importance form of art in the Igbo society, a functional art. It acts as a source for empowering group identity and solidarity.

Apart from the role of the poet 'Ogbu Avu' certain Igbo Masquerades are specifically assigned the griot role. Some perform 'Igbu Avu' as they enter the arena or someone’s compound. The 'Inyinya agba oku’ masquerade of Udi people of northern Igbo is a good example. During festivals like the 'Aju' of Udi, the Inyinya Agba Oku masquerade visits homes of people, as it gets to the entrance of a home it starts from there to call on the head of the family, informing him that he has arrived to his abode. From there he starts giving short excerpts on the family lineage. This excites the members of the family; the males in this case as women are not supposed to see the masquerade and would go into hiding when it approaches a home. The male members in their excitement starts the 'Ida Iyaa' act. For the masquerade this is a sign of welcome. When this is done it will then enter the compound and give a full 'Igbu Avu' performance which often feature the history of the clan and important events, including the role played by the ancestors from the linage of the host in their life time. Another griot masquerade example is the 'Icheoku' (Parrot) masquerade. It is called so due to its talkativeness. Icheoku is commonly found among the Orumba, Izuogu, Isuochi surroundings.

The Modern Igbo Griot
Even though this form of art has been down - played nowadays due to unavoidable changes that swept through the Igbo society, some modern artists still maintain the griot trend in their repertoire and thus can be referred to as modern Igbo griots. Some of the known Igbo artistes that deserve this title includes artistes like the great Akunwafo Obiligbo , Okonkwo Asaa, alias 77, Area Scatter, Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, Ilezulike.

I have put together some works of these modern griot for you enjoyment.
Ama Ndi Aneze/Akunwafo Obiligbo
Ilezuluike
Uwa Amarala/Area Scatter
Mike Ejeagha/Ka Esi Lee Onyeisioche

THOSE GREAT NIGERIAN RADIO AND TV CLASSICS; WHERE ARE THEY?

2007-11-26T14:38:00.000-08:00

African Youths Love Their Roots and Culture

2007-08-15T06:14:00.001-07:00

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Watch and get entertained

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A young lady entertains folks at a post wedding party. Her elder brother a medical doctor had his wedding the previous day in the commercial capital of Nigeria, Lagos. Relations of both bride and bridegroom travelled all the way from the eastern part of the country to witness the great occasion. On the morning after the wedding, they gathered for breakfast at the home of the newly wedded, and the party continued. A lot of young Africans still appreciate and participate in their cultural arts even though a steady erosion of African cultural heritage is still going on. The condemnation, degradation and destruction of African ways of life by European missionaries and colonialists in the past, and overzealous African religious extremists of the present is still having advert negative effects on African culture. Many great African dance performances, theatricals, music, folk tales, rituals and festivals are today extinct. Also innumerable quantities of priceless artefacts has been destroyed, and are still being destroyed by ignorant religious extremists. All these notwithstanding, seeing young people like the girl in this video digging this particular dance style of the (Waawa) Igbo of Enugu state of Nigeria gives the joyous impression that after all, all is not lost.
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Inine is an Igbo folk song that tells about a young motherless girl who was being maltreated by her step mother. She was practically turned into a housemaid. She did all the house chores while her siblings do nothing. One night, her little half-sister was thirsty and asked for some water which she gave to her. But her stepmother was infuriated by this just because she fetched the water herself from far away 'Ogba springs. It was past midnight and she sent her out to get back that cup of water from 'Ogba'. The way to the spring is far from the village and is known to be prowled by wild animals and spirits at night.The poor girl had no option than to carry out her wicked stepmother's foreboding. As she walked through the forest path she ran into all kinds of spirits, both good and bad ones, and she sang to them this lamentation.

The song is the musical part of an Igbo/Nigerian folk story rendition. Among Africans, story telling is a complete theatre performance where the master story teller mimics all the characters in his story. He or she uses all elements of theatre to create effect and drive home the massages in the story. There is often musical part in the stories such as this one. In the African theatrical set-up, there is no hard line separating the performer and his or her audience. For this reason the songs in the stories are often in a call response arrangement, giving the listening audience the chance to participate by singing the response part of the songs.

Inine is interpreted here By Ike Chime, renown broadcaster/artiste, and backed by the GoodPeople band of Finland. The song can be found on the cd 'Rainbow Dreams' on Naxos World lable.

Ike Chime