May 31, 2010

ewaBAMIJO Media Campaign

Nov 26, 2009

I Must Set Forth – Qudus Onikeku

This piece was curlled from a blogger called DIHS - Enjoy what he got to say about my work...

“Where is your home?” … “As in, where are you based?” … “Where do you spend most of your time living?” … ‘ooooh! Facebook!’ Qudus Onikeku was born and raised in Nigeria. But where is his home? He sits, crossed legged, and speaks as if having a personal conversation. He would like to know, where is home? Maybe, he says, home is our bodies. And with that, he begins to sing a song, one that is not American.

Credit: Arthur Fink Photography

Qudus’ strength is evident from the beginning. With incredible attention to detail, his torso, arms, hands, fingers, toes are all under his control. He moves quickly with his core, moving this abdomen in and out, knees bent, hovering. Rolling, crawling and reaching he moves swiftly around the stage. He places his hands at his center as if holding a ball and gyrates around it with his entire body, circling around his home. At times the movement is too fast for the eye to fully perceive. With acrobatic precision he reaches back to perform an uncountable number of back flips and the sweat that flings from his body paints the air ten feet above. The entire scrim fills with the image of Qudus dancing, with short cuts of him hopping or swinging his body around a darkened space. He stands, sweating, and takes off his shirt. This is Qudus. This is his body. This is his home.

Credit: Arthur Fink Photography

What did you expect to see after the informal beginning?

Were you able to feel the intensity of his movements?

Have you seen any other dances that express how one’s body can be one’s home?

Is your body your home?

You can see what Qudus is up to at his blog: http://qudus.blogspot.com/

Different Voices, August 7th, 2009
Schaeffer Theatre, Bates Dance Festival
Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. USA

I imagine some of you saw I must SetForth... in Lagos on the 8th of November, although not the exact version with all its technical requirements, still can you attempt to answer DHIS' questions?

Join I Must SetForth... in the following venues and dates.
Bonneuil sur Marne on 4th and 5th December and in Studio 104 in Paris on 20th December, and at La Villette. Paris on 26th January 2010

Nov 18, 2009

The Artiste, His art and His audience!

ME and MysELF
The Artiste, His art and His audience!

MysELF: Bros after the show last night, I realised that I have actually missed performing in
theatres, before formal audience.

ME: yeah, I know you've always wanted to perform before those who are only interested in
using your performance to upgrade their hierarchy as 'high audience' now that they consider
you as 'high artiste'

MysELF: you see you will never cease to amaze me with your presumptions, what gives you the impression that those coming to the theatre are only interested in intellectual masturbation.

ME: Na you sabi.

MysELF: the fact that we have ventured into non-conventional space performances should not nullify the existence of the beauty that still surrounds the conventional four walls of the theatre.

ME: I guess you are not suggesting a pursuit of beauty in our art?

MysELF: I don't think 'beauty' is the right word.

ME: but you just used it...

MysELF: lol, yes beauty for me means 'not ugly' because what we strive for in our art is what is honest, what's natural, what's sometimes organic to an extreme or sometimes inorganic to an extreme, that it moves us.

ME: Have you ever questioned what we have to offer our audience, when they come to see
us in the theatre.

MysELF: what do you mean?

ME: is it about beauty? Is that what they lack through their addiction to the garbage of the
mass media?

MysELF: NO. That’s not what they lack, even though their notion of beauty has been
fundamentally tainted by the media and other dictionary meanings.

ME: so why are we so pretentious with our attempt to bring life into those artificial walls we
call theatre.

MysELF: No, cool down bro, for me there is no question about beauty in life, beauty in art or
beauty in existence, when our audience experiences a performance that is entirely what it is - then they might be brought back to the natural order of things that is not trying to be beautiful.

ME: yeah, 'natural order of things' you begin to touch the essential now, because I am
persuaded that there is no way nature can be (re)produced in a formal setting, otherwise, how come we lose our audience when things slow down and become a little more like nature?

MysELF: but bros, this is connected to the state of the world now, and the destruction of
nature. It’s impatient with things that create boredom.

ME: Exactly my point, how we artists begin to feel subjected to the pressure of what viewers
feel is beautiful or exciting that it forces us to respond to their utilitarian need from art. On the converse, I think a good art should be capable of showing to his audience 'what is not beautiful'

MysELF: now as a dancer, how do you put that together; is it something that lacks perfection
and sophistication, or that is crassly money-making?

ME: well...

MysELF: it's not that our audiences have no more channels or ability to perceive and experience pure art, they are ready, in the same way that we are ready to experiment with what is captivating and real and engaging.

ME: well... I just think there is a fundamental deficiency associated with those walls, there is
something very artificial about It, not to talk of the politics and the bureaucracy of the
determiners of what is a good or bad show.

MysELF: so, are all of these about your strong believe in public space performances over pieces created for the theatre space?

ME: bros I know that you know that we both know that, non-conventional space is where
things still exist in their natural habitat, unaffected with filthy political games and after-effects

MysELF: inasmuch as I might want to agree with you, but again and again it strikes me that our purpose cannot be exclusively fulfilled by performing solely in public spaces, the economy of our art will lack if...

ME: oh, now I see, you are selling out.

MysELF: lol there you go again.

ME: since when did you began to consider the commercial significance of our art, so I was right when I opposed the making of more books out of our projects, all your ideas these days seek to exclude the basic right of the common man.

MysELF: ok you have started again......Mr. Common man, so what will it be if not books,
Internet? It all depends on their level of interest bros.

ME: See you, interest? Ok now it’s your turn to make me laugh, how do you create interest

MysELF: I mean those who are interested.

ME: bros, there is nothing like interested, are we interested in seeing all those bill boards and
adverts we are bombarded with everyday.

MysELF: well, there are lots of people who don’t see it...

ME: bill boards? Are they blind? lol,

MysELF: Mad man

ME: well TV or YouTube or facebook, for me they are of the new media I’m talking about and it is just to tell you that I think we need to start focusing on alternative measures in all the routes that lead to the meeting point with our audience

MysELF: what I am saying is that, what we are doing will be taking the interest of those who
could be interested in such things but who do not have access to it due to class difference and other fundamental differences... but to convert people's interest is really a hard thing to do... that’s what I learnt with our public space performances.

ME: No, I disagree.

MysELF: well it is normal that you disagree to agree, just let me say this...

ME: how do they even know if they are interested?

MysELF: lol...

ME: how do those guys that saw our performance for the first time know they are interested in this kind of dance? Bros have u forgotten 'seeing is believing'

MysELF: well, the truth is that we can never tell who is interested in what, but wait let me say
something...

ME: then, that is not my preoccupation, when we go out on the street, I’m interested In being
in a particular space at a particular time, for sure people will gather and watch. Most of them had no idea what they were watching.

MysELF: Yes, but see...

ME: I'm not trying to do something to them; I’m just there. Opening up the organic and
expressive side of a particular dance to the audiences is what I am concerned with. People
actually can experience the beauty, the realness, and the truth of the nature of dance in
whatever form it comes...

MysELF: you are bombarding me!!!!!!,

ME: not to start searching who is interested or not...

MysELF: let me talk!!!!!!!!!!! Or how many exclamation marks should I put before you realise
that you are bombarding me.

ME: lwkmd

MysELF: Nonsense! We are saying the same thing!!!!!!! Can I talk ejoo?

ME: talk Mumu!!!

MysELF: lol, see, after setting up our gadget; cameras, laptop, sound system and so on, to perform in some poor neighborhoods, I heard with my own ears some people saying, "instead of building infrastructures, and giving money for food, you people are wasting all the money in these things"....

ME: hmm, they may be right...

MysELF: Yes, but also those saying that do not understand that we have not come to build
bridges or give money for food...otherwise that money would have been in our account while
we also eat and buy things with it...

ME: They didn’t even understand that we used most part of our personal money for those
performances.

MysELF: but there were others who saw it for what it was... they were interested even though
they know that the roads have not been rebuilt or people are dying of hunger, they did not
compare the two situations as such...

ME: exactly, the same reaction we get from the those audience, who are always in search of
narratives In contemporary dance, always in search of that utilitarian purpose in art, but as I
always tell them, 'you will never understand art until you understand that some art cannot be
understood but appreciated or not'

MysELF: so what I am saying in essence, is that no matter what we do, there are those who will not be interested because they don’t think it will benefit them, even in that common man

ME: Especially the common man,

MysELF: So...?

ME: but bros we are talking about how to get it to their face, those guys who talk about hunger and infrastructure are not who we are out there for, we address a crowd and any out there who understands our language, who are open to new languages and mode of expressions, those are the ones we are talking to, and those are the ones we need to take with us

MysELF: Good!!! So you see, you are not the one converting their interest, they either have this interest or not.

ME: it's just that we don’t know, they don’t know, because they have not seen, even those who are going to be "interested" they need to mature into that level of interest that will make them dip their hands into their pocket to come see us at the theatre or buy our catalogues, if they so wish, those are the guys we need to take with us.

MysELF: yes for sure...but the basics is that you did not convert them... when we say we want
to increase the public, it does not mean that we can get everyone on the boat, it means we are looking for those who share the same interest with us, but we do not know them...

ME: yes I have said that too, be YoursELF and stop repeating ME. Shit.

MysELF: lol

ME: and we will only increase such "interest" by making it better accessible,

MysELF: not by coming down to their level in our works.

ME: but coming to their level in the path that leads to such realisation, so making a book I think is too secondary. That is why the mode of diffusion is more important than the content of creation in this strategy.

MysELF: Exactly... but bros, making a book can be important in terms of preservation of the
documents.

ME: Well yes, but if we look deep down we will see that we are still following a tradition laid by the west.

MysELF: whether we like it or not, if we will have to teach the young artists really about what
art is in Africa, in our own terms, we will have to rely on our own preserved literatures, our
books, our documents, and how do you preserve that?

ME: Sincerely I think the new media is the best way and better accessible

MysELF: Ok that is an argument for another day,

ME: Are you already tired?

MysELF: Have you forgotten that we have to leave for the cinema now

ME: Yes to see Kunle Afolayan’s latest work ‘The Figurine’ I can’t wait to discuss that with you

MysELF: Discuss or disagree to agree, crazy guy.

ME: lol, we shall tag it “That Nonsense wood”

The texts in this dialogue are partly inspired by real life characters, research based, online
chatting or a real life conversation.

ME and MYsELF is a series of soliloquy brought to you by the collective consortium of "MY
Schizophrenic Thoughts"
The MST refuse to be responsible for any damage or whatsoever injury caused by the content of
this dialogue.

STAY TUNE FOR EPISODE THREE; THAT NONESENSE WOOD
© Q’Dance

Nov 4, 2009

Trailer 2: do we need cola cola to dance?

Oct 20, 2009

The Mal-education of an education system

Me and Myself
The Mal-education of an education system

MYsELF: Bros how far… I can see you are idle; it’s unlike you, wetin dey again?

ME: I'm worried, I am thinking of writing an article, you want to join in?

MYsELF: How can I join in when I don't know what psychological disorder you are currently suffering from, Article about what?

ME: about the state of the Nigerian education system. Do you know they are still on strike?

MYsELF: Oh, of course I know they are still on strike, even if they weren't, what difference does it make? lol

ME: I'm serious and seriously thinking of an article that will present an opportunity for us to solve our educational problems ones and for all

MYsELF: Hmm my visionary bros. lol

ME: Common, can’t you see that the world over is looking at a proactive marketplace educational system that is cost effective. Look at the influx of the western kids to Asia for education for example. There is a grass root problem my man....I believe the solution to this problem plaguing our educational system involves a structured plan that may span years!

MYsELF: The question involved here is not free education, is it? Or spending another billions in a pretentious revival of our numerous educational institutions, well if you want me to join you, then I will be writing from the angle of alternative education, and the respect for other works of life, which has been denied due to the fact that mainstream educational institution that you eulogise have degraded their humanity.

ME: Alternative education? What the hell is that? I want to look at it from the angle of.... what is the value of education?

MYsELF: ok I like this, I can see we are not on the same page, is this education valuable to even start with?

ME: of course it used to

MYsELF: Used to be, good. now the question is who devalued it? I mean what is the cause of the devaluation, because the popular believe is to go to school grab the degree and leave...

ME: that's why the students will never study, they are not interested in learning, but they will do anything for the "paper", so does the exam council actually conduct exams, OR they just do wholesale failure… Because after all there will be a lot of malpractice. perhaps that is where we need to first start from, it is not about the kid that failed WAEC, how about their teachers, how are we sure the result were marked following the right rules. I think we only need to reinstate our educational system, it can still work.

MYsELF: you really tend to be a believer, let me ask you, what manner of education is it that makes it possible for a group of secondary school pupils to consider it their right, indeed their duty, to set upon their Teacher while invigilating their examination, put her to flight, pursue her into the home of the school principal where she has sought sanctuary, drag her out, strip her naked, beat her near senseless, place a tyre around her neck and set her on fire still breathing?

ME: These are fundamental questions from which the nation attempts to shy. Those who ask them at all ask them timidly, almost apologetically, and these are my concerns.

MYsELF: In short, the questions when asked at all appear designed to appease the butchers in our midst, the mind-butchers and the body butchers. Inevitably, a wake-up call is eventually administered

ME: A wake up call, but at what cost? It is clearly invalid to suggest that these pupils were victims of social scarcity, which they were revolting against social inequality that needed to be expressed by infliction of the most degrading kind of violence on a teacher.

MYsELF: Of course, these were not malnourished schoolchildren - on the contrary, they were extremely well nourished, and the question is, what kind of nourishment had they been fed? We speak now not of the stomach, but of the mind.I think it is high-time Nigeria began alternative educative measures aside conventional high school, public university, polytechnic, federal college, private university, etc. There will be no further innovation or evolution, if everyone keeps going to school to study banking and finance, law, medicine, chemical engineer and all the conventional studies.

ME: What is then wrong in that?

MYsELF: don't get it wrong, I am not saying people should not study all they pleases, but it is a development that needed to go hand in hand, if not, it is not a logical one. I'm talking about a philosophy of education that says the mind must be open, not closed, a philosophy that subjects all claims of human discovery or certitudes to practical enquiry… bros, until we begin to have and give recognition to special schools, we will still have more and more failure in most aspect of our human lives.

ME: Ahn ahn, na swear?

MYsELF: no be swear o, it is clear that we've all lost hope in our so called didactic system, if not, how come a foreigner or the "school abroads" who are often ill-informed about the grass root survival tactics of Nigeria get a job before the "naija for lifes". See, I can go on and on with my preconceived mono-anger... but I am not bothered.

ME: Ahh there is every reason to be bothered bros.

MYsELF: There is nothing else to expect in a society that celebrates mediocrity and Vanity Fair, enforcing tradition on the youth, religiously blind to the world order and yet forcing the kids to go to school, TO LEARN WHAT?

ME: hmm, but then…

MYsELF: listen, when you make a way, you should know that you must make an alternative route, if not, that way will but be filled with pot holes in no time, I ask MysELF, why is it that those guys studying computer science rush to NIIT with the slightest break or strike out of school, why is it that all language students troop to Alliance francaise or Goethe institute or other private linguistic institutions? bros, I’m not bothered

ME: ahh I am bothered, the country belongs to us all, most especially we the youths, we are the most active part of the society, our future depends on all these bullshit, and we are crying for that six letter words C.H.A.N.G.E; when are we expecting it, because am afraid it might linger onto generations to come.

MYsELF: It is only common sense that will put food in our mouth in this country. How sad common sense is however not common, we have moved away from our traditional arts and environmental educational systems to run after English titles - we prefer clothes that do not fit us.

ME: I agree with you, but for such article, ranting will not help, we need to present a feasible solution, even if it won’t make any difference, but let’s say what we have to say, for record purpose.

MYsELF: Bros there are no easier way for Nigeria to realize the rate at which she is negotiating the price of her coffin.

ME: Yes i know bros, it only surprises me that our decision makers don't know and yet not bothered, we can go on and on, but you know…

MYsELF: wait ...why not let's look at it from this angle, what if the students were listened to, I mean, give better attention to their heart and feel their need, many people will rush to a carpentry school only if they are promised a masters that will equate them with that banker, then, people will begin to learn with passion and it will be more fun, and we can begin to say GOOD bye to malpractice, because anyone who knows that his mind and passion is not in carpentry will quickly find another way, that is what happens in circus school, so perhaps you first come up with the evaluation of the mainstream education and I can conclude it with the alternative perspective of mine

ME: OK you are A LIVING TESTIMONY TO THAT, HOW MANY WILL EVEN BELIEVE THAT YOU WENT TO EUROPE TO STUDY CIRCUS ART? FROG JUMP AND MONKEY STYLES, LWKMD…

MYsELF: You can have a good laugh for all I care; you also know the fight to convince my parents from stepping out of UNILAG where I was studying Mathematics and Statistics…

ME: My brother, that was not an easy one, was it only your parents, what about friends and the entire society.

MYsELF: So now you understand why i am standing by my point, stop forcing the kids to go to school... Nigeria has more traditional educational institutions even more that Britain that thought her.

ME: But bros Nigeria is a monstrous nation, we are obliged to have lots of educational institution.

MYsELF: That’s not the point, why is Nigeria so blind to the existence of football academies or dance schools that gives equivalent to first degree till PhD and above, whatever happens to fashion and catering schools, do you know that there are technical schools where people go learn how to be plumbers, bricklayer, painter, mechanic etc?

ME: Now you begin to derail from the basis of this article.

MYsELF: No bros, what we need is other kinds of learning that equate the traditional ones, my hypothesis is simple, the moment those numerous institutions begin to transform into practical spaces for alternative learning, things will begin to change, development can't be one sided you know, erecting schools is not development, when the human development is neglected

ME: Hmm, you are right I think people are tired of traditional forms, for example, If there are schools of carpentry that offers high degrees, we all will begin to feel respect for every human for what they do…

MYsELF: and a carpenter will cease to be regarded as a second class citizen because he will no longer lack basic education to at least read and write to further professionalise his practice

ME: but come to think of it, a school is not a place that should be seen as separate from our practical lives. It has to be relevant...the activities must prepare the scholar for a future in whatever he or she chose to study…

MYsELF: Yes ke

ME: …it must also be thought provoking abi

MYsELF: You are very on point

ME: ...but really the definition of school these days is just something else...why would the child want to go to school when he goes home with nothing? When those who read so hard end up being victims of the numerous strikes or abuse no matter how clever... the values of the schools must be reinstated...first and foremost.

MYsELF: and its meaning too… I mean once upon a time school applicants were admitted on merit, with or without scholarships, there was no seeing the Admissions Officer outside office hours, no invocation of shared ancestry and some of these students had become victims of sexual abuse by some of their teachers or lecturers

ME: Reality can be stronger than fiction, that is one of the most monstrous crimes that can be committed against vulnerable youth of either sex.

MYsELF: And most especially by those into whose care they have been entrusted. The teacher-pupil relationship is one of the most solemn responsibilities on which society is founded.

ME: and I do not think that if the school system works well there will be 83 percent failure in the last WAEC... shit, that's like fiction!!!

MYsELF: and for it to work I strongly believe these numerous higher institutions must merge or fold up, like the financial Institutions…

ME: This article will be awesome, l must confess, we have diligently proffer everlasting solution, only if it will get to the right ears and used as a yardstick to further enhanced and uphold the failing standard of education back home,

MYsELF: So now that we have all our points intact, let’s get down to writing.

ME: Bros shit, I forgot I have a deadline to meet up with, you can continue with the article I will join you.

MYsELF: Oh boy, you no serious at all, was it my idea? Don’t worry I will save It for you in my diary.

ME: lol

***************************************************************************************

The texts in this dialogue are partly inspired by real life characters, either research based, online chatting or a real life conversation.

ME and MYsELF, is a series of soliloquy brought to you be the collective consortium of "MY Schizophrenic Thoughts"
The MST collective refuse to be responsible for any damage or whatsoever injury caused by the content of this dialogue.

STAY TUNE FOR EPISODE TWO,
THE ARTIST, HIS ART AND HIS AUDIENCE</big>

(c) Qudus ONIKEKU

Who will claim these freedom flies?

Who will claim these freedom flies?
MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT
Published on Sahara Reporters on 3 October 2009.

When it suddenly stroke me that 2011 election is in just less than two years, i became really concerned about what this tomorrow holds in stock for us, another power play or an opportunity to turn to the next page? I began to engage different people on my present soliloquy, in a chat with my respected brother Omoyele Sowore, i realised how urgently some even badly needed emancipation. In his words, he proclaimed "we should stop putting dates to our desire for freedom, because 2011 is their date for the next selection, not ours, our date should be counted in nano-seconds not months or years". However, I think we've been in this bondage for too long that 2011 is just like tomorrow, what I got from him was that a carelessly planned battle will be lost carelessly. 2011 must not meet us in darkness.

Everyday I’m forced to see how ready Nigerians are for a change, there is a renewed sense of interest, but most times, we have stepped up to the plate, only to be left in the cold, dejected, lonely and depressed by an unwilling majority. Now I think the minority is adding weight, but needs good leadership to crystallize our collective civil disobedience, we need a hero - the concept of a hero in this sense is more than that of a messiah - We simply need a face and a clenched fist to light the lamp. The sole reason why the Nigerian revolution has been delayed is the sole fact that we lack leaders to believe in, how many Nigerians will do the least jest of a peaceful rally for a leader they didn't choose. If by now we the people still don't have a tested and trusted candidate to take us to the promise land, Yar'adua and his gangs will continue to take us in hostage.

Nigerians are not asking for too much, we just need an enlightened leader who can inspire confidence in Nigerians, whom Nigerians will be proud of, and who genuinely wants to transform the country, the message of hope is inevitable for anyone who will lead this nation, the people has been over traumatised by our yesterdays, we need a leader who will inspire confidence in Nigerians once again and back it up with real visions and dreams, one who will make Nigerians believe that we can do it, that liberation is attainable, a candidate who would be prepared to give his life to make a difference if necessary, and any such candidate who shows the flicker should immediately attract a multitude of "freedom flies"

Democracy: The popular government

As a performer, I know that the best performances I’ve had come from a supportive audience. A people invested in their polity, brings out the best in the lead character. Nigeria's audacity of change is not any different from that of any country in the world, a change that calls on us all to act, to contribute in whatever little way we can. Change comes individual by individual, house by house, street by street, and community by community. It’s time for every Nigerian to figure out a way of becoming the pace setter.

Democracy as a word is derived from the Greek δημοκρατία (dēmokratía), which mean "popular government". There are two basic principles that any definition of democracy includes.
1.) All citizens, have equal access to power and
2.) All citizens enjoy legitimized freedoms and liberties.
Democracy is the type of government in place by the collective decision of the people, so the people shall never be treated as mere helpless spectators; the people have a great stake in its progress and survival, to refuse the gangster political culture of our fathers, this is the time we must all stand to refuse bad habits.

If Democracy is said to be a form of government in which the right to govern is vested in the citizens, how can that be possible with the rotational armed robbers in charge of our destiny, when the political parties decides who will best protect their own interest; we must begin to gather strength now, we need to grow, sticking to those bad habits will make no headway, now it’s the time we the people must collectively appoint a trusted leader.

Democratic process for the NEW MEDIA era

The new media, and particularly the Internet, provides us with the potential for a democratic postmodern public sphere, in which Nigerians can participate in a well informed, non-hierarchical debate pertaining to our social structures. The new media has created a potentially radical shift of who is in control of information, experience and resources, it has provided the possibility of increasing the speed of communication, interactive communication and allow forms of communication that were previously separate to overlap and interconnect.

The new media has given us a globalisation that shortens the distance between Nigerians all over the world, this great development has given birth to the "death of distance", radically breaking the connection between physical place and social place, making physical location much less significant for our social relationships, and giving us the ability to establish virtual communities: Self-defined globalised societies and networks, which still resemble what we do in real life. Just as we exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct commerce, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk.

Television and newspapers are no longer the only means for building mainstream attitudes. What we must create in favour of a socio-political movement ahead of the 2011 election, will be a new media movement that has the ability to connect like-minded Nigerians at home and abroad, taking advantage of the internet to produce a grassroots globalization, centered on Nigerians around the world.

We must create a new media, used and transformed by its users, which then feeds into the process of guiding our emancipation, one that corresponds to the logic of consciousness and a mass society, which values conformity over individuality, and a tool in the democratisation of information. User generated websites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, online forums and blogs will play a big role in the recruitment and creation of a virtual community, as well as the webcasting of ideologies and debates that precedes the 2011 election.

Democratic process through popular culture

If Democracy means "popular government", then our popular culture can lead to our emancipation?

If we are eventually denied of a leader we deserve, if we cannot attain Babylon in this new media era, where Nigerians got thousands of virtual groups, all with a minimum of a thousand members, if by 2011 Yar'adua gets re-(s)elected and there is no revolution, if we are unable to make a meaningful use of all these tools we got in our hands, I’m then persuaded that there will never and ever be a revolution. I see people create new virtual groups every day to bring back the hope; Nigerians for Democracy, The new Nigerian revolution, Up-Rising, Light up Nigeria, Alliance for CHANGE, The Future, The Nigerian dream, Fix Nigeria. Et al. Creating more groups is not the issue, what we must do is to begin to deeply engage these numerous Nigerian populated groups.

We need to de-individualise all these numerous social groups into a decentralised body that doesn't exist in real time, the consciousness we must create, shall be in form of a slogan that must be collectively imbibed, as a branch of the cause of all the numerous groups, it shall provide them all with autonomy and sense of ownership. If these numerous awards will be useful for a more noble cause, let’s all begin the search for a leader for 2011, lets vote for a consciousness, let’s give a deadline as they usually do it, publicise it and make massive noise about it, let a committee of another trusted Nigerians that are well balanced in their heads, meet online, for reflexive processes until the selection of distinct candidates that are worthy of our vote is reached. This outcome should be edited into a memo that followed our collective decision.

This memorandum can then be disseminated through our daily journals, TV station without forgetting or course our online journals, blogs and social networks as well as the use of hackers. This new media campaign must be huge and collective; we all must support it, artists, activists, bankers, traders, producers, journalists, radio and TV presenters, designers, civil servants and all tired and frustrated Nigerians. We don't want any union leader or a celebrity human right activist to come feed us with more lies. We are not all obliged to be formally organized in support of the campaign, we can be loosely affiliated, but frequently utilize campaign advertising, eventually making it difficult for any political scientist to predict the election without favoring the collective decision and effort of the people. We must take our destinies into our own hands; put on our fisheyes, parrot beaks, and let's get our ball point sword close, 2011 must not provide us with another Nollywood actor, costumed as a leader.ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

(c) Qudus Onikeku

Sep 28, 2009

We live in a world devoid of varieties in expressive forms. A world where there is so much to express, but the only way to communicate our reflection and express our views, feelings, ideas and emotion, has been limited to either oral or literary means. However, the human mind often takes us to a conceptual and complex realm, which we sometimes are unable to convey in words. So one thing I have realized as a dancer is that, the body has a whole lot of intelligence that is able to express multitude of meanings in just one move or pose. These make corporal expressions the most significant and widely understood language of all time.

I dance to fulfill a need and quench a thirst for life. To live is like fleeing from one question to the other, hell is coupled with good intention, suffering and joy, love and hatred, normal winds of life. I trust in my wings because my answers are floating in my wind.

I like what I dance because I dance what I like, I dance when I most feel it become indispensable for me to let out my personal frustration, I don't get personal on the public dance floor and neither am I a coward that will go seek a hand in marriage and run back for his parents to arrange the marriage rites.

I dance what I think, I think what I dance, my dance is exact and underlined with truth, backed with intelligence and wide open to criticism at both ends. It’s my truth; it’s not necessarily the truth. It’s my truth so I'll defend it. If you like, you hate me for it, if you like, you kill me for it, I'll however be remembered for the values I defended.

I know what I dance, I dance what I know, I know what affects our societies today is the absence of air where it smells real bad, I know that the oppressed like back doors and escape routes. I know that nothing moves the oppressor than the naked truth. My dance stage has with time mutated into a space where I carefully chip in my thoughts and emotions. It’s an open gossip. It’s a private part that challenges the public arena.

I see myself pack a handful of sand amidst this endless desert and poured it all into the air, as small as my palms may seem, the sand still arrives at struggling with the bad odor in the atmosphere, and it rained down in dust particles. It touched everyone close to the space I occupy. Some smiled over it and took it all for fun but others dwelled over the dust as though they have no hands to dust away the dust.

If dance gestures can be weighed on a scale, mine weigh a ton, its velocity is speed over time, to every dance I dance, I leave room for an equal and opposite reaction from my audience. If you have issues with me, tell me, don't tell my friend, If you feel threatened by my version of the truth, get over it and let life pass through you, today it’s my stage, yesterday it was someone else's, so tomorrow life goes on, because I know change will never seize from being the only permanent element in life.

If we visualize our 4000 years human history per minute spent. If we scale this minutes spent in 4000 years, per good or bad human deeds. We'll realize how little impact our best or worst efforts have on the human existence and civilization.

...To live a fulfilled life is to dance what you feel

...only if you truthfully feel what you dance!

Sep 15, 2009

By his dance steps, you shall know Qudus

Curled from The Guardian Life Magazine, Edition 202,
Cover story for September 13 - 19, 2009
BY CHUKS NWANNE.

Born and raised in Lagos, dancer Qudus Aderemilekun Onikeku now considers himself a complete Lagosian, even when his parents originally hail from Abeokuta, Ogun State. “Until the age of 17, I had never stepped my foot out of Lagos. Despite my Abeokuta and Ijebu heritage, I still consider myself a full-time Lagosian.”

Qudus’ journey into the artistic world started at the age of five when he began to feel the hyperactive pulse and curiosity that sustains his adrenaline up till date. “I could vividly remember seeing a guy do a back flip during inter-house sport in my primary school. It’s not as if I’ve never seen better acrobats on TV, especially during Olympics games, but seeing someone close to me do it, gave me the audacity to attempt it again and again.” After series of falls, with injuries sustained, Qudus found himself jumping up and down in flips. “My flips sometimes raise the blood pressure of my mum and concerned elders around. This perhaps was the most honest period of performance for me, and in all I do, I still try to do everything to retrace that path again,” he enthuses.

With his kind of energy, Qudus described his primary school days as brilliant, yet he considers his hooliganism more dominant in those days. “I got pardoned most times for my brilliance,” he recalls. “It was a moment I really had to confront my energy by easing it on something external; the issue of positive or negative was not in my mind.” The decision by the mum of the young positively-rascal boy to move him from public to private school at the age of eight, finally paved way for the making of the Qudus of today. “I was taken to Brown Memorial Nursery and Primary School, Lagos; that was where I began to lose my old bad habits. After the entrance test, I was taken to Class Five instead of Four; I was glad that I would be finishing before my mates.”

Reality dawned on Qudus when he dropped from his usual first position in his former school to seventh. “This calmed me a whole lot; I realised that success is not served with crispy fried chicken and strawberry milk shake.” With the dream of becoming a Chemical Engineer at the back of his mind, Qudus approached his secondary education with more seriousness. “I once heard my siblings chat about how the oil workers live large. But that half-baked dream was flushed away when I discovered dance in my senior secondary. But instead of taking art courses, ego would not let me stay away from sciences. Yet, the only remarkable moment of my secondary school days was the fact that I was an active member of the Music and Theatre Art Club, where I was later the dance captain.”

By the time Qudus made up his mind to study Theatre Arts in the university, he met brick walls. “It was absolutely impossible to switch from the sciences to the arts, even when you can practically prove yourself; that was how I lost interest in the Nigerian educational system.” Left with no other option, Qudus began to seek knowledge in all possible angles. At a point, he became a regular at the French Cultural Centre workshops. He had a stint with the Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, before joining the renowned repertory dance troupe, Gongbeat Arts, where he remained until he got a job with an Ibadan-based dance company, The Alajotas, at the age of 17. “This was an essential period for both my artistic and intellectual upbringing. With Alajotas, the stark beauty of being away from one’s family confronted me; I began to gain the individuality I’ve continually been denied”.

Meeting Heddy Maalem at the French Cultural Center in 2004, gave a lifeline to Qudus’ dance career. “Heddy happens to be one of my mentors presently. He approached me for a contract proposition and since 2004 till date, I’ve been a permanent dancer with his Dance Company based in Toulouse – France. During tours with Heddy, I would engage him in a whole range of discussions. He is a father figure to me and I trust him. He was the one that gave me the idea of studying in a Circus Arts School, when I explained to him how I had let down my merit list admission to study Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Lagos in 2003.”

After few research on Circus Art Phenomenon that began to take over the performing art scene of France, Qudus finally decided to give the idea a trial in 2006. “I went for the selection at the National Higher School of Circus Arts, and fortunately, I was selected amongst the 19 successful ones out of the over 120 that took part in the process. On getting to Lagos, I shook my networks a bit and I got the full scholarship of the French Embassy for the two years period of my studies.” After three years of acquiring knowledge in the field, Qudus has resolved to return home to begin his one-man dance revolution.

“While in Chalons en Champagne in my little apartment all alone for three years, I dreamt, I wrote and I talked to myself; sometimes, I recorded my words. The gateway to the dance revolution in Nigeria was clear in my head. The more I remained abroad, the more I get closer to the Nigerian reality.” In 2007, Qudus started with Do We Need Cola Cola to Dance? project, touring round Africa. By 2008, he planned making ewaBAMIJO the next step, but was really busy with traveling. “The same thing was about to happen in 2009, but I said to myself, ‘this must not go past 2009.’

During my previous returns to Nigeria from time to time, I would find myself in the midst of poets, musicians, comedians, writers, journalists, photographers, painters, sculptors, actors as well as dancers. But I realised that, there is no genuine link bringing all these art genres together in Nigeria. “In this present day, where boundaries are beginning to fall away between visual, performing, graphic and literary arts, Nigerian artistes are still feeling comfortable in their various corners. Most of my works have never been about just dance. No, you will always feel the space of visual art, music, new media etc in my works. So, this is what informed the notion of having an interdisciplinary arts festival.

“The international arts scene is really getting really vicious, lacking fresh air and very boring. With ewaBAMIJO, we are doing everything possible to make the Nigerian arts scene begin to set a new pace, with fresh breeds, inspired by whatever happens on Lagos streets, and will in turn affect whatever happens in the arts world.” According to the dancer, the idea of ewaBAMIJO is to negate all conventional ideas and misconceptions of what the Euro-American power players think our art-face should look like. “We are not here to romanticise our beliefs; we are here to create something entirely different that fulfills our socio-economic and socio-cultural needs.

With this edition, we want to renovate the theories and praxis of contemporary art in our part of the world, to depart from the all pervasive discourse and fantasies of the art world.” Organized in partnership with the Creative Arts Department of the University of Lagos, ewaBAMIJO is scheduled to open October 27 through November 4. YK Projects, organizers of the event, has unveiled plans to make the event a bi-annual international festival. “We are not replicating or competing with other big arts festival already existing in Nigeria, but we seek to be a support and intellectual backing for the growing art network for Africans; ewaBAMIJO is more like a principle than any other thing. For that reason, we are going into a full partnership with the Creative Arts Department of the University of Lagos. All the events linked to ewaBAMIJO shall be taking place around both venues.”

To Qudus, ewaBAMIJO will make all the difference. “We want to set the pace for ourselves to start. We don’t know how we are going to do it, but we believe in the power of dreams. We shall continue to dream until we see the change we hope for. ewaBAMIJO is not just about dance, it’s about the power of dream, its about hope, its about the dance industry, its about creating a sustainable dance market for the dancers yet to come, its about doing what we believe in and about inspiring confidence in those who could stand up against those bad habits that have hindered our collective development as a people.”

Sep 14, 2009

Do we need Cola-Cola to dance.

Photos by Emeka Okereke

Sep 13, 2009

Time to cure us of the cure itself.

Puclished on www.saharareporters.com on 13th September, 2009.
As Time to cure us of the cure itself.

I have stopped listening to motivational speakers, or seeing an analyst, likewise a therapist, and all other so called experts who claimed to understand my life's trouble better than i do, since the last time "My Analyst" told me that I have ego problem, he said I need some attention, someone to probably save me from myself, the way he described it, he said i'm too much into my head, that i'm not easily led from my crazy ideas, and my tempers are just bizarre.

I looked at him furiously, I tranquilly picked up the wooden chair I was sitting on and carefully stroke it against his shinning forehead, his glasses that were thick enough to read my mind were broken into particles and all over the floor was filled with blood...

That was exactly what I got in mind for him, but I knew I wouldn't dare that, I just asked him “what's so strange if you found out that you were already a brainiac at the age of four ?” I had a brain and that was insane? I had a dream and that was atypical?

My Analyst thought he could put me in a box, and lock me up to himself, so he can say “...alright this is who you are” but I get him so pissed, 'cos my complexity is not just making his job easy. I asked again “what will you do if you have a temperament that will not just let you be, I mean one that could just turn your five year old dreams of BLUE to RED in just one hour? A temperament that doesn't conform to any written rule, culture, nation, notion, religion, philosophy, profession etc. One that makes an African feel American at times when in Europe, or feels European when in America and something else when in Africa, one that makes a dancer wear the cap of a circus artiste, take up the job of a writer and critiquing, in the next moment making documentary films and writing poetry and making street art, and taking up the expertees of a sociologist and preaching the gospel of Islam, simultaneously quoting Fela Kuti and the bible, spends all day listening to Bob Marley and Obesere while socializing on facebook and soliloquise on the performance stage. Yet trying so hard to remain simple, 'cos you are in the process of establishing your truth, accuracy and validation of something that circulates around your existence, which you can't yet verify if it is right or wrong".

My analyst will not give up, 'cos he need to authenticate his hard earned degrees, my analyst thought he was accessing a young man who is pretending to know what he wants. NO, that's where he got it all wrong, because one thing I know is that I am a successful young man that doesn't know precisely what he wants but doing all he could to reject completely those things he doesn't want.

These days i have constantly noticed that everybody want to prove to every other person that they are right and that the other is wrong, they want the other to know that they are able to demonstrate their own truth of existence (a.k.a. POV), so they begin to analyze, they begin to argue, they argue about everything and most especially about why they think others are wrong and trying to analyze who the other is. Meanwhile no one can actually tell you who you are, but who they think you are or want you to be.

I stop here to take a deep breath before i drill further into this philosophical pit, as i am aware that my blogs are silently mutating into public fora and alternative spaces for freedom and reflection, so if you are thinking right now that i can "HELP" you, then stick to me until you rot away as i continue my journey, i will not like to sway my readers without them being aware of this manipulation, and ultimately win them over, against their own will power. This is the weapon of the Analyst, just like the "Fascist".

The Fascist i refer to here is not the right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy, the Fascism that tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one nationals or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader with a strong demagogic approach. Well there might be a link, but this fascist is a phenomenon that took place elsewhere, something that could only happen to others, but not to us, its their problem.

So this is why my opinion refuse nationality or identity. Is fascism really a problem for others to deal with? We often want to be the one who seek security and a peaceful life, security even in where we allow our minds thought to visit, making us seem like the man who chop off his limbs in order to get an artificial ones, for he desperately need a life free of pain and troubles, the metal dream of a tranquil and conflict free existence, wanting to be so real that we set fire on reality itself. What about the fascist that is based on the desire to be led, to give a complete authority of our lives to someone else to legislate, the one that awards us every reason not to voice out our pains, even when we are pushed to the wall.

How then do artistes, activists, critics and other revolutionary militants deal carefully with this same fascisizing element we all carry along with us? how do we rid our speech and our acts, our hearts and our pleasure, of fascism? religious moralists sought to rid us of the fascism hidden somewhere in our soul, while these militants pursue the slightest trace of the fascism in the body, that leads them to state why the other is evil (a fascist, a capitalist, a communist, a corrupt leader. etc.) or what moral values should be, and hence, does that award them a righteous life? does that make them a judge?

However the modest fellow loves hiding places, secret path and back doors, everything that seems far away from him entices him as his world, his security, his refreshment; he understands how to keep silent and wait, how to complain and dream, how to be self deprecating and humble, how to survive by sanctifying every lie he has been fed with. This is the realm of the silent majority who has become the apparatus at which the powerful ones behind the closed doors use to express the fascist in them.

The powerful - at which the silent majority awards the legislation of their lives to - has endless time, whether we whine, howl, beg, weep, cajole, pray or curse, he listens. He is just a big ear minus a sympathetic nervous system and nothing touches him but the TRUTH. When we deceive ourselves on the notion of making the world a better place, we are prompted by an instinct of self affirmation and self preservation that cares little about affirming or preserving life. What constitutes our sickness today? is it not the absence of fresh air where it smells bad? When we do the diagnosis, won't we see the need to cure ourselves of the cure itself?

So if your Analyst ever tell you that you got an ego problem, sit back, and be tranquil, fixed your gaze on him watch his lips dangle with passion, like a performer of rap (rapid applied poetry) music and you will see smiles forcing their way out of your upper lips, meanwhile, be sure to pay little or no attention to his rapping, instead go into your world, feel so high, and even touch the sky.

Qudus ONIKEKU

Aug 28, 2009

Random thoughts from my American tour.

Memories of my American tour left me with series of questions that are simultaneously so broad and complicated, It is not that i have not been aware of the fact that, the core values of the west was built on how much they survived in trampling on the other. That the humanness of the west flourish on the basis of how much they can methodically examine in detail, the constitution of the other, explaining and interpreting the imperfection of the other without any sense of self and implication. That our history is written and shaped to favour the orientation at which the future is dreamt of by the powerful west. I mean an aspired future where the past can be totally erased and pretend some things never happened.

While in Latin America i realised that some people live today in a 'deracinated' world where they do everything they could to retain their roots, enforce 'black' consciousness on their citizens, even when majority of them are white, they call such consciousness 'Afro Brazilian', 'Afro Cuban', 'Afro Colombian' etc. And this consciouness is today becoming the landmark at which their nation flourish, brewing great sense of architectural aesthetics rooted in their beliefs, a kind of economic well being and market embedded on their cultural values, which makes every bank owning a cultural department, every corner you go there is a cultural center or a museum.

There are museums almost everywhere, to contantly remind them of who they are and how written history is filled with lies, almost every month has its own special important national celebration of one ORISHA (deity) to the other, which led to the millions of tourist popping in yearly, and adding to their economy and national GDP, merely by celebrating their own beliefs which the world largely refer to as CARNIVALS today, this awareness also led to the reason why many great soccer players are hailing from this region, Capoeira has become a world phenomenon, Salsa, Samba, Tango and just name them, they are all embedded on their sincere cultural values... AND THIS PEOPLE ARE THE DECEDENTS OF SLAVES, CAPTURED AND DERACINATED BY THE POWERFUL WEST....

AFRICA - Synergy of LIES.
Talking of the other side of the atlantic, there lived a bunch of people who i call the 'Loyal followers', they think they know so much about who they are, they were never deracinated, they never lost their roots, so they feel very relaxed, they accept all the lies they were being told by their loyal masters. They told them, "You will be called Africans," they replied "yes sir", they told them, "Your beliefs are so naive, how can you stoop so low to believe woods and all these ephemeral antiquities, your religion will be christianity to save you from barbarity," they replied "Ok sir", so they said "bring all those woods and tin and ceramics you believe in, we shall go dump them in our civilised dust bins called museums in paris, london, switzerland, italy, spain, new york, chicago, and other white cities, so we can show our kids how backward you guys are," they replied "that is so kind of you", they told them, you are not civilised so let us show you the way, they replied "we are very grateful".

So they begin to draw imaginary lines in the dirts for them, and told them "we shall call that borders", handed to them all a small booklet they call international passport, "it is not really your I.D but it shall stand as what we recognise you with when you cross your boundary, and when you want to cross to see your brothers across the line you shall go apply for a visa and pay so much money, don't ask what for..." but they didn't tell them it will be more complicated than that - "after all they will always be grateful to us, whatever we do". And surely they are grateful, they host township fiesta when they get a VISA (Validating Instrument Strictly for Africans) to finally go see where all their riches, memory and the civilised dust bins where their devalued values are dumped...

They continue to feed them with serious and expensive lies, and when a lie is that expensive, you can never imagine any fool investing so much in a mere lie. but this lies are so much important in order to cover some major suicidal truths, no one will let a toothpick go close the his eyes. However if lies suppress truth for twenty years, truth is a stubborn smoke, it shall surely surface one day. Fifty to sixty years ago, some stubborn black thinkers rose up to their masters and, they jab them a little, backed it with a smile and collect some of their things from them, the masters didn't fight much because they are wise, he feel so much confidence that their invested lies will never go off record and history, so they left them with books and documentary films rooted in lies, and they also left them with propositions of who they think will rule them better, now this Africans think they got 'their' continent, they think they are in control, they celebrate independence as if their collective life is any better, and now they think their ex-masters has suddenly turned so nice over night, they made them best friends and mentors, they run to them for counseling, they look up to them as role models, they admire them so much that they want to look just like them.

Now let's talk about the global warriors, slave masters or colonial masters, depending on what context we are looking at it from, maybe we should generally refer to them as "Magicians of the earth" capable of making lies look so real, they are aware of their body odor that requires they take their bath every now and then, they are quite aware that if these 'deracinated' lots and their 'loyal followers' that they steal so much from, if they ever get to 'meet' on an unaffected ground or in the absence of the 'Magicians of the earth', it will be disastrous, they don't mind a Fela kuti making noise with his very entertaining 'Afro'beat, they don't mind Sankara throwing his clenched fist in the air in cheap anger, they don't mind steve biko's rage leading him to 'write what he like' or any other for that matter, cos their lies are like heavens for them.

Africa and Latin America. Two sects located on the southern hemisphere, suddenly became not only very far from each other, but highly expensive to connect in today's world, the closest people in all ramification; Culturally, economically, historically and contemporary belief system. What other truth can clean up the lie of telling a man that his 'god' is false, because its not a white 'God'? They drew the world map, whether it is accurate or another lie, how can we tell? but take a close look at the world map, and tell me who is in the center of it? Ok take a really close look at the world map, there, yes right there, the atlantic or what do they call it, that's a huge gap between America and Europe, which my intuition tells me, is the exact point where a huge ocean separates us, if you check out the globe, you will notice that the distance between Australia and America is not much at all if you go "anti clockwise", so how come it takes a whole day to fly to australia? Latin America and Africa are both on the southern hemisphere, how come there is no direct flight linking both? is it that Africa and its diaspora are not in good terms? how come everything must pass through Europe? Well, i'm still soliloquising, but my head is filled with too much lies that i don't know what to believe in no more.

Aug 5, 2009

What's in a NAME?

This piece is Inspired by the book i'm reading presently
WHY YOU ACT THE WAY YOU DO. By Tim Lahaye.

When we cry, we don't get blind by our tears, our tears may hurt but they also purifies our vision. I am an artiste, and i am a mortal, i am not perfect and i have weaknesses, i'm aware that i could to be the nicest person on earth and i can be the most cruel as well, so everyday of my life, every night i ask myself "what have you made of today?" my retrospect never leave me in regret, i believe strongly in destiny and there is nothing like coincidence, everything happens for a purpose that i don't bother to question.

In examining myself, since the time i was able to do so, i have come to terms with myself, i am that i am, i am Qudus, Qudus is my name, and does this mean more than what it sounds like? i don't know, does it have further significance to who i wanna be? i don't know but it has become a belonging that i have an ordeal to shield. My name is a huge responsibility and i like people to attribute respect to it, so this is why i respect myself.

Qudus is choleric and Taurus and Nigerian, a muslim, the last son of Onikeku and an Artiste and heterosexual and all the things that forms my identity, singularity and the definition of my name. Qudus is quick, active, practical, strong willed, and very independent. Qudus is decisive and very opinionated, He finds it easy to make decisions for himself and for others. Qudus is an extrovert, but not nearly intense, Qudus thrives on activity, He does not need to be stimulated by His environment, but rather stimulates His environment with His endless ideas, plans, goals and ambition, Qudus does not engage in aimless activities for He has a practical, keen mind, capable of making sounds, instant decisions or planning worthwhile projects. Qudus does not vacillate under the pressure of what others think, but takes a definite stand on issues and can often be found crusading against some social injustice or subversive situation. Qudus is not frightened by adversities; in fact, they tend to encourage Him. His dogged determination usually allows him to succeed where others have failed.

Qudus' emotional nature is the least developed part of Him, Qudus does not sympathise easily with others, nor does he naturally show or express compassion. He is often embarrassed or disgusted by the tears of others and is usually insensitive to their needs.
Qudus invariably seeks utilitarian and productive values in life. Not given to analysis, but rather to quick, almost intuitive appraisal. Never take Qudus on in a debate unless you are assured of your facts, for He will make mincemeat of you, combining verbal aggressiveness and attendance to detail. Qudus is extremely competitive and forceful in all that he does, he is a dogged researcher and is usually successful, tends to look at the goal for which he is working without being subdued by potential pitfalls and obstacle in His path.

Equally as great as His strengths are his weaknesses. Qudus is apt to be autocratic, a dictator type who inspires admiration and hate simultaneously. He is usually a quick-witted talker whose sarcasm can devastate others. Qudus is a natural born crusader whose work habit are irregular and long. Qudus harbors considerable hostility and resentment though he learns to control His anger.

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT YOURSELF?
I RECOMMEND YOU READ THIS BOOK TOO.

Ma Salam.

Aug 3, 2009

Aug 1, 2009

Qudus with ASA at Olympia

Jul 17, 2009

What PHCN can do - Generator can't do it better. #LIGHTUPNIGERIA

CREATING A MIDDLE CLASS OR A RIP-OFF? Growing up in Nigerian, the notion of a middle class was almost non-existing, we were meant to believe that you are either amongst the upper class or the lower class, if your father was heading a petroleum company, or a top politician/military personnel, if he is a top banker or a CEO of a chain of successful business, then you get the reward of being in an upper class family, but anything dissimilar to any of the above métiers in a Nigerian society, you get the malediction of being in a low class family. Those days there were no middle class but livelihood and basic services available for the lower class were very reasonable for their standard of living, The elements summed up then, to determine if you belong to the lower class or the higher class was the high standard of living, if weighed against the minimum wage earned by the supposed working class and the liquid cash in circulation. Basic conveniences of life then like a cable television, a mobile phone, a cozy car or a cozy apartment with a regular internet connection, all were not only high-priced but also impossible for the common man to have easy access to.

For many Nigerians living outside Nigeria in present tense and has not visited Nigeria lately, there is a certain imagined image of our people back home, if i choose not to seek hiding place behind my words, this image is so much close to hardship, beggary, frustration, misery, wretchedness and dissatisfaction, this image is carefully formed out of the garbage life many Nigerians live in the diaspora, which is bear in comparison with the agitations and solicitations of our friends and fans for this same fantasy land at which a good number of Nigerians populate. I'm not trying to analyze or paint things with extremity, but simply make use of a common sense, as we know clearly that the kind of life an average Nigerian lives before his expedition to his supposed promise land, can never be so much mismatched with his merited livelihood abroad, if we add up one to be equal to one, and we are as well aware of how

many Nigerians who's got TRAVEL OUT OF THIS COUNTRY! as the numero uno of their wish list, then those in the diaspora get tempted to sum all these up to formulate an image of the life people still live in Nigeria, of course without accuracy.

In the past few years, i no longer consider myself as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, nor living in the diaspora, and at the same time, i am a Nigerian living in both Nigeria and in the diaspora. During my subsequent visit and mind travel to Nigeria, i have constantly engage my friends in discussions and carefully paint an image of an existing middle class at which many living abroad cannot imagine, a middle class drifting on a roller skate much more expensive than most living on a similar middle class in the diaspora. How then do we determine who drifts on this roller skate, without going too deep into a survey, lets just state some basic signs of who belong to an existing middle class in a city like Lagos. As a bachelor or a spinster, if you load your phone (whatever phone) with at least 500 naira recharge card a day, but not just that, if you have a "normal car" constantly wound up and you are able to fuel it before it get close to the E sign, your regular monthly subscription includes a cable tv, an internet connection (minimum of 9pm to 9am) and able to stock food stuffs in your cupboard, no matter where you live - As a family man, you have the above responsibilities plus your kids attending a relatively average private school where they could afford to teach them computer studies, French language and some extra curricular activities like drama, dance and music. Then you belong to a mid

dle class and above.

However, in the midst of all these class formation, in the midst of everything that separate the men from the boys. Our queue and bid for the best electrical power generators, hunt for diesel and fuel every night and the hope for an regular power supply has brought us all together as helpless masses. It no longer matters weather you are rich or poor, we've all began to get used to our sufferings in disguise, we struggle to pay for overpriced cable TV, internet and we complain of how expensive they are, but we realise that further shit happens when we are unable to watch our cable TV or charge our laptop, because PHCN (power holding company of NIGERIA) holds electricity to show how powerful they are. Now all Nigerians opt for a way out. Yes a powerful electrical power generator, what PHCN can do, a generator can do better. This philosophy has been the mother of our continuous torture in Nigeria, we forget that using generator to charge laptops is as good as digging a grave for the life span of our highly over priced laptops. Each time i take my Macbook Pro to Nigeria, i pay the price of loosing my charger pack which costs 90€ at each return to europe where i'm sure of getting something original again, then i realise that darkness in Nigeria is not the absence of light, but the presence of corruption.

Its GOLD and DIAMOND to be a Nigerian nowadays. This is what informed a group of very well meaning and determined young Nigerians to stand up to change bad habits. They

call the insurgence "Light Up Nigeria" with a slogan ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I discovered them on facebook and their mini manifesto caught my attention "Please support the cause and join the revolution. Together we can make a difference. Perhaps, the most common question heard is “Why an online revolution?” An online revolution such as this is the safest, cheapest and most collaborative form of protest we can all engage in. While our voice is online, we are creating greater awareness to the issue at hand and given the small world phenomenon, we know our cries and protests will get to the right people. We need the likes of TV stations such as CNN, BBC, AIT and radio stations to know and broadcast details about this revolution. Once we are successful at this, we can commence with a street movement as need be. At this point, it is worth nothing that Nigeria can’t be lit up in a day but with great minds thinking and working together with the support of the higher authorities and available funding, we will see the outcome of our movement. So join the revolution and tell your friends, family, enemies and random people on the street to LIGHT UP NIGERIA. Enough is Enough!! Join the movement on twitter: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=lightupnigeria. Join the facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104082514556"

How beautiful. I found it really encouraging, Here is my testimony. I immediately changed my profile picture and updated my status quote on facebook, i joined the group, and i wrote a personal propaganda and sent to those who matters on facebook. "Nigerians both rich and poor, spends billions of dollars annually to provide themselves electricity, in a nation where there is suppose to be a government. Nigerians has been continuously conquered by Nigeria. Now many Nigerians are saying 'Enough is Enough !', Anarchism is the word. You don't have to be Nigerian to join the #Lightupnigeria cause currently on facebook and twitter.

THIS IS A PLEAD IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY. IF YOU WANT TO FEEL WHAT MANY

NIGERIANS FEEL DAILY. TRY TO HAVE A SLEEP IN A DELIBERATE DARK ROOM, TURN UP THE HEATER TO 30°C. TURN ON A METAL/ELECTRONIC MUSIC AND DIFFUSE CARBON MONOXIDE, TO SIGNIFY THE AIR AND SOUND POLLUTION AROUND YOU. DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WITH POWER GENERATING DEVICES. SO THIS TELLS US THAT NIGERIA PRODUCES MORE DAMAGE TO THE EARTH THAN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES. The volume of noise and the amount of FUMES created by these exhaust and disposed into the the atmostphere everynight in Nigeria, is enough for a climate change, because your neighbor has one, you've got one if not two, all the factories have got theirs, the churches and mosques have at least one, all shops and business outlets. Nigeria has become an insane society. How far can we go before we know

that "enough is enough" OUR NATION HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY PIRATES. NIGERIANS MUST CONQUER NIGERIA. PLEASE WE NEED A CHANGE, WE NEED YOUR VOICE."

One of the notable responses that followed my one man propaganda was a comeback from the renowned Aljazeera broadcaster. Riz Khan ..."Hi Qudus -Thanks for the posts on Nigeria. I recognise it's a really important topic - since it's such an important nation (my Nigerian friends always remind me when I've not done a show on it for some time!). I will definitely look into when we can revisit some of the issues you've raised. It's a shame that things are so unbalanced there. Please keep putting forward ideas, and we'll try to get to them. Best wishes.

Riz."

Voilà. You don't have to be old to be wise, and a bird don't have to die before it flies. I have heard people say a drop of water makes a mighty ocean, but... Only if there is consistency. I also heard that Galaxy TV in Nigeria and BBC are following this. Friends all, what PHCN can do, generator can't do it better. How can we see into vision 2020 when we are in total darkness? Darkness in Nigeria is not the absence of light, but the presence of corruption. If this burning train ever takes to the road, its a signal for a greater change to come in our nation. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SUPPORT THIS CAUSE ?

Jul 11, 2009

Memories worth sharing.

There are some memories that hurts, it could be positive or negative, Yes positive memories do hurt most, some people we met for a very little period and other as long as a lifetime, yet its beautiful to share some wonderful memories of them with them. I Dedicated my facebook status to the memory of all the wonderful people i have met on this earth, and asked them all to post a comment with a memory worth sharing. "If you are reading this, even if we don't speak often, lets bring good times back to life, It can be anything you want... YOU SHOULD ALSO TRY IT AND YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT WHAT YOU WILL GET. It was really amazing to hear the comments... when i woke up to see them, i got teary eyes, as i read through i got a flash of memories worth bringing back to life with everyone of them. I've been to 32 countries around the world, even though i can't remember them all but some memories will never leave me...

Tracy Robinson:
We have never met, but i feel like i have known you for lifetime before, my joy for Q'd is the way you romance complete strangers into friends and unite us all in harmony.
Peace back at ya my brother.

@ Tracy, its really funny cos we've never met but one thing i have realised is that, the new media has brougth us the ultimate news of 'the death of distance' i no longer differentiate between my Cyber friends and my real time friends, one thing they all have in common is that they rarely see me, and i usually talk to them all online or at most on phone. I've always been tripped at your love for my country and your activism. Thanks for always sharing your opinion on a wide range of subject that you don't even know i am aware of.

Awoniyi Temitope:
do u realise there is no way u will tell ur success"story" that my name will not be mentioned....... Remember this... When i noticed ur talent then among MUTAC uncle Aliu called me to tell me that we should have a dance captain..."non-unanimously" if i will say, i accepted u should be but ilk such as Ogbolu. Yinka, Femi and their cohorts never wanted this recognition of yours cos they negatively envied d stuff u were made of, so they where not happy with my judgement till today they still call me Qudus' padi ...thank God am proud to "wear" that tag 2day..lolssssss

@Awoniyi. Mr talent hunt, no one asked you for endorsement, all we asked for is a memory worth sharing olodo...lol, anyway you know your own case is a different one, we can count millions of memories to share since 1996, but bro let me tell you one thing that will never go away from my subconscious, in 2001, i was to resit for my SSCE exams, and the exam dates clashed with my residency in far away badagry for the black heritage festival with the National troupe, i called upon you and with all the risk involved, my face in the id card, while we don't really look alike lol, yet you did it and not just did it, but passed the exams, when i think about that level of affection, it makes me forgive some crazy things you do from time to time... lol, love you bro.

Isabelle Holmes:
Dancing with you, Kat, Kingsley and Vincent at Williams and freaking out when we lifted each other cuz I just couldn't get the timing right. Loving every moment with you and hoping for many more.

@Isabelle. There is something really special about you, and i hope to realise what it is one day, Williamstown has every attributes of a really boring place, but the way you transformed it to a life time memory seems extraordinary, later on we extended it to jacob's pillow, where i learnt more about you, your love, your compositor dad and photographer mum, what a beauty. I remember the day we were to say goodbye, with you kingsley and myself driving around, looking for a place to sit and eat. and i knew it was just a way to stretch the goodbye hug..; lol, but i'm glad we shall be seeing in Miane soon.

Yordanka Evgenieva:
We met on a small backstreet in Downtown Cairo about a year ago. You were performing "Do we need Cola Cola to dance?" and I was stunned by what I saw. I remember we chatted a bit after the performance, sitting on the sidewalk, about the meaning of dance, the craziness of Cairo and something else maybe. Words I often forget, but beautiful, meaningful movements like the ones I saw that afternoon, always stay in my memory.

@Yordanka, you are one of those few people in my life experience, that i met for less than 2hrs and still remembers the time we shared vividly, yes it was in Cairo in June 2007, not last year, after my street performance in from of the townhouse gallery, you and your friend whose name i can't remember had a nice discussion and that was a nice moment... and one more thing, each time i watch the film that followed that tour, i see your face again... lol.

Dayo Kammy Onikeku:
We met through our lovely mama and papa

@Kammy. The big BROTHER, what other memory do i need to share with a die hard brother that has been there since i was born, lol, wow, if i begin to tell you all the memories i have in head right now, fb will need to give me extra sheet...

Due to my early vagabond nature, that made me a nomad from the age of 17, most of the best moment i can share with you happens during our childhood, wow this is very hard, but i'm on it, lol. I remember how much we used to fight, over everything, how i used to be this over stubborn tiny little boy, always want to have the last word, expecially when you get really raged at the fact that you are my elder, so i must respect that, and we will fight as if that will determine who is older, even though, most times i get your punches real hard but i think i learnt how not to cry with you, yes hard guy. When we happen to be on the road to mum's shop, i can remember clearly, you will tell me "don't walk with me, don't let people think you are my brother..." lol, then you will cross to the other side of the road, and say "if you follow me i will kill you..." lol, yet i will follow u, and u'll cross again until i finally get fed up, then i will say "who is even following you, you too don't follow me".

When i remember those moments, i will laugh and laugh alone, cos i know they mean nothing now, cos even with all those dramas, i still remember leaving my school very early to come to your school to see all the people you talk about at home, i remember going all the way to see you play soccer, i used to be filled with pride and joy seeing you on the field of play, i just don't know whatever happened to your soccer legs now lol, cos you'd have been really great. Bro i love you and really proud to have a brother like you and i believe in you.

Lailah Masiga:
Danse l'Afrique Danse !- Paris...never knew you before that..just an intro next to the lifts at the hotel and hence a friendship and groupieness. Then... Your shocked face walking outta JKIA (Jomo Kenyatta Int. Airport)... I bet you didnt think I'd come lol... Oh the lovely groupie moments that followed... and am still your friend and you mine. Above all, your down to earth manner...I love love love. So when can new 'good times' be created oga?

@Lailah, Karibu yunbani, my lovely sister, my sister full of pride and respect for herself, so how can anybody meet you and not identify that, ok this is funny, i think this is what i identified in you and Isabelle, ladies that make you want to respect every other ladies, the real memory of mine is when we met again in Nairobi, wow that was so much great time, Nairobi seem like Lagos with u around all the time. Thanks for being a friend forever.

Juliet Seun Ajayi:
I took intr. In you cos you have something that i so desire to use but i have not been bold enough to step out and now i feel i'm way above that age even though i'm 27 yrs now but somethng on the inside keeps tellng me that i can still do it even if its for a while, bro love you, keep the good work up :-)

@Juliet, Thank you very much for that revelation, i've never met you, and we've never spoke, but hey you belong to my human family and may the Almighty continue to give us all the strenght to inspire confidence in others, both those we know and those we do not know. plenty Regards.

Kafayat Quadri:
Yes, We met at PoetryPotter and I saw your performance with the Crown Troupe that u did alone and then watched the one u did with a lady on stage with Asa; it was beautiful.

@Kafayat, I remember we had a quick chat at PoetryPotter, even though there were many people on me after my performance, i was really glad to see you around at the National theatre. Thanks for the encouragement.

Alli Hajarat:
This is one memory that is very constant in my mind and gives me joy everytime, but you know we met more than once, the first time was before we were born, when God did a formal introduction between us, i remembered he said, "hajarat, here is your soul mate", thank u for bringing this back, no regrets whatsoever knowing you, i will do it all over again, if possible. Love you loads

@H.R the big APPLE, lol Don't know what to say about you, its like sharing the memories of myself with myself, lol, cos you already know any thing i will say right now, maybe i should talk about the first day we met at Ikoyi. In your Friday attire, i tripped for God's artistry that day; you looked immaculate, perfect, unexplored, pure and innocent; i wonder if you've ever walked under Lagos sun, or you've created your own winter around you, i sat under the 'la pallet' of the french cultural canter after the french class, and as you walked down from the class, you cat-walked towards me even though i'm not afraid of height, i felt like i was looking down from the top of a mountain.

Even when i perform for thousands of people, i know no stage fright, your audience paralysed me. I was staring into your doll-like eye balls, your snow white teeth, your pointed nose, your kissable lips, i was so convinced that i will be unable to understand whatever falls out of your lips, perhaps it will be some angelic codes that only Dan Brown will be able to decode. The greatest shock came when you opened your mouth to say our normal 'Hi', gosh... So earthy, even more surprised when you asked if i'll teach you French. I thought the divinity in you will understand all the languages of this world and above... lol, knowing you is really a great gift from God, God bless the day we met.

With love from your humble extravagant lover, thanks for making this happen, cos if you'd said NO on the 17th of January 2006, we wouldn't have known what we are missing in our lives.

KISSES AND BIG HUG.

LOVE YOU ALL.

Jul 6, 2009

ewaBAMIJO : CALL FOR PROPOSALS

ewaBAMIJO : CALL FOR PROPOSALS AND SUBMISSION OF NEW/EXISTING WORKS

WHO WE ARE.Yk Projects is a small scale organisation, legally registered and operates between Nigeria and France as an Artistic entity, it constantly re-unites new generation artists from different sectors of the art, for the execution and dissemination of artistic and socio-cultural projects, all with the intentions of creating an alternative landscape for the local audience to be aware of the arts through out door performances, new media and publications.
Yk Projects has left her imprint in the subconscious of many around the globe, getting more involved in the contemporary dance and circus art discourse in Africa, Europe and America at large, through stage performances, street happenings, archives of dance related materials, documentary films, articles, blogging, workshops and participation in big festivals and conferences.
ACTIVITIES
Our main activities include creations and performances (Mainly Dance, New circus art and Street arts with the fusion of other media), Coverage and documentation of art related profiles for media and archival purposes, event organizations such as ewaBAMIJO, public jams, workshops and conferences.

ewaBAMIJO.

ewaBAMIJO is a bi-annual festival for interdisciplinary arts, specially dedicated to infecting the city of Lagos and establishing relationships through DANCE, CIRCUS, COMEDY, MUSIC, DANCE DRAMA, SPOKEN WORD, PERFORMANCE ART and other interdisciplinary art forms, under one dance umbrella, that brings about conferences, debates, film screening and performances. EBJ 2009 will hold from 27th to 31st October 2009.

Since 2005 Yk Projects organised EBJ locally in Lagos, with the aim of expanding and merging the dance frontiers with other local artistes. In 2005 and 2006, EBJ was organised as a one-day event that gathered artistes of different genres, amongst which are dancers, musicians, comedians, poets, actors and journalists, to come under one dance umbrella, as means of enforcing our collecting impact on the society. EBJ will later become a bi-annual and international event from 2009, but still dedicated to local development.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS.
The Self Imagining of EBJ is an étude in negation. Neither global nor local; Neither Western nor African; Neither mainstream nor independent, Neither tourist spectacle nor high art. Not multiculturalism; Not tribalism; Not showcase of new stars; Not competition for superiority; Not a patriotic celebration of our heroes and wins... With this edition, we call for the renovation of the practices and theoretical interface of contemporary art around the world, to depart from its all pervasive socio-political discourse and fantasies, but work together with other kind of artists, scholars, students, critics and our audience, to discover new modes of thinking and develop new analytical tools for dealing with the arts world under our circumstances, and bring attention to the 'limits of globalisation'.

ewaBAMIJO has several components that revolve around this year’s theme:

1. New/Existing Works.
2. Commissioned Works.
3. Invited Works (strictly by invitation).

We are inviting interested Artistes from all over Nigeria to apply to participate in the New/Existing Works and/or with a Commissioned Work.

NEW/EXISTING WORKS.
For the 2009 edition of ewaBAMIJO, we wish to present original boundary-breaking, cutting edge, socially-engaged performance works to people from all walks of life, including the media, and provide a platform for Dancers, Actors, Musicians, Comedians, Poets, Circus artistes, Performance artists as well as Spoken word artists, to collaborate with others from different backgrounds and disciplines in making innovative, provocative, thought-provoking, non-commercial performance works; We are particularly, though not exclusively, interested in collaborative interdisciplinary works that reunites two or more artistic expressions. Please note that we do not accept works less than 15 minutes or more than 30 minutes.

COMMISSIONED WORKS.
We are also calling for proposals for new performance works. Site-specific works that could be performed in public and non conventional spaces. We are not looking for ‘plays’ or specific 'dance pieces' in this context, but Performance art pieces, performance installations, public space acts, improvisations, road shows etc. made by interesting collaborative teams or individuals will attract our interest.

If this project appeals to you please apply with a detailed proposal indicating which component you wish to apply for, outlining the form and the content of the piece, the creative team, the type of venue and size of performance. Technical details if necessary, C.Vs, clear photographs of the creative team or one that represents the piece should be included, an audio or video sample of your work would be advantageous. Your proposal must be clear and convincing. Proposals should be submitted online through proposals@ewabamijo.com, and it MUST reach us latest by 10th of August 2009.

Only selected works shall be contacted before 15th of September 2009. Selected participants should be ready to collaborate with other disciplines. The creative team of ewaBAMIJO might find different proposals from two or more distinct artists, propositional to merge ideas, e.g A dance piece with a poet, a musician with a dancer... but no decision shall be taken without your consent.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Regards.

Qudus ONIKEKU
Artistic Director and Project coordinator
ewaBAMIJO

Jul 1, 2009

Qudus' Performance in Sao Paolo

The itinerant dance of Qudus Onikeku
by Deborah Rocha · 25 June 2009

Round squares, uneven grass yards, narrow streets and dead-end alleys. Launched randomly at the vivifying tension of streets, two dancers and a group of performing artists give start to the first movements of a loose choreographic scene, improvised, attractive and free of academicism. In a few minutes, pedestrians, garbage men, wagoners, beggars and workers – potential spectators – stop their own movements and, out of curiosity, gather around the newest space created for dance. The urban scene is part of the documentary Do We Need Cola-Cola to Dance, produced in July 2007, in African countries, by the YK Projects, a collective of artists of the new Nigerian generation, living or working in France.

Ahead of the collective is Qudus Onikeku, winner of the Future Awards 2009 (Nigeria) Dancer of the Year award. At age 17, he left for France, where he graduated at the Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque as dancer and acrobat, with a full scholarship from the French government. Parallel to his graduation, he was a resident artist at Gongbeat Artes, in Lagos, where he was born. Six years later, during the process of returning to his own African culture, he was faced with difficulties and issues revolving around the role of art and dance in the current context. What is an artist? Who and where is his audience? What is our stand on the global debate? Why do we study abroad if our audience is in Africa? How do we use the knowledge we acquire in the return to our homeland? When will we stop depending on the West to assure the survival of our talents?

With a body language composed by elements of capoeira, circus and Lagos street dance, Qudus took a contemporary dance free of stereotypes to unconventional spaces, places the growing art network hardly reaches, which contributes to the development of local initiatives. The collective, which has the support of Prince Claus Fund, in the Netherlands, carried out interventions in public spaces in Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya and Cameroon, along with a video artist, a photographer and a sound technician. The performances were improvised and non-official, with little or no advertisement, in a kind of revival of old itinerant theaters.

The documentary has been screened in Lagos, Massachusetts, Kinshasa, Chigago and participated in the 24hours24Artist online festival, in Texas. It was screened for the first time in Brazil at Espaço Matilha, in São Paulo, on June 8. After the screening, Qudus took part in a debate with the audience, which included members of CNAC (Centre Nacional des Arts du Cirque), of the hip hop community and musicians like Simone Sou, with whom Qudus performed an intervention in the center of São Paulo, on June 13. The partnership with the percussionist, who has already worked with Brazilian musicians Itamar Assumpção, Chico César, Zeca Balero, Zélia Duncan and most recently, Os Mutantes, resulted in two performances. One was in front of Galeria do Rock, near Largo Paissandu, and the other one was at Viaduto do Chá, between 12 and 16 o´clock, a time of intense pedestrian movement in the area. Both artists met for the first time during the launching of the documentary in São Paulo and got briefly acquainted in a second encounter before the performance. The public stopped to watch the performance and some people even interacted with Qudus.

After the experience in São Paulo, the Nigerian artist will follow to Belo Horizonte, Bogotá, Buenos Aires. In July, he will be in New York City, where he will screen the documentary and perform with local artists. His project is to keep travelling with this kind of work and explore the involvement of African artists in the debate and development of the art market in African, in a way that is not submissive to European or North-American patterns, but rather committed to the understanding of their own values. Qudus work originated Ewa Bamijo, a dance and performing arts meeting that takes place every two years and is happening this year in Lagos, Nigeria, from October 27 to 31.

“This project is, first of all, an imagined solution for a highly personal issue, that disturbed my soul as a Young African creator and breaks the barriers between the artist and his audience and vice versa”, says Qudus. “I believe there is a powerful connection between artists and human rights activists. Both can rise against status quo to say what must be said in the name of humanity”, he asserts. It´s worth following the work of this young artist and the continuity of his actions in the increasing space dedicated to urban performance in places like Africa and Brazil.

Jun 27, 2009

There will be no REVOLUTION !

Published on Sahara Reporters on 27th June, 2009 as There will be no REVOLUTION !

Why do Nigeria even need a Revolution?

Lately, I have eloquently engaged people on different fora over my musings on the possibility of the Nigerian revolution, and I have finally come to terms with the fact that there will be no revolution in Nigeria. But what else could be required of a nation where one must bribe a worker before he performs the duty he was employed for? What is required of a nation where there is no respect for civil rights, just as there is no respect for our fellow human beings and their freedom of speech? no Democracy, no development. A people who cannot be convinced that those with different social and sexual orientation have a right and dignity to be different and alive, how then do you begin to tell them that they deserve socio-political freedom? A people embedded in 'Up NEPA' mentality, jumping in euphoria when the least of their basic amenity as a citizen is given to them.

Nigeria is surely overdue for a purge, the problem is that Nigerians themselves are too corrupt; they are either too fat to be bothered, or too skinny to lift a plume, and above all, too cowardly to ignite a revolution. If our indocility could not make brave ones like Fela or Soyinka, or even Ribadu take us safely to the promise land, is it our generation filled with a bunch of big-mouthed Philistines that will provide such hero? The revolution i dreamt about is not absolutely about a thirst for blood on the land, but what other DRAMATIC CHANGE will forcibly overthrow, not only to establish a new political system but to transform and re-orientate an entirely corrupt society and social order in favour of a new system that will replace the status quo?

We are SICK and TIRED.

No revolution in a SICK and TIRED nation; Sick Youth with Tired elders...

For the Abatis* and the Bankys*, please do the equation with me. A bunch of self deluded Youth + Disillusioned adults = No space for revolution. 'For record purpose', this piece is might as well be considered as my rejoinder to the article 'A Nation's Identity Crisis' by Reuben Abati in the The Guardian on Sunday, June 21, 2009 and Banky W's response on his blog, June 22, 2009.

I was alerted by a well respected brother about the existence of this article, with all exuberance and eagerness to finally discover the Reuben Abati that my ears are filled with, I read the article over dinner and realised it wasn't an article really worth losing sleep over. It only showed how Nigerians love to reminisce about a synthetic day of yore. I have no patience for that these days. If I want to be generous, I will say 90 percent of our so-called elite elders are a waste of space, a storm in a tea cup. I don't bother with tea cups. If more people, even if they were writers wrote well, and I mean well and not terribly, then we would have something to talk about, so on that note i said goodnight to myself in my cosy hotel room.

The greatest shock came when I realised how much uproar this article has caused amongst the Bankys* of our time, who crept on this article until it became pandemic all over the search engines. I asked myself, is it really worth the energy? but my question came too late, this phenomenon has already taken over Google itself, but to me these debates are really writ-large beer parlour conversations. Since my public banter with Chude Jideonwo of the Future Awards, I have noticed that many of my generation rarely comment on substantive topics that demand actual thinking, because many are incapable of such thought patterns and processes - for quick confirmation, go take a look at an article titled "D’BANJ & HIS LIFE OF INFIDELITY", on facebook alone there are 280 comments on it - The pint is not that we are not intelligent, The disaster however is that we just don't think. A thoughtless statement like this article that began by eulogising a colonial heritage and looking for the lost 'eria' in 'naija', will make us pile up like area boys that had just sighted a goods container driving into their territory. Yet, these are our so-called educated class. Give me a break, /Sigh/. What kind of revolution are we waiting for?

The Power of culture.

There will be no revolution in a nation oblivious of the Power of culture...

There will be no revolution in a nation whose inner spirit is not embedded in her cultural values, her inability to understand and appreciate her beliefs and values will lift no feather, to apply them humanly to our daily lives, and to explore the human experience in all its richness. There will be no revolution until our so called elders in high places begin to teach ordinary people that art is valuable, that its not something that the rich have in their own worlds, and that access to the arts it the secret to a high quality and satisfying life, that the human life and the distinctive human potential is empty without these values and virtues.

Standards and values are an integral part of any culture; hence, culture is the bedrock supporting every development, it is a tool for emancipation and holds true for equal rights, responsibility for future generations, freedom of speech, and democracy. Our cultural heritage is generally associated with archives, works of art and monuments. In times of need, music, writings and other works of art can be a beacon of hope and comfort. Monuments and art treasures make a shared past visible and thus strengthen our need for a better future.

Through access to the arts we learn to make choices, learn to criticise, to discriminate between the meritorious and the meretricious, between good and evil. Through them we determine which endeavours are worthy of our best efforts, and ultimately we learn to know ourselves, our humanity socially, culturally as well as individually. In the absence of the knowledge behind the power of culture, there will be no such thing as development or revolution.

However, how much grounds has been in place for A culturally deprived generation such as ours? with no poetry, no theatre, no museum, no art, in short no culture. How much respect does an elder generation earns from the younger, when it refuses to make available its shoulders for the attainment of Babylon, they jealously hold on to the baton, willing to release it only to their children and the children of their rich friends, even when they are not qualified.

So if what we cherish is the money making nation of mediocre standards, isn't it so easy? already the Bankys* of our generation are fulfilling the book with their bad odour music, all in the name of 'commercial strategy', and as long as we the people are stupid enough, not to be able to figure out how much of an apparatus we are to their marketing gimmicks, there will be no freaking revolution. So let's collectively turn our monuments and art treasures into massive beer parlours, and franchise sections of them to some big boys, who are ever willing to pimp them into five star discotheques and private parks. Perhaps then we can finally create monumental versions of SWE bar or KOKO lounge crowded with more Abatis* and Bankys*, sparring and ranting over bottles of Gulder, and creating more social talks for our blogs and talk about on our social networks.

Come to think of it, in a nation peopled by a mass, oblivious of the power of their own culture, of what importance is there in keeping the National museum then? what is there to preserve in our National theatre? of what use are the numerous art councils and indigenous cultural centres that litters the whole nation? Visit these dust bins that harbours our supposed cultural heritage to see what our heritage and history has been reduced to, then you will understand how much we have mixed up sentiments for patriotism.

MY PEOPLE NO DEY FEAR !
Fela sang... 'My people sef dey fear too much, we fear for the things we no see...' Well, that was his generation, in this new media era 'we no even fear for the things wey we dey see everyday,' if not ASA will not be compelled to declare that 'there is fire on the mountain and nobody seems to be on the run...'

Noise is an assemblage of unpleasant and discorded voices, it will never turn into a revolutionary voice. Maybe our problem now is even too much information, we are over informed, we grew up hearing our parents ranting over it, our Profs in school teach about this long awaiting revolution, we see it for ourselves on TV; we live with this need for CHANGE on our streets and neighbourhood. Every newspaper talks about it, placards and bill boards advertise it. Most of all, when we log-on to our online tatafo social networks, we are bombarded with status update, notes and articles, our lovers yet bother our eardrums with revolutionary talks, even at comedy shows we laugh about it. Maybe that's why it eventually became a social talk. Our social life is filled with cheap talks about CHANGE that it begin to sound like Zenith Bank advert on CNN -normal thing- it only makes much sense in the first instance, and not when it is over-flogged.

With all these anti-change symptoms living closely with us, we shall continue to walk about with our heads tuck in between our chests. We shall continue to sanctify all the vanity fairs and lies we are fed with everyday, so we can continue to smile and go to our churches and mosques; to give the complete authority of our lives to some clever ones behind closed doors to legislate, and we shall continue to try to make sense of our sufferings and there will be no freaking revolution.

* The use of Abatis and Bankys in this article, does not signify a particular person or an entire generation, but a term i figured exclusively for the representation of a particular sect of two distinct generations in this article.

Jun 23, 2009

CURATORIAL NOTE on EBJ

CURATORIAL NOTE for the1st edition of the Biennial.

HOME and ABROAD.

For the curatorial discourse of this 2009 edition of ewaBAMIJO, we propose "HOME and ABROAD" as the theoretical basis from which we hope to explore our critical vision. under the Artistic direction of Qudus ONIKEKU.

Context and Rationale:

Contemporary dance in Africa has struggled for a while to overcome problems like accessibility by local audience, finance and lack of Infrastructures, power and lacks critically in legislation. Dance-forms other than traditional dances in contemporary Africa, are very similar to all imported or foreign activities in the society at large, reserved particularly for the expatriates and the elite class, it is obviously there present in the society but it has been suspending and surviving in a sort of extinction, never had the ability to come to rest and be integrated in the society we operate. Moreover, there is only a thin line between the artiste and his society, paradoxically we get fame and gain grounds outside our primary society, and all these is as a result of the standards and circumstances at which we operate our art "HOME and ABROAD."

We are convinced that the notion of HOME for many artist of the 21st century varies, it could be only but, a series of thoughts, images and sensations - a CONCEPT - a cherished aspiration, ambition and ideal, it perhaps exist only in our self/deluding fantasy - Not in real-time. Maybe this earth is an eternal ABROAD after all, and so said Faustine Linyekula 'Maybe my only county is my body', but on what basis does our art excel at 'home'? The art market or its practice? Our proposition of "HOME and ABROAD" as the theme for this first international edition of ewaBAMIJO, is not a denial of the existence, importance and rewards of this intellectual tradition; but in many ways to further seek a place for the entrenchment of cultural and racial, economic and other fundamental differences under the machinery of globalisation.

Reality has proved to us that, due to our lack of infrastructure and audiences structure, many African creators make their works ready mostly for exportation in order to survive as artistes, not only for economic balance, but for their sanity and survival of their creativity, productivity, and pride in the companies they run, this irreproachable trend also have a reverse effect on our primary society. As we have seen in the recent past that a higher percentage of African audience has practically lost interest of live arts to showbiz and home movies, The basic interest of this initiation is primarily to review our basis and bring back attention to the Theatre. We believe that at this present point of our encounters, after many decades of pre|post colonial exchanges and several hand shakes with the world, it is high time we became focused on internal issues. More so, as we live in a new media world saturated with technological advancement, coupled with our vast resource of indigenous professionals, we only need to appropriate all these ready made elements as our own means and apparatus, as well as using maximized effort to sculpt our art face and divert some sluggish energy into a steady and positive change reaction.

A moment of reflection around DANCE in contemporary African...

History itself is shaped and written in bias towards the present day reality, and slightly directed to favour the orientation at which the future is dreamt of by the powerful, and so as contemporary dance in Africa, America and Europe and elsewhere where 'political correctness' matter, the ideals and the writings of contemporary dance on a global world-view has enriched itself on the inevitable notion of identity, race, gender and class. Far from identifying the contemporaneity of our dance in Africa or branding it for that matter, but approaching it from a viewpoint which doesn't ignore the state of affairs of our collective economic, social, political and cultural reality as a people. In the era of post colonialism, post modernism and post world war II, other art forms had exercised continuous revolutionary concepts that transformed into leading discourses guarded by 'political correctness'. As 'African' dance practitioners, it is inevitable to disregard the question of identity, color and other baggage of history, due to the direct exposure of our naked bodies and the visible twist of cultural expressions, which has in turn triggered a series of resistance in the part of traveling dance practitioners, as against exoticism and second class validation, if not third. However, this construction and continuous resistance have also adversely developed an institutionalised pluralistic landscape that has today turned into a combative affirmation of an ideology, and unfortunately a new form of stereotyping.

For some years, major international organisations and parastatals around the world, have worked towards building up 'discursive platform for a cacophony of African voices' outside Africa, and emphasizing 'correctness' in cultural politics; these have of course created more talks that hinder actions, it has stated more obvious problems than proposing solutions, but unconsciously succeeded to the neglect of the core existence of the young and alternative artist's project in the continent, creating further fiesta of the ex-colony and the ex-colonised, an independent pursuit of illusive relationship through artistic endeavors. Fundamental problems transformed into cocktails and social rendezvous of the dominant sect, through which the new order is defined to create restriction for liberal artistic expressions. In this first edition of EBJ we wish to draw attention to the 'political (in)correctness' of traditional trends which led to the dominative power play of multiculturalism, globalisation, identity politics and post-colonial discourse. Urgent issues facing contemporary dance today, that we wish to make a scandal of is; How do we establish an 'ethics of difference and mutual respect' within the framework of dissimilarities in cultural production and functionality? Is DANCE in contemporary Africa: An imported household branding or a local craft for export? How do we prevent 'Hegemony' without sacrificing the grounds already gained against the power status quo at Home and Abroad? By Re/Moving boundaries, are we certain of creating larger territory for dreams?

Core principles of the EBJ biennial: Negations

Africa has been told and shown constantly through western eyes, and in funny way we end up seeing ourselves through western judgment. To trail the proposition of the 3rd GUANGZHUO Triennial, ewaBAMIJO may be as well understood as a locus of questions for the international art world, boom time of fresh breeds hailing from cities yet to come around the world, as history has been written based on the intuition of a few and rules always made for us to follow, we have the conviction that there are lots of lies in history and we are set to deny everything regarded as 'truth' to lead the way for our discovery, the existence of this Biennial will be a process of discovery for ourselves; not just the fulfilling of preconceived ideas. Instead of claiming what this Biennial 'is', we wish to find out what it should not be.

The Self Imagining of ewaBAMIJO is an Ètude in Negation ...

Neither global nor local; Neither Western nor African; Neither mainstream nor independent, Neither tourist spectacle nor high art. Not multiculturalism; Not tribalism; Not post-colonialism; Not identity politics; Not sociological report; Not alternative modernity; Not showcase of new stars; Not competition for superiority; Not a celebration of our heroes and wins, Not further affirmation of all possible swear words, such as **gritudism... By saying 'Home and Abroad' we call for the renovation of the practices and theoretical interface of contemporary dance around the world, to depart from its all pervasive socio-political discourse, but work together with other kind of artists, scholars, students, critics and our audience, to discover new modes of thinking and develop new analytical tools for dealing with today's world, and bring attention to the 'limits of globalisation'.

----------------------------------------------

Yk Projects.
info@ewabamijo.com
+2348055276317

Jun 22, 2009

Reflection on Liberty, Morality and Homosexuality.

PUBLISHED ON GUARDIAN AS Liberty vs Morality : Reflection On A 3-million People 'Pride Parade' In Sao Paolo.

Growing up in a conservative country like Nigeria, I have always wanted more freedom to explore certain things no one ever took time to explain to me. I have always wanted to keep the police off wherever I let my mind thought take me to. With my curious mind as a teenager, I read about great philosophers, scientist and artistes as well as made my own research of religions and beliefs, and I came across certain issues that were very much underground, such as the issue of the followers of "Guru Maharaj ji" or even homosexuals.

I recall that at the age of 12 or13, I happened to be a victim of molestation by a young man who had attempted to rape me. My understanding at that time, could not fully grab his predicament, but I felt like a clot of rubbish, until years later when I came across the word homosexuals. Members of this sect are frequently subjected to prejudice and discrimination in our society, which further adds to their marginalisation and vulnerability; it doesn't mean they do not exist in our hypocritical society.

Similar to that are the Transmen and Transwomen – those who were males or females at birth, but feel that is no accurate or complete description of themselves. So they desire transition towards a gender role as a woman or a man to varying degrees. I have always wondered, instead of keeping silent about these pacing phenomena: is it not better we voice it out, rather than living in pretence ? Because they are definetely a part of us.

In the last ten years now, I have traveled even more than I desire. I have met with people I only read about in books or watched on TV. I have found liberty at its peak and I have understood its limits. I have realised that i am a free man from the moment i have the right to act according to my will without being held up by the power of others, with the capacity to determine my own choices.

Nonetheless, liberty in the absence of subordination and constraint, like every other thing in life can be addictive. When you get so addicted to your liberty, you definitely become a slave to something else.

Now, I think of the degree of our madness on earth. I thought there used to be a time girls dress-to-kill in order to show off their clothes, but now we kill-to-dress to show off our bodies. It is my thought that soon, people will begin to share bodies to go out in, the way girls share clothes now; we'll say to one another, "Who'll wear the brown body tonight?", "Hey honey, go put on the muscular body."

For sure, immorality is where we are heading in the name of human right, and sooner there will be no such thing as 'Wrong'.

On my arrival at Sao Paolo, Brazil, few days ago, I immediately identified myself with the city. I knew something was insane just the way I liked it. But why Sao Paolo to start with? The mission to Brazil will last for a month – June 1 - 14 in Sao Paolo and June 15 – 28 in Belo Horizonte, but it will be multi-tasked.

This year 2009 is the year of France in Brazil, and I happen to be part of the French delegation. I shall as well be networking with a host of cultural operators as regards ewaBAMIJO, my coming festival in Lagos during the last week of October. I shall be screening my film "Do We Need Cola Cola to Dance?" and making more alternative space performances in collaboration with my Brazilian producers.

In the midst of my busy program, the adventurer in me was able to yet dig into the heart of this wonderful city. All through my travel experiences I have come across just two cities of similar insanity; New York and Johannesburg. Every night, there were at least four plans to choose from. But one significant event I wouldn't miss for anything was the 'Gay Pride Parade', which held exactly on my last day in Sao Paolo. I was told there will be three million gays in a carnival!

On many occasions, I have deliberately avoided having to state my opinion publicly on this controversial phenomenon. I am one of those few Nigerians who are not gay but really don't feel any different from those who are. Even if my definition of an 'ideal world' doesn't subscribe to such, yet able to state my opinion clearly without bias or offense. My existence as a dancer who works with his body and emotion, has at many times expanded my discovery and deepened my realisation of some sensual parts of me and also the sensuality of my dance partners, be it male or female.

This same construct has taught me not to find bodies attractive nor repellent; only the people in them.

So today, when I look at a homosexual, what do I see? Do I see a dead fag just waiting for a penis to bring him alive? Do I see a punk who has become what he is due to his addiction to liberty, with a bottle of beer in hand and singing "NO FUTURE?” or do I see a fellow human being capable of engaging in a meaningful conversation that could make the world a better place and being able to talk freely (without the influence of his proclaimed "identity") about the entrenchment of difference in a one world?

So under what category is the existence of this 'Gay Pride Parade'? Of what significance is it? A political movement or a folie de grandeur? These are questions that caress my conscious self as we colorise the city en mass.

-Immorality Is Our Destination-

On getting to the Metro SE, it was as if I forgot that three million was no joke. Sure, on paper it looks a minute population, but for real, imagine the sight of a mass of human beings counting from one to three million. Seeing them all from afar in their ecstatic frenzies, I thought it was interesting as I was anticipating it ever since I heard of the event.

The image I had in my head began to wash away as I got closer to them. I felt a massive energy filled with life in the punk way. The first reaction that touched my animal instinct was "run back". My legs failed me for at least two seconds. "Courage man" I told myself and so I joined the mob of apparently young boys and girls in their early twenties - newly hatched gays, free of parental guidance - all in pairs. You could feel the pulse of liberty in their faces.

I was still trying to get used to the hundreds in the throng until I got to the platform of the blue line, where I intended to change for the green line that will take me to CONSOLACAO, my meeting point with the rest of my friends, most of whom were girls and who would be my shield for the next six hours.

There were at least a thousand people waiting at the platform for the coming Metro. I was astonished. I had never seen a Metro filled with such a crowd. This is the kind of carnival you wish to be at its forefront, archiving all the experiences it could bring you in your mind. And trying to figure out a sense of this interesting madness before your very eyes, something tells you that you are also part of the three million, yet you are in love with the vibrations. As I took pictures, some would come closer to me in an attempt to hug or kiss me. I can still tolerate a hug but get easily and swiftly repelled when something other than that gets close.

In this gathering, everything is allowed. It was complete madness! We watched in suspense and suspicion, for we all knew that something was absolutely missing in everyone's head. And that one thing was morality. Nothing seemed abnormal no more; each time I asked my friends in curiosity "Is that girl a guy?” “Are those breasts real?” “Is he a girl?" Seeing a guy and a girl kissing was the most abnormal thing in such gathering. No one was sure of what was wrong and what was not to be done. Everything was in a defiant mood of “YES WE CAN!

We quickly took our exit after the last carnival van that passed us, for we were warned that the moment you see the sun going down, you had better leave with the sunset, because just like vampires, it could get really nasty after sunset.

MORALS are created and defined by society, philosophy, religion, or individual conscience and intuition, which differs between the liberals and the conservatives. Morality is seen as a collection of beliefs as to what constitutes a good life. Throughout much of human history, religions have provided both visions and regulations for an ideal life. In a secular community like in Euro-American setting, lifestyle choices, which represent an individual's conception of good and bad, are often discussed in terms of "morality." The individual makes an appropriate lifestyle choice first, before being compelled within his civil rights, to accept the codes of conduct within their chosen community as what is fundamentally moral, even when such codes deviate from larger social principles.

HOMOSEXUALITY: A sexual orientation, social construct or identity politics?

The term homosexual is often used in European and American context to encompass a person’s entire social identity, which includes the self and personality. In other cultures such in Africa where the principles of right and wrong behavior is still a communal responsibility, homosexual and heterosexual labels don’t emphasize an entire social identity or indicate community affiliation based on sexual orientation.

Homosexuality is a modern western social construct, which has today become a group of some interconnected powerful men or women, doing everything possible to buy more young and agile men or ladies into their 'ideal' world, leading to a 'choice' and eventually metamorphosing into a circular religion.

I recognise that just as heterosexuals, we don't 'choose' our sexuality, some people don't get sexually connected to the opposite sex, if it is about the sudden discovery of one's attraction to same sex, which will of course respect the heterosexuality of the other, I have nothing against that. However such cannot be used as a basis of identifying a human being.

My resentment has really not much to do with sexual identity, but to the uproar that follows any ideology that the liberal West wishes to sell to humanity as a whole. They make so much uproar about it until it becomes the new world order; and going against it becomes the new sin. And since they are the ones in the front line of human history, they will always look for one truth or the other to cover their lies.

Finally, I have always believed that to continually participate in this world with curiosity and pleasure, to see any sense in this illogical existence of ours, one definitely have to pretend to be young and uninformed, pretend to be free of traditions and religion, and like that one learns to tolerate others in their identified weakness and insanity.

May 29, 2009

Lagos destination Paris

Curled from my travel diary.

9th July 2006 (Sunday)

...Joy, fun, fear, encounters and memorable events are often my sky team partners during each trip, beautiful hostesses and cute hosts who adds glamour and splendor to the trip, aside from some few carriers who I think experience matters a lot to them, who recruits mass of frail boned papas and mamas with make ups as that of ancient porn-stars celebrating the remembrance of their days of sunshine. Not withstanding, they all seem to make me laugh during turbulence, they try to be relax and do as if all is well to make me and other half hopeless passenger like me get over our fear and panic, while deep down in their heart one could feel the fear in them and I often imagine how I could be flying every now and then as my profession and not putting all the risk and stress in mind. This brings me back to the only part I find really risky and stressful in my profession. It is the joy of every artiste to export and exhibit his/her product out of the shores of his country, being it African, Asian, American or European.

One other moment that annoys me most in traveling is when I’ve finally got to my destination or transiting through any of the so called western European countries. On sighting my Green ever popular Nigerian passport, then I know at this point I must be ready to sacrifice my precious time for the often long mustached immigration officer who for all he cares you didn’t get your visa in the legal way and your passport might have been fabricated or retouched at OLUWOLE. So all he is looking for is the sign of face changing, data changing or how the visa page was attached to the existing international passport. If he finally didn’t find any fault then he begin to imagine how a black Nigerian as I am could get visa from or for a civilised white western world, which opens to another phase of interrogation, ranging from; where are you going to? What are you going to do there? Where is your invitation? And other document you used in processing your visa? - as if one could get a visa without these documents but one just need to be patient with them, eat, chew to ruminants and swallow your ego if that trip is important to you because this is just the result of the mistake our great grand fathers had made so we are just a victim of the 21st century that nothing could be done to restore at this stage - Moreover the questions continue; for how long will you be there? Can I see your return ticket? Your hotel reservation? Name and address of your employer or that person who is expecting you.

I mean series of those same stupid questions that I was actually asked while applying for my visa. After all asked and properly answered with care, it doesn’t end there because he might not be contented and so he will be obliged to call another officer who is often a slimmer and maybe shorter version who will then take me through series of closed doors that could only be accessed by an immigration officer or other airport officials, as I was victimized at the Milan Malpensa airport. Italy. To get me more shocked, sitting on the waiting room were series of unfortunate Blacks who are waiting to be tested or screened. So i joined the queue of the children of sinners, so for no clear reason i'm still waiting, i see some mustached guys coming to check on me from far from time to time, this is when i realised that waiting could mean so many things, the time can tick so very slow when you are in the hands of official kidnappers but, it is only when you have something to hide that you try to proof that you are clean. Finally it got to my turn, i walked towards this irritating guy with Italian accent, "can you keep your bag please" obviously he was going to search it again, making it the sixth time, "Please take off your shirt" i thought it was a joke, not knowing that i was still going to take off the last fabric that covers my dignity and take my urine, it seems to me that they got a clear information that i had something on me. Well they got it wrong, after a moment of stripping, debates and interrogation, I got acquainted and discharge without bail.

The price i paid costed me more than i could afford, its memory stays with me forever. I felt raped and it reminds me a similar case at the London Stansted airport where I actually missed my flight because I was still being stripped by the time my flight was leaving for Paris, yet the only word that comes out of their mouth is “you can go sir” i.e. polite at last and no more. Getting to the boarding gate another polite flight mistress at the gate of the just departed flight telling me “sorry sir you’ve missed your flight” then at this moment I knew I could do but just be polite enough to sleep right there at the airport to wait for tomorrow’s flight. Wow twenty four hours at that airport which is at the outskirt of London is just nothing good to talk about, but did i survive it, yes i guess cos here i am writing it...

-DITTO-
For some one like me who got his roof in between borders and abode often tapped in an economic class of a flying box, this is my forth international passport, three filled with visas and stamps, so you can imagine that the war is far from being won, where do i start from? do i have to lament about the over rude perfect visa officer behind the window, the battle with the local thugs at the airport, the professional hospitality you get in the plane, to the international clowns welcoming you, and stripping you off your very last pant, in search of one white substance that you've only seen or hear about on tv... its sad ahn, but what can you do when it becomes part of your job, profession and life, you can choose to be arrogant if you want, but does it change a thing? when they are just puppet of some powerful guys behind close doors, all through my life, i have searched for other human policy that is worse than immigration policy.

-DITTO-
I know this might sound ODD, but when people tell me to be careful about what i put on facebook, cos of their privacy policy, i tend to blush in silence, when i got all my fingers stamped to get Nigerian passport, got all my fingers printed at the embassy, on getting to the newark airport, i didn't just got my fingers printed but also had to look into some machine that looks like a microscope - even to the extent of taking another picture of me, and i wonder if i was applying for an american passport. So i think we are just trapped all ways always, but lets be aware of fascism, lets redefine what globalisation is suppose to mean and let the world order not just treat Africa as the poor little sexy continent, but a geographical location with people born just the same way as those across the atlantic, so if we claim to love to see children play, love to show them love and see them grow, so nothing makes the African child different, so lets ask them, why do we extract the juice of the sins of the fathers from the child ? what do we make out of our common shared history? who bears the heavier baggage of history? how come the third world citizen pays a more expensive visa fee? how come the so called benefit of globalisation, industrialisation and our technological advancement cost more than 50% of what is required in the west? At a very tender age of my life i felt the urge not just find but seek answers to some illogical questions, later i realised that the solution is to create more questions to add to the existing questions.

May 9, 2009

Lagos heads for the megacity

May 5, 2009

Join the EBJ CAMPAIGN train !

Hello Good People of this great World.

As WE move ahead with our never ending aspiration, Ewa Bami Jo is improving from day to day, our list of partners, sponsors and interested individual is getting longer by the day. Also in that line we keep building on the concept of the festival.

As part of our strategies to achieve our objectives: We've put in place the EBJ ONE MINUTE media campaign, which kicks off two months prior the festival, where we engage various celebrities and public figures telling us “What dance means to them...”and this will be proffered with a high sense of esteem and professionalism, and well broadcast nationwide, it is our own way of getting the public aware of such existence though such endorsement.

We have as well began EBJ mobilisation of a minimum of 100 students of performing arts in all the three major universities in Lagos to adhere to the festival as volunteers, to host the over 500 students and scholars coming from other parts of the country, as well as over 300 participants coming in from outside the country, giving them the possibility of getting closer to either professionals of their chosen career or fellow arts students coming in from other parts of the country, this we believe will in a way create relationships, and at the same time, give them a sense of ownership of the festival to certain level.

So this is where we feel the need to begin a concrete relationship with our adherents on facebook. Ewa Bami Jo is an event specially dedicated to throwing glitz and glamour on the city of Lagos through DANCE, CIRCUS, COMEDY, MUSIC, DRAMA, SPOKEN WORD and other interdisciplinary art forms. It operates under the auspices of a NON PROFIT organisation. Thus, we seek volunteers from every part of the world, and the objectives laid down for our volunteers are pretty simple.

PRE-EBJ VOLUNTEERS -

*SPREAD THE WORD ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, MYSPACE, HI5 OF ANY FORUM YOU ARE ON
*INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK TO JOIN THE GROUP OR FOLLOW MY BLOG
*TAG YOURSELF IN ANY OF THE EBJ PHOTOS ON THE GROUP AND USE THEM AS YOUR PROFILE PIX.
*GIVE SUGGESTIONS AND BE PART OF DISCUSSIONS ON THE GROUP.
VISIT THE GROUP AT LEAST ONCE IN A WEEK FOR UPDATES.

EBJ VOLUNTEERS - FOR THE EBJ PROPER.

AS PART OF OUR STRATEGIES OF CREATING A WHOLE NEW IMAGE OF WHO LAGOSIANS ARE TO OUR INVITED GUESTS AND WHAT LAGOS IS ALL ABOUT.

*WE NEED GOOD PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN LAGOS AND CAN VOLUNTEER, TO ACCOMMODATE ONE OR TWO PEOPLE COMING IN FROM OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY OR OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.
*WE NEED GOOD LOOKING PEOPLE TO HOST OUR INVITED GUEST FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD DURING THE ENTIRE PERIOD OF THE FESTIVAL.
*WE NEED GOOD PEOPLE WHO WILL BE IN CHARGE OF THE FESTIVAL KITCHEN THAT WE SHALL BE MOUNTING.
*WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO BE AT OUR TICKET SALES OUTLETS AROUND LAGOS.
*WE NEED USHERS AND GATE KEEPERS DURING THE INDOOR EVENTS.
*AND FINALLY WE NEED TO CREATE A FESTIVE MOOD.

BENEFIT FOR VOLUNTEERS -

WE ARE VERY MUCH AWARE OF THE FACT THAT, NO AMOUNT PAID TO OUR VOLUNTEERS WILL BE ENOUGH TO SAY THANK YOU, AND AS WE ALSO INITIATE SUCH IDEA BASED ON A SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, WE CAN ONLY RECIPROCATE BY SHOWING KIND GESTURES.

*EVERY VOLUNTEER THAT TAKE PART IN MAKING THIS FIRST INTERNATIONAL EDITION OF EBJ A SUCCESS, GETS HIM OR HERSELF A FREE TICKET TO ALL INDOOR EVENTS, AN EBJ TSHIRT, HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE FURTHER INSIGHT TO THE PERFORMING ART WORLD AND GETTING CLOSER TO PRACTITIONERS. FINALLY WE ARE DEDICATING THE CENTER SPREAD OF OUR MIND-BLOWING PROGRAM OF EVENT TO ALL THE NAMES OF OUR VOLUNTEERS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY ARE, WHICH ALSO WIN THEM A COPY EACH, AND THIS WILL BE DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH SWITCHEDON MAGAZINE.

FOR ANTICIPATING VOLUNTEERS PLS DROP YOUR CONTACTS AND A BRIEF OF YOU INYKPROJECTSNG@GMAIL.COM. OR ONIKEKU@YKPROJECTS.COM. YOU CAN AS WELL LET YOUR INTENTION KNOWN ON THIS POST AND WE SHALL GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU FOR MORE BRIEFS.

LET'S THROW LIGHT ON THE CITY OF LAGOS. AND SHOW TO THE WORLD THAT THERE ARE SHORT-CUTS TO HAPPINESS.

BEST REGARDS.

Qudus ONIKEKU.
Artistic Director
Ewa Bami Jo.

May 4, 2009

WHEN SWINE FLEW ! HUMANS FALL SICK WORLDWIDE.

After the last pigs summit in Porkland, the PIGS all agreed that the chicken and turkey have BIRD FLU, the cows has taken the MAD COW disease to the mainstream, so unless they want to see more ham served at Christmas, Thanksgiving and Salah day, they've all decided to spread their own SWINE FLU DISEASE ! and with this, not even the Muslims and Jews are safe.

Qd reporting from the Porkland.

Swine influenza (also called swine flu, pigfluenza, hog flu, and pig flu) is an influenza caused by those strains of influenza virus that usually infect pigs. Swine influenza is common in pigs and pig friendly places like the midwestern United States (and occasionally in other states), Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe (including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy), Kenya, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and other parts of eastern Asia.

THE SIV

Transmission of swine influenza virus (SIV) from pigs to humans is not common. When transmitted, it does not always cause human influenza and often, the only sign of infection is the presence of antibodies which are only detectable by laboratory tests. When transmission results in influenza in a human, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine flu. However, for the sake of our pork eaters, eating pork does not pose a risk of infection. Rarely, these strains of swine flu can pass from human to human. In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.

Prevention in humans.

Prevention of pig to human transmission - The transmission from swine to human is believed to occur mainly in swine farms where farmers are in close relationships with living pigs. So farmers and veterinarians are encouraged to use a face mask and finger condoms when dealing with infected animals.
Prevention of human to human transmission - Influenza spreads between humans through coughing or sneezing and people touching "something" with the virus on it and then touching their own nose or mouth. Swine flu cannot be spread by pork products, since the virus is not transmitted through food.

Recommendations to prevent spread of the virus among humans include using standard infection control against influenza. This includes frequent washing of hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially after being out in public, always wear a mask while walking on the road, or going to a public performance. Notable Nigerian music star named Lagbaja has been nominated as the ambassador for the prevention of swine flu, and WHO has recommend his kind of mask. Although the current trivalent influenza vaccine is unlikely to provide protection against the new 2009 strain, vaccines against the new strain are being developed and could be ready as early as June 2009, so for those already infected now will have to hang on.

Notable outbreaks

Swine flu has been reported numerous times as a zoonosis in humans, usually with limited distribution, rarely with a widespread distribution until 2009. Through various attempts the Pigs have shown their intention to take over the world, notably during the 1918 pandemic in humans, 1976 U.S. outbreak, 1988 zoonosis, 1998 US outbreak in swine, 2007 Philippine outbreak in swine and now the 2009 outbreak in humans which is said to be the worst in the history of such pandemic.

Final TIPS

I kinda hate to spread more panicky news about swine flu, even though this helpful document is the picture of dry bureaucratic accuracy. People freak out over "pandemics," even though we've got one of the worst pandemics in history, AIDS, raging through the carcass of the body-politic right now. Every once in a while you see a street demo, a sitcom, or a charity show about AIDS. Numerous NGOs are pretty big on fighting AIDS. Otherwise we just drop dead of AIDS in hecatombs, and every pandemic become a business as usual. pandemics are usually extremely fearsome diseases that needed billions of dollars for us to be aware of them, practically 100% lethal, and requires so much hard work to get people to remain properly afraid.

There is always some flu around and flu is always killing some people. Even when a raw mutant flu manages to kill off more people than a shooting-war, flu has never ravaged whole cities as cholera or a common typhoid can do. As awful pandemics go, flu is like the snotty-nosed little sister of awful pandemics.

So if you catch the new sexy swine flu, you're very likely not going to die. But since it is a flu, and like every other flu you're gonna kinda WISH you could die. You're not ACTUALLY going to die unless your lips are turning blue, you have bad chest pains, you can't swallow water, you can't stand up, you're having seizures and you don't know where you are or what your name is. As this document suggests, you must watch out for those symptoms. 'Cos the pigs are flying on a world tour.

Apr 22, 2009

diss is MADE IN LAGOS

In Lagos, Music and DANCE render visible the multiple juxtaposition that shape daily life, in the process, it unconsciously become an archive, a relic of our experiences on the streets of Lagos. Signifying an experience that is constantly on the the move - from GALALA – TO MAKOSSA - TO SWO - TO KONTO - TO YAHOOZEE - TO ALANTA - All these accounts for the instability of reality and its dependance on the sounds and Dances that domesticates it, such domestication is possible only through combination of images and lyrics, words, sounds, melodies, dances, social codes and slogans that is locally accepted during a particular era. To tell the story of life in LAGOS, music and DANCE calls on and produces heterogeneity of representation.

So who is the man telling us that the cities of the future are still lying somewhere in Europe or America, or taking the directions of Tokyo or Beijing ! Hell no - the cities of the future are completed works in progress, cities in motion and adhering to contemporary needs of a city, made what it is by the resourcefulness of its creative and entrepreneurial citizens, producing intense proximity of loads of activities and performance of all sorts, from selling and buying, to fighting and praying, loading and unloading, road shows of all sorts, touting, crimes and daily minor violence, all working side by side with dirt, waste, skyscrapers, history, energy, slums, wide roads, and sweat and wealth, to sustain the everyday hustling that put a totally different light to their moments of merrymaking, worship and love.

All these are what the city of the future is made of and not solely defined by its architectural extravagant extravaganza. In wonder cities like Lagos, the rule of law, law of gravity and the formal pulls of life are brought to the lime light at the square everyday by the people, with full backing of the formal law breakers, to be assembled and demolished even before the end of the inaugural party and political shows, set in motion by the formal government, the informal government of the people, in turn takes from all that is visible and in present tense, to make the static informal, yet mobile government, through of course their creative energy, many thanks to their public reputation and street credibility that none of the statesmen and elite class can boast of.

In contemporary LAGOS, no one is promised tomorrow, one can change one's mind over night, life is easy and fast, we don't define ourselves based on other people's hallucination, we are a people bound to live life to the fullest and never ready to pay the price of death... and when a piece is "MADE IN LAGOS" you the audience can feel the heterogeneity of energy, mood and feel heat at 90°C!

Apr 12, 2009

Dance to inspire - inspire to Dance

Dance is music made visible
Dance is a disease in which there is no cure
Dance is the world most famous metaphor
Dance is silent poetry
Dance is a poem of which each movement is a word
Dance - an art form, the body - an instrument
Learn to play the instrument and master the art form.

Dance is the mother of all arts
Dance is fluent body language
Dance is the hidden language of the soul
Nothing is more revealing than dancing
Dancing is dreaming with your feet
Dance to express, not to impress
Dance like nobody's watching
Dance for yourself
Dream it, Dance it.

Dance first, think later, its the natural order
Everything in the universe has rhythm
Everything Dances
Let the music move your body
All it takes is to convince your mind to move your feet
If you dance with your heart, your body will follow
The heart of the dance is the heart of the dancer
No one can arrive from talent alone
God gives talent, Work transgresses talent.

To dance is to share
To share is to teach
To touch, to move, to inspire
This is the true gift of dance
Dance is about never-ending aspiration
you can dance anywhere, if only in your heart
EVERYONE CAN DANCE
The only way to do it is to believe in yourself and just do it
There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.

Dance is not all about being on stage, under the light
there are other ways to dance and follow the movement.
EWA BAMI JO
... its AN INVITATION

Message from Q'dance

Apr 11, 2009

Home Series II

Take me home
the twinkling stars on my right
shadows of the light
the whispers of the night
Take me home

The memories of my childhood
echoes of my neighborhood
take me home

Agbe, the gods of the road
take me home
the dry smell of my solitude
diminishing self of my absolute
my black ass meant alone for shitting
my inactive penis meant alone for pissing
my aching mind - my loyal companion

Take me home !

The positive dreams of my father
our father who art in Lagos
the passionate whims of my mother,
our mother, the mother of the earth
my dreams, my forte, my anger,
my patience, my believes, my soul
Take me home

The fresh smells of erin ijesha
the mighty stones of Olumo
the fresh lake of Chad
barking dogs of the night, crawling cats of the day
crawling from daylight to sunset, weekdays to weekends
moments to dress to kill - KILL - to dress
the inactive spirit of the wind
the transcendent spirit of the light
bestow teleporting prowess upon me

Come take me home
take me to other places, where i'll be with other birds
other trees, rains, sunshines, and other moonshines
alone with my tireless feet
i'll dance and just dance, run and just run,
my feet will decide when and where to stop

Oh you metaphysical quintessence of dance
Come on...! come...! URGENT.
come take me home !

(folk song)
Agbe gbe mi dele o Agbe (2x)
Akii nrin ajo ka mama dele o
Agbe - gbe mi dele...

Take me away from these four walls
that saps all i can't do without
depriving of my humanness
take me home,
far away from this cynic world
that swaggers on crushing me
placing its heavy weight on my feather shoulders
affirming its power over me

oh my aching mind - my loyal companion
take me home,
my stubborn thoughts - my weapon...
my words - my cunningness
my dance - my sweat
my pain - my voice
my love - my purpose
oh rainbows of the sky,
this enormous blanket above my sky
harsh wind of harmattan
from the white flakes of winter
to the falling leaves of autumn
oh this violent storm, set forth to carry me home

take me to other places where i can feel other kind of torture
take me to a place where love and sincere affection i can feel
these faces and places are getting old
too old to identify my well-wishers
please take me home

let me be with my heroes,
dine with my fellows
able to express my woes
so when the sunset
i can walk away in pride and decorum

Feb 28, 2009

My EXILE is in my head!

Hey hear me out,

I think i found another title for my next creation, i decide to change its title again from HOME SERIES, now i want to call it "EXILE" or better still "MY EXILE IS IN MY HEAD" hmm... I find it really exact for what i want to say, especially these days i feel so much away, a self exile, its like i am on a sabbatical expedition yet my chord is always tilting towards Nigeria, at times i feel i need a divorce with that nation, i feel its just too much of a burden to carry on a responsibility i don't think i could fulfil its needs right now, but that kind of divorce don't last me a week most times, there is a constant voice in my head, this voice rages at me, it barks at me, i feel it calls me silly names for being this guy that will not just be at peace and let things go away unnoticed, let life pass through me and just enjoy where my head leads me along with my dancing feet.

A work in progress. (i must setforth at sunset)

I feel i still don't understand why i tend to be political, but other times i tell myself "but that's not being political", not being able to succumb to the lure of those that oppresses me, in relation to views about social relationships that involve power or authority is not being political, not having the temperament of keeping quiet when there is a moral or racial or political or social injustice and rationality doesn't mean I'm political, does it? So i think this EXILE still reside in myself, one that exist out of whom my parents never thought of. One that makes me have a continuous love/hate relationship with my people, my country and my race. At times i get so mad at myself after i might have done something really radical, because i never want to sound too wise nor foolish, i don't want to make deliberate enemy, and those that knows me can testify to my cool head, but presently i feel I'm on a crossroad, where i have to decide where i belong, because in this world, its all about where you belong, who are your pals, who do you identify with, what's your race, culture and religion, what are your beliefs similar to mine. AND I'M SORRY I TEND TO DISAPPOINT EVERYONE.

But like every man, i also love good life, i love those things that makes me feel like a complete man, i also want success, i also want to promise a good life to my family, wife and kids and beloved ones, for it is them we do all these for at times, when we claim not to be greedy and selfish. However, am i ready to belong? that is the question Q. and the answer A for now is NO... NO... NO. I think what killed me in my first life was fraternity, cults, peer groups, alliance to oppress, beliefs that tramples on the lesser people, those that bunch up to rule the world, i think they were the ones that killed me in my initial life, i hate them so much, and i tend to do everything to make them hate me so much.

Yet I'm aware of their curious eyes watching out for me, pinned above my head and they want me to believe that its raining, amongst them lies those that sing far away songs to sooth my dance steps, amongst them are the play boys, finding my body really sexy to award me a top bid, amongst them are those clever ones who validates our artistry with a prize and trophy, amongst them are those who promise us heaven for the gratification of their own affairs... I'm strongly aware of all these curious eyes, and I'm in EXILE, far away from the space they occupy, far away from their belief, away from their reach, they will only hear the echo and feel the vibration, because my own success and (r)evolution will not be broadcast on CNN; le monde might not hear about it, jeune Afrique will walk pass by me without knowing, the big brothers of Africa and the arts will search for me in Europe and America and perhaps in Asia, but they will not find me, cos i might just be in a little room in Mexico, or Santo Domingo, i might be just under OLUMO rock, just by myself and my conscience, for i want to live a life of pride and honour, i want to be as modest as i can be and be arrogant enough to tell even the person feeding me right now how wrong he is, when i feel he gets it wrong.

My exile is in my head i think, now I'm beginning to realise, its not about being in France or in the states, nor anywhere foreign to Nigeria, for even when i am in Nigeria, i still feel far away from the Niger area, its not much about others, its more about me i think, i don't ever regret this life i didn't choose for me, i don't feel sorry for myself, this is just the path at which i find my tent, and my sole quest now is... Survival, i know i have to seek for other means of surviving the massive weight of this pessimist world that promises to crush me, other means of living healthy and alive in the midst of all my antagonising foes and generous benefactors. talk with crowds and still keep my virtue, walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, neither foes nor loving friends will hurt me no more, all men count with me, but none too much; i must survive this life, live my dreams up to my desired world, and find my liberty within the midst of all my antagonising foes and generous benefactors. I must definitely survive and set forth only after my sunset.

Q'dance (my new name!)

Feb 17, 2009

A "Future" that fails to address the past : DOOM

I was just in the comfort of my little caravan here in Paris, peacefully preparing for my night's performance, trying to get used to my new found existence without an address, when i felt a vibration on my iPhone, dated 11th of February 2009, at exactly 3:57pm, it was an alert of a message that will later arouse my long incubating rage for an institution that validates our artistry and make us glow with the kind of self-congratulation that can only be bestowed by very nationally visible and significant people, a kind gesture that fails to come with respect and goodwill. AS IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO. HERE IS HOW IT GOES

Chude Jideonwo
February 11 at 3:57pm

Dear Qudus,

I trust you are well.

We are very concerned with your continued public validation for comments that not just criticize but seek to discredit the efforts of The Future Awards to inspire the next generation of Nigerians.

We are of course aware that you are entitled to your opinions, and you are entitled to the fundamental right to express such – however; seeing that you have severally, in public and in private, lauded the awards, and participated actively in the process of nomination, as well as excitedly and publicly received news of your winning, we are understandably surprised at this contradiction.

You would note that we have gone the extra mile in ensuring a level playing field for this awards – and even you can testify that despite public tangos with some of the organizers and judges of the awards, it did not prejudice your winning at the end of the day. Therefore, if anyone should testify to The Future Awards’ integrity, immense thoroughness and credibility, it should be you.

If you do feel so strongly about its credibility, it would have been more productive for you to refuse to be part of the process in the first place – so that we do not have the present conundrum of a winner of the Award consistently seeking to deride it. We wonder if you realize that if you say in public that you agree with people who discredit the process for this award – then it means that your winning is tainted and your acceptance of that win an expression of dubious standards.

We continue to wish you the best and congratulate you again on your award.

Chude.

Q'dus Onikeku
February 12 at 1:14pm

Dear Chude,

I hope this message meets you in good health and good times. I'm very glad that for once, you have deem fit to consider me as someone you can actually have a conversation with, of which i am not so sure of, until i see where this present correspondence leads to. Here is a key point of an unsuccessful exchange with Emilia few weeks ago;
"don't u think that if Dbanj didn't deserve to win TFA; u didn't too? cos the process and format for judging is the same, in case you don't understand the process that the awards are judged by, we've put them all on the site and if you come up with a way to counter the votes of 650 people; I'd be willing to 'talk'... if not; there's really nothing more to say", so i told her its your dinner, we are all invited for a dine out after-all, we have no say to how its been dished. I really wished she could relax her temper for me to juxtapose my justification with hers, to tell her that i have actually figured a way to counter the votes of the 650 people, but i guess she was only part of the plan, not part of the game enough to take up that baton and i respected that.

First, to clarify any misinterpretation of my "public validation for comments that not just criticize but seek to discredit the efforts of The Future Awards" - Stating that i am an individual responsible for whatever or where ever i seek to identify with is a wearisome cliché, but in actual fact I'm not one of those who dwell on such luxury, to make another dimension of the TRUTH, however i will not attempt to hide behind walls of not knowing exactly what you are talking about, "THE ARTICLE BY UP RISING" posted by SAVE NIGERIA, to give a brief refresh of memory, the basic details of my comment was...

1. "i very much agree with the Dbanj issue, i was very disappointed that he will take a head ahead of ASA for the young person of the year, following the stated criteria, i think its a bit of exaggeration."

2. "i don't see criticism as something that we should begin to create fraternity against, its an issue raised and i personally, think there is a lot the organisers of the award could pick from this article, but that remains their right to dignify it or not, but i think the intention behind this article is not to disrespect or turn the whole thing down, although i, to a certain degree don't agree with the title as it was published on SAHARA REPORTERS. that is in a way ridiculing criticism itself, and like that one could quickly smell beef in it."

I don't have a need to further nag on the Dbanj issue, if you have been following my principles and ethics, you should know where i stand as regards Dbanj and his ethics and apostles, and where i will definitely stand by him becoming "THE YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR". At this juncture, I've never really had the opportunity to really pour out my mind, so let me roll with you as Qudus Onikeku, with pretense of no such article has ever came up. Here is a guy that once wrote an article titled "Celebrity my foot" where i foresaw a feeling of being in a crossroad, where there lie a responsibility, set to take me away from who i am presently, in which i didn't think i was ready for, 'cos the only thing i could do with this social status is already what I'm being accused of, openness and adding my voice to the "right cause", i want to be free, i want to be careless as i do my things, i want to do my stuffs unaccompanied by political drifts, so don't tell me i was right when i stated that..."what do i do with this celebrity title? Form padi-padi coalition to oppress, or feel more important to the people that has similar problems to mine, so there will be another underground celebrity friend of mine who will organize givings and awards to valorise my talent and creativity, and in-turn valorise his own image as the organizer of a one-in-town event, that regroups mobs of "celebrities" which will only end up making me become too paranoid to travel easily within the streets of Lagos, on okadas, in buses or taxis if i so wish..."

Nonetheless; "seeing that i have severally, in public and in private, lauded the awards, and participated actively in the process of nomination, as well as excitedly and publicly received news of MY winning", should in my opinion make you understand that i have absolutely nothing against either the organisers or the lauded values of the Award, in actual fact i supported the award 'cos i saw it as a right tool for the next level of the Nigerian youth towards the Nigerian dream, and if my memory is not playing pranks on me, i can perfectly recall that i did sent an email to you and your colleagues stating how much i will be glad to be a volunteer for this cause.

What is worth doing at all is worth doing well, THE FUTURE AWARDS to my understanding, has gained the place of the most significant podium for projecting not just the stupefaction deeds of the Nigerian youth home and abroad, but also a perfect manifestation for the resolution of standards and dreams at which the Nigerian youth places the bar, therefore, if you tell me that Dbanj is the is the perfect face that fits into all these glamorous definition of THE FUTURE, then i have a need to roar, why because, as the DANCER OF THE YEAR, i think the award for the YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR is too precious and too important for the paradigm shift you and i clamour for, than to see it roll into the KOKO pit. So my brother, let's take sentiment out of it, tell me if i don't then have every right to publicly condemn the award, when Dbanj appears to me the least person amongst the three in an average thinking , but i haven't done that cos i do respect the effort and i think there are issues to be addressed in order to see the season 5 add more stars to not just its credibility but its governance and processes.

I will thus leave you in peace on (THE ARTIST OF THE YEAR) Emeka Okereke's comment on the said article "I just watched D'banj's official video for the hit track "Suddenly"...(one of my best jams of all his works). Meanwhile when I saw the first two seconds I said "Ahh, finally someone is thinking!" but SUDDENLY all we started to see was breasts everywhere!! As if we have not seen enough of that in every porn advert and publicity, and in MTV (I guess he's aiming for the MTV music video award).
Yes, and this is the guy that was AWARDED YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR at the Recent FUTURE AWARDS. Please you guys, really think well o! Really think am well o! To what future Are You Leading Our Country? At least if you are not leading, then what future are you SUGGESTING? The futureless future? Na so so question me I go dey ask now o!"

So my dear Chude, i hope this will not create further grievances between us, THE FUTURE AWARDS has become to RED STRAT what Nigeria is to Yar'Adua, you guys are its custodian but it belongs to the entire young generation of Nigerians, so i will tell you with all sincerity that i mean so well for the FUTURE AWARDS and i pray to see it where my hopes are.

Q'dus.

Chude Jideonwo
February 13 at 10:26am

Hi Qudus,

I read the entire message. I dont agree with you mostly, but it is a divergence of worldviews for which we might never find common ground.

It is generally also the reason why I sometimes refuse to converse, not out of spite or malice but because I see no headway in sight for a conversation.

We are all entitled to our worldviews, and you are absolutely right about the future awards belonging to the entire young generation of NIgeria and so we must be ready for divergence under that umbrella.

Best regards
Chude

Q'dus Onikeku
February 13 at 12:31pm

Dear Chude.

Thank you very much for your prompt but insufficient response, i remind you again that i'm not one of those who dwell on such luxury of "every man to his own worldviews", to make another dimension of the TRUTH, if there is anything i have held onto in your comeback, it is the sole fact that "you don't agree with me mostly" and since at least you agree to my utterance that "The future awards belong to the entire young generation of Nigeria and so we MUST be ready for divergence under that umbrella", i then demand for a more detailed explanation to why "we might NEVER find common ground" for JUST ONE future, particularly in an era where we are presently in the remake of the rot of our fathers, (from post colonial madness to post democracy insanity). If not for anything else, but for myself, my sanity and conceivably those that reason like me.

Share your views and let history judge, Season 5 of the TFA is just a matter of months, the goal is not to find a common ground, NO, a logical development likewise (r)evolution needs disparity and diversity of ideals like everything else. If that is not done with clarification of doubts, how then do i look unto this UNSOLICITED award and feel contented with myself as a sincere "future" award winner. Therefore i urge you to at least for once respect my person and be subdued by the love of the future of this great Nation, by giving me what i want to hear, 'cos if that's not done, i might take it up in a larger platform that might affect the TFA brand and God knows I'm not that vicious, but, i could be IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO HAVE A FUTURE - if that's what it takes - to have a future.

Salutation.
Q'dus

Chude Jideonwo
February 13 at 12:42pm

Dear Qudus,

I do not have long conversatons on the internet - it is time-consuming, and time is not a luxuryt i camn afford.

However, something you say catches my attention: Do you want my response so that we can reach a 'logical development' or do you want it just so we can avoid what you call 'taking this up in a larger platform that might affect the TFA brand'??

If the latter is the case, then by all means go ahead and take it up in a larger platform and do what you must to affect the brand. I am always curious to test the strenght of the TFA brand, knowing as i do that it is built on integrity and with sincere commitment to Nigeria. Please go ahead. However, if it is for the former, then perhaps we can find a way to have this conversation when it is convenient.

Regards
Chude

Q'dus Onikeku
February 14 at 5:59pm

Dear Chude.

With every of your comebacks, i couldn't help myself from blushing over the disparities in our visions and loves for Nigeria, just as the north and south pole, so in all that i have said so far, the most touchy and attention catching phrase worth a reaction was the talk about the brand, (not to be witty, who knows the brand in Cotonou?), well there is absolutely nothing to gain doing that, the scheme here is not to destroy but to build, it is however the regards i have for this initiation that is leading to what is obviously seen as a time waste on your part, but if you want me to place TFA in my list of jokers, we can immediately close this correspondence and life goes on. Because it is obvious to me that the "TFA brand" sounds more of interest to you than the Nigerian future in question. if you are always curious to test the strength of the "TFA brand", i am not in the position of placing the future of Nigeria on a roller skate for my amusement.

I think this correspondence lacks intensity and proximity, and the main issue here is that you have no argument and has nothing to say to counter or even juxtapose my clarification, thus i might be tempted to evaluate THE FUTURE referred to, as mere fictional slogan after all, and has nothing to do with real life. If so, declare it as another showbizzy award and has nothing to do with those of us away from that sphere, so i will have nothing against all your pre-award party, nominees ball, after party with the judges and after-after-party with the winners/celebrities - which has nothing to offer towards logical development. So as not to derail from the major issue, i need no alibi for my stand-point, but if you perhaps "found a way to have this conversation when it is convenient". let me know what are your "worldviews" towards a logical development and a securable future that differs from mine? i do challenge it and if they are clear enough i don't have further need to question your governance and credibility of the future awards.

If you refer to this as a conversation, i remind you, it is absolutely not, i wrote a detailed response to your feeler message which is supposed to make me feel dubious for accepting this unsolicited award, it has nothing to do with "long conversation on the internet", i need a detailed explanation of the future you defend and how it tallies with the award processes and governance, if not i will consider all you've said and all i have read as your explanation, which to me has suggested any immediate resolution in this respect, and the future awards, as a helpful system that validates our artistry and make us glow with the kind of self-congratulation that can only be bestowed by very nationally visible and significant people, and as we are also tempted to attend this spectacularly bright and accomplished event – to inspire our “peers” and "the next generation of Nigerians", for this will make us achieve a National Institutional Credibility for our work, as we have been anointed by an institution that many celebrities and young people bow down to. You can henceforth dissociate me of your clever game plan, i don't tend to go well with those who are too proud to "rub minds" on whatever fora.

Regards.

Q'dus, THE LAST SON OF ONIKEKU.

Jan 25, 2009

THE UNSTOPPABLE - ENTERTAINER Remix

Track 1 - Dbanj vs 2face... DONT TOUCH IT! FILEEEE !

I've been to different forums and gatherings where people get talking about who is Hotter between Dbanj and 2face, but i tend to quickly get out of such assembly, because if HOT in that sense is to mean lustful, amorous, or erotic, then i shouldn't even be arguing. However, i found it really interesting to give a thorough account of my own remix of both superstars based on their present albums and, in this six track album, i will refuse the contrast between "High" and "Low" art. it is a below average reasoning to begin to place 2face beside Dbanj on a competition for supremacy, they both exist in their space that exhibits particular modalities, sounds, harmonics and relations to sensorial experience that produce particular effects on the listener, and the meaning of musical beauty they both brought to our hearing is not about catgorization. It Is also unreasonable to compare an album which is less than two month old to an album that is already rocking the mic for half a year, an album from someone who just want to groove, which is club inspired, primarily directed towards Nigerians at home and in the diaspora, with an album that is not really for the party hoppers but a carefully rustle up LP. Not a Nigerian material but for a larger audience. It's really illogical comparing. However i don't need a whole year to wait before i can sum up my own "merix" of both albums, since its not much about the word on the street, but the words that passes through my head each time i listen to both CDs. On this 6 track remix album, i am not going to waste my time going into past glories or yet to come glories, i am talking strictly about the Entertainer and the Unstoppable, let's pieces these master pieces, and of course that will surely bring us to the makers of both works, lyrics and beats. Feel me flow.

Track 2 - KOKO MASTER

What D'banj is today is exactly what OlaDapo Oyebanjo and the whole Mo Hits crew wants him to be, a musical brand who has found a solid ground called NIGERIAN AUDIENCE to build his platform, (for the sake of those who are yet to realize the power of the Nigerian audience, go check out what Nollywood is to the world now) and with a Don Jazzy as partner and manager they have already made history, so it is only left for history to jugde them, but for most of us alive now, we get so angry with this guy because we can't just do without him, he has become another billboard, but this time not on the road, but in our cars, clubs, carnivals, parties, shows and grabbing every award, you hate him until you respect the man, respect the movement. And unlike many, i totally disagree that he says nothing, he says what many are too scared to say, he say a lot to give us a clear notion of what most of our young girls and ladies are worth, enough to get the feminists offended, however that is the "Koko" he is yet to tell us, how in the midst of these controversy he has been extremely pop, not just for his easy to sell vulgarity but also for his understanding of music as a tool to keep you on your feet, his melody could get even the priest dancing and the sisters swearing, his energetic larger than live attitude which one don't even need to be in the studio with him to feel, these will however get the attention of the Youth and will generate controversy and, whatever we like say about it. DBanj is a flash and the entire explicit and offensive reference to sex or bodily functions would never wear off with our hypocritical society, his kind of music will catch a fire, but will it burn for long? No, but is he willing to relent? No, he is going to be like cigarette for the addicted, it will take time to stop the Dbanj habit and this the point where one take a second look at 2face's musical genius.

Track 3 - JUNGLE DON MATURE remix

With a careful examination of the 2face journey as a musical symbol for the Nigerian music industry, one will but agree with his utterance, "when you see me passing through, let me be, because i don pay my due, look at me as your mallam, plus a soldier and a player in this industry...". With this present album, despite the bias of over expectation, 2face has proven to be an Artiste that in any case can be defended on whatever fora, as an embodiment of Fela Kuti, Bob Marly, R.Kelly and Wyclef rolled up into one, with the stage at which he is now, he is a leading voice not just in Nigeria but also part of the leading league of world class Africans taking the locale to a different level, when you mention the likes of K'naan, Nneka, Keziah Jones, Patrice, Didier Awadi, you won't stop without mentioning 2 baba. 2face becoming the number one export and representative of contemporary Nigerian music is in fact a truth that we all need to get used to. He is not trying to access a market and pay the price of compromising his art for the sake of being accepted, but here is a guy that authoritatively says "make i tell you about the place where we been dey come from..." he is not here to terrorize but to revolutionize, and universalize naija music as it is. The 19 track LP, that marks 2face's third album has sincerely made a huge statement for all of us who still have some elements of doubt hidden somewhere in our hearth, not in the history of Nigerian urban music, has any artiste dropped an hour, sixteen minute and two seconds of non-stop good music, fine lyrics, deep thoughts and inspiration for his listeners, delivered with a very matured sense of self esteem. His discourse in the Unstoppable ranges from racial discrimination, Love in the widest range of it, cross boarder policies, war, message for the haters and other undertone messages for those who ponders. The array of quality artistes featured in the album confirms his level of intelligence, with major collabos with the likes of Chakademus and Pliers, Wyre as well as R.kelly proved that he has realized a fan base that is not just limited to Africa, but across the Carribean island and northern America in general. for our information 2face is UNSTOPPABLE, if you want to try to stop the unstoppable...

"shine your eye make u no high,
make u no dey see double, to con dey cause trouble.
Shine your eye make u no high,
make e no be you wey dem go use koboko humble,
because when dem finish with you,
e go do you like you and kamala fight royal rumble.
Because when dem finish with you
e go do you like you and hulk hogan enter one jungle".

Track 4 - THE ENTERTAINER real mix

'The Entertainer' Album is great Period, but my new found respect for DBanj as a 'music businessman' is not based on the fact that i'm beginning to consider him an artist, but my respect for him is drawn from his talent, cleverness and willingness to try other tunes, there is a great infusion of highlife into his style, his lyrical compositions in this album is delivered in a quite poetic way that is not trying to do more than itself, Unlike those artistes who will just want to rhyme by force, but here Dbanj as usual delivers his lyrics in a very playful manner, certainly, we do not have to speak in proverbs or rave philosophically to make sense, sometimes, even the deepest songs wouldn't have done what Dbanj's lyrics does to his listeners, our disagreement with his flippancy, does not justify his lack of intensity, although he confirms himself as a mere entertainer and "don't have to make sense, you don't have to sing anything at all... ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? ARE YOU NOT? PAY ME MY MONEY". I for one enjoy so much this present album but I'm not just in the position to defend it on an intellectual fora. During my visit to Lagos, at a carnival, which was the first venue where i got the feel of the entertainer, it was "Fall in love", the first feeler tune Don Jazzy breezed the listener with was a shock when i listened to what the streets has translated it to, "o nfoko sere! o ntami o nro mi !" (please don't ask for translation) not just one or few people but everybody present was reciting that, i was left mouth opened, so how can i defend that on a moral ground, when the next day was my niece's 10th year birthday, from a share guess, the oldest there will be around 12/13 years of age, same song was played and exactly same reaction, then i realized at what level the Dbanj syndrome had gone beyond articles.

Track 5 - THE UNSTOPPABLE PARASITES

Contemporary Nigerian urban musicians seeks to establish a balance between melody, slogans and club jams, because the music is produced in an environment that is strongly embedded and shaped by omnipresence of oscillating movement and energy, so automatically, because the music producers are also part of this vibrancy and has realized a means of easing themselves of the excessive spell, finally passing it on to us the listeners and the positive reaction they get put them in the position of recycling this same oscillating energy, since contemporary Nigerian musicians has made us get so much addicted to club jams and well mastered our desires, they therefore create this sexual machine to satisfy our nymphomaniac attitude towards music.

Words in every form, commonly reference a plurality of meanings, the things they designate are multiple and their signification structurally ambivalent. Intrinsically they demonstrate an extraordinary capacity not only to tell a story, but also to represent. In Lagos, Music renders visible the multiple juxtaposition that shape daily life, in the process, it unconsciously become an archive, a relic of our experiences on the streets of Lagos. Signifying an experience that is constantly on the the move, accounting for the instability of reality and its dependance on the sound that domesticates it, such domestication is possible only through combination of images and lyrics, words, sounds, melodies, dances, social codes and slogans that is locally accepted during a particular era. Now, if the instant desire of the audience has made a music maker fall to the lure of such demands, by the time we will want to review the happenings of our past, it is then that we will realize how empty some of our archives are, cos the most useful element to us then will be lyrics and good music for all time - the evergreen. To tell the story of life in the Nigerian cities, music calls on and produces heterogeneity of representation.

Track 6 - NOBODY HOLY PASS

These two paragons are of course unstoppable, if Dbanj is presently satisfying his purpose as the "Koko master" of the Nigerian market, sure you can't stop him, and if 2face's aim is to take territories and be a world icon tomorrow, he is as well on the right track and surely unstoppable. Both Album shows that they both listens and responds to their audience and critics, so let's say i am one of their audience, not at all a critic, here are two "big boys" of a whole industry, those who have fully understood the benefit of hard work in a society like Nigeria, these guys have been to places and they've seen the way its being done the "right way", it is understandable that like most Lagosians there is a livelihood to make, so now that they've made that living out of hardworking and the support of the Almighty, what else do they make out of that life? Yes, we will agree that we Nigerian audience, to a certain degree are killers as much as we make our super stars, we get satisfied too soon. However these are guys who see themselves as role models for the generation next and they ought to be pace setters. I will not deliberately dig out hidden fact about their private public life that is to a certain level a bit below expected, that's not the point, my point is, when will the D'banj and the 2face realize that no serious minded concert, (note the wordCONCERT) will await them if they still come to do shows with a copy of their demo stuck in their back pocket, haven't they gotten to the point where they can stand up before a crowd and say "people, here is my band and we are here to rock the show, its not Don jazzy again, its my band this time, nothing dey happen - feel us flow".

VOTE FOR TANKS.

First of all, i want to thank the Almighty for giving me one more chance to say my mind without stammering and being the executive producer of this plate, I want to thank my woman, my love and best friend, for being my manager and first to read and correct my mind, if further award comes out of this, i shall dedicate it to all of you who will comment on this note. But please as you comment remember that nobody holy pass. we all just dey try.

SO GRAB YOUR COPY NOOOOOOWWWW !

Jan 19, 2009

24x24 Qudus Onikeku Video

24x24 Qudus Onikeku Video

Posted using ShareThis

Jan 16, 2009

Question and ANSWERS for Believers and Atheists

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem
science has with God, The Almighty.
He asks one of his new Christian students to stand.....
Professor: You are a Christian, aren't you, son?
Student : Yes, sir.
Prof: So you believe in God?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student : Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student : Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student : Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student : No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student : From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student : Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible
things exist in the world, don't they?
Student : Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student : No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student : No , sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student : No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the
fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going.)
Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student : That is it sir. The link between man & God is FAITH. That is all
that keeps things moving & alive. We live by faith, NOT by sight!

Jan 15, 2009

HOME

I'm staring out into the night
Striving to hide the pain and stop the tears
distant sounds, healing wounds
whispering palms of Lagos life, echoes of my childhood
I'm going to the place where love i can FEEL,
and feeling good don't live the cost of my sexuality, color and race.
I'm going Home to the place where I belong,
where a slight notion of acceptance has always been enough for me
So I'm going Home

The miles are getting longer, The closer I get to my destiny
the boundraies fall apart.
the limits pushed beyond the edge,
memories wither in this narrow path i thread.
This new culture will not fade away my old habits
And I'm left with the conviction of other places
where i feel at HOME cos it feels like HOME
I'm going home to the place where i feel a different kind of pain.
I don't regret this life i chose for me
but these faces and places are getting old.
I'm going HOME.

Jan 8, 2009

UCHE JAMES-IROHA gets the Royal Award

LAGOS - The venue for the Prince Claus Award ceremony was simply set. Guests were treated to relaxing music, drinks and snacks while enjoying the aesthetics of some of Uchechukwu James Iroha's works.

Born in 1972, Enugu. Uchechukwu James Iroha’s artistic career started after studying sculpture at the University of Port Harcourt Art School (Nigeria) from 1990-1995. He started taking photographs in 1996. He is a leading light of a new generation of Nigerian photographers. By fusing the documentation of everyday reality with the creative language of imagery, Uchechukwu expands the possibilities of photography, pushing local art in new directions. His high quality images depict bodies in context, exploring the physicality of existence in the mix of cultures and influences that is 21st century Lagos, a megacity with urgent social issues. Fire, Flesh and Blood (2004), a group of images depicting open-air abattoirs, won the Elan Prize at the African Photography Encounters (2005). While documentary in inspiration, the series plunges the viewer into the chaos of colour, smoke and close-ups that are iconic in their intensity, capturing moments that are at once harsh, powerful and poetic.

Uchechukwu was instrumental in founding the Depth of Field (DOF) collective, bringing six talented young photographers together to create strong exhibitions in Nigeria and abroad. By combining their highly individual perspectives they offer insight into the complexity of their environment. Uchechukwu is also instrumental in mentoring a younger generation of photographers through workshops and seminars. James Iroha Uchechukwu is awarded for his striking photographic work, for his stimulation of photography as a contemporary Nigerian art form, and for his energetic support of young artists. James-Iroha was receiving this year's Prince Claus Award in recognition of his exceptional achievement in the field of photography. The ceremony was a re-enactment of the one held in the Netherlands, which honoured all the recipients of the awards.

The Dutch ambassador to Nigeria, said, "Uchechukwu's work is an excellent example of the theme for this year's award - The Human Body. His artwork is a pinhole to communicate with our lives."
"Uchechukwu is not just a photographer but a movement for a critically better art," saidAbraham Oghobase, his protégé and colleague.
"There is beauty when you do something with innovation and Uchechukwu not only photographs but assists in developing talent," said Luciano Uzuegbu, Programmes co-ordinator of The Ben Enwonwu Foundation.

Uchechukwu dedicated the award to his wife. "I call her ‘Home Made' because she is all African; I thank everyone who made this possible."
Commenting on the contrast of his work, he said, "Colour distracts. When you photograph in colour, your audience tends to get distracted by the colours. Red. Blue. The flashes of colour distract and people miss the stark reality and importance of the piece." On art development in Nigeria, he said, "The only reason I was accepted as an artist in Nigeria is because I have a degree in art. I am happy that Nigerians are recognising photography as an art form; this award strengthens my convictions."

The Prince Claus Fund is a medium for intercultural exchange. The Fund organises activities and publications on contemporary themes in the field of culture and development. Mamoni Roisom Goswani, a writer from India, was presented with this year’s Principal Prince Claus Award of €100,000. Uchechukwu is among the youngest of eleven recipients of this year's awards. Each award comes with €25,000. and the awards are in different categories. Other recipients include Ousmane Sow, a renowned sculptor from Senegal. Carlos Henríquez Consalvi, Venezuelan journalist and broadcaster. Jeanguy Saintus, Haitian visionary choreographer, dancer and educator. Ma Ke, a Chinesse bold voice in contemporary fashion design. Tania Bruguera, a Cuban performance artist. Elia Suleiman, a Palestinian filmmakers. Li Xianting, a Chinesse curator and critic. Venerable Purevbat, an outstanding Mongolian artist and teacher of the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition and Dayanita Singh, an Indian master photographer.

Q'dus Onikeku reporting for myself

Dec 31, 2008

I FEEL WHAT I DANCE - I DANCE WHAT I FEEL

i dance what i feel-i feel what i dance, i dance to fulfill a need and quench a thirst for life, to live is like fleeing from one question to the other. HELL is cobbled with good intention, suffering and joy normal winds of life. I trust in my wings my answers are floating in my wind.

I like what I write cos I write what I like, I write when I most feel it become indispensable for me to let out my personal frustration, I don't get personal on the public dance floor and neither am I a coward that will go seek a hand in marriage and run back for his
parents to arrange the marriage rites.
I feel what I write cos I write what I feel, I feel it, when it is time to scream it out to the guy
who got the mouth odor, yet claim to have the right to have a smelly mouth, but he forgot that, from the moment or rather before the moment his mouth odor diffuse and affect the space at which we all share, from that moment I also have the right to either urge him, force him, cajole him, toast him or do whatever I'm capable of, to make him go wash his smelly mouth.
I write what I think, I think what I write, my words are exact, underlined with truth, backed with intelligence and wide open to criticism at both ends. Its my truth, its not necessarily
the truth. Its my truth so I'll defend it. If you like, you hate me for it, if you like, you kill me for it, I'll however be remembered for the values I defended.
I know what I write, and I write what I know, I know what affects our societies today is the absence of air where it smells real bad, I know that the oppresed guy like back doors and escape routes... I know that the powerful, like the stupid one, has endless time, whether we whine, howl, beg, weep, cajole, pray or curse - he listens. He is just a big ear minus a sympathetic and meditative nervous system, and nothing touches him but the TRUTH.

My blog has with time mutated into a space where I carefully chip in my thoughts about everything. Its an open gossip. Its a private part that challenges the public arena. I see myself pack a handful of sand amidst this endless desert, poured it all into the air, as small as
my palms may seem, the sand still arrives at struggling the atmosphere with the bad odor, it rained down in dust particles, It touched everyone close to the space I occupy. Some smiled over it and took it all for fun but others dwelled over the dust as if they have no hands to dust away dusts.
If words can be weighed on a scale, mine weigh a ton, its velocity is speed over time, to every note i blog, I leave room for an equal and opposite reaction. If you have issues with me, tell me, don't tell my friends, If you feel threatened by my own version of the truth, get over it and let life pass through you, today its my blog and facebook, yesterday it was hi5 so
tomorrow life goes on, only if change has seized from being the only permanent element in life.

Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to. An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on,
with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months! My best of wishes for you is to keep living those beautiful moment and making up for all the left overs of 2008, while 2009 brag in with a whole new promise. Wishing you an excessively Happy new year and a bright future.

A big "Thank You" to each and every one of you, for the huge impact you had on my life this year. Especially for all the support, comments and e-mails I received, without you, I'm sure that 2008 would have been extremely long and boring.
And to those who have found someone special, you need a glue
To those who need money, get more PT jobs to aid your finances overflow
To those who need caring, may you find a good heart
To those who need friends, stay off fake-books and go meet people in the real world
To those who need life, get personal with GOD.

Qd dey HAIL all ya.

Dec 4, 2008

There is a natural mystique flowing in NIGERIA

What is happening in this country, everybody seems to be Nigerian these days, I recently heard that the richest man in Africa is a Nigerian, Dangote or what does that his wretched name sounds like. Somebody must really be attempting to kid everybody, well minus me. Nigeria, that NATION OF MANY PARADOX, they call them Africa’s most populous nation, and they take that to the bazaar, often regarded as the crime GIANT, SYNONYMOUS TO 419, corruption, and lawlessness, not to mention the oil BOOM, that is BETTER KNOWN RECENTLY AS OIL curse, illustrated by the ongoing rebellion in the Niger Delta. This place of all evils, and how possible will it be that people can still think straight or have time for fun and talent discovery in these chaos, this irritating nation mainly known for her long military dictatorship in the hands of Abacha and others that we can't name because they are still alive dictating in disguise.

Nigeria that was once the major regret of Christopher Okigbo, that great poet that was killed during Biafra, even Wole soyinka, the Nobel laureate, Chinua Achebe and the likes of Fela Kuti, the king of afrobeat, not to mention others forced out and now claimed by the diaspora, the likes of Okwui Nwezor, Olu Oguibge, Henry Oguike, Peter Badejo, Sam Shonibare those british artists and statesmen, you think if they were in Nigeria they would have been what they are today, you can't claim that those ones are still Nigerians anyway, they are citizens of the world even if most of them were born and brought up in Nigeria, their works, we have been very familiar with mostly in Europe and America and has inspired many of our own artistes throughout the world. Now, all of a sudden so many original and talented young Nigerian artists want to start flocking our European scenes? Admittedly, Nigeria is by far one the most populous country in the world. Ok ok. Which is a good excuse to have all sort of offbeat breeds popping out from there. But nevertheless, who else can you mention in present tense, do you want to talk about Femi and Seun Kuti, those ones we can understand, for they are the sons of the great Fela Kuti and nothing else can come out of Nigeria than that anyway, without forgetting Tony Allen, his former accomplice.

But wait, did someone just whispered JayJay Okocha and Kanu Nwankwo, those soccer guru and world acclaimed star... oh no the grammy award winner Seal... and Keziah Jones, the inventor of the "blufunk", no don't tell me these guys are also Nigerians, Keziah that was discovered playing in the metro of Paris, oh no I am a big fan of that genius, the last time he played a surprise concert at the Parisian metro, I couldn't get to see him, but hold on, i'm getting another eye opening news now, that the just concluded, first ever Mtv Africa Music Awards was colonized by some Nigerian artists, no no its a lie, D'banj, 9ice, P.Square,

Naeto C, Ikechukwu, are you sure these guys didn't bribe the organisers, I mean look at the list of winners, ohhh... No wonder they won, it was organised in Abuja, I beg stop fooling me, but even more, for the past three years, we've witnessed another three formidable Nigerian singers invading our radio waves and enchanting our summer festivals. Ayo, Asa and Nneka, ok, sincerely I have to give up now, because here are three good reasons to look at contemporary Nigeria with another eye. Now guys don't mind my unpatriotic utterances, i'm no longer a citizen of the world, i'm actually a Nigerian, cos I think at this moment being a Nigerian is a different kind of cliché, the creative energy in this nation entity is just something to reckon with, at least now people can start making my name synonymous to talents and possibilities, the world has began to place Nigeria on a different platform, so now there is the world, there is United States of America, there is Africa and there is also Nigeria apart. so the Nigerian dream is really alive, now everybody wants to VISIT THIS REVOLUTIONARY NATION THROUGH THE windows of The Nigerian urban music, dance, movies, football and all other trivial means that we took just for what they were.

In the tail end of the 20th century this country just kept surprising us with all sorts of booms, after the eve of independence, the post-colonial power tussle of the sixties that geared up inspiration for the action movie makers in Hollywood, the coup d'état boom was our first hearing to the word boom, should we talk of the oil boom of the 70s, that was followed by the corruption boom of the 80s, which made many of us lost hope in the future of this cursed nation, with resourceful people, but the 90s was the beginning of the soccer and Nollywood movies boom, and then the 21st century opened up with some serious booms, miraculously we see the telecommunication boom, financial system boom, apart from this musician that kept bothering our air waves and as it is beginning to seem now, we are about to witness the dance boom, photography boom, and other inconsequential booms, ok from today on, I'll never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers, and no matter what rubbish I lay my hands on now, I will never let anybody tell me who I am, cos they only want to tell me who they want me to be, so after all the national and international condemnation Nollywood got, yet their destiny can't be changed, and this even goes beyond what scholars can put on paper, or what the major players in this Nigerian dreams themselves can analyse,

Nigeria is becoming the Nation that really needs a carefully close look at, because even before Obama came up with the “Yes we can” slogan, Nigerians has been saying it with their ways and actions in a very informal and banal way, The individual is a major player and the embodiment of the Nigerian dream. IN THE NEW NIGERIA, EVERYMAN IS A CREATOR, they have become the re-inventors of culture and tradition, a contemporary Nigerian is first a Nigerian above all other things, he is less of his ethnic grouping, likewise does the question of being an African is of any importance to him, he has made himself a dynamic interlocutor between past and the future,

FOR HE CAN FEEL THE NEED FOR A NEW NATION BUILDING WITH OR WITHOUT THE STATE, consciously or unconsciously, through playfulness or mere survival instinct, and talent is no longer a password to success, neither does originality seems to be enough, but all that must be supported with consistency and a marketing gimmick that is definitely out of this world, Nigeria is cursed with everything good and bad, cursed with talent, corruption, greediness, creativity, indiscipline, natural and human resources, corruption, insensitivity to filthy surroundings and many other identifiable plagues in our catalogue of the national mystique. A Nigerian cares less about stereotypes and give no damn about what the international media is saying about them,

So who is the man telling me that the cities of the future are still lying somewhere in Europe, or taking the directions of Tokyo, Doha or Beijing, hell no, the cities of the future are completed work in progress, cities in motion and adhering to contemporary needs of a city, made what it is by the resourcefulness of its creative and entrepreneurial citizens, producing intense proximity of loads of activities and performance of all sorts, from selling and buying, to fighting and praying, loading and unloading, road shows of all sorts, touting, crimes and daily minor violence, all working side by side with dirt, waste, history, energy, slums and sweat to sustain the everyday hustling that put a totally different light to their moment of merrymaking, worship and love. All these are what the city of the future is made of and not defined by its architectural extravagant extravaganza. In ungovernable cities like Lagos or Benin city for example, the rule of law, law of gravity and the formal pulls of life are brought to the lime light at the square everyday by the people, with full support of the thugs and touts, to be assembled and demolished even before the end of the inaugural party and political shows, set in motion by the state, to celebrate the new reinstated rules and regulation, the people in turn takes from all that is visible and in present tense, to make the informal never changing, yet mobile government, through of course their creative energy, many thanks to their public reputation and street credibility that none of the statesmen can boast of.

Any un-Nigerian reader out there reading this article might be thinking, what a patriot and flag wavers contemporary Nigerians must be, well you might be missing the point, yes Nigerians are flag wavers above other things, but I don't know if it can be linked to patriotism, its just fashion, its becoming hip to wear the national colour and proclaim the national slogans, Naija 4 life, Proudly Nigerian etc. without any deep implication attached, but evidently the youth culture and the ruling informal government is very green in colour, and no one wishes to dig into that hidden sack, because for me, the word patriot in dictionary terms is a person who loves and cares deeply about his country and not one who says he loves his country, Patriotism is an emotion of love directed by a critical intelligence, and how can this be possible if the rulers and the ruled are not on parallel grounds and have no common goal of maintaining the dispensation at which the nation lives. The only true patriots we have in Nigeria are the ruling class, they are the ones who cling religiously to the notion of patriotism, clowning themselves with the importance of the national pledge and hymn. What I'm trying to say here is that, Nigeria is entirely different from Nigerians, Nigeria is such a hopeless country, but Nigerians on the other hand are so much of a reassuring sect, despite their ungovernable characteristics, they are a complete opposite to the ruling class, when you visit Nigeria as a foreigner, the visible wonders
you see everywhere are mere invention of Nigerians, the people you meet on your daily encounters that will make you return with a whole new idea of what Nigeria stands for, because from outside Nigeria the only information we get are the governmental magic of the ruling class who calls themselves Nigeria.

Dec 3, 2008

Qudus appears in the long list of "The Future Awards".

The Central Working Committee of The Future Awards, on the morning of Tuesday, the 2nd of December, announced the list of nominees for the 4th edition of Nigeria’s most respected youth awards.

“It’s been weeks of intense work and research, and we are proud, immensely proud of the list we have from more than 10, 000 nominations! Voting starts immediately, alongside the rigorous 4-stage judging process. All the details, including the full list, will be posted on the website www.thefuturenigeria.com,” said Emilia Asim-Ita, the Award’s PR Director. “And what really warmed our hearts about this list were the twin facts that we have a healthy percentage of nominees from all parts of Nigeria, and even though it’s a star-studded list, more than 50 per cent of the nominees are non-celebrities. “

The Future Awards rewards achieving young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 31. The long list is, as usual, filled with the brightest and best young Nigerians from all over the country – in music, sports, the corporate world, technology, business, amongst others.

NOMINEES LONG LIST
"THE FUTURE AWARDS 2009"

On-Air Personality of the Year (Radio)

Phoenix (Rhythm Lagos)
Tito Otons (Raypower Lagos)
Tyeng Gyang (Cool FM Abuja)
Douglas Nwokocha (Rhythm Abuja)
Yaw & Matse (Wazobia FM Lagos)
Wildchild (Rhythm FM Lagos)
Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi (Cool FM Lagos)
Chuks Roberts (Cosmo FM Enugu)

Best Use of Technology

Saheed Adejuwon
Titilayo Akinsanmi
Bamidele Odufuye
Lanre Lawal
Icebox Studios
Yinka Adetoye
Yusuf Jimoh
Oluwaseun Faniran

Best Use of Advocacy

Temidayo Israel
Mohammed Ahmed-Shaibu
Ugochukwu Nwosu
Tosyn Bucknor
Toyosi Akerele
Obinna Etele
Emmanuel James-Odiase
Emmanuel Etim

Musician of the Year

Dbanj
9ice
Psquare
Naeto C
Rooftop MCs
Banky W
Timaya
Sasha

Actor of the Year

Jennifer Osamor
Funke Akindele
Gabriel Afolayan
Tonto Dike
Oge Okoye
Nonso Diobi
Mercy Johnson
OC Ukeje

Artist of the Year

Ogunnubi Babadeji
Seyi Taylor
Abraham Oghobase
Emeka Okereke
Jumoke Verissimo
Adolphus Opara
Tolulope Ogunlesi
Jide Alakija

Magazine of the Year

Ace
Soundcity Blast
Tripz
The Applause
234
Déjà vu
Trace
Acada

Style Entrepreneur of the Year

Dumebi Agbakoba (Dakou Collections)
Funke Adegbola (Ella Brown Couture)
Korede Roberts (Fusion)
Uche Nnaji (Ouch!)
Ebubedike Mary (West n Couture)
Yewande Perigrino (Beyond Faces)
Olamide Ajayi (Iconola)
Linda Ikeji (Blackdove Communications)

Comedian of the Year

Jedidiah
Wale Gates
Teju Babyface
Princess
Tunde Ednut
Seyi Law
Omobaba
Holly Mallam

Business Owner of the Year

Mosunmola Umoru (Honeysuckles PTL)
Tochukwu Onyemelukwe (Cotek)
Alexander Yangs (Testify Music)
Debola Lewis (Yvent Couture)
Ibidun Ighodalo (Elizabeth R)
Funke Awobokun (Cocktails In & Out)
Hassan Rilwan (Focal Point Publishing Ltd)
Anita Ibru (Minerva)

Professional of the Year

Kolawole Osinowo (Nokia West Africa)
Oluyemi Oluwole (Chevron Corporation)
Shile Obiesan (Consolidated Media Associates)
Dr. Dayo Osholowu (Special Olympics Nigeria)
Uche Okorji (Utchay Okorji Associates)
Fatima Mohammed (Chapel Hill and Dunham)
Fola Aiyesimoju (Stanbic Bank)
Carrena Sola (Travant)

Model of the Year

Bryan Okpara
Warebi Martha
Bisi Rahman
Bisi Sowemimo
Amaka Chirah
Isi Atagamen
Owobo Ogunlaja
Olubunmi Ademokoya

Team of the Year

Blue Labs Technologies
DNMT (Dance Na De Main Thing)
Four Kornerz
Babs Educational Consult
The UnRulies
Javabean Ltd
Knighthouse
Mo Hits Crew

Journalist of the Year

Rachel Ogbu (Newswatch)
Samuel Olatunji (The Sun)
Azuh Amatus (The Sun)
Arukaino Umukoro (National Standard)
Blessing Ogunli (TheNEWS)
Abdulkareem Baba Aminu (Daily Trust)
Ruonah Agbroko (Thisday)
Funke Adetutu (BusinessDay)

On-Air Personality of the Year (TV)

Onyinye Igwe (Soundcity)
Tana Egbo (Channel O)
Lamide Akintobi )(Channels TV)
Dayo Ephraim (Hip TV)
Blaze (Nigezie)
Adaure Achumba (STV)
Jimmie Akinsola (The Best of Football)
Jumoke Alao (AIT)

Screen Producer of the Year

Gbenga Salu
Soji Ogunnaike
Matthew Ogunlola
Onye Ubanatu
Chuka Ejorh
Clarence Peters
Kemi Adetiba
Dayo Oyedele

Sportsperson of the Year

Yagazie Chukwumerije
Damola Osayomi
Osaze Odemwingie
Mikel Obi
Eniola Aluko
Obinna Nsofor
Chinedu Obasi Ogbuke
Olusoji Fasugba

Music Producer of the Year

Wole Oni
Cobhams
Alex Yangs
ID Cabassa
Don Jazzy
Jesse Jags
TY Mix
Suspect

Dancer of the Year

Qudus Onikeku
Kafilat Shafaru
Onyekachi Okengwu
Wale Akinbola Sodade
Jennifer Ogbor
Bimbo Obafunwa
Buddy Agedah
Flex (Nonso Cajetan Asobe)

Young Person of the Year:

Bukola Elemide (Asa)
Toyin Bello
Yagazie Chukwumerije
Louise Priddy
Oluchi Orlandi
Don Jazzy (Michael Ajere)
Cobhams Asuquo
Funke Bucknor-Obruthe

Nov 29, 2008

Collection of those things that burn in us

THE event was a union of two young and established Nigerian performers of high esteem and international reputation. Isioma Williams, a percussionist and choreographer based in the United Kingdom and Qudus Onikeku, a dancer and acrobat based in France. The event was a workshop titled, ‘Collection of those things that burn in us. Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare and Bunmi Obarotimi report.

A dancer and a percussionist, though different, share a passion. Both are artistes – they feel every passing moment with poetry, burn on stage like innocent bodies set ablaze and appear to be innocent of their naivety. Percussionists recite poems with the beat of the drum while a dancer narrates the poem with body movements. Qudus Onikeku, a Nigerian dancer and performer of international reputation, who currently enjoys a scholarship from the French government at the prestigious Ecole nationale superieur des arts du cirque, Chalons en champagne, France and Isioma Williams collaborated to set poetry in motion with dance and drums at the Conference Hall of the National Art Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos.

The event titled, ‘Collection of those things that burn in us’ which came up recently was a bumper package. It featured a workshop session, public presentation and screening of a documentary film that followed Qudus’ recent project, carried out last summer in six African countries and a poetry dance performance titled ‘Afropolitan’.

Afropolitan is focused on the insincere friendship between Africa and the western world - the negative impression that people of the western world have about Africa as a nation and the effect of these negative thoughts on the people of Africa.

In his presentation, Qudus said, “between you and I, Africa has been seen and told from the western eyes, unconsciously, we tend to see ourselves from the slants of the western judgment and you and I continue to dance around these laid down stereotypes.”

The main message of Afropolitan is that Africans should learn to develop at their pace and not imitate or look up to the westerners and wait for them to develop the economy of their nation for them. Qudus believes that Africans need to look inward and also run at their pace; a steady pace that is peculiar to them instead of chasing developed countries at the detriment of their socio economic development. “Let you and I ask each other, if auto-mobile was made by Africans, what would have been the speed limit? Because we tend to run too fast, shall we last long with this pace? We are becoming uncivilized of our proper civilization with the hope of catching up with this capitalist world in the shadows of globalization.”

Another focus of the workshop is to educate people and correct the general misconception that dancers are unserious people. Dancers are also taught to have pride in themselves and the job they do. “Once upon a time, dancers used to be subordinates to dramatic performances, musical revivals and tools for welcoming VIPs at the terminal and airports while percussionists stand beside as a mere subordinate art to other forms of art, but in present time, the story is taking another form. Today has come to be, after a long week of talks, understanding, making performers of these arts to be conscious and empower these art forms, that in recent time appears to be one of the most influential and versatile art form that could go into other art forms.” Qudus said.

The event is not meant to promote a certain form of dance but to bring all forms of dance together as one, said the organizers, “our aim is not to romance a particular form of dance, but on the contrary to "de-individualize" and bring all these forms of body expressions to a platform where they could be individually or collectively conscious and aware of those micro-organs that enhance our movements.”

The film shown during the workshop was extracted from the recent project of Qudus and titled, "do we need cola-cola to dance." It is a project he did around six countries of Africa in 2007. The countries toured are Lagos, Cairo, Johannesburg, Maputo, Nairobi and Yaoundé with the purpose of retracing a path that may lead to the discovery of the things he found missing.

Qudus Onikeku, a young Nigerian dancer and Acrobat based in France ,has toured over 27 countries across the globe while Isioma Williams, a performer of high esteem, Choreographer, Dance director, Percussionist and the coordinator for Gong beats productions. Both are ambassadors of Africa culture, showcasing the rich heritage of Africans in various part of the world and they have used their experience to portray Africa in a positive light at different forum and most recently at the workshop.

Nov 24, 2008

ASA wins the prestigious French Music Awards

ASA has just won the highly coveted French Constantin Award for new musical talent this Monday afternoon, 17th of November 2008. "I want to sing for the world, not just be seen as an African singer," said Asa in a recent interview with AFP. This special price was created in 2002 to celebrate the latest talent of the year, and in the list of precedent winners includes Avril, Mickey 3D, Cali, Camille, Abd Al Malik and Daphné last year. Asa won the seventh Constatin Price, after an organized concert for each artiste to perform any of her preferred tracks before a live audience at Paris' Olympia, This award was handed to her by Etienne Daho, president of the 19 man jury for the 2008 edition, she sang at the beginning of the show with guests as Camille and Katerine. Asa prevailed on the list of contending youngsters on stage, including talented artistes such as Dø, Cocoon, Moriarty, Julien Doré, Thomas Dutronc, Yael Naïm, Arman Méliès, Barbara Carlotti and Joseph d'Anvers.

The young woman appears amazed, falls in tears when she heard her name, saw her work be awarded since the release of her first eponymous album in 2007… during the publication of the ten nominated for this price one month ago, Etienne Daho have announced in silence this final victory.”The French production is feeling well, I think especially about Asa from Nigeria, who is realising a sublime disk” and Asa has said "I really feel too honoured to be a member of this nice artistes’ selection. If I win this price, that will make people know my music, and this is good. So many artistes will like to be at my place. It’s a real luck.”

The Constatin Price rewards exceptionally artistes whose disk has been produced in France, with the sole condition of the album not being a golden disk before being selected. This year, the list of the ten artistes has much feminine touch. Asa will surely get profit from a media display for the coming years.

(c) Qudus Onikeku reporting for myself

Nov 7, 2008

Qudus's Evaluation of Dance in Nigeria... QED

If we get to place Nigeria on a scale against West Africa as a whole, it is clear that the scale could balance at point zero, not just because Nigeria being the most populous nation in Africa with an estimate of 140 million, which is already more than a half of west Africa, nor for her political impact and economic puissance that plays a significant role in the region, but also for its cultural diversity that gives birth to 36 states (if we want to talk in terms of political boundary, if not, we can as well say it is made up of over 250 ethnic groupings).

Qd's Evaluation of DANCE. QED Naija version

Due to this brief intro, which is more like stating the obvious, we will then have no need for further effort in getting anyone convinced that there is a strong need for a network development in such a “monster” nation, and certainly this network can lead to a “Dance boom” that the whole of the African continent and the dance world can also benefit from. However, it is quite a sorry thing to say that there is very little or no single connectivity amongst these various states apart from the highways that links one to the other. In terms of the art scene, apart from mega cities like Lagos who has arrived at dominating and capitalize the Nigerian dance economy, which tends to be the unofficial headquarters for showbiz, there is no concrete exchange or viable relationship that flows amongst the local players of these states, the funny thing about it all is the fact that, it is not even the whole of Lagos that has a share in this monopoly, but a very small league of "local champions" who got the exposure and capital to invest in the industry.

If we decide to go deeper into the concept of using what we have in place to make things happen, at the same time creating more alternative spaces for freedom and expression. The dance industry in Nigeria is still in its primitive stage with quite a lot of untapped initiations, it is only these “local champions” that rotates themselves around same horizons. What are making out of our differences, complexity and diversity? how do we make use of the existing 36 states? make use of the ATAS(Association of Theatre art students) that exists in over a hundred universities and polytechnics across the nation? of what better use can we make of the state councils of arts and culture that exists practically in all states? how more can we make a functional use of the Dance guild of Nigeria that has affiliates in several states? there are for sure better advantageous means of making use of the ready made network of the French cultural centres that exist in major cities in Nigeria, as well as the molecules of other micro cultural operators and professionals that spread all across the nation.

I think i have found my own one word answers to this complicated questions, yes its the 3D, we sincerely need to multiply, with aim of “De-individualizing” the isolated operators that is rather being squashed by the massive weight of their one man shows, by means of multiplication and displacement, diverse combination and intra-exchange on a national level, that bonds a chain of network units within each states first before opening up to blocs in the regions, which must however be backed by other possible measures of “De-centralizing” and “De-concentrating” the attention of other secondary operators from the main regions that harbours the centre players.

Move departments of the large markets, such in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt or Calabar, away from a single administrative centre to other locations, granting them some degree of autonomy, which will later reduce the crowd of bush league that overpopulates the limited chances for the real players. More so, bringing all these individual forces to form an alliance of cultural operators, whereby they come together with a collaborative force, which does not exclude students, journalists, critics, scholars and professionals all around Nigeria, and by so doing, the so called local champions that flock around the unofficial headquarters will have other doors at which they can disseminate their energy, by constantly giving helping hands to smaller operators in other states to develop a sustainable dance market, and unconsciously, there will be a massive network that boasts of its weight even in the world stage, and tell me, for what reason will there not be a conducive environment for our existence at home?

I believe that at this present point of our encounters, after some years of exchange of sight and several hand shakes with the west, it is high time we got to start concentrating on internal issues, now that we got enough technology and professionals present on the soil, we only need to appropriate all this ready made elements as our own means and apparatus, as well as using maximized effort to culture the monetized art face and divert the sluggish and negative energy that flows around the nation like virus into a steady and positive change reaction.
The first edition of the bi-annual Ewa Bami'jo then becomes a wonderful and perfect platform where we bring few targeted alliance into a bond, while the initiation of a similar project like “do we need cola-cola to dance” for a national tour becomes a weapon for us to drill further into the nation, to scavenge for possible encounters with our supposed groupies, thereby the second edition of Ewa Bami'jo becomes the beginning of a concrete alliance that will only get to increase with time and as the word continues to go around.

Benefits of putting 3D into consideration includes possible mobility and artistic initiations among different region. since there are no concrete publication or agencies that provides us with such information of how many professionals, organisations and exhibition venues exist in the country, such initiation then unconsciously develops an accurate statistic and census of the industry, which then become a guide for easy access of the various regions for national and trans-national exchange.

Conclusion.

The existence of this article will not be justified or well interpreted if we demand of Artistes or cultural operators to instigate a movement of reform and revolution as proposed by this analysis. The individual is a product of symbols, imagery and reality, which further explain why the practicality of this theory is not a proposition for all... So to avoid irrationality and invalidity of this analyses, what we need to do is to discover authentic professionals either practitioners or scholars who have the willpower, the ability and the vision, of course such people are rare, if they have the vision and the mechanized ability, perhaps they don't have the economic ability, or their creative temperament will not concur to the lure of managing such affair that can't avoid the romance of politics in all form of it, it is then the duty of those amongst us who are matured enough to initiate such projects, those who are ready to rub both minds and hands with our generous benefactors and the state, to lead the way in their discovery and create such atmosphere conducive for such revolution.

(c) Qudus Onikeku. for Yk Projects.

Oct 28, 2008

The Fascist in ME.

Few months ago, i wrote a note stating my Analyst told me I got an ego problem, I sat back, I was tranquil, fixed my gaze on him and I see smiles forcing their way out of my upper lips, I watched his lips dangle with passion, like a performer of rap music, but this is a full grown man that knows his onion, meanwhile, I was long gone in my world of thoughts, I felt so high, I even touched the sky...

These days i have constantly noticed that everybody want to prove to every other person that they are right and that the other is wrong, they want the other to know that they have their own point of view (a.k.a. POV), so they begin to analyze, they begin to argue, they argue about everything and most especially about why they think others are wrong and trying to analyze who the other is. Meanwhile no one can actually tell you who you are, but who they think you are or want you to be. Some tell me at times "Qudus, do you know you can't be always right" so fuck it, i know i'm not always "right", i will even say i'm often "wrong", but i have got the right to contradict myself isn't it? Perhaps that is the schizophrenic part of me manifesting itself. To realize my fault and accept it or not, is up to me as an individual to deal with.

I'm used to arguing about everything as well, but it is not about who is right or wrong, its about laying my point of view (POV) side by side as a mean of juxtaposition against yours, to weigh my understanding with yours, perhaps i might take one out of my worn out mind and add one of your fresh ones to mine at the end, so i have learnt something from you, so fucking what? but you won't be shocked, when you see me tomorrow and i engage you in the same argument we had yesterday, perhaps i have updated my POV last night.

Everyday, every night, returning to my self contained apartment, i undo my buttons, unzip my trousers, take off my shoes, remove my socks and empty my mind. I place them all randomly on the floor, before going to bed i decide on which one of them i will still put on for another day, i take a quick recap of the day, i change my underwear, refresh my thoughts, synchronize it with my reality, update my reasoning and say good night to myself, hence, there is no reason for not saying good morning in a different tone the next time i meet myself again.

The next day is another sympathetic day, i'm filled with profound love and affection even for the guy that took my last argument with him as a brutal attack without pity, i reduce myself to my proper humility after a night filled with intensive wave. I take on my daily journey without a name, without identity which could drift my purpose below my measures, for all i got right now is a point of view, driven by passion and underlined with truth. Constantly scrutinizing myself, cleansing my soul and skin off the fascist in ME, in my head, in my everyday behaviour, the fascist that causes me to love power, fame, money and lust, to desire the very thing that dominates and exploits me.

I stop here to take a deep breath before i drill further into this philosophical pit, as i am aware that my blog is silently mutating into a public forum and an alternative space for reflection, so if you are thinking right now that i can "HELP" you, then stick to me until you rot away as i continue my journey, i will not like to sway my readers without them being aware of this manipulation, and ultimately win them over against their own will power. This is the weapon of the "Fascist". The Fascist we all are conversant with, might perhaps be the term used of the 20th century totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in italy, or the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain, the Fascism that tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one nationals or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader with a strong demagogic approach.

Well that might be correct in political or encyclopedic terms, but the fascist i am referring to here is a phenomenon that took place elsewhere, something that could only happen to others, but not to us, its their problem, so here is why my POV refuses nationality or identity, is fascism really a problem for others to deal with? We often want to be the one who seek security and a peaceful life, security even in where we allow our minds thought to visit, making us seem like the man who chop off his limbs in order to get an artificial ones, for he desperately need a life free of pain and troubles, the metal dream of a tranquil and conflict free existence, wanting to be so real that we set fire on reality itself. What about the fascist that is based on the desire to be led, to give a complete authority of our lives to someone else to legislate, the one that awards us every reason not to voice out our pains, even when we are pushed to the wall.

How then do revolutionaries, activists, critics and other militants deal carefully with this same fascisizing element we all carry along with us? how do we rid our speech and our acts, our hearts and our pleasure, of fascism? religious moralists sought to rid us of the fascism hidden somewhere in our soul, while these militants pursue the slightest trace of the fascism in the body, that leads them to state why the other is evil (a fascist, a capitalist, a communist) or what moral values should be, and hence, does that award them a righteous life? does that make them a judge? However the modest fellow loves hiding places, secret path and back doors, everything that seems far away from him entices him as his world, his security, his refreshment; he understands how to keep silent and wait, how to complain and dream, how to be self deprecating and humble, how to survive by sanctifying every lie he has been fed with. This is the realm of the silent majority who has become the apparatus at which the powerful ones behind the closed doors use to express the fascist in them.

The powerful, at which we the silent majority awards the legislation of our lives to, has endless time, whether we whine, howl, beg, weep, cajole, pray or curse - he listens. He is just a big ear minus a sympathetic nervous system and nothing touches him but the TRUTH. When we deceive ourselves on the notion of making the world a better place, we are prompted by an instinct of self affirmation and self preservation that cares little about affirming or preserving life. What constitutes our sickness today? is it not the absence of fresh air where it smells bad? When we do the diagnosis, won't we see the need to cure ourselves of the cure itself?...

OK LET ME DIGEST THIS ONE FIRST, I SHALL CONTINUE WHEN NEXT I GET THE ANOINTING... lol

Oct 11, 2008

Qudus Speaks his mind with SWITCHED MAGAZINE

PHOTO CREDIT: EMEKA OKEREKE,

Qudus Onikeku is a graduate of The National Higher School of Circus arts, France as a Dancer and Acrobat. For more than a decade, he has been present in the choreographic scene of Lagos. He is part of the new generation creators springing up from Africa. Known in Europe, in the USA and the Caribbean for his solo pieces, his participation in the works of Heddy Maalem and remarkable with his artistic research and teachings across the globe, Qudus is an Omonaija representing and carrying a message, everywhere he goes. His mission is to influence at lease one out of every 2 people he meets and who wont go on stage if he didn’t feel he could add some form of value to at least 1 person out of the audience, would love to be remembered for his words. According to him, his words are around and alive as the wind, the sea and even “Indomie” (lol). From talks about his profession, to that of change for the Nigerian youth and their thinking and even to his views about life, success and mindset of individuals, this Dance artist cum writer chats with the Switched On Team, baring all and revealing the depth, intelligence, passion and creativity in his dance, his writing and his message. HANG ON!! You’re about to join us on this roller coaster ride of deep, intense, “political” and creative words of a Nigerian who speaks with his mind, his hands…and his feet!

Basic question. How did you get started?

It was all like a kid's stuff, you know when we were young, we recognized those things that make us happy, especially in a society like Lagos. The definition of love was not so much in connection with the universal dictionary, and the strong wind that blows around just want you to do things that you associate more with. Coincidentally, mine was dance, but it all started from the kind of kid I was, very agile, stubborn and hyper. During high school, I took dance very serious, so when I graduated, I decided to move it to the next level, because I didn't believed so much in traditional forms of educational institution. I later headed for alternative learning that could support my creative temperament. As for my writing, I think it was just a way of relaying my mind’s thoughts because there is usually no one to say my mind or thoughts to especially in those days, when on tour and in my little apartment as a student. So, basically, it was just a way of retaining my sanity. I must say that I write everything, I don't have a secret. I think that's all I can tell you guys.

You started YK Projects. What is this about?

YK operates between Nigeria and France as a not-for-profit company. It was initially registered as a performing company in Nigeria, but the lack of appreciation of the arts and the disdain which tends to subject Artistes to a hostile environment, informed the coming together of a collective of Youths with legs in different sectors of the arts, amongst which are Performing artistes, Visual artistes and Writers. All have similar intentions of creating an alternative landscape for the local audience to be aware of the art, by projecting contemporary arts (Dance, New Circus and Street Performance) through outside performances, media and publications, just to create a conducive environment for our existence at home.

Tell us about the “Ewa Bami Jo” events?

“Ewa Bami' jo” is a bi-annual convention around contemporary creations, that re-unites different front- line players in the socio-political development project of the African world, under one dance umbrella that brings about conferences, debates, film screening, exhibition and shows. It used to be an annual event, where I try to invite other art forms to come and dance with me, the first edition was in 2005, the 2nd in 2006 and now due to my absence in Nigeria, it is coming back and bigger and better. The next edition will be in Lagos during the month of November 2009, you can visit www.ewabamijo.blogspot.com.

PICTURE: AGNES MYRIAM CHAFEI

In your dance and writing, what is your message?

Hmm, well first, I am not just a dancer or writer, I am also a human being, that cries, smiles, eat, fall in love, hates and go to toilet etc, so I think there is always one or two things to see as inspiration in all of these attributes of a normal human being. So the basis of my art is just to lay before my audience how I express certain things that they might perhaps, have not found easier means of expressing. I don't think I have a particular message; I am not a preacher you know, but I am someone who tries to find simple ways of expressing what I feel deep inside of me. So there might perhaps be a message in that.

Ever gotten questioning looks when performing? How do you react/ deal with this?

Questioning looks? YES, a lot, especially in Nigeria. How I deal with it is simply to explain what i'm trying to do with my art to the curious ones who get interested in entering into my world, that is my duty, but I also try to settle those questions while creating in the studio.

How has your Yoruba tradition influenced your art?

I like proverbs very much, and my childhood is a great inspiration to me as well, so in case you will like to know, I was nothing but a Yoruba boy while growing up.

You reside in France. How regularly do you visit home, Naija?

Before, I used to visit Naija frequently; it was a six month in, six month out sort of arrangement, but since I came to school here, I have learnt to “miss” Naija. (Lol)

You have traveled a lot. How has this played a role in your artistic life?

Before I left Nigeria for the first time, I thought it was only in Nigeria that we speak Yoruba. I thought Lagos was a peaceful city. I didn't even know who Fela was. But now I know. I have learnt many things while visiting places that I couldn't have been interested in if I had read it in a book. Traveling has really enriched my cognizance and point of view to life and that is the basis of my “artistic life”.

Life, they say, is funny and comes with its specific “dishes”. In your view, describe the paradox of life?

You know, in this life there are several paradoxes, some that are mere master plan, put in place by the Almighty, while many we create by ourselves for ourselves. Can you imagine that after all our struggles in life; we still die at the end? We complicate everything for ourselves and now it has become so complicated that no one has a clear solution to our troubles. A civilized man needs to go to school for almost 20 years to understand how to live in his on civilization; to discover the sea; we have to travel on the land. We know hunger by first knowing that there is something like food. When we eat and get overfed during lunch, it won't stop us from getting hungry at dinner, when we pick up our bags, drop the keys and say goodbye to our neighbors, it will surely be followed by welcome and nice to meet you somewhere else, so when we run away from our social responsibilities, will that change our childhood? will it change the fact that we are who we are? Anyway let me stop here before you start reading something else... lol

Human beings are social and unstable “elements”. Animals are too. You wrote a piece “Are we Higher Animals”. In your opinion, do you think humans are no better than animals?

You know in my article “Are we higher Animals?” I wasn't trying to judge who is better nor giving some special attributes to the “lower animals”. Truly we are “higher animals” and that remains a fact that needs no justification. Our ability to ponder over our conditions, thinking before reacting, our reflective ability over whatever we perceive through our sense organs, I mean, this ability to choose - and choose well; to kill the little harmless insect instead of letting it go; ability to have an ocean of dreams, that will soon flood away the efforts of those with just ways and means and leave others with blood on their skins; all these elements that distinguishes man from animals, for me, has later tend to kill our innocence and make us loose our sudden inner impulse that should manifest in all normal animals without premeditation or external stimulus. So it is for the same reasons for which we are "higher" that we are becoming lower than animals. Maybe we need to get rid of some of our "high qualities" so that we can even hope to ascend to a "mere human being". For some of us, we are way too low to even be called animals! Looking back at the article which I wrote while in Congo, it serves to only call to mind the attitude of those who pride themselves in being high, yet, they are the source of the bad vomit which poisons the world today. The article was not condemning a universal truth, but rather questioning those who have used that Truth as a blanket for their shameful nakedness, thereby creating another dimension of that truth - which is an illusion. So your question is like asking if Blacks are better than whites. It’s not a matter of better, but they both exist in their own particularities.

What one phrase, book or piece of poetry has inspired you of late?

Of late? Meaning like few weeks ago... I will say Kung fu Panda. I have two lines that I really like in that movie.The first line is “Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is mystery but today is a gift, that is why it is called PRESENT” and the second is “The secret ingredient of my secret ingredient soup is ... NOTHING, there is no secret ingredient, to make something special you just have to believe its special” Your favorite writer is? Why? Wole Soyinka of course! That man is a genius who has arrived at putting all his energy into one. So, in his works you can't separate talent from passion, politics from art and yet he has his own way of making you laugh. Now for me, that is 100%

Your Philosophy of life is.......

I found a new one in a cartoon (can you imagine) that “Yesterday is really a History, Tomorrow is mystery but today is a gift, that is why it is called PRESENT”. In this great future you can't forget your past and you cannot separate today from tomorrow though, they are very much linked. So, if you decide to see today and not foresee the mystery tomorrow promises, then you are getting one side of the picture.

Performing arts are your specialties. How would you rate your “feet” on a club dance floor?

On a club dance floor, you don't want to try me “Mo Gbona feli feli”... LOL

Lol..What does success mean to you?

Hmm success, you know I did a project in 2007 titled “DO WE NEED COLA-COLA TO DANCE?” While in places like Bariga, Eleko beach, in townships in Cairo, in Maputo, at Soweto, at Mathare slum in Nairobi, and other places like that, no one paid to see my show. It was outside in the dirts, but seeing those kids coming around and smiling after my show, was a “biggggg” success. I was able to successfully add to the experiences of those guys that stopped or came out to see my show. That is one of my most successful performances; more successful than the positive critics I got in New York Times or for my numerous performances around the globe, because that one really touched my sincere purpose as an artiste I think.

Art whether poetic, visual or performing, in Nigeria is worrisome though improving. Do you think Nigerians are ready for this kind of art?

What do you mean ready? Nigerians are human beings and I am also a Nigerian, and that's where it has to start from. I think the question should be “AM I READY TO MEET NIGERIANS AT THEIR POINT OF HUNGER?” You see, I have studied the capitalist way of thinking, even if I don't really agree with it, but I think that it is the language my people understand the most. I just have to learn how to speak it fluently, but keeping my purpose and core values intact of course. Are we ever ready for those adverts and billboards we are bombarded with everyday? Do we even know what we are ready for when we haven't seen it? SEEING IS BELIEVING MY BROTHER; I think it’s time pure art began to claim ownership to what the common man refers to as “mainstream”. That is when all these general misunderstandings will be settled. A sincere example is Soyinka. So many Nigerians don't know this guy for real; they don't even know what he really means to the world, but his name has become a cool reference in the intellectual mainstream. When a Nigerian sees your pix with Soyinka or Soyinka in front of a magazine, it means much more than a D'banj or ASA for Nigerians, you know. That is what I am out for. So, I think Nigerians are in a state where all they cry for everyday is that six letter word C.H.A.N.G.E.

What is the one thing that can put a smile on your face when you’re down?

A flash or SMS from my woman would do.

More importantly what are your fears concerning the Nigerian youth of today?

I think my fears about the Nigerian youth doesn't exclude myself, so I will prefer to use WE. Our attraction to vanity is scary. We want a better life, so it overshadows our morality. The new culture we imbibe is very scary as well. I like the new culture; don't get me wrong, but what is the speed limit? Globalization, is it about exchanging what you have, for what you don't have or mere adding one to what you already have? What’s up with this cultural assimilation? How are we refusing hegemony? How much reference are we taking from our past? We need to structure a future at which we can't forget our past. I also like D'banj you know, just as I like iPhone, but what is the value of my iPhone? Does it mean more that just a phone to me? NO, but what it can really do, ahh! that is the value that takes it one step further than just a phone. It’s not just about the coolness of having an iPhone. This is the profoundness I find missing in today's youth. One more thing is what I refer to as the “UP-NEPA” mentality, which makes us scream in euphoria when we get access to something that is meant to be ours, our basic amenities o. We tend to get used to the lies we've been constantly fed with by our leaders. Now, the normal thing in the Nigerian moral bible is that a politician must throw money in the air to get our votes, even if his head is filled with human feces and his money painted with our blood. In order to counsel a Nigerian youth or convince any typical Nigerian about the credibility of a particular profession, career or project, you are obliged to talk extensively about the possibilities of making money from it, and die rich afterwards, not minding what else he or she will do with the money after making it. Otherwise your preaching is as good as flaunting Naira notes in the air and your job is done, case closed. Our catalogue of the national maladies, that has crept upon every Nigerian youth, still include the undesirable manifestations such as greed, dishonesty, impatience, discourtesy, vandalism, indecency, brutality, robbery (in every form), drunkenness, cultism, tribalism, selfishness, ostentation, indiscipline, corruption, insensitivity to filthy surroundings and many other identifiable ills, and what do we say to all these afterwards “May God help us”. And meanwhile God don't help those who don't help themselves. My brother, when we complain, we also need to back it up you know, when we cry and tears drop from our eyes, it doesn't make us go blind.

If you had your way, how would you try re-shape our thinking as a nation.

I think a great surgery has to be done to our reorientation as a people; we need to flush some superfluous reasoning out of our subconsciousness. We need a whole new academic brainwash that must begin from our first day in school. Stop forcing kids to go to school. Nigeria has more traditional educational institutions even more than Britain that thought her, Uni. of this, Poly of that, Fed College of this, high school of that. Bros! my theory is simple, the moment those numerous institutions begin to transform into practical spaces for alternative learning, things will begin to change. Development can't be one sided; it has to move hand in hand. Erecting schools is not development when the human development is neglected? Do you know I went to a CIRCUS school in France? Yes I did and you don't want me to tell you the fight to convince my parents from stepping out of UNILAG where I was studying Mathematics and Statistics. People are tired of traditional forms of learning, because it’s not even working. Our national maladies won't let it work. Let there be schools of carpentry that offers degrees, erect respectable schools where kids go learn mechanic and give them masters even PhD, then we will begin to feel respect for every human for what they do. And you know what; learning will be fun without cheating. Sincerely this is what I do all day with my works, my job is all about ideology and reasoning.

Oct 8, 2008

DO WE NEED COLA COLA TO DANCE?

-THE ART FORM -

DANCE, CIRCUS, STREET PERFORMANCE, PHOTOGRAPHY, AUDIO VISUAL and ELECTROACOUSTIC MUSIC.
All these art-forms are what this project reunites into one.

-THE PROJECT-

All photos by Emeka Okereke

The Artwork is disseminated into two phases, the first phase of the project was the touring of an outdoor performance in Six countries of Africa with a team of five, amongst which are 2 performers, 1 sound artist, 1 photographer and 1 video artist, during the tour we also had the opportunity of meeting and talking to professionals in the arts world, asking questions, trying to structure a future for ourselves as young professionals. The second phase of the project was to return to the studio in France with all the visual materials we were able to acquire during the tour, and came up with a documentary film titled "DO WE NEED COLA COLA TO DANCE?".

-ARTISTRY-

The project rallies around Dance which is the centre of attraction here, and as it was showcased mostly in public spaces and performed by performers who at a time, posseses the skills of dancing, juggling, acrobatics and hand standing. It broke into the frontiers of street theatre. Meanwhile, the happenings were absolutely un-official; no posters, no info, even we didn't necessarily know where the next performance spot might be, just like in ancient traveling theaters. This "piece", more of improvisation, is to be an alternative artform to the traditional exhibition of dance in the theatre, it creates its own context, since there are few or no ready made theatre venues or audience to begin with, and there is only a few practice of alternative movements in the continent today, the coming to life of this project is not to insert a new style into existing buildings, nor enticing already formed audience away from existing venues, but just to be involved in a special broad oppositional art experiment. The Project is an artistic expression and declaration of our engagement in a structural development that is in the making, as well as our responsibility as artistes for change, it is a sincere laboratory experimentation of an existing theory. Our reference points or case study could be coming from dance and cinematographic perspective, but its a valid element for development using alternative measures.

-INTENT-

I thought of taking contemporary dance to “NON CONVENTIONAL” spaces and locations where the growing art network could not get to, be it public or private surroundings who are yet to discover the theatre for the purpose of Dance, as an avenue of crossing the borders that exists between artists and the audience, as well as formation of a local market and audiences structure. This first attempt took us on a journey across the African continent, around six countries, each from the different regions of the African continent including;Nigeria, Egypt, SouthAfrica, Mozambique, Kenya and Cameroon.

-TARGETS-

The first phase of the project was already two faced in terms of targets, it first seeks to cross the borders of our traditional four wall performances in the theatre space, to go in the pursuit of the populace, i decided to spread this research into three similar locations in 6 cities in Africa (Lagos, Cairo, Johannesburg, Maputo, Nairobi and Yaoundé), organize happenings in public spaces varying from market places to malls, university surroundings to the beach, bus stops and boat terminals as well as the corners of the streets and other unimagined available spaces that could accommodate such manifestation. One important criteria we put into consideration is the possibility of balancing the gaps, by making sure that our happening travels from the locality of the low income earners to the rich quarters and also the young intellectual sects in the educational institutions, in order to have a broader view to this issue. The echo of such project already travels around, and in its own special way inspires a handful of professionals who saw it as a fundamental step towards concrete and logical development.

The second phase which is the documentary film that followed such manifestation, the film is primarily directed to issues affecting the continent's arts world, but its primary audience lies amongst the young creators and the art's students anywhere in the world, which in no way limits its influential capacity to other domains and aspect of human development, which is more of the reasons why our diffusion cuts across different horizons, aiming at being part of the tours of my presently created solo piece, film festivals in the African world, Dance film festivals, documentary film festivals, alternative film festivals, libraries, schools, museums, cultural centers and all other imagined venues suitable for such presentation.

-AUDIO VISUALS-

Our approach to the documentary film that emmanate from this tour, is powered by the juvenile energy we are presently bestowed with, by nature we ask ourselves questions about the future as much as we inquire from the older generation, a detailed account of their time for a better comprehention of our tomorrow. This film in its own special way sways between dance, interviews, reasoning, people and politics, aimed to combine entertainment with database, discussion, socio-political proposals, recommendations and policies of culture. Primarily committed to bringing about actual changes in specific communities towards arts and culture. All actions, aesthetics and pragmatics, stories and documentary explored in this film – are inscribed with questions of fundamental importance to the freedom of the young professionals. However, our choice of research was guided by a more fundamental impulse than the quest for mere traveling and performing.

-MESSAGE-

This will perhaps send messages, meet the youth and young creators at their point of hunger, the young generation is hungry for life, we so wish to break bounds and go beyond the line drawn by the older generation, we jump on every thing that comes, and in a life where everything goes, we get confused about what to hold on to, Religion? Culture? Or the Media...? We imbibe the new culture and migrate easily towards easy life, run away from our social responsibilities and these will only lead to a further destruction of our nullifying "Self". Therefore as we seek this freedom, we however need a guideline.

-ADDRESSING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONTRAVENTION-

This project is first an imagined solution to a very personal issue that bothers my soul as a young African creator, it speaks the mind of many youth of this 21st century, and breaks the bridge between the artist and his audience and vice versa.

I happen to be one of those trained as dancers in an environment where all inconveniencies and risks were involved, yet survived it, it however gives my originality and identity at the end. i proceeded to study in France where all began to appear as two realities apart, just as the north and south pole, this project was then borne out of my introspection on where i was coming from. This refusal to go back to my locality with all foreign influence, becoming a dictatorial artiste who can no longer perform without a theatre well acclimatized with perfect technicalities and constitution, yet wishing so hard to have the same conditions and structures in Nigeria, as i presently enjoy in France, in order to give credibility to this art form by inspiring confidence in local audience and youth interested in taking up this art-forms.

-IMPACT ON HUMAN RIGHT ISSUE-

I strongly believe that there's a powerful connection between artists of all kinds and human rights. Artist and activist sometimes stand up against the establishment to say what needs to be said in the name of humanity. Artists are a leading voice for freedom - and for this project, it is freedom from fear, such fearless project could get us into trouble, but truth comes out of the light that we brought and the powerful often fear this.
The French cultural centre and other international organizations has claimed a complete authority over the circumstances at which we operate contemporary dance locally, so the need to break bounds and refusal to hegemony brought about this project. This artwork communicates across boundaries of geography, politics, gender, race, cross all divides and belong to every individual in those public spaces.
Freedom of expression is vital for an artist's work and the human rights activist works to protect that very right and in the end the relationship is more fundamental. We experienced art together with our audience, it makes us feel human, and moves us to protect the human rights of others. Everyone has a voice and should use it... No one sees the world in exactly the same way, no one sees the world through the same eyes as I do, nobody will see how i think and feel about the world unless i express it in some way. The interactive moments we shared with our audience was another means of getting closer to them, I was ready to hear their stories as much as they might like to hear mine. This can awaken their consciousness in a way politics or radical activism may not, this on the other hand inspires both fellow artistes and our audience, give self-confidence to people who believe in something but feel that they are alone.

FOR THE TRAILER OF DO WE NEED COLA-COLA TO DANCE VISIT:http://vimeo.com/1718985.

Oct 7, 2008

Fela! A New Musical Off Broadway

Sep 11, 2008

Armé de la terre and a other writing.

Armé de la terre !

This Soldier is special one, Usman the Soldier boy... lol

Few weeks ago I got the saddest news... or what can be as bad in a news
as knowing that ones close relation has joined the Army!
He goes to war to fight those they call his enemy. Foolish Fool,
he sees himself matured enough to go to war,
but not cynical enough to know amongst whom his enemies are,
how can you call people you don't know your enemies,
neither do they know you,
his real enemies he has left back home,
he has just accepted to be used as a sacrificial lamb
for the world to move on.

Sometimes, if he is lucky not to have gone with the memories of the war,
he maybe come back with what he calls good news of victory,
hmm funny right? Forgetting that those he left at home are still around,
and he will never be man enough to go blow their head off as his profession permits.
Oh sorry, his profession permits, but only on his "foreign enemy"
Then what will be his gain,
is he not wise enough to understand that he's been used
as an apparatus for some people's power grabbing tussles?
A political instrument who think one day he will be a hero,
trained for the realization of the dreams of the gun makers
and fought gallantly for the showbiz of politics and power.

Just like in the movies, war films;
every second the bullet is hitting somebody,
someone his loosing his dear life for the dear war to go on,
someone is struggling not to die
and the other prefers to die than enjoying the pains of survival,
someone is being used for awful images that passes emotion to the audience
but the camera never reminds us of those spear carriers,
that are meant to die for the sake of the lead characters
who turns out to be the heroes at the end.

So now i'm thinking to myself now, Those we assume as heroes are actually far from it,
the real heroes are unspoken, those who didn't made the media their homes,
those who were not so much awaiting the public applaud of what they are/were doing
but affects lives of the populace and the localities they represent first,
most heroes are self made isn't it?
most heroes are criminals i must add, heroes my foot! . . . lol
there is always a first thought of self proclamation and a reason to fight
that is far from the trumpeted motive,
have you ever heard of a hero
that got no link to politics in whatever form of it
and not hyped by the media?
Hero for the realization of a dream,
for the survival of their friends, families, offspring and their generations to come.
is your hero known to others?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My Squatter has started again.

How could you have done that to me
How could you?
Five minutes after you went into the cinema
I called you but your phone was
Not reachable,
I called home, no one to pick it up
And you know you got the keys on you
You were almost so stupid to have done that
But at times you think you're so wise,
So if I hadn't think of something wiser
I would have been outside the cold
Waiting for you
I had to call the landlady
For a spare key,
Now she knows you live with me
And you know what that means
what's the reason for your stupidness and foolishness,
don't you realize the consequence of your injudicious actions
At times you tire me
And moreover why didn't you wait
For me before going into the cinema
Anyway, how was the movie?
Don't you think it's a movie to watch?
Don't you want to answer me?
Why are you in this mood?
Is your melancholy back again?
But don't judge me by my words
Don't take them personal
I was only being sincere with you
Because I love you.
why u acting like a fool?
Qudus, You've started again.

DIARY OF A SCHIZOPHRENIC DANCER