Sunday 25 October 2015

Savouring Moment Of Infinite Treasures


 By Tajudeen Sowole

 From the first gathering two years ago, a group of master artists whose works were shown under Distinction series have grown in numerical strength. Currently 12 in number, from the founding six members, the artists yesterday, opened a new chapter in the yearly exhibition with Infinite Treasures, showing till October 30, 2015 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos.



 
Metal sculpture, Madam Kofo, by Fidelis Eze Odogwu
Before savouring the artistic contents of Infinite Treasures, three factors, most likely, would shape one’s assimilation of the group-salon gathering of artists. The three factors, which appear retrospective, cannot be discounted within the context of appropriating the works on display.

  
The guest artist, Kolade Oshinowo who radiates an aura of meticulousness, nearly all the main exhibiting artists whose collective presence in recent times is consistence and Terra Kulture, a space synonymous with landmark art gatherings, are all the three elements that coalesced to form a pedestal for Infinite Treasures.

  
 Oshinowo represents the true value in dynamics of an artist whose career demystifies a line drawn between artists in mainstream practice and the academia. If anyone was in doubt about the iconic spot of Oshinowo in Nigerian art lexicon, the organisers of what has been described as the country’s biggest gathering of artists, Living Masters art exhibition, in 2007 confirmed his status when he was included in the historic event. For Infinite Treasures, Oshinowo’s works such as ‘What God Has Joined Together’ and ‘Party Mood and The Maid’ stress his transitory period into textured canvas of fabric.


Individually, Rueben Ugbine, Tayo Quaye, Abiodun Olaku, Bunmi Babatunde, Sam Ovraiti, Edosa Ogiugo, Duke Asidere, Alex Nwokolo, Segun Adejumo, Odogwu Eze Fidelis, Diseye Tantua has encrypted on the Nigerian art landscape - either style or technique - that history would record as peculiar to each artist, over the years or decades.


In sculptures: Maiden Dance, Finishing Strong and Cuddle, Ugbine brings a technique of contemporary compliance flavor that looks like images from hi-tech concept. Quite a number of Nigerian artists have created identity in diverse family of prints. But for Quaye, the lino relief, which comes in shades of drawing and painterly texture is strengthened in works such as Fright, The Cork, Face IV, Survival and Imole.

   
Master landscape painter, Olaku continues to rescue the basics of art from being lost into subjectivity, so explains his meticulousness in ‘Conversations,’ a depth of water and skyline convergence. Olaku, whose brushstrokes appear restless when it comes to the subject of environment, expands his thoughts in ‘Floating Camps,’ a painting that highlights habitat question.

  
 Beyond the art market strength of wood works by Babatunde in recent years, the ebullience of the sculptor keeps growing, particularly in some of his series. In natural wood texture, he comes into the Infinite Treasure gathering with Omo Oge, Posibilities III and Supplicants.       

   
Abstraction is perhaps more engaging in the contextual form as Ovraiti appropriate it, allowing colours to start the dialogues. For example, his oil on canvas pieces, Harmonious Relationship and Heads of Honour series gives quite a breathing space for the colours over forms, suggesting a leaning towards his ‘colourist’ identity.

   
For the purists, Ogiugo’s strokes would continue to be revered in the resilience of figure rendition. His works in the rudiment of art such as Life Study On Oil and Life Study on Pastel offer observers quite a lot to chew and spit in comparative forms and medium.  

 You do not need magnifier to spot women of Asidere’s canvas from the flood of themes about the softer gender across Nigerian art space. Either in figures or colours, Asidere brings his subjects into the context of responsive engagement with issues affecting the society at large. However, in Travels II and IV, a more subtle approach to women’s focus appear to have surfaced on predictable canvas of the artist.

  
Arguably, Nwokolo’s canvas, in recent years, has been among the most aggressive in the quest for contemporaneity compliance.  Known for multiplicity or crowd-effect techniques, Nwokolo continues to transport that identity into more expansive narration with his application of materials and mediums in works such as Unknown Soldiers series, Socialites, Argungu III and Titled Men.

   
With a landscape, Larbadi Dusk; a scientific capture of transition, Lotus ReflexIncubation Mode; moulding the gele, Mirror Mirror; and cladded nude, Musing, Adejumo presents an interesting eclectic body of work. But in Mirror Mirror, the vintage Adejumo whose palette has perched on the elegance of native iro / buba and gele, female Yoruba fashion for decades, is alive.

  
A painting, Larbadi Dusk by Segun Adejumo
Cubic cracking in Odogwu’s work has expanded the scope of metal sculpture beyond the traditional space. As much as natural texture of metal has proven to be resilient in whatever shades of themes as seen in his works like The Soul and the Lyrics, Does it Fit?  Family Tree and Elements of Beauty, there comes a painterly intrusion in Madam Kofo. Perhaps, natural metal, even in toning is not enough to highlight the gele of the popular TV character.

 In painting and drawing by Tantua, pop art has taken African definition, hence the artist’s coinage, ‘afro-pop art.’ Indeed, it is hard to fault Tantua’s claim as his work has, over the years, proven to be a reference point in pop art vocabulary. For Infinite Treasures, Tantua further simplifies his afro-pop art technique in drawings and paintings such as No Telephone To Heaven, Talk Your Own and No Hanky Panky.

   
For the complex fact that a choice of space would continue to contribute to perception aspect of art appreciation and appropriation, artists no longer pick venue subconsciously. Terra Kulture as a space of choice for Infinite Treasures complements the status of all the exhibiting artists. Apart from being the choice of the historic art exhibition, Living Masters and several others, Terra Kulture has also been part of the camaraderie of the last three years within the context of a yearly group art exhibition involving most of the Infinite Treasures artists. The first two shows, Distinction 1 and 2 held in 2013 and 2014 have built a platform on which the initiators have continued to strengthen artists’ relationship with the general public.

   
 Though tagged a salon, the Infinite Treasures gathering at Terra Kulture – given the background of similar consecutive shows in the last two years - would take a life of its own. So, there’s a need to appreciate the value of consistency from some of Nigeria’s leading masters as presented in Infinite Treasures.
 (Published in The Guardian Nigeria, Sunday, October 25, 2015)

For Osiemi, We Wear The Mask Of Deception



By Tajudeen Sowole

U.S-based Nigerian artist, Felix Osiemi's visual narratives, which assess leadership and followership in Nigerian governance space, also highlight conspiracy theory of self-destruct that indicts everyone in the country's quest for a just society. The artist argues that the people's fear of being heard as well as the leaders' continuous feasting on the masses' weakness are a collective deception covered by mask, which breeds perpetual under development.
 
‘Alter of Power’ 2015 mixed media by Felix Osiemi
In stylised, figural, using fabrics as covert collage, Osiemi shows how his brushstrokes are not unconnected with the reality in Nigeria, so suggests his solo exhibition titled We Wear The Mask, showing at Signature Beyond Gallery, Ikoyi, Lagos. And despite being based abroad with apparently no activities on the Lagos art scene for nearly two decades, Osiemi appears to have remained in the art consciousness of observers at home his signature is still unforgotten, at least, among art connoisseurs and aficionados.


 Returning to the exhibition circuit with a solo in almost 20 years after his last show in Lagos, the choice of theme is also timely. Currently, most Nigerians who are passionate about change in the country's leadership texture, from insanity to accountability, are hopefully waiting for the new dawn to become a reality. But Osiemi is still skeptical: tracking development at home from his U.S base appears to have afforded him a view of what some people at home do not see.

   
"The Mask We Wear is the suffering; it's a conscious way of living with the suffering, accepting our condition," Osiemi tells a guest inside the carved out exhibition space at Signature Beyond Gallery, few days after the show opened. "It is about the fear that stalls advancement. It is about the mask of deception behind which, we hide our fears and pain. A smile is not always a reflection of joy; on occasion it is a way to conceal sadness." He discloses that Wole Soyinka’s literary work, Kongi’s Harvest "influenced this work," describing the current state of affairs as "a world of maladministration and blatant violence." Osiemi agues "that hiding our intentions behind masks may be a form of slavish submission to the forces that shape our future."

   
In one of the works titled Across the Sea We Dance,  Osiemi symbolically, depicts the vassal situation that most African countries are being gaged by policy makers. "if we believe in ourselves, we should be truly independent." 


For policy makers, Osiemi's Behind the Curtain (Stage) is a food for thought. Linking the process of policy making to the resultants 'mask' metaphor, the artist warns that the decision arrived at by lawmakers "are more important" in shaping the "performance," which represents the people's fortune or destiny.

   
Curiously, one's attention is drawn to the artist's canvas that is glaringly populated with ladies. Most often, artists in this part of this world claim that the attraction of the palette to ladies’ figure is for aesthetics, not exactly sensuous reason. But for a subject of nationhood question, which Osiemi treats in We Wear the Mask, he sees "motherhood as a symbol of nationhood."

   
Hardly would anyone fault Osiemi's view on Nigeria, from the Diaspora. However, his artistic narrative as a painter who has left the local scene for nearly two decades might need to keep pace with the expanding aggression of the Lagos art space, even within the artist’ clear identity. Several years ahead of We Wear The Mask, Osiemi was in Lagos, perhaps to show that he was not exactly out of touch with the daily dynamic of Nigerian art. "I was impressed with the level of development when I came here in 3013," he recalls.


 Painting collage in materials such as ankara, adinkra, and others considered as African elements coalesced to form what he describes as "part of my art-making process and sustained inquiries into identity."

  
 From his Artist Statement: “I am an artist and a painter inclined to issues that may impact social values, people and ethics. My works are informed by my interaction with the secular and the spiritual.

  
 “In a world of mass administration and blatant violence, my intention is to organize the material world to reflect meaning that may uplift our consciousness with the intent to provoke critical dialogue, and create a context in art as a way of healing.

 “I see art as truth, and truth beauty. I believe the more beauty we see, the more we evolve. Such beauty may impact our quality of life, and advance the contemporary world."
 (Published in The Guardian Nigeria, Sunday, October 25, 2015)

How Abia Is Driving Art Restoration Technique



By Tajudeen Sowole
With over 20 years studio practice as a painter and sculptor, Godwin Archie Abia, who is also the founder of Winarc Gallery is currently expanding  his interest in restoration and  preservation area of art. Abia is worried that artists and patrons of art are not giving much attention to preseration and conservation of collections.
a sculpture by Godwin Arcie-Abia

 "Every piece of creative work such as art, car, house, among other everything, even human being needs to be maintained," Abia argued during a chat inside Winarc Gallery, Ikeja, Lagos. "if not taken care of, works of creative efforts will lose its original content, aesthetics and value." Arts, he stresed "need to be preserved and properly maintained."


 The artist who is well-known for his bone collage - a medium he used for nearly two decade - traced the challenges of Nigerians in preservation to the people's lack of maintenance culture, generally. "As a people, we lack maintenance culture in this country and this has been extended to visual arts," he warned, and stressed that if the people's lack of maintenance culture extends deep into art, "the works of masters that were produced over the years would lose their value."

  
Among some of Abia's jobs in restoration is a fiberglass work at Lagos Port Complex, in 2001/2002, a job, he said was done originally by another artist. But there are quite a number of art in public space that needs restoration. "We have look around and noted some sculptural works that need to be restored as well as damaged works. I assure that if given the opportunity, we are going to restore them to the original state."

  
He shared his experience as regards the difference between indoor and outdoor maintenance of works. "Mainteining outdoor works of sculpture can be very challenging to coflectors given the usuual very large in scale and design of outdoor works.


"General maintenance starts with documentation of the works which makes for easy record keeping as a loose leaf binder entries for each sculpture's yearly maintenance.  Logs and initial examination can be kept in each section for easy reference in case of organisation and individual that has large collection of works.

  
 "For most sculptures, a yearly maintenance is regular washing with light lose pressure using a dilute solution of mild delergent, followed by warer rinse. Using rise soft nylon bristle brushes or sponges to apply the detergent proper washing and wax in maintenance will also provide the opportunity to examine the sculpture. Streaking are other evidences in corrosion, so balancing, structural problems or damage should be documented.


  "The environmental conditions surrounding outdoor sculpture can affect its condition. For example, I did a massive sculpture in Apapa area of Lagos in 1996, but due to lack of maintenance we have to do another new one in 2013. And in the recent one yet to be unvieled because of the atmospheric nature of Apapa, those works need to be coated every two years to prevent damage. 


  "Encroaching vegetation, which may encourage bird, animal, vandalisation activity, should be cleared. Holes in sculpture should always be kept clear to allow water drainage. Again my honest advice: whenever possible, discourage the public from touching or climbing on outdoor work of art because the applied surface coating are easily scratched and will be worn away by excessive handling. Natural barriers such as landscaping plant or gravel to discourage skateboarders); adequate lighting at night, security patrols can reduce the need for expensive repairs.


 "Also the protective coating for outdoor job, many sculptures especially metal ones can benefit from using 'Sacrificial' protective coatings. An inert, transparent coating is applied over the finished sculpture. which can be removed (without damaging the art work) replaced as it becomes dirty or worn.

 "Regular application and renewal of protective coating can be cost – effective means of prolonging the life of the sculpture, since they are much less intrusive and expensive to replace or adjust than are the artist"s original surfaces."
 (Published in The Guardian Nigeria, Sunday, October 25, 2015)

Sunday 18 October 2015

British Library shows West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song


Currently showing at the British Library in London till February 2016, it’s an exhibition of literature and music from the African empires of the Middle Ages to the cultural dynamism of modern and contemporary West African.




 Fascinating stories from the region’s 17 nations show how West Africans have harnessed the power of words to build societies, drive political movements, sustain religious belief and fight injustice. 


Beautiful manuscripts, historic film and sound recordings, books, photographs, and woven and printed textiles offer a unique insight into a profound and engaging literary culture with centuries-old written heritage existing alongside ancient oral traditions.

Hear the myth of the founding of ancient Mali in recorded performance. See the influence of religion through colourful fabric and the saddlebag Qur’an. Celebrate writers and artists including Africa’s first Nobel prize winner, Wole Soyinka, and internationally acclaimed musician and human rights activist Fela Kuti.

With non-members, Iponri Artists revisit Today in History


 By Tajudeen Sowole
Remember a group of artists whose sudden emergence and highly rated skills stunned Lagos art space in 2008? Yes, they are the Iponri Artists, whose debut art exhibition New Dawn, at National Museum, Onikan Lagos seven years ago and a follow-up, Isokan (Togetherness) in 2009 at Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, confirmed the arrival of new generation of gifted young artists.

   
Royal Procession by Tayo Olayode.
The artists: Tayo Olayode, Bede Umeh, Kehinde Oso and  Sanusi Abdullahi are currently in what they describe as "alliance" with non-members such as Bimbo Adenugba, Gerald Chukwuma, Uchay Joel Chima and Bolaji Ogunwo. The alliance is a group art exhibition titled Today in History, showing from Thursday, October 22 to 28, 2015 at The Thought Pyramid Art Centre, FCT Abuja. For the Iponri Artists, showing with non-members is not new. In 2011, the group, had, in Abuja exhibited with other artists, and a year after continued with an international collaboration when the artists showed in Accra, Ghana, again with non-members.
   
The idea of alliance with non-members, Olayode told select guests during a preview in Lagos, will be continuous in the next few years, and may take the artists to U.S or Europe next year for exhibitions. Speaking on Today In History exhibition, he disclosed that the choice of Thought Pyramid Centre as a space has to do "with our diverse and big canvas."
  
Apart from perching on the pedigree of Iponri Artists' name, individual exhibiting artist has made a mark on the Nigerian art space. From Olayode, who came into art connoisseurs' view after winning a Terra Kulture-Ford Foundation talent hunt themed Celebration of Talents in 2006; to Chukwuma, a mixed media relief sculptor artist who appears to have created an identity in wall sculptural pieces; Umeh, a painter with depth of skills on the canvas; as well as Abdulahi, a metal sculptor of simplified themes; Adenugba, a painter whose realism brush keeps reminding us the essence of art; and Chima, a mixed media artist who keeps expanding burnt materials for visual narration, the gathering at Today in History suggests one of the richest visual expressions at FCT, Abuja in recent times.
  
 Some of the works include A Time To Ponder, Umeh's painting that takes the texture of an embossed portrait. Other works of the artist for the show include Adaobi, a multiplication effect; and Delegation, a stylised figural of people in gathering.
  
After their residency at Vermont in the U.S., Olayode and Chima have been flaunting whatever experience garnered from the programme. Arguably, Olayode is among the very few young Nigerian artists whose signature is well distinct in his painting of figures, using crowd effect. For Today in History, two of the works he is showing: Night Market and Royal Procession confirm that the artist is stepping up his game.  For example, his application of colours, are now more conservative.
  
  Bede Umeh’s Time to Ponder.

Almost one year after he had his first post-residency show titled Connection, a two-artists exhibition, Chima's outing with Iponri Artists will afford followers of his work to see more of his new technique. Chima, again brings his narrative about burns and darkness as explains in portraiture of a couple rendered in black rubber pieces. 

  Adenugba brings his new canvas of realism into the gathering with works such as Ecstassy, Green For Sale anf Fragment. In the last few years, he has populated his realism  canvas with signs and motifs, some of which are pronounced, for example in Ecstacy, a piece about ladies in sensous dancing.
 Ogunwo's leaning towards portraiture is seen in Out of the Blue, a textured canvas of three faces with high depth of ligthing technique; a heap of colours titled Rich Dad, Poor Children; and Etiolated, a streetscape set in what looks like rural area. The artist's touch in aging or ruins as seen in Etiolated brings a tone of dynamism into his oeuvre.

 As one of the artists whose work is attempting to collapse the barrier between painting and sculpture, Chukwuma continues his sojourn in relief texture. Among his contributions to this gathering are Seasons and Times, Tree of Love and an Untitled piece that stresses the artist's burnt wood technique. However, in Seasons and Times, there appears to be a sharp contrast in his identity.
 As the only sculptor in the gathering, Abdullahi brings in the beauty of natural metal with works such as Our Domain, a depiction of insects on cobweb;  drummer of native Yoruba dance steps, in Bata; and another insect life, Tussle, where butterflies perch on a hibiscus flower. Perhaps adding painterly touch to Tussle with red hibiscus and yellow butterfly, Abdullahi offers quite a choice in collection tastes.   

  At different stages when Iponri Artists invited non-members to join the group, the attraction is usually differerent. For Adenugba, who is making his second appearance with the group, the attraction he disclosed, was informed by his tracking of the group after their debut New Dawn as well as "having known individual members for decades." Adenugba also recalled that "my Ghana experience showing with the group is another reason I am in this exhibition." 
  The recurring assertion of Olayode as an artist to watch attracted Chukwuma to attempt a show with the Iponri Artists. "I have known Tayo for a while, though not exactly familiar with others, but the group has been impressive," Chukwuma said.
  Abdullahi's artist statement described him as "a highly resourceful young experience artist with a zeal for achievement and success in order to carry it to greatest level.” It added that he has produced “many great works some of which adorn public and private across the world has art works.”
 
Bata by Sanusi Abdullahi

Ogunwo explained his work: "My art is informed by the people and events that permeate my immediate milieu. In the course of my artistic career   spanning over a decade, I have resolved not to be led by just the trending thematic and stylistic culture in the art practice  but to see and represent ideas the way I feel and not just the way they are, hence my art is cathartic; a purgation of my emotions on frenzied canvases. I ventilate loudly through my pallette addresing socio-political issues ranging from corruption and moral deficit  knowing fully well that Nigeria will soon assume her position as the giant of Africa indeed."
 Oso recalled how his passion for painting “overshadowed my sculpture dream," adding that "I decided to put the urge to test, and the urge successfully became a passion and hobby."
  Between New Dawn and Today In History, it appears that the numerical strength of Iponri Artists has dropped. The group started with New Dawn, which featured works of 11 artists. The next show, Isokan, featured works by Olayode, Abdulahi, Aimufa Osagie, Ekpo Odungede, Ade Odunfa, Umeh and Oso. However, the drop in the number of founding members has not in anyway affected the vreative strength of the Iponri Artists, so suggest the group’s rising profile.
   Over two years ago, Iponri Artists were in Ghana where they had a group exhibition titled Beyond Boundaries. The exhibition, organised in collaboration with Nubuke Foundation also featured the works of Aimufia Osagie, Adenugba, Okpu Norbert Olumide Onadipe and Damola Adepoju.

Test Of Debut For Mohammed In Inspired


By Tajudeen Sowole
Barely two group exhibitions old and still fresh on the Lagos art landscape, Raji Mohammed, a young painter in the classic texture of canvas has been given an opportunity of solo art exhibition. The debut is quite a rare one for the promising artist, particularly in a Lagos art space that feasts on conservative approach to collection.

A painting titled We Are Almost There by Raji Mohammed
  However, Mohammed has his rich theme, Inspired as well as strength of the promoters and venue of the exhibition, Alexis Galleries to rely on as the show opened yesterday, and continues for the next one week. For the gallery, showing a young artist such as Mohammed, particularly at this period is a good deviation from the norms, and aimed at encouraging young artists to maximise their potential. "Raji is though young, he is matured for a solo art exhibition," said curator, Patty Chidiac during a preview at the gallery. "We need to encourage young artists and prepare them early enough."

 Indeed, no one else is better placed to understand the young artist as much as Alexis Galleries, which has shown him in two group exhibitions Cupid and Fate. “There are may older artists who wanted to have solo exhibitions, but we would not give them; Raji is hard working, and has a promising career,” Chidiac argued.
   For Inspired, Mohammed disclosed how his background of picking smooth brushing from many masters, particularly Ebenezer Akinola informed choice of the theme. But in a broader scope, "my environment, generally, has inspired the theme of this exhibition," Mohammed stated.

Some of the works include The Hand Over, a cultural ritual, but a tribute to democracy. Mohammed explained the work as a celebration of Nigeria's democracy "when former president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan congratulated Buhari ahead of the formal announcement of the last presidential election."
 For the basic fact of elaborate features in northern Nigerian subjects, most artists' brush and palette would continue to explore the desert axis of northern Nigeria. This much Mohammed's smooth brushing captures in a group of men who adorn turbans. And quite conceptual is the artist's creative injection of what looks like aso-ebi in uniformed dressing of the men who are, strangely too, in topless with only wrapper clothes.

 Not exactly in anyway connected to Whitney Houston's last album and hit track, I Look To You, but Mohammed's painting of similar title I Look Unto You appears to share the same thematic contents with the late American diva's work. In fact, the painting, a low angle view of a face gazing into the sky could pass for a visual narrative of Houston's song.

 Other works scheduled to be on display include Meeting Before Bedtime, a guide from father to children; Omo Mama, portrait of beloved child; and  Royal Escort as well as We Are Almost There. Viewing the works via soft copy, one has no doubt about the artist's strong potential, particularly in realism.
 Again, like all the artists shown at Alexis, Mohammed also gets the support of the corporate groups that have been working with the gallery.
The sponsors include Chocolat Royale, Nigeria Info, Cool FM, Wazobia FM, Cool TV, Wazobia TV, Art Café, Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Arra Wines, The Homestores Limited, Litho-Chrome Limited, Avenue Suites Hotel and Cobranet Internet Service Provider.

  Coordinator at Alexis Galleries, George Edozie has no doubt about the envisaged success of Inspired. "No gallery in Lagos would exhibit a young artist like Raji in a solo," he said, and added that "we are sure of a successful outing; in the history of Alexis Gallery, we have not sold less than 80 percent."

Born on July 29, 1986, in Lagos, Mohammed began his artistic career at Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto-Ijanikin where he obtained NCE in 2008; he is currently a 400 level painting student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Lagos campus).

 He trained informally at  Universal Studios of Art in 2008 before acquiring more skills at A.S Ebenezer Studio under the watchful eyes of painter Mr. Ebenezer Akinola.
 Excerpt from his artist statement reads in parts. "I see Art as an unending adventure that keeps one moving from one level of creativity to another... Come and enjoy this adventure with me."

Tunde Osofisan… Exit Of A Highlife Luminary


By Benson Idonije
News of the exit last Saturday of ex – Roy Chicago sideman and one of Nigeria’s finest highlife singers has continued to reverberate round the world. The avalanche of telephone calls pouring in from America, Canada, Spain and England in commiseration is a testimony to the huge legendary stature of the late Osofisan on the one hand, and in fact the popularity of highlife itself as an enduring musical culture on the other. The great highlife singer passed on last Saturday after a protracted illness that confined him to a wheel chair. He was aged 77 years.  
  
Tunde Osofisan
  
His last major performance was in October 2010 at the ‘Festival 50 Concert’ organised by Evergreen Musical Company at City Hall, Lagos; but he has been kicking around since the ‘60s when he introduced glamour to highlife as vocalist with the celebrated Rhythm Dandies led at the time by the late John Akintola, popularly known in the business as Roy Chicago.
  Osofisan made considerable impact as composer and singer of highlife music – with an emergence that put him on the same musical pedestal with such great Ghanaian singers as Dan Aquaye, Eddie Ntreh, Joe Mensah, Joss Aikins and Nat Buckle who elevated highlife music, singing with E.T. Mensah’s Tempos Band, Uhuru Professional Dance Band, Chief Bill Friday’s Ambassador Downbeats, The Stargazers and Eddy Okonta’s Star Aces respectively and in that order. But perhaps his first crowning effort came in 1965 at the highlife festival organised by the late great impresario, Steve Rhodes at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island Lagos where he was voted best singer of the year. Since then, he became fully established, his voice adding value to numerous highlife aggregations even outside of the context of the Rhythm Dandies.
  The huge success of contemporary hip hop in Nigeria and Africa today is traceable to the influence of highlife music. And one of the veterans who has kept the music alive for the new generation of musicians to take full advantage of is Tunde Osofisan. His voice was his asset; and has been actively involved in a highlife revival crusade since the ‘90s when the music began to experience considerable decline. He was part of the pioneering process of the Great Highlife Party initiated by the Goethe Institut in 1998 and the year 2000 – along with such towering musicians as E.C Arinze, Ralph Amarabem, David Bull, Sonny Brown, Nelly Uchendu, Alaba Pedro and others. From the year 2000 till 2009, Osofisan was on the bill of the Great Highlife Party, a monthly live show  which also featured Fatai Rolling Dollar, Apipah Jay, Maliki Showman, Billy Bassey, Y.S.Akinibosun and others.
  A product of Ibadan Grammar School, music for him was to be a hobby – the way Exy Ohunta operated loosely, on ad hoc basis with E .C. Arinze at Kakadu Hotel in those days, but it turned out to be a full blown career on account of the huge success he eventually made of it. His first performing experience was with the late Joe Nez for whom he wrote a calypso song early in 1960. He loved songwriting and composed a calypso to mark Nigeria’s independence at the time. Impressed with the lyrical message, Joe Nez put him on the microphone at a nightclub in Ajegunle, Lagos where he got a standing ovation from an appreciative audience. “Encouraged by this successful beginning,” said he in a conversation I had with him in 1996, “I wrote a highlife song which I titled Olowo gbaya ole otherwise called Bosede. I went looking for a band to accept and play it. In the process, I met Eric Onugha at Centtral Hotel, E.C Arinze and Victor Olaiya but none of them saw any merit in it. I then went up to Roy Chicago and as soon as I hummed it to him, he jumped at it and decided to give it a chance. The band soon rehearsed it with me and I started singing it on stage. I later discovered that the band had no calypso song in their repertoire - popular and greatly in demand as calypso music was at the time. I gave them my first ever composed calypso song, the one I previously performed with Joe Nez and we rehearsed it against independence. I also found, to my dismay, that the band was merely playing instrumental versions of Ghanaian highlife tunes perhaps because they did not see the need to provide vocals to them. I asked Roy Chicago to allow me provide words to the music and he agreed. I sang the songs for the band on independence night.”
  Roy Chicago was so impressed with this outing that he wanted Osofisan to get fully involved with the band.  He started going to pick him from his house to feature with the band whenever they had gigs as there was no other vocalist beside him to take the songs. Sometimes Osofisan looked for excuses to stay away because he did not intend to go professional:  he had a good job with an oil company. But as fate would have it, he eventually became one of the most sought –after professional vocalists on the scene of that era:
  “I became fully involved with the band when Roy Chicago was in prison for six months for knocking down two kids in a car accident which cost them their lives,” he informed. “I stepped into his shoes as the band’s major vocalist. More than ever before, the band became individually inspired. We played with commitment and cohesion, determined to keep the flag flying in the absence of our band leader who would soon be released from incarceration. Moreover, on account of the loyalty the fans had for Roy Chicago and the band, they often rallied round to give us support. All our shows were fully packed.”
One of the high points of Osofisan’s career as a highlife musician was the show the band put up to celebrate Roy Chicago’s release from prison: “I’d like to remember the night that we had a welcome dance for Roy Chicago on his return from incarceration. This was in 1962 at Abalabi Hotel, Mushin Lagos. The cream of Nigerian society was there. The then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Radio Nigeria) was on hand to transmit the show live as a network programme on the station’s Saturday Night Out slot.
  “As a special treat, veteran highlife composer and lyricist Adeolu Akinsanya was assigned to compose a befitting song for the occasion – in terms of message and melody; he turned out a master piece. I was billed to sing it that night, having rehearsed and assimilated all the nuances and chord changes. Even before Roy Chicago came out, he had been informed about this special return- to- the - scene song in his honour. But on this great day, I just decided to relax properly to enhance my performance; and I overslept. By the time I woke up and listened to radio, the show had started without me. I hurriedly dressed up and took a taxi cab. The whole place was jammed with vehicular traffic, making it extremely difficult to get to the venue. The late great broadcaster, Ishola Folorunso who was the master of ceremony was getting worried, having publicised me as the man to sing the event’s special song. The band members were even more worried. The club was full to overflowing. As the guitarist just finished stating the introduction to Olojo nkajo, one of the band’s popular songs in anticipation of Roy Chicago (who was already on stage) to take the song, I suddenly appeared and took it over from him. The crowd roared and thundered with applause. Eventually when Aiso aba, the special song for the occasion was played and Roy Chicago heard me sing it, he was moved.  The tears rolled down his cheeks. Sympathisers also wept because the song was loaded with meaning and emotion. This is the night I find the greatest and most eventful in my entire musical career and I can never forget the experience.”
  The Nigerian highlife scene can never forget Tunde Osofisan. By his exit, West African highlife has lost one of its finest singers.

(First published in The Guardian Newspapers, October 4, 2015)

Wednesday 14 October 2015

Jamaican author, James wins Man Booker prize 2015

Jamaican, Marlon James has won Man Booker prize 2015 for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings inspired by the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 1970s.

Marlon James

 
Michael Wood, chair of the judges, described A Brief History of Seven Killings as the "most exciting" book on the shortlist and "full of surprises" as well as being "very violent" and "full of swearing."

James was announced as the winner of the £50,000 prize in London on Tuesday. And he is the first Jamaican author to win the Man Booker Prize. Receiving the award, he said a huge part of the novel had been inspired by reggae music.

Published by Oneworld Publications, the book a 686-page epic with over 75 characters and voices. Set in Kingston, where James was born, the book is a fictional history of the attempted murder of Bob Marley in 1976. Of the book, the New York Times said: ‘It’s like a Tarantino remake of “The Harder They Come”, but with a soundtrack by Bob Marley and a script by Oliver Stone and William Faulkner...epic in every sense of that word: sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex.'

Referring to Bob Marley only as ‘The Singer’ throughout, A Brief History of Seven Killings retells this near mythic assassination attempt through the myriad voices – from witnesses and FBI and CIA agents to killers, ghosts, beauty queens and Keith Richards’ drug dealer – to create a rich, polyphonic study of violence, politics and the musical legacy of Kingston of the 1970s. James has credited Charles Dickens as one of his formative influences, saying ‘I still consider myself a Dickensian in as much as there are aspects of storytelling I still believe in—plot, surprise, cliffhangers’ (Interview Magazine).

 Marlon James was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1970. He is the author of The Book of Night Women, which won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, The Minnesota Book Award and was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction as well as an NAACP Image Award. His first novel John Crow's Devil was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and was a New York Times Editor's Choice. In his third novel, A Brief History Of Seven Killings, James is exploring multiple genres: the political thriller, the oral biography, and the classic whodunit to confront the untold history of Jamaica in the late 1970's; of the assassination attempt on Bob Marley, and the country's own clandestine battles of the cold war.

James graduated from the University of the West Indies in 1991 with a degree in Language And Literature, and from Wilkes University in 2006 with a Masters in creative writing. His short fiction and nonfiction have appeared widely including in Esquire, Granta, and The Caribbean Review of Books.