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January 27, 2010 by Yeye Akilimali Funua OladeNIGERIAN LITERATURE IS RAISING AGAIN ACCORDING TO BROTHER LINDSEY BARRETT-FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER,OCT.17,2009
October 17, 2009 by Yeye Akilimali Funua OladeFrom ngrguardiannews.com
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Nigeria’s Literature At Odds With Her Poor Politics, Says Lindsay Barrett
LINDSAY Barrett is one Diaspora Pan-Africanist, who boldly stuck out his head in the heady days of the 1960s to relocate from Jamaica to parts of West Africa before settling down finally in Nigeria. He was consumed in the vibrant Literature and cultural life of the land he chose to make his home and significantly made his contributions as journalist and writer. Although in his late 60s, Barrett is still active in his journalistic and creative engagements that have earned him fame. More than these, his relevance as a writer also came to the fore recently when he was shortlisted, along other eight nominees, for the NLNG Prize for Literature with his new work, A Memory of Rivers. However, at the Grand Awards Night ceremony last weekend in Abuja, the judges said no winner emerged, and thus, the prize money of $50, 000 was decreed to be given to the Nigerian Academy of Letters to develop Literature. In this encounter with ANOTE AJELUOROU, Barrett reminisces on the journey back to his African roots and the milestones so far. Excerpts:
IT would look like you have been there forever, even while still having your works relevant to issues of today. When you look back at this long stretch of involvement in Nigerian Literature, what really occurs to you?
I’m always saddened by the fact that Nigeria has produced the greatest body of Literature of relevance and strength of any African nation yet little matching national development. Its work is as important if not more so to the rest of Africa than any national Literature, like South African Literature of resistance, Ghanaian Literature of political awareness. Nigerian Literature has cut across all formulas and yet we have produced a national Literature that seems to be at odds with our seeming inability to get the administrative strength of our nation right.
I came to Nigeria directly because I was influenced by her Literature. I came to Africa because I wanted to renew the spirit of ancestral hope. I felt that there was hope in knowing where you came from and that we could renew our links, that we could strengthen our systems.
But for anybody coming from the Diaspora, you don’t have to choose any one country. Quite frankly, if you come from Jamaica, you may be inclined more to Ghana. There is a strong sense of the Akan story in the Afro-centric areas of Jamaica. If you are from Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba or Brazil, you get inclined to Yoruba. If you come from Haiti, you will look back to Angola or Central Africa. Once you begin to know about cultures, you see similarities, you see polarities that attract you. So, if one is academically inclined, you may have a sense of this root movement. I have not been so inclined. I tried to be a Pan-Africanist. For me I look at the contemporary, political issues and see all Africa’s relevance in trans-nationality terms.
But through Nigeria’s Literature I found that there seemed to be a chart. I saw Nigeria producing such rich Literature. There was no constant interaction between the creative and the service sector. When I came that was a disappointment, but Nigerians continue to be the most creative people, expressing creative elements in African life.
By failing to do something, you inspire criticism. You have Soyinka; you have Chinua Achebe and the rest. So Nigeria is a paradox by failing to meet the expectation of those who have the highest expectation. It throws up incredible responses. And, that keeps happening; that is what creative people do. That is what is happening in Literature today. But unfortunately, look at your media (the Radio, the Television), which should be the public media throwing this expression out so that people become infused with the spirit.
Our modern media is behind in Literature. When I came into this country, I lived on writing at least two serious radio drama every month and I re-branded for four years. I lived on programme production, producing a programme called ‘The story-teller’. I wrote two stories every forth-night. I was paid 7 pounds, 7 shillings but because I had the facility to do that and the medium was there to do it, I could make a living but you can’t do that now. Our media has fallen behind even the musical aspect of the media is less than what it was.
When I came into the country, there was a newspaper called, Daily Express. I remembered that the literary days in the Sunday Express was as good as any newspaper. There were incredible critiques from people like J.P. Clark and others. And so we are living a life where the spirit is willing but the material reflex is weak.
There was a time you had small group talking literary stuffs like the Mbari Club. But such things do not seem to happen any more?
Basically, the tradition did not catch up and take hold of its own creative tone. And we had the period of materialism that came up in the oil boom years, and people became enamoured; these things became less important. What is also probably responsible is the fact that nobody really got around to finding a way to make a living out of the arts as pop music and others.
There’s no one place that Soyinka’s plays are regularly staged and viewed; nowhere, and yet we have so many brilliant playwrights among the old groups that came out of Soyinka – the late Wale Ogunyemi and Bode Sowande and so on. It’s sad because we all lionise Wole. But I always tell my son that the tragedy is, all of you that lionise Wole, how many of you have read his books? But how many of those that shout loudest about Wole actually know something about his works that appeal to them.
I wish that all the taxi drivers had seen the ‘road’ in his plays. I wish everybody that shouts about him really know what Jero is, really could see the role Jero played in his book Trials of Brother Jero. This man is an artist of a popular sensitivity, but he has been put in his compartment and seen as an obscurantist, which he is not to me. We throw up great artists but we do not actually live and believe in their work. We’re all part of the fault, really.
Amongst those personalities you have mentioned: Soyinka, Clark, Okigbo and the rest. Which of them did you have more bonding with at the time?
I don’t see differences; I see similarities. The person who got me this hotel accommodation is Wole’s son, who is like my son like other Wole’s children. They know how I interact with their father. Christopher Okigbo was the first person I really bonded with in this country when I got here and he died shortly after that.
He was the one who put me in Mbari as secretary. J.P. Clark was the person who insisted that I should come to Nigeria when we met in London in 1961 or so. I was producing a programme with some Nigerian writers, and J.P. was one of them. So he said, what the hell are you doing in Europe, a man like you? You belong in Africa; you belong among us. You come to Nigeria; any time you get to Nigeria, you’ll see that we are your people. You know how J.P. talks. I took it as a joke but five years later, I remembered it when I was living in Sierra Leone; and I told myself, why not go to Nigeria?
The truth is that in my life, I just make friends and they all had some meaning to me in their works. J.P. Clark’s The Raft was actually one of the things that drove me to writing plays, and I wrote several plays. I did not act in it but I did effect in a radio production of The Raft in London. And, it was an excellent, extraordinary work.
It reminded very much of my home in Jamaica, my actual home, which is near the sea. When I got to Paris, I wrote a series of plays that were produced. Well, I don’t know where most of my works are, unfortunately. It was during the Commonwealth Festival in 1965. It was a play largely influenced by The Raft. That was a play called John Pukumaka. Pukumaka is a Jamaican term for big stick. They have influenced me in various ways.
Wole strongly influenced me not so much by his works but his activism, social activism. We have not always seen eye to eye, politically; but I strongly respect his commitment to whatever he believes in. After all, when Wole was in detention I was serving the Nigerian government on the federal side seeking to prevent secession. At that time, my biggest fear was the balkanisation of Nigeria.
Some people asked me after nearly 50 years in Nigeria, if that thing happens again, would you be on the same side? Now, I’m not so sure what side I will be. I will just pack my bags and leave. At that time we had this block against Africa’s division, and I empathise and sympathise with Wole’s plight because Wole did not promote secession. Wole believed that we need a different mood in the federal side to encourage the Igbo not to go rather than to fight them physically to prevent them going. That was his theme.
The people I was working with were no less patriotic than him. But they felt that the other side was less altruistic than Wole thought. Of course, in a military era, things were not always as planned. When I was working on the federal side, it was made publicly known that I was praying for and advocating for the release of Wole Soyinka.
I have always gotten away with that in Nigeria. I suppose it’s because I’m a very poor man and nobody thinks I have any interest. So when I make these comments, Wole will say, don’t mind Barrett. But we remain friends even when we fall on different sides on any argument but I will support him to hold his side.
With the kind of disappointment that greeted you on Africa’s failures, why didn’t you pack your bags and head back home to Jamaica or Europe?
Where do I go again? I have made my life here; I’m 68 years. This year I will be 43 years in Africa. I have been back to Europe several times and I have lived elsewhere. I was in Liberia before the civil war came. But it’s not something you can just give up. Remember that the objective I have in coming to Africa will always be there no matter how disappointing I get.
I have several children here and in Liberia, and I live for their sake, whether they know it or not. If I lived in Jamaica or Europe, I could live off writing. But the fulfillment of struggling to put in place the renewal will not be there. I have said I may be disappointed by things that have happened in Nigeria but I’m not totally disappointed by Nigerians because the struggle continues.
Like the event that happened recently (the CORA Party for nine shortlisted poets for the Nigeria Prize for Literature); it means there is progress at certain levels. The other thing is that one doesn’t just give up because your life is not your own. So, I don’t have the right to give up.
I was telling somebody that Nigeria is celebrating her 50th birthday next year. Nearly everyone I told said, what are we celebrating? They said we are celebrating nothing. I said, no; celebrate the fact that you have survived so far because of the civil war of such brutality when you were not 10 years old. And you call yourselves Nigerians 40 years after that civil war.
We who are inside Nigeria tend not to know the extent to which we are actually better off than many others. The challenge that we have to overcome is to assume our full potential, but not to say we have achieved nothing. We have achieved a lot. History has it that Nigeria picked the bills of anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Abacha, who we all abuse, is the same who brought peace to Sierra Leone.
Somehow, the President is looking to 2020 to set a target that can be owned. Why don’t we own our mistakes and our triumphs in the last 50 years? We don’t. Nigeria’s failures have been so spectacular that why not just celebrate the fact that we could fail so spectacularly and still be alive?
We seem to over-look not only our potentials but sometimes, willingly fail to recognise the opportunities offered us. We should work harder to own our opportunities more in the next 50 years; that should be our concern.
How familiar are you with writings coming out of Nigeria at the moment? And, are you satisfied?
There are lots of incredible writings going on. One of those I can say without fear of being challenged for nepotism is when I say my son, Igonibare (Igoni Barrett), is one of the finest writers I have seen over the years.
I’m particularly happy to say I have nothing to do with developing his talent. What I did was when I saw his talent I told him I admire it and asked him to keep it up. I have distanced myself from promoting him until he could see any of his achievement, which resulted to his book of poems that is recognised globally as a brilliant work. This made me happy.
But he is not the only one. There’s an interesting thing going on among the women. You have Chimamanda; she is a brilliant writer although I still have my reservations about her style. But, no problem. The real original is Sefi Attah. I haven’t really read much of her works except excerpts on the web but she writes beautifully. There are two others, who have not gotten equal recognitions. One of them is Kaine Agary, who won the LNG prize with Yellow Yellow last year; brilliant book.
Then there is a girl, Bimbola Adelakun with her Under the Brown Rusted Roofs. The book is not well put together. If I had the money I really would have loved to publish that book. It’s an extraordinary book. I find her potentially much more satisfying than Chimamanda, who is, herself, quite a talent. Then there is a book called Burma Boy (by Bandele Thomas, a Nigeria resident in Great Britain); extremely brilliant. Nigeria is producing a national Literature totally at odds with her inability to get her politics and management of her affairs correct.
There is so much other stuffs coming out that is not properly produced, not properly edited and so on. It means there is a lot bubbling in the pot, and how to get it out. What we need today is the coming together of the media to make this industry big.
As it was before, Nigeria Literature is beginning to have world audience again. It had it before, and it’s coming like a second time around. I think government should take note of this and encourage essay competitions, literary clubs in schools. It’s clear that the world wants to hear Nigeria; and, they want to hear something better.
In most parts of the word, Literature has a way of permeating into politics and governance. But here those who govern don’t even read the available books on major issues. Why is this so?
Actually, I can’t agree with you more. Literature elsewhere is an integral part of the spirit of governance because it has influence on those who govern.
I think that in Nigeria, an important cause of this dichotomy goes back to education. The average Nigerian is not educated enough to treat Literature as a vital element of service. And, what is regarded as higher is making money to sustain the family. But the truth is that Literature is the basis on which everything else is based.
© 2003 – 2009 @ Guardian Newspapers Limited (All Rights Reserved).
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DR. BAYO ADEBOWALE,AFRICAN WRITER, TALKS ABOUT HOW HE SET UP AFRICAN HERITAGE RESEARCH LIBRARY!
June 6, 2009 by Yeye Akilimali Funua OladeFROM UGANDANRURAL COMMUNITYSUPPORT.ORG
Rural Community Support USA
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«»‘Study Africa In Africa’ – Tempo Newspaper (Lagos)
– 17 November 1999
An African village, it is gradually expanding to become the most
profound centre of information on Africa and its people. OLUMIDE IYANDA presents
the brain behind Africa’s ‘authentic research centre’
“Very soon the whole world will know about Adeyipo Village.”
Those were the words of Dr. Bayo Adebowale, director and founder of Africa
Heritage Research Library, the first rural community-based African studies
research library. Adeyipo, the rural community that hosts the library, is a few
kilometres away from Ibadan, capital of Oyo State. The road that connects the
village to the city demands much resilience from visitors in its rough surface.
Every dawn, a horde of local farmers at Iyana-Irefin in Ibadan boards buses to
Adeyipo through Kufi, Idi-Igba, Idi-Ogun and Akobo. The environment presents a
commune of rural centres where farming dominates daily activities. The only
diversion is the one created by Dr. Adebowale in his library of African history.
The library is currently under intense construction towards expansion. Yet, it
boasts of three existing large halls lined with over 100,000 books and other
research materials. It is observedly a centre dedicated to research works on the
African continent and the blacks in the diaspora.
It stocks materials on subjects as diverse as politics, government, history,
arts and law.
The centre is a product of an event of eleven years ago. Adebowale was then a
lecturer at the former Oyo State College of Education, Ila- Orangun, Osun State.
One fateful day in 1988, he sat before his desk, going through an academic
journal. A particular article fascinated him. In the write-up, a foreign writer
“made a lot of disparaging remarks on Africa and Africans.” He portrayed Africa
as a continent on an endless rat race. The conclusion was most alarming. The
writer insisted that most African countries were not yet ripe for independence.
Adebowale saw many contradictions in the article. He, on his own, concluded that
the writer must have been a victim of sincere ignorance. But Adebowale was not
going to cast aspersion on the article and its author. He realised that the most
appropriate solution to the problem of the writer and many others in similar
shoes is enlightenment. There and then, a project was conceived towards proper
education on Africa, its history and ways of life of the inhabitants of the
continent.
Adebowale also recalled a case of a friend on a Ph.D. project in Yoruba. The
subject of the thesis was the Yoruba publication, Aworerin. Adebowale was
particularly disappointed that the friend could not find the publication in
Nigeria. He had to travel to Norwich, England, where it was discovered that a
library in the city had all the editions of the publication. These disappointing
experiences and the realisation that researches on Africa are best done in the
African natural environment, prompted Adebowale to kick off the library with his
own personal collection of 500 books. The idea was to bring students and
researchers on Africa to the continent, not only to read books but also to
experience the reality of the subject of their researches.
Adebowale got a good helper in Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade, an African-
American who was also working as chief librarian at the College of Education in
Ila-Orangun. She is currently the chief librarian at the African Heritage
Research Library. She takes care of the technical aspects of the library work.
As it was at the inception, the current goal remains aggressive book acquisition
programme. This includes an exchange agreement with libraries all over Africa
and other parts of the world. Many individuals have also donated books across
disciplines.
Although the centre’s special interest is in African studies, it does not
discriminate in its book acquisition policy. It stocks books by writers from all
over the world and exposes its researchers to all views, leaving them to draw an
informal conclusion.
One subject that receives a lot of attention at the centre is music. The
library is a well-stocked store of materials on living and dead music legends.
A section of the library stocks pictures of jazz music greats of African
origin. There are also audio tapes of African artistes at home and in the
diaspora. An auditorium for music of Africa is under construction. Adebowale
says the auditorium is conceived to enhance appreciation of music as a means of
entertainment and education.
Musical audio tapes are being assembled to teach the history of Africa. “When
people listen to Haruna Ishola singing about Ojukwu’s war, they will remember
the Civil War of 1967 to 1970 and will reflect on its impact on their lives
now,” Adebowale insists.
The centre has a demonstration farm to inculcate in local farmers alternative
techniques in crop cultivation and control of pests. The idea of the centre had
sounded unrealistic, even crazy, at the conception. But Adebowale is today proud
of the level of awareness created even among the local farming population. The
centre has a board of Advisers constituted by eminent scholars from Nigeria and
abroad. These include Professors Niyi Osundare, Akinwunmi Ishola, Femi Osofisan,
Sam Asein, Elechi Amadi and Goke Adeniji from Nigeria. Foreigners on the board
include Ngugi Wa Thiong’o of Kenya, Oliver B Johnson and a host of other African
American intellectuals. Adebowale himself is a veteran in the field of research.
He attended the University of Ibadan between 1971 and 1974 for a Bachelor of
Arts in English. In 1976, he got a post-graduate diploma in Applied English
Linguistics. In 1978, a master’s degree in English, majoring in Stylistics was
added at the same university. He got his a doctorate from the University of
Ilorin. After many years of sojourn through various academic environments, he
was appointed the deputy rector of The Polytechnic, Ibadan last month.
Adebowale’s most impacting experience is rooted in those years at the rural area
where he had his elementary education. He has written many poems and books. Some
of these have won awards at home and abroad. His most recent novel is Out of His
Mind, published by Spectrum Books.
Presently, he spends 70 per cent of his earnings on the library and is intent
on bringing the attention of everybody to Adeyipo to sip from the ‘fountain of
authentic African research centre situated in the heart of the continent.’
P.O.Box 36330,Agodi,Ibadan,Oyo State Nigeria
africanheritagelibrary@yahoo.com
Publication Date: November 25, 1999
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 1999 at 1:17 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
“CHAMS SEEKS REVIVAL OF LIVE THEATRE WITH FAGUNWA’S WORKS”-FROM TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA,SEPT. 2008
September 17, 2008 by Yeye Akilimali Funua OladeFROM tribune
THE NIGERIAN TRIBUNE NEWSPAPER
Since November, 1949
Sun. 7th Sept. 2008
Chams seeks revival of live theatre with Fagunwa’s works
By Akintayo Abodunrin
FagunwaLIVE theatre which has been in the doldrums in recent years is about to undergo a revival through the intervention of Computer Hardware and Maintenance Services (Chams) Plc. The company, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company that supports transactional card-based services, e-commerce and mobile payment solution is aiming to do this with its Chams Theatre Series.
Well aware of the entertainment and didactic roles of theatre in the human society, the company incorporated in 1985 as a computer maintenance and engineering company but which has grown to become a leading IT solutions company with pioneer status in smart card technology, according to Seye Femi Gureje, General Manager, Chams Access, conceived the theatre series as a strategic intervention and contribution to reawaken the stage culture in Nigeria. “It is also a means of promoting our culture and re-orientating Nigerians on the value we cherish”, he said.
At a briefing to introduce the series and its first presentation, an English and Yoruba adaptation of D.O. Fagunwa’s Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole by Professors Femi Osofisan and Akinwumi Isola last week at Protea Hotel, Lagos, Gureje explained why the company is seeking to resurrect live theatre through Fagunwa. In the company of Professor Osofisan, Dr. Kola Oyewo, director of the Yoruba adaptation entitled Ogboju Ode… and Dr. Tunde Awosanmi, director of the English adaptation entitled Adventures in the Forest of a Thousand Daemons; Gureje disclosed that the company chose the theatre series as a platform to interact with the larger society because of the benefits of theatre.
He disclosed that the company had gotten exclusive rights to sponsor stage adaptations of Ogboju Ode…, Igbo Olodumare, Ireke Onibudo, Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje and Adiitu Olodumare, all works of Fagunwa over the next five years and that the company was almost through with securing the rights to the works of other Nigerian authors.
Gureje disclosed that the series will open on September 13 with the adaptations of Ogboju Ode … and explained why the works of the late teacher were chosen this way: “D.O. Fagunwa’s works were essentially chosen because they portray the values we cherish in Chams. His books teaches lessons in perseverance, hard work, determination, teamwork, patriotism, etc and we also believe that this values are essential for nation building.”
From left, Dr. Kola Oyewo, Mr. Seye Femi Gureje,
Professor Femi Osofisan and Dr. Tunde Awosanmi
briefing the press on the Chams Theatre Series.He added that, “Fagunwa’s books were chosen because his works portray the richness of the African mind with most of his illustrations, and use of strong and unusual characters … The underlying theme of his works promote such virtues as perseverance, gratitude, selflessness, bravery, time management, leadership focus, service to humanity etc.”
Gureje assured that the company did not initiate the series for publicity and that it would not abandon the series midway. He said the project was very dear to Chams and that it is the values in Ogboju Ode… that made the company commence the series with it.
“Ogboju Ode… is a story of leadership, bravery, courage, discipline, industry, endurance and focus. It is a story of man striving valiantly against odds and succeeding. It is one that we commend to society”, Gureje said of the play which will be staged in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan and Ile-Ife.
Speaking on the play which the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode has endorsed and which command performance the ministry and Chams are collaborating to stage in Abuja, the project consultant, Professor Femi Osofisan, said he was privileged to work on the script of a master story-teller.
“Fagunwa is one of the great pioneers of the fiction genre in our indigenous language, a trail blazer in the modernisation and preservation of a traditional culture. Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole is a world classic, a story that will be forever young because it speaks to our fundamental yearning for adventure, thrill and wisdom.”
Osofisan added that he was excited because Chams realised the need to promote Nigeria’s indigenous culture by investing in the play unlike some companies that promote foreign derived shows. “By selecting this work, Chams is rendering an immeasurable service to the preservation of our culture. At a time when our country like others in the so-called Third World are faced with the menace of globalisation, certainly it is such projects as this that will help the process of our cultural rebirth,” the playwright who disclosed that he had to help some female members of the cast tie their wrappers and head tie said.
Osofisan also confessed that the project excites him because, “we all know how nowadays the stage is dying, and how live performances have almost completely vanished from the weekly diary of social experience. We have to thank Chams very specially therefore for this concrete contribution to the life of theatre. Actors are getting employment once again, both on the English speaking and Yoruba theatres, and in such large numbers too; designers and dancers and choreographers are receiving a long-needed push to creative resurgence; and the audience, long starved of direct contact with actors in a live auditorium, will have the opportunity once again of participating in the pleasure and the ecstasy that only a drama production is capable of.”
YORUBA GREAT FIRST PUBLISHED WRITER D.O. FAGUNWA’S NOVEL BROUGHT BACK ON STAGE!-FROM PUNCH NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA,SEPT. 2008
September 17, 2008 by Yeye Akilimali Funua OladeFROM punchontheweb.com
From Langbodo with blood and gold
By Akeem Lasisi
Published: Wednesday, 17 Sep 2008
At the maiden show of The Adventure in the Forest of a Thousand Daemons, an adaptation of D.O. Fagunwa‘s novel, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole, the audience have a taste of magical realism.
A scene from the play.
With the magnificent structures dotting its vast edifying ambience, you can hardly mistake the MUSON Centre, Lagos for any other entertainment arena. So it was for members of the public that trooped into the complex on Saturday to watch The Adventures of a Thousand Demons, Femi Osofisan‘s theatrical adaptation of D. O. Fagunwa‘s Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole.
But on hitting the entrance of the Shell Hall, which was the venue of the performance, the story changed. A colony of trees on your right, an empire of stones on the left, you were spontaneously transported into a wild forest. It was this forest that ushered you into the expansive hall that also wore the garment of an unfathomable wilderness – dripping with bitter laughter and sweet tears of supernatural spirits.
On the sprawling stage lying ahead of you was a sacred foot path winding meandering through a network of sacred woods. On the roof, and entirely covering the walls of the hall, were ewele mats, which reminded learned members of the audience of the type that Egbere, one of Fagunwa‘s spirit characters wield in the novel. More important, however, was the fact that the eerie stage would soon become the battle ground for the die-hard principalities and brave men on excursion to Oke Langbodo, the ultimate destination of the Fagunwa‘s seven hunters in the mother script. As if you were no more at the MUSON, lions roared, elephants boomed just as wild, wild birds shrieked intermittently to warn the uninitiated of the dangers ahead.
But because the transformation was a make-believe, drums also roared. Tongues wagged in penetrating songs just as practised legs rolled in dance, invoking applause from the audience who were once again jolted back into the beauty of stage plays.
Such were the spectacles that the much publicised play invoked. It was the English version of the script commissioned by Chams Plc, which announced its arrival in the world of theatre promotion and development recently. Simultaneously, revered scholar and writer, Professor Akinwumi Ishola, was asked to write a Yoruba adaptation of the novel, with Tunde Awosanmi and Kola Oyewo directing respectively.
Coming in two parts, Osofisan‘s Adventures into the Forest of a Thousand Daemons captures the trials and triumphs of Akaraogun (Toyin Osinaike) and his hunting colleagues who go in search of a metaphoric Langbodo, for the sake of their fatherland for which they are out to attract resources that will invoke progress.
Since no good thing comes easy – and that is one basic lesson that both Fagunwa and Osofisan teach in the work – they encounter stiff adversity on their way. They have to wrestle with many daemons in the forest. But they too are very much prepared. Apart from physical strength, each of the adventurers has a special natural trait that proves very useful each time the chips are down. For instance, while Kako‘s invincible club can knock even an elephant, Olohun Iyo‘s sweet-singing voice can lure the most dreadful cobra to sleep. Imodoye, a name derived from knowledge and wisdom, is in the team to think and reason intelligently each time his people are in trouble. Very cleverly, Osofisan not only retains such values that Fagunwa wants the reader to pay attention to in human and societal development, he also develops the character of Akaraogun in such a way that he is a symbol of quality leadership – demonstrating determination, perseverance, and sowing no seed of hatred among the hunters he leads.
Among others, the battle with Agbako is hell hot. But for the helping spirit played by Ify Agwu, none of the adventurers would have survived his punch.
Apart from Osinaike, a thoroughbred actor, in the cast were tested hands such as Gogo Ombo Ombo (Elegbede Ode), Taiwo Ibikunle (Olohun Iyo), Martins Iwuagwu (Kako), Simileoluwa Hassan (Efoye) and Afolabi Dipeolu (Imodoye).
Also in action were Tunde Adeyemo (Oba), and actress and poet, Ify Agwu, (Iranlowo), who inspiringly carried the helper spirit that saw the hunters through the promise land.
Although Osofisan is that loyal to the spirit of the novel, he asserts freedom in certain significant areas. For instance, he introduces a lot of songs and dances. Besides, he brings in folklores that he employs to ventilate the structure of the play, while also using such to teach morality. But where he seems to have been extremely creative – or is it the director that should claim the kudos – is the point he introduces the ritual poetry, Iremoje, which hunters use to celebrate a dead colleague.
As fate would have it, the hunters lost three of their members, among who is Kako, whose hot temper remains his insatiable albatross. Now, on returning to their town after about 20 months of search for Langbodo, the hunters burst into Iremoje, and the attempt is very close to the way Yoruba hunters perform the ritual poetry in real life.
Osofisan‘s radical approach can also be seen in his interpretation of Oke Langbodo itself. Speaking through Akaraogun and Iranlowo, the playwright‘s message to the audience is that Langbodo is not a place. It is a moment of revelation, wisdom, knowledge and understanding of what brings peace and progress for the individual and society.
Altogether, The Adventures in the Forest of a Thousand Daemons is a successful exercise in attempting to revitalise live theatre in Nigeria.
Perhaps, the play can be tightened a bit, and this can be achieved by reducing the number of dramatised folklores. Besides, a fat person should have been made to play the role of the elephant.
On the part of Chams, theatre lovers can only hope that it will be able to sustain the project.
According to the company‘s Managing Director, Chief Demola Aladekomo, who led the company‘s workers dressed in dazzling green uniform traditional dresses to the show, it decided to rally the practitioners to the stage because of the roles that drama plays in the society.
AFRICA’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY BY THE ZIMBABWE INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR,2002 FROM COLUMBIA.EDU
June 6, 2008 by Yeye Akilimali Funua Oladefrom columbia.edu
Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century
An initiative of the Zimbabwe International Book Fair
View a copy of the final list.
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Over the last hundred years African writers have written of their lives, experiences, culture, history and myth; they have written in diverse forms, styles and in many languages. They have been published widely on the African continent, in Europe, the Americas and Asia. They have written in English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Swahili, and in many other indigenous languages. And they have written with extraordinary originality, flair and great integrity. Nonetheless their work as a corpus deriving from the African continent remains largely unknown and uncelebrated.
To mark the beginning of the 21st century, and encouraged by Professor Ali Mazrui, the Zimbabwe International Book Fair launched the international compilation of “Africa’s 100 Best Books.” This project was organized in collaboration with the African Publishers Network (APNET), the Pan-African Booksellers Association (PABA), African writers’ associations, book development councils, and library associations.
Nominations were sought throughout the African continent and internationally. A comprehensive list of all nominations was published at the ZIBF in August 2001 and during the course of the following year regional panels compiled their own short lists of 100 best books. Closing date for nominations was 30 September 2001.
A jury made the final decision from the short list and the final list of “Africa’s 100 Best Books” was announced on February 18, 2002.
See: a copy of the list below.
This allowed ample time for those involved (authors of nominated books and their publishers) to prepare for participation in ZIBF2002. From August 3rd to the 10th in 2002, the fair participants celebrated the authors and publishers on the final list.
Objectives
The aim of this endeavour is:
- to celebrate the achievements of African writers over the last century
- to stimulate debate, discussion, reading, criticism and analysis of African writing
- to foster the publication and development of new titles and those that are currently out of print
- to encourage translation of different texts
- to promote the sale and exchange of books continent-wide and throughout the world
- and above all to increase awareness and knowledge of books and writing by African authors.
Definition of an African
Only books written by Africans are eligible. After extensive discussion and debate the ZIBF has for the purpose of this project identified an African as: ’someone either born in Africa or who became a citizen of an African country.’ This definition incorporates those African writers who have moved from their countries of birth to other continents. The issue of authors who are not by this definition deemed African but who consider themselves such or those who have made a notable contribution to African scholarship and literature will be addressed on their merit should their books be nominated.
Criteria for nomination of a book
Nominations were made on the basis that the book has had a powerful, important or affecting influence on the nominator, as an individual, or on society.
What you can do?
* Use this project to generate discussion among your colleagues and friends, with your teachers or students, and in the media.
* Use it as a basis for having African writers in your own cities and countries interviewed, or given a platform to speak and to debate their own work.
* Use it as a positive vehicle for analysis, serious criticism, debate and scholarship.
* Use it as an excuse to buy or loan books and to extend the breadth of your knowledge and understanding of the great wealth of fiction and non-fiction written by Africans about their lives and societies.
* Photocopy, translate, circulate and encourage people to seriously complete the nomination forms. Every serious nomination will lend weight and substance to the list; every book that has made an impact on an individual or on society is worthy of note.
***Africa Book Centre — Order Catalogue of Best Book Award Winners (Brighton, UK)
– Commercial site
Please address all queries and ideas directly to:
Zimbabwe International Book Fair Association
P. O. Box CY1179
Causeway
Harare
Zimbabwe
Fax: 263 4 702129
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Africa 100 Best Books of the 20th Century–Final List
Arranged in the tables below is a copy of the final list of 100 titles announced by the panel of judges in Accra, Ghana, 18 February 2002.
The jury selected books in 3 main categories:
– Literature for Children
– Creative Writing
– Scholarship/non-fiction
In the table below, ** indicates a top twelve title.
Literature for children
Asare, Meshack Ghana **Sosu’s Call Sub-Saharan Publishers
Al-Homi, Hayam Abbas Egypt Adventures of a Breath Atfalna
Mungoshi, Charles Zimbabwe Stories from a Shona Childhood Baobab Books
Tadjo, Veronique Côte d’Ivoire Mamy Wata et le monstre Nouvelles éditions ivoriennes
Creative writing
Abnudi, `Abd al-Rahman Egypt al-Mawt `ala al-asfalt Atlas
Achebe, Chinua Nigeria Arrow of God Heinemann
Achebe, Chinua Nigeria **Things Fall Apart Heinemann
Aidoo, Ama Ata Ghana Anowa Longman
Almeida, Germano Cape Verde O testamento do Sr. Napumoceno da Silva Araújo Ed. Caminho
Armah, Ayi Kwei Ghana The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born Heinemann
Bâ, Amadou Hampâté Mali L’étrange destin de Wangrin Union générale d’éditions
Bâ, Mariama Senegal **Une si longue lettre Nouvelles éditions africaines
Ben Jelloun, Tahar Morocco La nuit sacrée Seuil
Beti, Mongo Cameroon Le pauvre Christ de Bomba Présence africaine
Brink, André South Africa A Dry White Season Penguin
Bugul, Ken Senegal Riwan, ou le chemin de sable Présence africaine
Cheney-Choker, Syl Sierra Leone The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar Heinemann
Chraibi, Driss Morocco Le passé simple Gallimard
Coetzee, J.M. South Africa Life and Times of
Michael K Secker & Warburg
Couto, Mia Mozambique **Terra sonâmbula Ed. Caminho
Craveirinha, José Mozambique Karingana ua Karingana Academica
Dadié, Bernard Côte d’Ivoire Climbié Editions Segiers
Dangarembga, Tsitsi Zimbabwe **Nervous Conditions Women’s Press
Dib, Mohammed Algeria Algérie, La grande maison, L’incendie, Le métier à tisser Le Seuil
Diop, Birago Senegal Les contes d’Amadou Koumba Présence africaine
Diop, Boubacar Boris Senegal Murambi ou le livre des ossements Stock
Djebar, Assia Algeria **L’amour, la fantasia J.C. Lattes
Emecheta, Buchi Nigeria The Joys of Motherhood Alison and Busby
Fagunwa,
Daniel O. Nigeria Ogboju ode ninu igbo irunmale Nelson
Farah, Nuruddin Somalia Maps Pan Books
Fugard, Athol South Africa The Blood Knot Simondium Publishers
Ghitani, Jamal al- Egypt Zayni Barakat GEBO
Gordimer, Nadine South Africa Burgher’s Daughter Jonathan Cape
Head, Bessie South Africa A Question of Power Heinemann
Honwana, Bernardo Mozambique Nos matamos o cão tinhoso Academica
Hove, Chenjerai Zimbabwe Bones Baobab Books
Isegawa, Moses Uganda Abessijnse Kronieken Uigeverij De
Bezige Bij
Jordan, Archibald Campbell South Africa Ingqumbo yeminyanya Lovedale Press
Joubert, Elsa South Africa Die Swerdjare van Poppie Nongena Tafelberg
Kane, Cheikh Hamidou Senegal L’aventure ambiguë Editions Juillard
Khosa, Ungulani Ba Ka Mozambique Ualalapi AEMO
Kourouma, Ahmadou Côte d’Ivoire Les soleils des indépendances Le Seuil
Laye, Camara Guinea L’enfant noir Plon
Magona, Sindiwe South Africa Living, Loving and Lying Awake at Night David Philip Publishers
Mahfouz, Naguib Egypt **The Cairo Trilogy Maktabet Misr
Marechera, Dambudzo Zimbabwe House of Hunger Heinemann
Mofolo, Thomas Lesotho **Chaka Morija Sesuto Book Depot
Monenembo, Tierno Guinea Un attieké pour Elgass Le Seuil
Mutwa, Vusamazulu Credo South Africa Indaba, My Children Blue Crane Books
Ngugi wa Thiong’o Kenya Caitaani Mutharaba-ini Heinemann
Ngugi wa Thiong’o Kenya **A Grain of Wheat Heinemann
Niane, Djibril Tamsir Senegal Soundjata ou l’épopée mandingue Présence africaine
Nyembezi, Sibusiso South Africa Inkinnsela yaseMgungundlovu Shuter and Shooter
Okigbo, Christopher Nigeria Labyrinths Heinemann
Okri, Ben Nigeria The Famished Road Spectrum Books
Oyono, Ferdinand Cameroon Le vieux nègre et la médaille Editions Juillard
P’Bitek, Okot Uganda Song of Lawino Heinemann
Pepetela Angola A geração da utopia Dom Quixote
Saadawi, Nawal El Egypt Woman at Point Zero Zed Books
Salih El Tayyib Sudan Season of Migration to the North Heinemann
Sassine, Williams Guinea Le jeune homme de sable Présence africaine
Sembene, Ousmane Senegal Les bouts de bois de Dieu Le livre contemporain
Senghor, Léopold Sédar Senegal **Ouevre poétique Le Seuil
Serote, Mongane South Africa Third World Express David Philip Publishers
Shabaan,
Robert Bin Tanzania Utenzi wa vita vya uhuru East African Literature Bureau
Sony Labou Tansi Congo La vie et demie Seuil
Sow Fall, Aminata Senegal La grève des battus Nouvelles éditions africaines
Soyinka, Wole Nigeria Death and the King’s Horsemen Spectrum
Tchicaya U Tam’si Congo Le mauvais sang – feu de brousse – à trisse-coeur P.J. Swald
Tutuola, Amos Nigeria The Palm-wine Drinkard Faber
Vera, Yvonne Zimbabwe Butterfly Burning Baobab Books
Vieira, José Luandino Angola Nós os do Makulusu [União dos Escritores Angolanos]
Vilakazi, B.W. South Africa Amal’eZulu Witwatersrand University Press
Yacine, Kateb Algeria Nedjma Le Seuil
Scholarship/non-fiction
Amin, Samir Egypt Accumulation on a World Scale Monthly Review Press
Amadiume, Ifi Nigeria Male Daughters, Female Husbands Zed Books
Andrade,
Mario de Angola Os nacionalismos africanos Sa da Costa
Appiah, Anthony Ghana In My Father’s House Oxford University Press
Cabral, Amilcar Guinea-Bissau Unity and Struggle Monthly Review Press
Chimera, Rocha Kenya Kiswahili, past, present and future horizons Nairobi University Press
Diop, Cheikh Anta Senegal **Antériorité des civilisations nègres Présence africaine
Doorkenoo, Efua Ghana Cutting the Rose Minority Rights Group
Hayford, J.E. Casely Ghana Ethiopia Unbound Cass
Hountondji, Paulin Benin Sur la philosophie africaine François Maspero
Johnson, Samuel Nigeria The History of the Yorubas G. Routledge & Sons
Kenyatta, Jomo Kenya Facing Mount Kenya Secker & Warburg
Ki-Zerbo, Joseph Burkina Faso Histoire de l’Afrique noire Hatier
Krog, Antjie South Africa Country of My Skull Jonathan Cape
Mama, Amina Nigeria Beyond the Mask, Race, Gender and Identity Routledge
Mamdani, Mahmood Uganda Citizen and Subject James Currey Publishers
Mandela, Nelson South Africa Long Walk to Freedom Little Brown
Marais, Eugene South Africa Die Siel van die Mier J.L. van Schaik
Memmi, Albert Tunisia Portrait du colonisé suivi de portrait du colonisateur L’Etincelle
Mondlane, Eduardo Mozambique The Struggle for Mozambique Penguin
Mphahlele, Ezekiel South Africa Down Second Avenue Faber & Faber
Mudimbe, V.Y. Dem. Rep. of Congo The Invention of Africa Indiana University Press
Nkrumah, Kwame Ghana Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah Nelson
Plaatje, Sol South Africa Native Life in South Africa P.S. King
Soyinka, Wole Nigeria **Ake: The Years of Childhood Rex Collings
Van Onselen, Charles South Africa The Seed is Mine David Philip Publishers
“FROM NOLLYWOOD TO NOLLYWEIGHT?OR REFLECTIONS ON THE POSSIBILITIES OF LITERATURE AND BURGEONING FILM INDUSTRY IN NIGERIA”BY PROF. FEMI OSOFISAN FROM AFRICULTURES.COM
May 19, 2008 by Yeye Akilimali Funua Oladefrom africultures.com
From Nollywood to Nollyweight ? or, Reflections on the Possibilities of Literature and the Burgeoning Film Industry in Nigeria
by Prof. Femi Osofisan
Femi Osofisan
publié le 18/07/2006
[Cet article est pour le moment disponible exclusivement en anglais] Being the text of keynote by Prof Femi Osofisan – dramatist, actor and director and lecturer at the University of Ibadan – to the 6th ITPAN FORUM, held July 6 to 8, 2006, at the Lagos Business School, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
Ladies and gentlemen,
1 The first appropriate gesture I must make, on this platform, is that of gratitude. With your kind permission, I want to use this opportunity to publicly express my gratitude to the entire artist community, my friends, and all well-wishers who have so warmly and so generously rejoiced with me on the occasion of my birthday. What a wonderful world – to paraphrase the great bard – that has such good and friendly people in it !
Next, please also allow me to thank the organizers of this Forum, for the honour of being asked to give this keynote address. I am not myself, as you all know, a film maker. I am just one of your customers.
I take it therefore that, if you have asked me to give the keynote address today, it is because you want some feed-back from your audience. That is something certainly that I can offer, and I hope I will not disappoint you. My business is literature, not film. I deal with words, with the texture and architecture of the written phrase ; you with pictures and frames, the tones of light and shadow, colour and chiaroscuro. As a dramatist, I tell stories, just as you also do ; but only for the stage, and not for the screen. However, already in that magical territory of fabulation, of story-telling and myth-making, you can see where we have a meeting place and share a common interest.
This means that we should be able to work together, we writers and film-makers, as indeed we have witnessed in other countries and in other film industries. But so far this kind of collaboration has been rare in the Nigerian film industry. And it is this lapse I intend to talk about today.
2 The enormous commercial success of the contemporary film in Nigeria – at least of the genre that has come to be known as “Nollywood” – is now a familiar, if astonishing, fact.
Everywhere you care to travel, both within the country and outside our borders, the Nollywood films, you will discover, would have preceded you with their ubiquitous presence. In most African homes on the continent or in the Diaspora, the films have established themselves conspicuously as the staple diet of domestic entertainment. And in places as far distant from one another as Nouakchott or Ndjamena, Banjul or Nairobi, even the minor stars are household names. Like the icons of the football field, they adorn the covers of glamorous magazines ; their lives provide the juicy menu of the gossip journals and newspapers ; some of them are better known than many heads of state.
Such has indeed been the scintillating tale of the Nollywood adventure that even the Federal government, not normally known to accord any importance to mere artists, however gifted, startled all of us recently by coming out openly to shower encomium on the industry and its practitioners. It even talks of collaborating with them for some future projects !
This is by any consideration a most phenomenal story, for a business that began almost by accident, was sustained by expediency, and has not benefited from the support of either the political Establishment or the orthodox financial institutions. A totally homegrown industry, all that has kept it afloat and buoyant has been the fabled ingenuity of the Nigerian entrepreneur !
It will never cease to be a marvel then, the fact that a group of half-literate dramatists of the popular travelling theatre tradition, seeing their trade tottering on the brink of extinction because of the harsh economic policies of the time, could, out of desperation and entirely on their own volition, seize a hitherto neglected and subsidiary technology, and, in alliance with spare parts traders and such small-scale businessmen, harness it with such inventiveness that they have turned it into a multi-million naira business, till their products have almost completely displaced the far more sophisticated, far more technically competent products of Hollywood and Bollywood.
Without any precedent example, without recourse to foreign assistance, without the benefit of hefty budgets or of any of the dazzling gadgetry of Hollywood, the Nigerian Nollywood outstripped all its former predecessors and competitors, within the first decade of its birth, and initiated a completely novel cinematic genre. It is worth a celebration.
3 So, in the wake of these sterling achievements that it has garnered, how does one dare voice any negative criticism of the industry – “that is, without the risk of subjecting oneself voluntarily to derision or abuse from its practitioners ? Especially if one has himself never produced a single film, how can one criticize without seeming to be asking to be fed with hemlock ?
But it is a gamble nevertheless that one has to take, if only because the industry is one that has enormous implications for our people’s development. The films have been proven to exercise a tremendous impact on our people’s minds, on their ways of thinking and their habits of perception, on their attitude to the world, to work, to family, to their neighbours. The films also have significant influence on the way that others see us, and hence on the way they relate to us. We cannot but be concerned therefore about what they are saying, what attitudes they are promoting, what image of us they are projecting.
Precisely because they have deservedly won ovation everywhere, the Nollywood films have come to assume an authority over our values and our lives, such that what people see in them comes to be taken not as just a fictional projection by one imaginative consciousness, but as the true, authentic mirror of what we really are, as a veritable marker of what our society represents, and much worse, of the ideal that we aspire, or must aspire, towards.
This is where the films present us with a great dilemma, and where, in spite of our pleasure, we must take a stand in the interest of our collective survival. For we cannot but remark that, however popular the films may be, and however much in demand, the picture that the majority of them present of our world is one that we must not only interrogate, but indeed reject very strongly, if what we seek is the transformation of our society into a modern, progressive state.
I will not, as you know, be the first to make this complaint. Even our friends outside have voiced the same unease about the ambiguity of Nollywood. The common question that people ask, as you know, is – “why this unceasing preoccupation with juju, this relentless celebration of dark rituals and diabolical cults ? Practically every Nollywood director seems to have been caught in the spell – “mix a diet of grotesque murders and cacophonous chants and bizarre incantations, and smile all the way to your bank !
Then, again, those who wish to be different from the rest, who want to demonstrate the ineffectual power of juju rituals, what do they do ? They show us scenarios where the brutish African cults and priests are overpowered and devastated by the agents of Christianity ! Thus one mythology replaces another – “this time the one imported from abroad simply replaces the barbaric local variant. Tarzan is reborn, only this time in black skin, and wearing a cassock ! And it is a sign of the deep damage done to our psyche and our consciousness by decades of European proselytizing that the filmmakers themselves are blissfully unaware of the racist and cultural implications of this fare they offer to the public !
4 What I am saying is that, with all their commercial success, our films parade a number of serious deficiencies, viewed from the cultural and ideological perspectives. These have been summarized before into four broad areas, and I will rapidly recall them here, as follows : – First, is their lack of thematic profundity, of subtlety and complexity in characterization, and the repetitiousness of the scenarios ; – Second, the lack of adventurousness in the area of filmography, or is it “videography” ; with the most basic rules in such matters as costuming, lighting make-up and so on, being regularly compromised ; – Third, the promotion of superstitious habits, of the belief in miracles and witchcraft rather than in concrete, empirical extrapolations and direct physical participation in social struggle. This, ironically in spite of the fact that all the special effects they employ to conjure up their magic are achieved only with the aid of technology, with scientifically-manufactured implements ; – And the fourth, the most serious of them all, is their open promotion of cultural alienation and inferiority complex among our people, even more brazenly than the colonialists and their films did.
It is not of course that the films deliberately set out to do these things. Rather, these perceived deficiencies are due, obviously, to what one may describe as the intellectual deficit of the people involved in the profession. [Now one has to be careful here, not to appear to be patronizing these practitioners or to be undervaluing their intelligence.]
What I mean, to be more precise, is that those who provide the financial means, as well as those who conceive the scenarios for Nollywood are, for the most part, only interested in film as a fast business, as a means merely of making quick money and raking a quick profit, (just like their imported spare second-hand goos), and so can not be bothered by the larger aesthetic or ontological dimensions of film production.
This is why indeed there is most often no script available at all for the actors on most locations ; what you will get is only a scenario, or a series of scenarios, which will be verbally announced by the director or producer as a general guide for improvisation, just as in the old days of the travelling theatres.
5 Given all these problematic areas, all these cultural and philosophical anxieties, the suggestion has been made that what we need for Nollywood is a stricter and more extensive form of censorship. Some have even called for an outright ban.
But censorship is never safe nor fool-proof, nor even predictable. It is not to be trusted ; it can be a dangerous tool in the hands of dictators. Especially with our experience so far of government as terrorism in Nigerian history, it will be most careless of us to assume that the ogre of dictatorship can never rise any more to haunt us. To approve of censorship in such circumstances is to deliberately shut our eyes to danger, and help prepare the way for our own eventual subjugation.
In any case, the effect of censorship is quite often to drive the forbidden good underground, and, like cocaine, make it even more attractive to the consumers. There is such a fervent demand by our people for films that whatever they find available will be gobbled up as soon as it comes out, whatever its quality, and however much they complain afterwards about it. This compulsive appetite of our people, this uncritical and almost insatiable demand for film products should, in my opinion, be a guide about what solutions to suggest.
I want to recommend therefore that, instead of wasting our time with censorship, the line that will be more productive for us to pursue, in order to displace the deficient films from the market, is simply to embark on the production of an alternative repertoire of films, and to making sure that they are abundantly available for consumers. Now, this is where I believe that we writers can come in, as it has been done in other places. An alliance between film makers and the producers of literature is what I believe is most urgent for the necessary recuperative work that Nollywood requires, and deserves.
Our writers are not only good story-tellers, but they have proved for the most part to be story-tellers concerned not primarily with material gratification, but rather, with the overall wellbeing of the community. They entertain, but also instruct and enlighten. They propagate our cultural heritage, but without necessarily glorifying superstition or on the other hand, deliberately demonizing our local religions and customs. They have, that is, the ingredients to enrich and radicalize Nollywood, even while boosting its revenue potential. A good number of books are there on the bookshelves that can be made into profit-yielding projects on film.
Only Tunde Kelani, (and the younger less well-known Demola Aremu), have tried so far, to my knowledge, to exploit the potentials of this fruitful collaboration, but it is no exaggeration to state the immense success that TK has reaped, and is still reaping, from the venture. Almost all his films, until recently, were film adaptations of the works of Professor Akinwunmi Isola, one of our most talented writers, and they helped catapult TK to his position of eminence among the film producers.
There are two possible ways of undertaking the kind of collaboration that I am calling for. The first is to select from a number of successful books already in print, and adapt them for the screen. Here, one can suggest a few titles, apart from the already much-recycled Things Fall Apart. There are also the same author”s Arrow of God, Man of the People, or Anthills of the Savannah. From Cyprian Ekwensi, there are Jagua Nana, the sequel, Jagua Nana”s daughter, The Passport of Mallam Illia, Iska, and so on ; Elechi Amadi”s The Great Ponds ; Onuora Nzekwu”s Danda, Chukwuemeka Ike”s Toads for Supper, Wole Soyinka”s Ake, Isara, and Season of Anomy ; Saro Wiwa”s Sozaboy ; and numerous recent works by Eddie Iroh, Ifeoma Okoye, Zaynab Alkali, Ogochukwu Promise, Akachi Ezeigbo, Maik Nwosu, Okey Ndibe, Helen Oyeyemi, Tony Marinho, Chimamamba Adichie, Sefi Atta, and others.
Apart from novels, there are also very dramatic plays which could yield exciting film scripts, such as the works of Sam Ukala, Olu Obafemi, Ahmed Yerimah, Akinwunmi Isola, Bayo Faleti, Emman Nwabueze – ¦ the list is long ! Nor does the choice have to be confined to only those books written by Nigerian authors. In both East and Southern Africa alone, there are thousands of books waiting for an adventurous film maker !
The second approach I can recommend is for you to liaise with some of the established writers mentioned above, and to commission them to produce original scripts. You will be amazed by what you would generate from them, and then from others who will be inspired by them. Certainly the current bogey of thin stories and trivial or merely sensational themes, of insipid dialogue and worn verbal and lexical garbage, of dull and uninspiring plots, and so on, will become a thing of the past, if the film-makers agree to exploit this idea of collaboration with our writers.
And instead of “Nollywood”, what we will be celebrating, come next season, will be the advent of “Nollyweight !”
I thank you for your attention,
Femi Osofisan
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