New Dawn on the net!

New dawn the Nigerian television show is now available on youtube here!

But instead....

Here's dapo torimiro, the only male member of the group then known as Kush. Even though he appeared to have gone awol as at the time of their album coming out, it was evident that his talent was world class...Here he performs with the Oscar brown jr!!!!

Kush on Youtube

Randomly ran into this video on whilst trawling through youtube...features my good friend T.Y Shokefun now Bello....they had so much potential....sigh Just remember the message of the song, can anyone tell me how to get the album!!!

Blogging about Pop idol west Africa like everyone else...so i nicked it off naijablog, sue me!

So i'm nicking the story off naijablog, i'm sure he won't mind. Got this link to the west African idol's page from there and it was very revealing. Of course, i totally dig Syntyche....perhaps for all the obvious reasons. Perhaps i should not go into the shoddiness of the presentation or how i think the judges talk too much/ waste too much time. More importantly, i think the auditions betray the highly partriachal/reversed ageist society that is Nigeria and then the African continent at large. Still, i suppose this presents an opportunity to an already dissapointed youth....i will keep an eye on it!

more music!

It's a lovely saturday evening and it feels just right! My bedroom is just the right temperature, the light the right hue and the ambience....lovely! I have just created a mastepiece cd with great music from Norah Jones and Angelique Kidjo. Oh it's all their old stuff but it seems so timeless.. I particularly like Angelique's fifa from her keep on moving album and of course there's 'babalao' from the same album. For Norah Jones, its come away with me. Georgeous easy music to deal with...try it!

Rebranding Africa!

I got a link off Naijablog's page which lead on to a website promising a brand new African attempt at a pathway for ideas called inspire Africa which involves a close relationship with the Media i.e. television shows and publishing. In fairness, it's no doubt a good idea and necessary but isn't this argument an old hat? It is not rocket science that media hegemony plays a huge part of contemporary society's mechanics. I remember joining one of those have-your-say things on the BBC website which prompted replies on the best way to re-brand Africa. The lead question itself is heavily laced with several presumptions and a variety of possible conclusions. Does Africa need to be re-branded? If so for whom and why? What has lead to the need to re-brand in the first place? Does this suggest a failing with respect to global media hegemons like the BEEB and CNN? The questions and arguments go on and in either way. No doubt about it, the African continent at the moment is in a dire condition, but how did it get this way? The responses, as expected with these bloody have-your’s-say things were as varied as it comes. However, a mostly recorded response seemed to go along the lines of "Africa is not a country but a continent". All too true! Personally, it irks me to see that all around me however, (thinking logically) is this the point? And is it so bad to conceptualize the African continent as a single entity? Africa after all as it is now was only as a result of a few lines drawn by the likes of lard Lugard and the likes of him. Perhaps if we as African’s stopped harboring our difference and instead focused on our problems which ARE shared, then we could move forward. Despite their strong history (thanks to colonialism and their media), Europeans would never balk at the idea of being tagged or termed European. Of course they are European, and embrace this identity with wholeheartedness! Ok Ok maybe not in all countries but you get my point. It is at this stage that one remembers the ideology promoted by African thinkers like Nkrumah and co. Of course, SA president Thabo Mbeki replicated this during his “I am African…” speech through which he called for an African renaissance of sorts. Will this happen whilst we still think of ourselves as individuals instead of a collective?

Okay so we are not to be seen as a singular country but a variety of nations and we will forget about lines drawn by imperialism but instead assume they have always been there.

As this variety of nations, how do we tell the world that all our children don’t have kwashiorkor, have flies coming out of their mouths or AIDS? My entry in the have-your-say thing was this. I believe that if we are to tell our story, either as a collective or as separate entities; this story can only be told by Africans. Some will laugh at this somewhat naïve idealist approach to the issue as it means a variety of things. We don’t have a means of telling this story even if we wanted to. We don’t have a reputable media organization(s), most countries lack basic infrastructure to support a cultural industry (i.e. literacy levels, sustainable power supplies, economies, etc). Even the ideas are all leaving the continent through the brain drain thing. So is this option a lost cause?

Look kids, it speaks English rather well!!!

Since I started university, I follow the same pattern of conversation. Soon after introducing myself, it often goes along these lines…

Me: My name is xxxx xxxx (very complicated Yoruba name even for Igbo and Hausa people apparently)

Oyinbo person: Oh, that’s a lovely name. Erm, where is that from?

Me: Oh, Nigeria. I am Nigerian.

OP: Oh, fascinating. Quite obviously, you were born here or went to school here.

Me: No I didn’t, I have only just come here for University.

OP: (Some Oyinbo exclamation inserted at this stage because it changes) I must say, your English is impeccable.

Me: Thank you (insert yawn).

Always unfailingly along the same route! At first I could not understand this and it often made me angry. Of course I spoke English properly, English after all is the first language in Nigeria (last time I checked, lessons in schools were taught in English). This brings to mind the recent arguments on the African shirts page about the Orji Kalu interview, I’d have to ask you to read it on his site to get how it relates to this so I don’t digress too much! Anyway, the above scenario just goes to buttress my point. I eventually understood the origin of the pattern of this conversation and perhaps its gravity. The harm is done and the world DOES expect a certain image from Africa, but what are we as individuals doing to change this? I am not saying we all have to strut around anglicizing/hiding our accents but the contrary. How are we as individuals showing that Africa is not about all of that tripe the western media spew but much more? Of course this does not mean to follow along the lines of the ideology often shared by African-Americans which involves trying harder so as not to “bring down the race”. Once again, I can be accused of naively approaching this. After all telling a story requires more than one person getting A’s in class or speaking English properly as the CNN’s and the BBC’s argue?

Every law of Nature says the bumble bee should not fly but it flies till today

When I was much younger, perhaps only about sixteen, I met Funmi Iyanda. Funmi Iyanda is a Nigerian broadcaster who I believe has transcended all odds to do just this. She told me the story about the bumble bee and urged me never to forget it. Very recently, during our telephone conversation; I mentioned how I could not wait to be done with uni so I could impact my own on the African renessaince. She replied,

“Why limit yourself to Nigeria? You should be thinking on the continental level”.

The amount of information in such a simple sentence is vast. Yes Africa in its entirety has its problems in vast amounts but so what? Funmi Iyanda’s theory suggests that instead of waiting till we can afford to build multi-million dollar studios and have the electricity and brain power to run them, we should take steps individually no matter how small to combat this ideological conquer of western ideas of the African continent. It goes deeper than teaching your children your local language or listening to local music or watching poorly made Nigerian movies whilst pretending to enjoy them. It should be where your heart is. It should be as an Angelique Kidjo album as she infuses Yoruba folklore with Fon and other African languages. Next time someone misconstrues Africa to be a country not a continent, think of it as an advantage of knowledge that you know and he/she doesn’t. The more important thought pattern is how we can turn this piece of information into strength and stop letting it weigh us down as a weakness.

sigh (2)

Why is Africa so unfortunate? Everyone ignore me, just feeling a bit funny about the whole identity thing. I'd originally just typed the first question and published it but.....there's just so much to it. Why is Africa so unfortunate despite all we have?

great music!

A good year for music! Femi kuti tours the UK at the moment to sold out tickets at the barbican whilst Angelique kidjo dazzles with a new album djin djin come may 1st. The album promises fantastic collabos with the likes of Alicia keys, the fantastic amadou and mariam, joss stone and carlos santana!!! A good year for music indeed....

valentines day?

Valentine's day/week is over thankfully. In my opinion, love is for schmuks anyway. Still, i resolved to treat myself better, nay...love myself better so yesterday, after a few hours at the slave house; lounged about in starbucks doing nothing cept sipping on a latte for hours (my days are somehow more manic so its a treat that i get to kick back and relax). Later in the evening, cooked myself the best salmon i've ever had...who says the stomach is not the way to a man's heart?

Orji Uzor Kalu on hardtalk

What a monster!! A fucking liar!!! As i type this i am watching BBC's hardtalk and i have never been so ashamed in my life!!! I can only suggest that whoever clicks on this link keep all breakables out of reach. The man is a vile, evil savage (not that i have only just deciphered that). The icing on the cake is how cowed he is by the programme's presenter. Nigeria will move forward when a local journalist can question a politician in this manner. I am so embarrassed and shamed!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!

It snowed last week and i joined in the snow mania!! Took pics of a part of uni and train station, cant seem to download the rest of the pics :-(

music

Nothing like good music to sooth the nerves and get you back in the flow of things!!
Currently listening to the devine Angelique kidjo. Just discovered that i had her album on my ipod and its great listening. Feel guilty that i have started listening to the jill scott pretender, corrine bailey rae. I have to admit that the music is brilliant tho. I just hate the brit equivalent factor air to her. To be fair, her music stinks of Jill scott influence, albeit restrained or less soulful. My friend, jon from leeds says she used to perform in a jazz club round the corner before success came knocking, its kinda like the girl who was a drummer in pete doherty's babyshambles who used to live not far from me. Bet they won't be so normal now......

Hardcore!!!

Had one hell of a weekend!!
friday:
Went...no, trudged to uni in the snow and then trudged even further into work only to find out that if i had stayed away from work, i would have been doing myself a favour without repercussion!! Anyway, trudged back in the snow back to my warm lovely house only to find out that we all had to go out as it was jean francois's birthday!! Sigh. So up we went, out dancing and making major fulls of ourselves (i know that is not correct english) till the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday morning (reeeeeeealy early):
It is no longer snowing and the mush all over the place....the others are all off to bed but i have to get changed for work, sigh..Life's a bitch. I get to work, trudge through all sorts of crap diary work and faxes and stuff and finally, the work day is over but not quite. Have to go into town to do some shopping and see people and before i know it, its half five. I suddenly remember that i am meant to be in Bristol tonight, sigh....it doesn't end does it.
I eventually get on the train to Bristol, do same as previous night and climb into bed in the wee hours of sunday morning!
Sunday morning, not long after i got into bed:
I have to get going to catch my train as i bought one of those stupid cheap standard class first great western tickets that if you do not use, you loose!! So i brush my teeth, do not shower (what, like you've never done it before) and jump in the cab to bristol parkway.....trains not coming for the next 45 mins so i am sat like a lemon at parkway station for that long, freezing my tits off really really really nackered...and hungry!!!
train eventually comes, train journey is smooth and quick but then train services in wales are dodgy again so there's only replacement bus services and numerous changes and so on! sigh.
I get home, there's cleaning to do, emails to reply, phone calls to make and other silly domesticities i have to see to but i do not care, i have a meaningful shower and collapse into bed for a well deserved rest. As i drop off, i tell myself that i am hardcore for that marathon 48 hours just gone past, but as they say in Nigeria, who sen you message?

Winter wonderland in feb?

My Backyard has been turned into a winter wonderland as wales seems to experience the heaviest snow!!! Unfortunately, still means i have to go to work instead of cosying up in bed with a mug of something and a dvd. Will upload pics this weekend!!!

of good friends and not so good!!

Got a message from uknaija asking how i was, which was quite nice! Not that i am claiming to be his friend, just saying really. Talking about friends, one of my best people jean francois turns 23 today and i am just delighted for him. Unfortunately, i will not be going out on the town tonight to celebrate this purely because i feel like a sour old fart, i hope this is a good albeit chicken way to tell you jeff....
Birthday boy in the pic!!
Best mates mike and rebecca who were a couple (possibly the best i have seen ever) split up and i was devestated. Isn't it shocking how the breakup of someone elses relationship affects

ou? Some will argue that it is an utter nonesense, well, perhaps it is!
Sold something on ebay recently and the buyer turned out to be a rather decent person, we have since spoken on te phone and find we have a lot in common....it's funny how you meet people nowadays.
I have spent the most of the week cementing relationships i possibly had taken for granted last year. Spent an awful long time on long distance calls to the US and Niger catching up with people like Funmi Iyanda and Chude who's blogs are a must read.
Have you got your friends where you want them???