Ayetoro

Of madmen and religious specialists

2009-08-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Death is a sad event. That is why we have to make sure that intolerance in all it's forms does not triumph at home and Abroad. The clashes between Nigerian security forces and members of Boko Haram across Northern Nigeria is regretable. A lot of people have lost their lives and property. I hope we learn from the official inquiry to be conducted by the government. Education, Jobs and improved living and social conditions will help in calming down the situation. But again this is what we need across the country.Hello Abuja.....

Why do you like what you like?

2009-02-25T23:52:00.000-08:00

Can you sincerely say you know why you like what you like.Regardless of promptings by others or those who claim to know better . Take music i like Jazz. Instrumental music without words i find soulful. Apart from a few Fela Kuti songs and some by Dennis Brown i listen to the instrumentation in music. Even Rock has to have a prog element to keep me.
I listen to the rhythm of life when i work or am at rest.

To buy records many times i slide and try to depend on reviews or advertising. That dosen't work either because many a time i go to the second hand music shop at notting Hill gate to dispose of stuff I bought on an expert reviewers say so ( sorry Time Out, Rolling Stone,Mojo). The best music for me is that which i discover online or have had passed on to me by a friend or family. Sometimes you are lucky to catch a band like the Portico Quartet playing their first gig in London and you know the future is here. Other times it is hit or miss. But the choice is yours alone.

Books provide the same challenge. I like what i like. Most times that means going against conventional wisdom . I like reading Amado, Kapucinski, Achebe, Kouroumah, Mahfouz,Chatwin, Ekwensi, Pelecanos,Soyinka, Freud, Baldwin, Angelou, Plato and Ngugi Wa Thiongo.
Do you know why you like what you like?

Ofodunka

2009-02-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

This is a blog i like. One i just discovered but which i have been waiting for. Interesting.

On the road again

2009-01-30T03:52:00.000-08:00

The band at Dinner ..Nyoni's Kraal on Long Street Cape town.

Second picture is yours truly on Fender Rhodes Piano at the outdoor concert in Langa..

Langa is the place .....

2009-01-30T03:41:00.000-08:00

Ayetoro was in Cape town to play at the Pan African space Station in Oct 2008. Dis festival was put together by the duo of Neo Muyanga and Ntone Edjabe. Beautiful people them . Here is the band at soundcheck in Langa. Langa na township for Souh Africa. The first township in fact where dem force people to go live while the government went about collecting most of the prime real estate. More on that later but enjoy more pictures and listen to langa a new tune as played by Ayetoro on www.myspace.com/ayetoro .

For Liepollo, Kyla Rose , Sanza , Nicole and Mbali . All special ...Much love.........

Big thief Small thief ....

2009-01-29T23:50:00.000-08:00

Check this out...If you steal millions of Dollars from the tax payer or are arrested at an airport trying to export contraband out of Nigeria you get to pay a fine in lieu of jail. If however you are a misguided youth who steals a car battery the judge will send you to prison for 12 months to teach you a lesson.

Nigeria sucks .... Leaders steal plunder and kill and we still call them leaders.

In its present form the Nigerian state is unworkable and a vampire society which kills it's best , it's young and the innocent. It should be killed off and a new society or new societies and states built on similar cultural values and socio cultural economic ties should be allowed to evolve. If the international community and it's meddlesome agents , the former colonial power and also the UN do not try to help then the country is on the road to perdition.

No compromise on that.

Financial crimes....Ole ojukoroju!

2009-01-27T00:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=512:saharareporters-new-york&catid=76:hot-topic&Itemid=205

This story if true and others like it show the extent of the damage being done to Nigeria the federation nobody wants. Most Nigerians are helpless victims of the act of the whitehall mandarins. Our so called political leaders were and still are no better than their forebears the ignoble potentates who got rich off the slave trade selling people for cash. Any wonder why they lie and fight among themselves in our name..

Not in mine..
When you can please look for and read the kaiama declaration by the Ijaw youth. Until the Nigerian state can answer the questions which have brought about such documents there is no ideological basis for it to win the war of hearts and minds .

Open your minds ......

Alert!!! How safe is your food in Naija?

2009-01-21T02:50:00.000-08:00

I was in lagos a week ago and noticed something shocking...The size of some of the foods for sale at the local Ipodo market in Ikeja was shocking? Yams wider than 16 inches and longer too. . Pineapples and Pawpaws as wide as a sumo wrestlers thighs!!!
I asked where the foods were from and all i got told was up country..Now in the same place were foods of normal size..so why the remarkable difference? I haven't seen food this big before...
Some research hours later and i find a former minister of technology admitting that in Bayelsa State there is a national body hich has ben gentically modifying food to achieve higher yields. And also that GM foods are the future. This coming from a country that has never devoted time and land to feeding itself. http://allafrica.com/stories/200807160500.html
With the jury still out on GM foods i wonder why with most of the developed world promoting organic farming as the healthy option our own minister is justifying GM production. Who will pay the cost if something goes horribly wrong? The world food crisis today is one of distribution and also of governmental incompetence. Check the facts..

We even have state governments importing Cows from South Africa without checking to see if they will adapt to our terrain..Most actually were imported in a pregnant state... What happens to the Fulani of west Africa who are a institution at Cattle rearing? This is a no brainer really..

Please be very concerned about the food you eat..

Why do the rich and royalty in almost all the developed world actively encourage their own to eat organic? While their governments ask us to accept GM food aid?

Fight corruption and incompetence everyday so Naija can survive..

How long? before we do what we have to do...

2009-01-21T02:24:00.000-08:00

Forgive the cynicism.. but i dont understand the need for CCTV's in a place with inadequate power supply, a slow justice system and entrenched poverty. Why do our governments emphasise the supremacy of buildings and machines over people? How much will this action cost the state? Who will really benefit from this action? big business most likely...
Instead of really attempting to improve peoples lives in a serious holistic manner our governments keep throwing public money at projects which make their business allies rich..

We need change. People in Nigeria require social security..
Free education...Funded by the state
Jobs and good ones at that..
They require land for organic subsistence farming in the face of the threat of GM foods...
There can and must be free health care . If our governments do this they won't need to make some people rich by importing CCTV's from wherever...

Wayne Shorter

2009-01-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

In the ultra macho world of Saxophone players he is the ultra hip cerbral professor. Composer, Saxophone colossus and American Icon. I also remember him as an actor in Round Midnight Bertrand Tavernier's film about jazz. Hipster personified.

His tunes are Jazz standards.He remains in his seventies the master writer.I love Speak no Evil, Juju, Night Dreamer amongst many others . I will however say his 1966 album Adam's Apple is my all time special. The title track is something else

Herbie Hancock had this to say of Shorter's tenure in the Miles Davis group: "The master writer to me, in that group, was Wayne Shorter. He still is a master. Wayne was one of the few people who brought music to Miles that didn't get changed." Davis said: "Wayne is a real composer. He writes scores, write the parts for everybody just as he wants them to sound. He also brought in a kind of curiosity about working with musical rules. If they didn't work, then he broke them, but with musical sense; he understood that freedom in music was the ability to know the rules in order to bend them to your own satisfaction and taste."

He is also musically curious. I have watched him on video doing duets with Bobby Mcferrin and Carlos Santana.

Mr Shorter...here's to you...

Waste and the King's magicians

2008-12-25T09:04:00.001-08:00

According to the Nigerian Press worried by the delay in the return of Nigerian pilgrims from Saudi Arabia, the Amirul Hajj, Dimeji Bankole, left Abuja on Tuesday for Mecca to facilitate their journey back home.

Bankole, who is also the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was accompanied on the trip by Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Umar Bature, House Minority Leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, and some members of the National Hajj Commission.

A statement by the Speaker's Special Adviser on Media, Kayode Akinmade, in Abuja, said they departed Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 8.00 a.m.

According to the statement, Bankole assured that the airlifting of the pilgrims back home would be concluded on schedule regardless of the current hitches.

This is another example of the waste of public funds and executive incompetence which plague us. Political grandstanding and utter indecent rubbish. Are there no competent faceless executives to do the job? Or is this just another junket for the culturally brain dead ? Were the officials accompanying him all going to help ease the problem?

This in my opinion is economic sabotage and people should be censured.

Madness Unlimited

2008-12-21T02:03:00.000-08:00

As a near failed state you have to wonder at Nigeria's capacity for self deceit.

Former Edo state governor Lucky Igbinedion has been fined $25,000 (£16,700) for embezzling $21m (£14m).
He said he chose to pay the fine instead of spending six months in jail.
Mr Igbinedion, who was governor of Edo State from 1999 until May 2007, also has to repay $3.5m (£2.3m) and surrender three of his properties.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has appealed against the decision, saying such fines would not work as "a deterrent for others".
When President Umaru Yar'Adua came to power about 18 months ago, he pledged "zero tolerance" from his government to corruption.

The judgement further confirms the rot in the judiciary . What common sense did the judge use in deciding the fine?
This is like fining him chicken change. Local government bosses do better.
Slapping a grown man who has destroyed the lives of others through corruption on the wrists will not do.
In law school we were taught that to make something a deterrent the punishment should be harsh enough to disuade others. Obviously the judge has his own reasons for giving a judgement as limp as this.
i hope the people of Edo state will never again vote morally bankrupt and managerially incompetent individuals into postions of responsibility. But in case they do the third eye is watching.

Judgements like the igbinedion one are pushing the country to the brink..The youth have lost faith in the system. Politicians who should know better call Nigeria a project..As if it is a business venture (which it is to them) . When the cleansing comes they will know if it is a project indeed or the hell on earth they have made it for their fellow man.

The pursuit of happiness and individual freedom within the security of a group is the divine right of man.
That is the target. That which we must fight for ..To the death if need be.

Help! Conscience calling.....

2008-11-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

This is the year 2008. My country's president according to an unamed aide wishes to appoint a man over 70 as minister for energy. Same man has been in this post before as part of the musical chairs called ministerial duty in Nigeria. There is i am sure a reasonable number of nigerian experts who are younger , more capable and in tune with todays global economy.
We don't hear of them . Instead we continue recycling old pensioners who should have been allowed to retire gracefully ...
We want ministers who are capable irrespective of whether they belong. Even OBJ recognised that.

While this hapens the lagos PDP squabble over spoils of war. A camp is led by the High Commissioner to Ghana who instead of doing the job his incompetent self is paid to do indulges in fighting over appointments and contracts in Nigeria...

Has anyone noticed that career diplomats no longer count as ambassadors...No the job is better left to failed presidential candidates and party contributors....Shame.... `South Africa, Ghana, etc.. who will represent our country and unite it's people in foreign lands? Who will look after our interests humanely..genuinely...compassionately....Political scoundrels? Ha ha ha ..

How many so called traditional leaders are paid by the Nigerian state fom the proceeds of the Niger Delta's oil?...And then stand surety for corrupt government officials..who have patronised them
Why do we still have traditonal rulers when we have elections?...this institution is not compatible with realities of this century..If any town wants one they should fund it. A bunch of self seeking rulers who mostly are interested in the perpetuation of their class than the progress of their so called domains.... They seek donations...disallow independent thought and encourage the sale of titles for cash....les chiens de la rue......mostly seeking relevance by associating with foreign invaders who have imposed their succession systems on indigenous peoples.

Universities are hell holes...You enter and are taught that it is being an oppressor that counts. forget academia...think Olu Maintain( and his funky demented paen to the 419ner Yahoozee) who some Nigerian journalists call a legend (Fela Sowande, Fela Kuti, Sam Akpabot, even Chris Okotie would quarell with that assertion) sensitivty is for sissies , cheat your fellow man, when you see another man show him who's the boss....

Lastly ha ha we want to wish America well...they do what we cannot, appoint a man based on a need for change...they have a society which is man made and works. we profess our love for god and our country stinks...our former military demagougues praise Obama and his Victory and i dont know whether to laugh or cry..
As they have left us with a society without codes of conduct, chivalry and honour i wait for the first shot.

Afrobeat Rhythm Section

2007-12-10T03:39:00.000-08:00

Yours truly (right of picture) with Falna Isa Amodu ((King)(Bass)(left of Picture)) and the legendary Sii Sii Frank(centre of photo , drummer) . Together the ultimate Afrobeat rhythm section. We had just finished laying tracks for the next Ayetoro joint. At mr Kwakye's studio Accra.

A tribute to Cyprian Ekwensi

2007-11-27T04:44:00.000-08:00

I met Mr Ekwensi when he came to sign copies of his book Jagua Nana's daughter at my mothers bookshop in Ikeja. I had read quite a few of his books by then and told him how much I loved them. I went on to say People of the City was my favourite to which he broke into fluent yoruba and laughed. I always could identify with Amuda Sango the Journalist who also doubled as a Trumpet Player in a Highlife band. Years later i would also double as a keyboard player while maintaining a career in investment banking.

He may not have been feted like his more popular contemporaries but for me his books were special. In an age before the political correctness of federal character they showed the different characters who people our country. Towns were brought into your orbit, smells conjured, beautiful women described and so on. He made me fall in love with my own country and want to explore all those sounds and smells he wrote about. His knowledge of Nigeria was always put at the service of his art.
He wrote for modern Nigerians. He was our Hero.
He was special. Very special.

Sun re ogbontarigi akowe!

2007-11-26T09:34:00.001-08:00

We opened the Film production house in October. In between clearing the film equipment from the ports and looking for adequate accomodation there was enough time for Panji to show me Accra's delights. When i was here in march it was nice but that seems to have been scratching the surface.
Highlights have to include having a meal of Banku(fermented corn dough), kelewele( Fried plantain) , grilled Tilapia and some shitoh at the Night market in Accra. Then there was the trip to Duncans a local bar in Osu off oxford street(groan!) for some delightful Avocado salad.
The idea behind the production house is to bring world class equipment into town and put at the service of the local filmmakers as well as utilise in making some medium budget features.
So i spend my mornings meeting Video directors and producers who come in to Rent gear or use the Mac based studio. Most of the industry here use Pc for editing. So we have to spend more time marketing the mac G5 and pointing out it's user friendly features. It helps we use Final cut and have plans to import Avid though!
So far we have had hire orders for some techie stuff...Jibs and tracks. Pop music videographers love them!

what do we do in the evenings? Another time that one.........

Cyprian Ekwensi RIP

Article about democracy in Nigeria amd Olusegun Obasanjo's Legacy

2007-05-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Nigeria on path to genuine democracyJonathan Fanton, President, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur FoundationPublished May 24, 2007
Chicago -- Your May 5 editorial "Fraud in Nigeria" rightly expresses disappointment with the recent presidential election in Nigeria. You remind us that Nigeria's path to democracy and a fair distribution of its oil resources is challenging.The MacArthur Foundation has worked in Nigeria for 21 years, has an office in Abuja and supports a number of universities and 50 non-profit organizations in the fields of human rights and reproductive health. I visit Nigeria once a year, most recently just before the election.
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I think your editorial is too hard on Nigeria and on President Olusegun Obasanjo. To be sure, the election was flawed. But it happened with almost 60 percent of the population voting. The constitution was not amended to allow a third term. The country did not fall into chaos requiring a military intervention. And it seems likely the new government will come into office on time with its legitimacy determined in the courts of law.You say, "Obasanjo has been a failure as president."But consider these accomplishments. He has:- Led Nigeria through the longest period of civilian rule in its post-independence history.- Fostered national unity in an ethnically and religiously divided nation.- Dismantled a pervasive state security apparatus.- Removed repressive statutes from federal laws.- Erased the country's external debt and built a substantial reserve.- Run a vigorous, if selective, campaign against corruption.- Instituted a raft of significant and successful economic reforms.- Asserted Nigerian leadership within Africa and on the world stage.When I spoke to Obasanjo a month ago, he was very much aware of the unfinished agenda, and disappointed in himself that he had not accomplished even more. He remains committed to helping his country reduce corruption, improve education and health, and distribute the fruits of economic growth fairly.For all the problems -- continuing poverty, corruption and unrest in the oil regions among them -- I have observed progress over the past eight years. I see a vibrant civil society, a free press and a younger generation of talented Nigerians in government who share the vision of a better future.History will credit Obasanjo with putting Nigeria on the path to a stable and genuine democracy.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune

Accra is very Bokoor!

2007-05-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Bokoor means cool in Twi.

More about Accra.... The city is well laid out with wide roads and lots of open public parks. The people are generally open and relaxed. There is a Pan African Vibe about the whole place. There are roads named after African leaders like Thomas Sankara the great idealist and leader of the Burkinabe people and also Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo who is remembered for his leadership in ensuring cooperation between Nigeria and Ghana a few years ago when the Ghanian police were being overwhelmed by crime and this led to the Nigerian government gifting the Ghanian Government some equipment in form of Cars and fast transporters. Ghana has also been a good host to the Liberian Community in exile with a Liberian Village in Accra hosting a young and Vibrant community. A lot will depend on providing jobs and employment for them though.

More importantly the houses in accra especially the old designs are airy with reasonable spaces. There is a leafy side to old Accra which is very impressive. Walking into most residences there is usually a tree or two which provide shade and a place for people to hang out. The people of accra love their food. Seafood is popular . Hmmm. I have fond memories of eating Banku with kontonmire and Fish. The quality of food at the local chop bars is very high. Cleanliness is stressed by all including the government who have made secondary education as the minimum qualification to have to run a chop bar. Here's to all the lovely chop bars who provided my friends and I meals when hungry... Saporro, D'grays Inn, Odo Rise etc etc

Eletricity is rationed. Ghanians complain about this but coming from Nigeria you would be amazed. Imagine having the luxury of knowing when you will have electricity. In Accra the system was a power cut every 3 days which lasts for 12 hours . You can call your eletricity board and they will inform you of the schedule. Maybe we should try the idea out in Las Gidi until we can generate regular electricity.

Again more later......................

Accra Ghana

2007-05-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

I was in Accra Ghana for a month from the first week in march. I went to record some tracks for the next Ayetoro album and also take a holiday. And a holiday it was. Accra has a unique vibe. Kanershie, East legon, Dzorwulu, Nima, Osu . These are parts of Accra i enjoyed visiting. Nightlife was cool. This picture is of the gate of a house somewhere in Kanershie with the motif based on the Ashanti Adinkrah symbol. More on that later.......

The Truth is Bitter

2007-03-06T04:31:00.000-08:00

"Otito Koro"

This yoruba saying is very appropriate to the current Nigerian situation.
I have just been reading generally about the main candidates in the presidential elections and what i have discovered is very interesting.

Mr Musa Yar Adua (PDP):

An interview with him always makes interesting reading. His is a calm assured view . He also is a good campaign general preferring to concentrate on meeting the important communities and shunning unimportant battles. He has i think learnt from the problems the current presidential administration has faced in the battle to reform and modernise Nigeria. He has forced the issue in terms of having a clear agenda and the areas he wishes to tackle. The other candidates have had to react to his plans on education and power generation.

Muhamadu Buhari (ANPP) :
Rarely do you read an interview or quote from this gentleman without a pledge to probe someone especially the current President.. He also comes across as being haughty and rigid. A lot of times he does not exhibit the niceties and prefers to attack personalities and also make threats to do this and that. Like Pat Utomi he believes the PDP has failed Nigeria . I personally think that anyone who doesn't recognise any of the good the current government has done is a bitter individual who doesn't look at the whole picture.

Atiku Abubakar (AC):
He should be renamed Mr scaremonger for the amount of times he tries to get votes through scary tactics.
If the President is not giving the Army billions to fight the people of the Niger Delta , the Ndigbo have no place in Nigeria under the PDP, the current administration of which he has been a part is a curse on Nigeria,...
This is a campaign based on intimidation, scares and personal vendetta.
He reminds me of the Neo Cons currently in Washington. He has not mentioned his constituency the Nigerian customs and Immigration service which by all accounts is still very corrupt.

In 1999 none of the parties was defined by principle or a vision for Nigeria.As a tribal element had been brought in during the Abiola/Abacha situation a lot of people were calling for the disintegration of the country.
Anyway a situation must have arisen where it was obvious that the country needed someone to stabilize it and at least take a few forward steps. Enter the current president who is not a politician. That has proved to be a blessing to the country. Like Russia stability is what we need . like Russia it has come at a cost. But believe me the other side is worse.

Yet all and sundry have resorted to Obasanjo bashing. This has it's roots in the perceived injustice of 1979 when the UPN of Chief Awolowo (he formed it and was de facto leader ) was defeated in the federal elections by the NPN (a collection of inflential Nigerian Politicians ) which had Shehu Shagari as it's candidate . We have since then had politicians like Mr Ebenezer Babatope claim that what Obasanjo has is "native intelligence". I wonder what that means if not an insult.

That is where the opposition in Nigeria have failed. Instead of building bridges with the people and being seen to be fair they demonise their opponents. If an administraion that has paid off most of our heavy debt load, cut corruption and made strides in telecomunications is a curse , i wonder what a blessing is?

When elephants clash!

2006-12-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

According to a news report in the vanguard newpaper http://allafrica.com/stories/200612140915.html of lagos Dec 14th Edition at least two bystanders were killed when a gun battle broke out between members of the Nigerian Prisons Service and The Nigerian Navy. The indiscipline exhibited by both sides but especially by the naval rating who sparked off the whole incident by parking his car in a space reserved for senior prison officials is mindboggling. This type of indiscpline is at the root of Nigerian society. It seems to me the wrong people are allowed to join the Military forces in Nigeria. In fact it seems the wrong people are allowed to do most jobs period! Where are the officer gentlemen who are supposed to protect their fellow countrymen? Too busy cracking the whip at the altar of their oversize monstrous and cruel egos.

Here I note Fela Kuti's assertion in his tune MOP( Movement of the people ) that people from better families do not join the Army.
Hmph! By leaving some jobs to people of so called lesser standing no wonder our country's essential services are being carried out by thugs and many men of low and or dubious intellectual standing. For many a Nigerian those jobs are beneath them. Yet in civilised places the ability to fight for your country is essential and extends to even the so called upper classes.

In my Yoruba history I remember even Alaafins were expected to lead their armies in battle and history is full of examples of the civility of some of our kingdoms and their armed forces which in most instances were peopled by members of the community. Even mercenaries had to abide by serious codes of conduct.

The remark by the naval spokesman that such an event was regretabble is not going to bring back the dead. Will there be compensation to their families? Who knows. Like everything else the answer is blowing in the wind.

The Afrofunkycool Music Awards

2006-09-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

I have been reading online that the Nigeria Music awards were held in London. I wonder what to think. Interesting!
There are some serious Musicians who we are ignoring while we chase the false idol of celebrity.
I wonder how we can make progress when we ourselves do not appreciate real beauty preferring to ape hollywood and the American music scene. All sorts of people are parading themselves as Nigerian megastars when their music cannot even move the spirit. There is a now an acceptable tradition of Nigerian Bandleaders who are not musically literate.

Ok enough.

Instead of complaining i am going to do my own awards online right now.

Categories

Service to Music : Peter king and Samuel Akpabot

Peter King is a world class musician who returned to Nigeria in the 80's to set up a school in Ilogbo near badagry. His school has allowed many young nigerian the opportunity to learn music notation and improvisation.
Samuel Akpabot was a classical composer as well as highlife bandleader whose books have explained Nigerian music to many a musician. His research in transcribing native rhythms and also folk melodies has been invaluable to modern composers like myself.

Artist of the year:Tony Allen
His latest album lagos No shaking is a statement from the man who put the beat in Afro beat.
He is the first nigerian Musician to be accorded world class status as an instrumentalist.
According to Micheal Veal African American Anthropologist tony Allen is one of the greatest post world war II drummers comparable to the greats like Max roach, Art blakey etc. Today when you rarely find young talents trying to learn instruments correctly he is an inspiration .

Posthumous recognition:Fela Sowande , Nelly Uchendu
Most likely the greatest Nigerian composer and Musicologist to date.
This is the man who introduced John Coltrane the African American Jazz saxophonist and Cultural icon to the Yoruba culture and religious concepts which Coltrane was able to utilise in creating his famous sheets of sound. As organ player he is still remembered fondly all over thew world in places he has worked.
Many Nigerians or even modern yoruba people do not know of this contribution to world culture and of course the gate keepers would prefer if we didn't know that we have the intellectual capacity to add to American jazz or any other form of Western Music.
So you see we are not the first musicians to refuse to strip and play the hyper sexual freak for an adoring peep show.
As for Nelly Uchendu her voice was just wonderful. The egyptians and Arab world had Uum Kulthum and we had Nelly. Her interpretation of Love Nwantinti is so haunting and lovely at the same time i wonder if anyone would ever invest the song with the same emotion.

more later!

Mr President , the Finance Minister and the rest of us

2006-08-08T02:41:00.000-07:00

The resignation of the Nigerian Foreign minister Ngozi Okonjo Iwela has sent ripples througout the world. Because of the country's importance that event has come to have some resonance.
As usual the President has come to be the whipping boy of the critics. Only a few people really know the truth of the matter. The interesting thing is that the real issues are being ignored
by most analysts. Firstly it is obvious that there is a breakdown of the relationship between
both the president and the minister but that happens. At times we forget people are human and want to see perfection all the time. I feel the die had been cast when she made a an announcement that there was a fraud in the Foreign ministry only days after her reassignment . It is odd that she was contradicted by the presidency. As minister in charge i would expect she would be communicating with her president before making such a public claim.
As the minister is no longer in charge of the finance ministry she should really have to vacate her chairmanship of the Economic commisiion.

Secondly is it not possible that the calls for Mrs Iwela to contest the next election as a candidate as well as the many deserved encomiums anda few outlandish messianic claims have contributed to a situation where she is seen to be more important than she really is?
By the time of her resignation she had been known as a corruption buster, economic genius and
generally bringer of all things good in Nigeria. Hmmm!

The thing is Nigeria is bigger than all of us. As a finance minister she has performed very well. But if it is the system we should commend. A system operated by a president who backed her
and protected her from flak. And as part of a team including Nuhu Ribadu, Dora Akinyuli and others .
To choose the right person for a job and leave them to do it is a capacity that the president has shown he is capable of doing. In the past we haven't always had that quality in our leaders with their itchy fingers .

The team trying its best to move the country foward has different faces. We do not need to corrupt them with our sycophantic praise. What we need to do is each play our own part.

Sports in summer

2006-07-27T05:04:00.000-07:00

With the heat wave currently afflicting Europe showing no sign of abating it is always a good idea to drink lots of fluid. Water and fruit juices would be better than booze if you know what i mean.

With the new album out i have been busy doing promotional stuff and haven't been online as much as i would have liked.
That and having too many T.v dinners for my liking.

Anyway what did i enjoy watching between june and july?

It has to be sports. I think sports are a metaphor for life. It is no coincidence that the more developed states do well at sports competitions and seem to produce excellent athletes from an imaginary conveyor belt somewhere.

Wimbledon 2006 was a tennis lovers delight. Mr federer the artist defended his crown and won a four set final against rafa Nadal 6-1 , 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. In doing this on his prefered surface he made the fewest errors and played the most sublime tennis our generation has seen . Federer is surely playing for his space in tennis history. He brings a joy to the game. A serenity and focus and also elegance which elevate him . It helps that he is a nice guy as well who commands the respect and adulation of his peers.

The world cup was cool. Like most romantics i switched off once brazil were gone. Unlike most i wasn't sad they lost or that they didn't try to win at any cost. I will forever respect them for their graces and the fact that they committed the least fouls and also allowed whoever the opposition is to play their football. That confidence is born from supreme knowledge and belief. Believe me they will be back. Best match Brazil v Ghana. The sight of Stephen Appiah and Cafu helping each other to their feet after a collision was great. I think someone should show the Portugeese, French and Italians teams a video of the match to learn in what spirit football should be played.

But the top of my list has to be the tour de france. This is an event that has produced great champions including the Spaniard Miguel Indurain who was a five time winner and also The Texan phenomenom and seven time champion Lance Amstrong.

Firstly the tour was thrown into chaos when the main contenders Jan Ulrich and Ivan Basso were among riders thrown off the tour for suspected doping offences. (cycling takes doping seriously).
Then Floyd Landis the American riding for the Phonak team performed the greatest comeback possibly in current history when he wiped out an eight minute gap on the leaders to reclaim the yellow jersey he lost two days prior when he had a disastrous mountain climb.

In cycling like all team sports you lean the value of team work. Even more you learn to have a leader and how to be a domestique i.e someone who rides for the team so the leader can win.
In short service to the leader. I hope politicians in Nigeria could learn from this. But in all probability they don't watch such events. i hope their children do though!

Nigeria's 80's cycling road champion Morufu Mustafa was a student at my secondary school. i hope one day we realise the importance of sports in teaching us how to bond and get things done.

Mr Michael franks

2006-06-19T05:30:00.000-07:00

Who remembers singer /sonwriter michael franks?
I first heard of him when a friend and neighbour Bode Dorherty was raving about him. he was in college at Unilag and was older than my mates and i. he said if i hadn't listened to this guy then i hadn't heard the coolest singer around. I first heard the classic Say bwana he no home and then others likeThe lady wants to know and Antonios song opened my ears and eyes too. I think he is one of the greatest artists in any genre in the 21st century.

Roland garros 2006

2006-06-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

The final of the french Open was interesting. For the first time in twent two years the two top seeds in mens tennis were facing each other in the final of the french Open. Roger Federer the swiss tennis maestro was facing Rafa Nadal the spanish clay court specialist who had just set a new record for consecutive wins on clay courts. The match took three hours and at the end Nadal had denied federer, at least for now ,the chance of winnig the grand slam in tennis. To win the four main tournaments in the same calender year was last done by Rod laver.

The match up was fascinating because it has confirmed that for now at least on clay federer cannot steamroll everyone in sight. The world no 1 has to contend with a rival whose physical fitness, wicked groundstrokes and intense play make him the man to beat on clay. Yet it was intersting as federer took the first set 6-1 playing some sublime tennis and forcing nadal to later acknowledge him as the most complete player to play the game of Tennis. Yet after the first set Nadal begun to hunt the Federer game and then unforced errors began to creep up in the swiss maestro's game. Nadal won the next two sets 6-1 , 6-4 breaking the Federer serve four times
Then the fourth set began and Federer was broken again by Nadal and it seemed the spanish sensation was now in the driving seat. federer however was not number 1 ranked player in the world for nothing. He broke nadal back when the spaniard was serving for the match and forced a tie break. Alas for the swiss Star his inability to cope with the enourmous topspin generated by Nadal meant he made some crucial errors and lost the tie break, set and Match.

It will be interesting to see them play on the other surfaces . On those other surfaces Federer has the game and is the man to beat on Grass and Hard courts. Nadals appearance though has forced Federer to raise his game by reaching the final of the French this year . Mats Willander multiple who has won at both Roland garros and Flushing Meadows thinks it is just a question of having the right circumstances and then the man generally acknowledged as the finest exponent of the game of Tennis can repeat his succeses on grass annd hard courts on the sahara like fields of the clay court at Roland garros..

In Nigeria we once had Nduka Odizor who at his best was in the world top 50. And then we had david Imonitie and tony Momoh as well. They were all beneficiaries of the American collegiate system and received schorlarships early in their careers. In Nigeria the young talents languish because the leadership do not put their money in events or project that will enhance the human spirit .
When you add culturally imposed baggage such as deference to age money and power you see
A lack of committed leadership and a lack of societal understanding about the dynamic nature of sport has meant that we are missing out on seeing young africans compete on the world stages and generate attention and fortune for themselves in the process. Until we encourage our intelligent children to pursue carrers in avenues where they can use their gifts we will miss out.

Art, Science and Sport should engage our attention.

Mr george.....the Finidi

2006-06-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

The world Cup starts this week and while as with nigeria not playing at this edition i look back and remember Finidi George who in my opinion is one of Africa's football greats.
The 1991 African Nations cup Qualifier at hopme to Burkina Faso was probably our introduction to a man whose remarkable career would make him the only nigerian to have won both players and popular polls as footballer of the year as he did in the dutch eredivisie 1n 95 and 96. This is alongside the Champions league winners medal he has from 95 and dutch league championship medals and an African Nations cup gold medal as well.
The remarkable thing about Finidi were his assists.
His was usually the final pass or cross to the scorer whether playing for Club or country.
All the teams he played in benefited from his selfless play , his vision and his versatility. For Nigeria he would play as either an out and out winger or as the years went on as a right sided midfielder in a middle three usually himself, Sunday oliseh and J J Okocha. While there may be more flashy players and more popular ones the statistics regarding his contribution to world football are quite staggering. He remains to date the only nigerian player to have scored a hat trick against FC barcelona, to have scored against almost all the G14 clubs with the exception of Manchester united. And he packed a bullet. Bayern Munich would testify !
I wonder what we could have achieved if the team in 98 was a bit more balanced in terms of having a good keeper and full backs . That team could have taken that world cup.

South African Jazz

2006-05-26T04:06:00.000-07:00

Listening to Estelle Kokot the South African born jazz piano player and singer on I scare myself took me back to Abdullah Ibrahim aka Dollar Brand. Her phrasing and the timbre of her voice combined with the way she voices her piano chords made for a journey back in time into the sound of Cape town jazz.

I guess Mariam Makeba was my first introduction with her jazz influenced recordings .
Then Pata pata and the click song were the popular titles. After her came the soloists Hugh masekela and then the other members of the jazz epistles .
These guys were playing progressive jazz in south africa as far back as 1955 and recorded their seminal album The Jazz epistles Verse one in 1960. This album is an aural delight.
Later a friend gave me a tape with Abdullah Ibrahim on it and i was instantly attracted to the music on albums like Mantra Mode.
Who wouldn't be transfixed by music of such beauty as manenberg, blues for a hip king, ornete's cornet and the haunting Tsakwe Royal Blue.

South Africa has been able to create it's own form of jazz with defined structures and improviasational methods. Nowadays you hear of Bheki mseleku and you realise he is part of a movement streching back in time to Pat Matshikiza and which from Ibrahim downwards to the late Moses Molelekwa continues to refresh itself with eager young talent.

Open your ears

2006-04-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Shabakka Hutchings

2006-04-16T06:54:00.000-07:00

Saxophonist and clarinetist. Member of tomorrows warriors and one of the Uk's talented jazz players. His parents are from Barbados where he holidays a lot.

Les ibeji

2006-04-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

Finally! finished recording basic tracks on thursday. Byron Wallen came in to add his trumpet to a new track titled Two in one(Orin Ibeji). His atmospheric haunting sound fits with the bed of bata percussion and the sonic landscape we set up with acoustic bass and wurlitzer electric piano. I have found myself playing both acoustic and eletric pianos on this project and am loving it. They have different actions. With the steinway acoustic one must be precise. Your phrases must ring out of the piano and you playing must be spot on as the acoustic will reveal any technical deficiencies. Electric pianos on the other hand offer a different kind of vibe for me. More of a colour thing. You can paint pictures chromatically in sound !

Also I have had to push myself hard. I can feel myself getting better at using the click as I can groove my left hand parts better since I hear and play the click better.
The difficult decisions have been what songs to leave out of the album and also who to invite as soloists given that Ayetoro has a group feel and whoever comes to play must fit into that vibe.
Mike Collins has really been instrumental in getting me to push myself to get the best out of all musicians concerned and now I can hear the music better. Need to rest this weekend though so we can start mixing the album soon.

Modern Afro jazzers:

2006-04-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

Robert Fordjour Drums, Karl Adejare Fretless Electric bass and Jenny Adejayan Cello are some of the musicians we recorded yesterday. It was an incredible session.
I started the day writing some new charts for us to play. Then we went in and recorded parts and then some solos as well. Robert being Robert was in the pocket and laid down some solid drumming with some nice cymbal work.
Karl has a serious groove on the fretless bass and Jenny's cello lines were just too much!

Niger Delta Blues!

2006-03-28T03:39:00.000-08:00

As a man there are few times I have felt helpless angry and frustrated as when I read this book of letters and ideas of Kenule Saro Wiwa. Did we as a people do enough?

His death is a scar on our conscience and the soul of our leaders and also the Nigerian elite. It is a shock also to read that Adokiye Amasiemeka once a star Nigerian footballer was the Attorney General of the State in which he was killed. I hope that is not true.

If we as a people find both the multinationals like Shell and the Military Junta led by Sani Abacha culpable what of the rest of us who continued to live in Nigeria building our glass empires on shattered dreams and the broken bones of a true federalism?

The tragedy of the Nigerian situation is the inability of the common man to see that we all have the same issues to confront. The rapaciousness of big business, the rape of our environment, the preservation of our languages, modernising our cultures and creating economic frameworks which will work in this age.

Even if you do not consider yourself a Nigerian your ethnic group or nation should have values which will make it easy for one to appreciate what Mr Saro Wiwa was saying. I know I will have to explain to my children about this man. And what I did or did not do to help the Nigerian situation.

What about you?

Yours truly

2006-03-27T03:14:00.000-08:00

Yours truly playing fender rhodes electric piano for Ayetoro at the City of London festival. Analogue keyboards have a sound of their own. They allow you to experiment and try different phrasing possibilities.
Notes can be held longer and you can create a kind of wall of sound if you know how.
Festivals provide a way of exposing music to the people. Sometimes.

Double bass o jare!

2006-03-20T06:23:00.000-08:00

Spent the entire weekend recording at chez collins in wood green. By a stroke of fortune Oroh Angiama Nigerian born bass player and currently musical director for corrine bailey rae calls me while on tour in the states and agrees to fly into town for the weekend to play upright and electric bass on two tracks from the new album. Add to that Ayo Odia on saxophone and Yusuf rimdap on spoken word and you have a super session. Oroh's double bass playing is supple and muscular at the same time. We spoke afterwards and he said he visited Nigeria last year and spent some time in Port hacourt. We agree we have to try and do some more stuff together especially if it concerns music education in Nigeria.

Ayo odia the afro jazz saxophonist brought a different vibe when he came to play his saxophone solo on another twelve bar blues based song. This one has some internal variations though like on the second, fourth and turnaround bars where you have some additional chords to play with.

Rob lavers from York played Barritone sax on three tunes and was very cool. He plays the changes well. It was a struggle at first for me to get my timing right because i havent recorded with a click track in like four years. But after a few minutes it got better. The new tunes sound different. ND blues is written in 32 bar song form and with an AAB structure you have to concentrate hard to play in time and also spell out the harmonies. With the Acoustic Bass you get a deep sound in the bottom. When Rob comes in with the Barritone he reminds me of Stan Getz as he floats over the harmonies.

All that jazz

2006-03-14T12:21:00.000-08:00

The tropicalia exhibition is currently on at the Barbican centre London. For a time artists like the composers Caetano veloso , gilberto Gil, Jorge ben and others involved in the mediums of Film, installation and other conceptual art forms were able to create a movement which was based on the freedom to appropriate anything they found useful in global culture.

This freedom allows you to take what you please from anywhere you like without worrying about cultural baggage. Which reminds me of the blatant irony involved in our music business
When you have western musicians incorporating african instruments and musicians on their albums this is usually seen as a ecclectic experimentation worthy of acclaim. When a hip African musician uses a chord change somewhere you can imagine the cultural police cringing in a corner complaining about watering down of local music and over experimentation.

Ha ha ha

Current ipod playlist:
Jorge Ben> Chica da silva> The best of

Miles davis> little church> Live Evil

miles davis> what i say> live at the cellar door

Thelonious Monk>epistrophy>live at the jazz workshop

Micheal franks>bwana he no home> anthology

fela Kuti>Power show>original Sufferhead

medeski martin and Wood>the dropper>the dropper

Steve reid>Lugano>Spirit talk

Micheal franks>Antonios Song>the anthology

Ayinla Omowura>Omi tuntun tiru>Omi tuntun tiru

sun Ra>el is the sound of joy>sound of joy

Sun ra >A house of beauty>the heliocentric world of Sun ra

Lijadu Sisters> elejigbo>white label

Milton cordona >Salute to eleggua>American Clave compilation

A view of Fela 1

2006-03-08T10:58:00.000-08:00

The shrine, Pepple street, Lagos.

Funsho Ogundipe © (1993)

Mr Afrobeat

2006-03-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

Funsho Ogundipe ©

The Shrine, Pepple street, lagos. 1993

2006-03-02T04:17:00.000-08:00

Ngugi wa thiongo and Chinweizu have both been at the forefront of the battle to transmit ideas and intellectual activities in african languages . Ngugi has for some time now been writing in gikuyu and i hope some rich kenyan is putting down the money to also translate classical literature like homer into gikuyu . Imagine if for example in Nigeria you could get Authors George benard Shaw , William Shakespeare, Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe translated into Igbo and also have movies like She hate me subtitled in Yoruba .
So let me throw my hat into the ring. my new blog omo obokun starts on march 10.
It will be written in Yoruba .

2006-02-26T11:06:00.000-08:00

The failure of Nigeria is a failure of it's leadership? but is the followership also culpable?
Discuss!

2006-02-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

Percussion players are the driving force behind many a tune. Many groups who can afford to, have one. Rock groups and latin ensembles have a conga or timbale player as a standard feature and many concerts feature an extended solo.

On record Poncho Sanchez and Bobby Matos were my first introduction to the percussionist as leader . Then i checked out Chano Pozo's work with Dizzy Gillespie and then it hit me. Apart from creating a groove these guys must keep a tempo set by the leader and also act as collective time keeper for the collective. Nes't pas facile!

Current ipod listening.

Uri Caine: revolucionario

Manu Dibango: Miss Cavacha

Lonnie liston Smith: expansions

2006-02-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

Studio Afrofunkycool

we started recording basic tracks yesterday for the new Ayetoro album to be released after the box set comes out in march.
The studio was a real find and is owned by a neighbour of a friend.
His name is Mike collins and he is an expert at using digital technology. He has worked and co writen material with light of the world the british Jazz funk group.
Tucked away in wood green his studio houses an impressive collection of analogue keyboards including a suitcase 73 fender rhodes electric keyboard (mark 1 for the purists) and a wurlitzer eletric piano. It feels like a shrine to music.I feel like a kid in a candy store. The wurly is impressive allowng me to shape different kinds of textures for the granite grooves frank Tontoh and Nick the diceman Cohen are throwing down on Drum and Bass.
Then we have shabakka Hutchings on clarinet and tenor sax and angela al hucima the Chilean percussion player using all kinds of instruments including Goats nails to create both groove and colour. Adding the talking drum with Tunde Baker takes that river niger territory. deep grooves ! I kind of like the extra dimension which comes from trying out new stuff .

Hoping to do some more daring stuff during the next sessions . Ayo Odia will be laying down some tenor sax on one of those dates so i know i have more stuff to look forward to.
Pushing yourself to play with world class musicians makes you much better.
Well, Miles always said that and i am a believer.

Songs of the week.

The dropper . medeski martin and wood

Look and laugh . Fela Kuti

Ife. Miles davis

2006-02-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

cinema novo

I've been using my new movie camcorder and generally experimenting with different shots. The Canon XL2s is cool. I also use a Sony Pd170 another broadcast quality camcorder as well . The new generation of camcorders are a film makers dream. With progressive features they allow you to shoot at a fraction of the cost of film. I still own a super 16 movie camera though and prefer to film short movies and documentaries in that format. I wonder what kind of artistic questions other film makers have to make in their daily lives?
The days of using betacam sp as a format for music videos seems so far yet so near. (less than ten years ago)
Do you invest in gear only to see it become dated in a few years or even months ? i remember buying the XL2s and then seeing Sony launch its low end HD camera.
This is a big step in quality from even the best mini dv camcorders.
and before i cursed my timing i realised the current low end affordable HD cameras dont yet have interchangeable lenses. So even the more primitive system has it's advantages for now. I'm sure though that within a few months the prices will drop and then maybe we will also see more interchangeable features.

I think 24 the American movie series is being shot in High definition and read somewhere lagbajas new video was shot in that format.

Cinema brazil.

Man of the Year

City of Men

Chica da silva

The two husbands of Dona Flor

2006-02-08T06:57:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy lately it's been difficult finding time to sit down and relax or even to use the net. So it was a relief to be able take time off pre production work to watch a movie . And then take a walk down the road to a cafe afterwards for some tea. A long walk does a lot of good when we have tense muscles.

2006-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Serious cosmic vibes.
What you need>

backdrop : Smoky room, empty food plates , mojhitos and mango flavoured papers
Your object of desire and a box of party toys.

Set list.
In a silent way Miles Davis

Anyone who had a heart. Luther Vandross

Hey Nineteen. Steely Dan

Portugeese Love. Teena Marie

Look and Laugh (Instrumental) Fela Kuti

Down in brazil .Micheal Franks

When my lady Danced . Terry Callier

Loverman.Billy Holiday

Waiting in Vain. Bob marley

Ain't mad at cha . Tupac Shakur

London Calling . Herbalizer

Afrekete. Virginia Rodrigues

Part b>

For mindless afters

Bitches Brew . Miles Davis. (put this sound on the long player and let it just groooooove you!)

2006-01-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
Bruce Chatwin

Some books have the power to move you. Or make that some authors. or generally artists.
i know how i felt when i first heard Prince on vinyl or Miles Davis on the On the corner album.
Or Just the two of us by grover washington .

Anyway today in my purple room i remember the book that made me question what i was doing with my life. A book peopled by characters all larger than life in their own way . A book of places and peoples so disparate as to occupy different corners of the earth.

What am i doing here ? by Bruce Chatwin.
Next to wilfred thesiger Chatwin was probably the best english travel writer.
I bought the travel book at a bookstore in Hammersmith while in london for a Course in 93 and read the book on the flight home. Thrice .
Twelve months later i was begining my life's big adventure.

Just try and read it. Res ipsa loquitor!

2006-01-14T03:26:00.000-08:00

Fantasy Football
All African Dream XI

Goal:

1.Ezaki Badou (Morroco)

Defence:

2.Hakeem Trabelsi (Tunisia)

4.Stephen keshi (Nigeria)

6.Lucas Radebe(South Africa)

22.Fodil Megharia (Algeria)

Midfield:

7.Finidi George(Nigeria)

14.Theophile Abega(Cameroon)

10.Abedi Pele Ayew(Ghana) Captain/Playmaker

11.Rabah Majah(Algeria)

Attack:

8.George Okpong Weah(Liberia)

9.Samuel Etoo Fils (Cameroon)

Formation 4 4 2

2006-01-14T03:03:00.000-08:00

There is an important African initiative developed by Senegal and Gambia and six other West African countries which will help in controling eye disease in the sub region. It is a collaborative effort involving NGO's and regional govrnments. I hope Nigeria can join this initiative as most of our middle belt states have large numbers of people with eye diseases especially around the Niger region. The future will be interesting if we have more regional coperation on economic, social and political matters. But first we have to develop ideologies so that we may have values worth identifying with.

2006-01-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

The African nations cup comes up in Egypt in about 8 days time. From 20th Jan we shall have the pleasure of watching some of Africa's best talent on show. The incredibly gifted Barcelona Fc forward Samuel Etoo Fils (Cameroon) will be on parade once more along with others like Didier Zakora (Cote D'ivoire), Pedro mantoras(Angola), Obafemi martins (Nigeria), Hakeem Trabelsi (Tunisia)
and Hassan Mido(Egypt). Oh and not forgetting Emmanuel Adebayor(Togo) and Micheal Essien(Ghana). The tournament has always produced exciting matches . I remember the 92 edition held in senegal and won by the Cote D'ivoire after a penalty shoot out with a ghana team minus the suspended Playmaker Abedi Pele Ayew then of Olympique marseille of France. And the Accra 78 Edition where Ghana won a final against Uganda who had suprised Nigeria in the other semi final. In between these you had the Lagos games in 1980 when the Nigerian Green Eagles coached by Otto Gloria the brazillian world cup coach who took portugal to the 66 world cup in england did the expected and delivered Nigerias first big continental honour.

I will be watching Togo and Cameroon with interest. Togo because Steven Keshi has i believe become the first of the modern day African footballers to play(Nigeria) and coach(Togo) at both the African nations Cup and the world cup in the same year. Cameroon are my favourite african team. When they are on form they are incredibly difficult to beat and they play a mean passing game too. But like Nigeria they have the self destruct button at hand .
Good luck to the Super eagles .

2006-01-10T06:40:00.000-08:00

Ndi ji Ego!

Sir warrior Opara was one third of the famous 70's Nigerian highlife legends oriental brothers band which later splintered into three the other two being led by hs brothers Dan Satch Opara and Godwin Kabaka Opara. Nji di ego is the title of the cassette album i've been listening to for some time now.
Released in his own name after leaving the band to go it alone it is original african soul music to relax to. Yet it grooves and makes your legs go in different directions at once!
This is ikpokrikpo music with fantastic guitars and supple triplet grooves. Basically just two long players on side A & B this album is reminds me of why i fell for Ibo highlife .
Sensuous grooves,gentle harmonies and some intricate guitar work.
Imagine some pounded yam with Oha and some wine followed by Osita Osadebe , Muddy Ibe ,Ikenga Superstars and round that out with the orientals brothers Nwa ada di nma . i no fit write agan, my belle dey rumble!

2006-01-04T04:57:00.000-08:00

E no easy o , e no easy to be Nigerian!
E no easy!

I hope as many as can be caught amongst the looters who still use their after the fact philantrophy to fool the people. I really wish the EFCC well as they continue to chase most of the crooks who are still trying to use their wealth to dominate us further.
It is not enough to steal . The typical Nigerian parasitic ex public official will try to use that wealth to come back into power to steal some more. A man who when we were in university was implicated in a scandal involving fake or missing money is a governor of a state in Nigeria. Anytime you read about him he is either preparing to be nominated for presidency or attacking the current president whose shoes he can never fill. Or take a former military governor recently questioned by the EFCC who would have us believe that his travails started because he wants to serve his country.
The same governor who started the notorious operation sweep and gave us public dustbins which disappeared within months. After living abroad for four years i realise that if our leaders at the state level want us to have adequate security we will. Nigerians live in fear because most of their leaders do not care about them. Or do not provide them with trained secuurity networks to defend their interests. Instead like the hawks on capitol hill they use our fear against us. Nigerians are so fearful that few are actually doing any thinking.

E be like say the battle for the soul of nigeria don start.

2006-01-04T04:44:00.000-08:00

last night i turned Dj at home. After fixing some colourful coctails it was time to give the hi fi some serious attention. Curtis mayfield and some esther phillips kicked things off . later on Gill scott heron and d'angelo and some Archie shepp (Attica blues) played before dinner.

After some desert it was Sun Ra , Hendrix, Sting, Prince and then for a finale the incredible 8.80 album by fusion band Weather report.

2005-12-22T03:42:00.000-08:00

Planning a new album is always interesting. interesting but exhausting. Have i been in touch with all the regular musicians. What about special guests? This time around we want to try something more left field. How do we make the music hotter and cooler at the same time? it's probably just like laughing and crying at the same time.

LTJ Bukem celebrates ten years of his performances with an all star set at the fabric club on friday night. That for me is a must go. Not with dj's like soul II soul , Giles peterson and others playing funky sets while the lounge lizards laze around. i love Bukem's sound . A mix of jazz and electronica with echoes of trip hop.

2005-12-13T03:27:00.000-08:00

Molue in the sky!

In lagos and most nigerian cities the most common form of transport is the molue . A contraption which is not fit for roads. These so called buses are driven mostly by untutored thugs masquerading as drivers. Imagine if the airlines flying in nigerias domestic airspace were molues in the Sky. We have begun to reap what we as a people and our leaders as a collective body have sowed. Disaster.

What happens when you take a 32 year old plane and add it into a mix of corrupt officials , inefficient bureaucrats , amoral businessmen and a land where no one I repeat no one seems to care about how he makes his money? A towering inferno!

Over 50 children lost their lives in an accident which serves to remind us of the greed and corruption around us! Corruption is slowly killing Nigeria. A corruption of the mind and soul.

Regarding Nigeria:

have you ever wondered who the people who manufacture Fake drugs are?
I don't think they have two heads and come from Mars so I believe they can be identified easily.
What person decides to make money by selling chalk as pain killers or importing expired antibiotics ?

Who are the proprietors of the airlines in Nigeria? If you check you will find out that in the past they must have been glorified in some quarters by either the press or their own constituency.

Who are the aviation experts who in one breath condemn government yet sit to break bread with the despicable saboteurs who are masking as businessmen in Nigeria.

And the people of Nigeria sef! When will they see that it is corruption and inefficiency not tribalism that is slowly squeezing the life out of the Nigerian state.

I have lost a cousin in a crash involving a Molue while my friend boyejo Akinola died aboard the bellview plane which went down a few months ago in Ogun state. How many more people are losing their own because we stand aside and look.

Enough is finaly enough.
peace to the recently departed.
ashe

big blind country............. Fela Kuti (bootleg sessions at the shrine)

2005-12-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

Akara and Ogi
I ran into my friend Doye Arulogun while walking on Uxbridge road in west London. Standing outside a pub we started talking about the latests news from Gidi when Doye made a serious observation. A major problem is one of Avarice i.e execessive greed coupled with a lack of compassion.
Which leader in Nigerian society seems to have compassion for the people? How many of our leaders roll up their sleeves to engage in community based projects? The culture seems to be one in which the big man donates some money or equipment and for the fortunate recipients clap, praise and shout to the heavens about Mr x's generosity.

As Aids continues to ravage the African continent who amongst our statesmen and leaders of opinion treats sufferers as fellow humans who just need love and compassion. Instead most of them and their wives treat the matter as another photo op to tell the world about how nice they are.
Looking at the new generation of been tos now flocking Nigeria one thing strikes me. Majority are creating the impression that think they are better than their fellow man.
Aping western expat life in Nigeria would require that they import their corn flakes and meat products . Corn flakes and fruits even wipes are known to be bought in bulk and flown home.
What is wrong with having Akara and Ogi for breakfast?

Anyway watch out for Doye's movie debut Films to watch.

Satyajit ray: The chess players
Remy Belvaux : Man bites dog(ces't arrive pres de chez vous)
Ousemane sembene : Borom Sarret

2005-12-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the news coming out of nigeria it is pleasing to note that for the first time the police have admitted wrongful killings of fellow nigerians and the government has awarded compensation to their families.http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0334925.htm
Slowly slowly catchee monkey!!!!!!!

2005-12-03T04:23:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has a heart .....

Do we sit and watch as Nigeria and the african world lurches from right to left without focus.
What are we going to do. At times like this i realise no matter our individual achievements and i am sure they are many until we all sacrifice some part of ourselves we will not get a stable society which our chidren can inherit and from where they can truly flower in all their intelligence and use their gifts.

Here are some crucial issues affecting the African Continent:

Arab versus Black African
In sudan there is a clear divide between the Arab backed government and its Arab landowning class and black africans . The Black african tribes like the dinka are being targetted. This results in ethnic cleansing in places like Darfur over Land. black people are being driven from their lands and left to die while the United Nations and an undermanned AU force look on. The people in sudan have links to Nigeria and other West African countries as the Nubian civilisation of Meroe has a link to the Songhai , Kanem,Oyo and the Hausa States . These people once ruled Imperial egypt during the times of Pianky the black pharaoh. Try and explore this linkage and do what you can to educate people about this and also help the people of southern sudan. Most of the countries in North Africa do not consider themselves African. They see themselves as Arab first .

Global warming
Global warming is a reality. As the atmosphere gets hotter there are likely to be droughts and more disease as well as pressure on land. In Northern Nigeria for example a lot of the so called religious crises are actually started as a result of clashes over arable land between pastoralists and sedentary farmers. What are we doing to enlighten our own people. must we wait for our state governors and their marie antoinette copy cat wives to start before we do something. if you are an artist or can make your opinions count please do so.

Gm foods .
Most geneticaly modified foods are not yet proven as safe for human consumption. Already there are fears that GM crops can contaminate normal crops when they are planted in adjacent fields. If we have a nightmarish scenario how many contries can cope. For whatever reason one has to admire the African countries who have refused Aid in form of Gm foods.
By the way who uses Msg's in europe? don't know.

Appreciate other cultures
How much do you know about the culture of other peoples in your country. If you are yoruba are you aware of Ibo or hausa music and Film. If you are Nigerian what do you know about cameroon apart from the fact that it's government and the Nigerian Government have been disputing the bakassi peninsula. Have you listened to Manu Dibango, Les Tetes Brulee or read any books by the brilliant Mbella Sonne Dipoko?
Would you spend your money buying such?

Corruption kills:
It is killing our country. I am sure i am not the only person who has heard that our Vp is a greedy so and so with his finger in almost every pie and i am also sure i will not be the last decent prson to be ashamed of almost all the governors in the nigerian state. On the internet there are reports that it cost $2m to build a fence for the bayelsa state government. Wherever you come from do not wait for others to censure your reprentatives.
Do it yourself before these jackals drag us down the road to ruin. We cannot afford to have gap toothed monsters and airline owning dustbin collecting ex military men lording it over us in the name of leadership.

Noun Houkoun(open your eyes)
In my country less than 50% have access to universal education . Of this number less than half can articulate their ideas and contribute to national discourse. No matter how sophisticated the rest of us think we are we will be only as good as the weakest link. If you watch a nature program involving lions and other predators hunting you realise this truth easily. In any group it is the weakest that cause their downfall. So we have to strenghthen our weakest links and drag them into this century

What do we do?

The answer lies within each of us.

"One day offender go point at himself" Fela Kuti............Movement against second slavery(bootleg)

2005-12-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

All roads are made of the flesh.

Went record buying yesterday and after huffing and puffing up the stairs with the regulation bags filled with cd's sat up opened a bottle of wine and sat listening to Hand Jive on the Nerfetiti album by the Miles davis quintet . Two glasses later i still haven't opened any new stuff . An old album reissue has caught my eye. "All roads are made of the flesh" by Kip hanrahan the film making music producer. i sit inhaling silently as charles neville unfurls a serpentine sax solo and the afro cuban percussion section plays a deep bembe groove. When the groove comes calling all you can do is surrender.

2005-11-29T03:29:00.000-08:00

Where is Theodora Ifudu? The Nigerian musician and artist released a couple of critically acclaimed albums in the 80's including the wonderful This time around (twice as much) before becoming quiet at least on the music scene. She studied at the new York Film school and is a member of a generation who were not allowed to flower because of the conservatism and corruption of society. Imagine having to contend with the three C's corruption chauvinism and conservatism.
Nothing like being ahead of your time !

2005-11-28T06:18:00.000-08:00

What is life without

compassion for your fellow man.

delight in company of your friends

the joy in watching kids grow and begin to challenge you knowing they are the future .

forgiving whoever.....

saying no when you should.

a passion for the earth from which you came

sharing freely

avoiding judgemental opinions

respecting humanity

pride in your work.

2005-11-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

The anti people is a novel by Sony Labou Tansi the late Congolese writer and it is a brilliant book. Translated by J underwood into english from the french in which it won the prestigious Grand prix de L'afrique Noir the book is a brilliant piece of writing. It is a book full of ideas and passion . Yet it is also dark and traces the terrors faced by a man wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit. Set in the twin congos of Kinshasha and brazaville it is very powerful in its expression of individuality and defiance in the face of overwhelming and suffocating terror.

After reading this book i turned on the Tv and there was a documentary on the attrocities commited by the belgians in congo. One story has it that soldiers were required to bring back severed hands as proof of punishment meted out to unfortunate congolese who couldn't supply rubber for King Leopolds estate. Rubber which was in their own country and thus belonged to them! la vie , cest tres bizarre!

2005-11-24T09:47:00.000-08:00

Have been watching the HBO/BBC production of Rome. It's been running on both bbc over here in london and feels historically accurate.
It features a very fine performance by Ciaran
Hinds as Julius ceasar. My favourite character though is Pullo the sensitive thug who is fond of giving his commanding officer lucius verenus advice about women. The lovely Indira Varma as Niobe
the wife with a dark secret is believable too
and plays her character with the necessary emotional content. Overall the similarities to modern life are striking. Politicking, backstabbing, and a lot of diplomatic intrigue.
Oh yes and lots of full frontal nuduty too.
Must make sure i get the DVD when it's available.

2005-11-24T07:02:00.000-08:00

Pan African interface: The influence of Pan African musicians on the Nigerian music scene and how Nigerian born musicians have contributed to the music scenes in other African countries.

Imagine this : Without the Nigerian musician Dexter Johnson a key element of the Senegalese music history would be missing. The saxophonist who was the precursor to acts like youssou ndour was the first to fuse the local rhythm sections with a pop influenced sound. Johnson was a favourite amongst the tourists and his set originally included covers of international hits that would be familiar to most travellers. Latin Boleros, Afro Cuban Rumbas and some rock and roll maybe. The critical step he took was in bringing the local instruments into the mix and recording original material.
That would influence everybody else and introduce different possibilities to the younger musicians.

Fela Kuti the Nigerian composer saxophonist and piano player featured a lot of Ghanaian Cameroonian and Congolese musicians in his bands the Africa 70 and Egypt 80. In fact I think that they provided a critical flavour in his creation of a pan African sound with their own take on his music which would be present in their improvisations.

Fela went one step further by collaborating on record during his career with African American musicians like Trumpeter and composer Lester Bowie of the Chicago Art ensemble, Vibes legend Roy Ayers and also having West Indian bass player and producer Dennis Bovell Play bass and record the Live in Amsterdam album which features the hypnotic give me shit I give you shit. Personally I think look and laugh on the teacher dont teach me nonsense album is a must have. fela's keyboard playing on this joint is psychadelic. imagine larry young and Sun Ra playing on Apala music. ha ha ha he he he ashukutu hey ashukutu hey hey !

2005-11-22T09:32:00.000-08:00

Shame! A Nigerian State governor Dipreye alamieyeseigha (hope i got that one right) who was arrested for money laudering in london flies back to nigeria disguised as a woman in breach of his bail conditions.
Yet the people of his state are said to be celebrating that their governor one of the corrupt and evil political class in Nigeria is back home!
When will we decide that corruption and looting are not attributes to be encouraged in our politicians? The way the country is going we are going to encourage the youth to take matters into their hands if the federal government and most importantly the Ijaw people do not decide to sort the matter out! A thief cannot be a tribal hero .
This got me thinking why would the people of his state decide that their tribe is more important than the nigerian nation?
Thank you britain for your pre colonial meddling and for your naive mandarins with their racist stereotypes! A banana peel surely awaits you!
i think i should chill somewhere have a drink and smoke before the jokers who are masquerading as politicians make me puke! will do a rumination on tribalism and national identity soon!
Current music: Fela Kuti . Confusion Breaking Bone
Last movie(DVD) watched: The return of Martin Guerre

2005-11-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

Dig if you will this picture!

Imagine Fela Kuti on electric piano with tony allen and jack dejohnette on drums and percussion duties , Robbie Shakespear on Electric Bass with Ron Carter doubling on Acoustic Bass, Hugh Masekela on trumpet, Manu Dibango on saxophone and Docteur Nico on guitars with Salif Keita on vocals along with Monique Seka . Ah ... and Directions in Music by Miles Davis.

the ultimate afro beat fusion band.

Interesting how the most interesting music right now is always organic.
Music to me is best heard live with the audience being an equal participant in the orgasmic spectacle. Manu Dibango plays ronnie scotts in london this week. Already 70 and still going strong the lion of cameroon is responsible for making me shake my feet and everything else to hits like baobab sunset, Abele dance and soul makossa. At times like this one is greatful for the opportunity to play afrobeat jazz knowing you can keep playing as long as you can since your music is evergreen. to write a classic tune is a wonderful thing but to be part of a classic record is a glorious thing.

2005-11-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

Popsicle toes...... hit the floor, warm brazil and your panama!

listening to micheal franks reminds me of what i love in music. The cool sultry seductiveness and
languid tropicalia influenced sound washes over me as i sip a glass of retsina . Funny how the music you really dig has nothing to do with popular opinion. Funny how a song can mean more to you than anybody else? funny how i treasure tapes of radio recordings with rare tunes . wow think im going to just play all my idan sounds tonight. Must look for that old tape with teena marie crooning on portugese love and also some fela bootleg. big blind country. with blaring horns and groovy keyboard solos.
do that and finish reading Dona floor and her two husbands by jorge amado. Yes that's right . Do that and look forward to visit brazil especially bahia de salvador.

2005-11-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

Cyprian Ekwensi's books to me have always described what it means to be a nigerian. In flesh and blood terms. I could virtually feel the mood of the nigerian cities he wrote about and the characters who people his novels always were to provide me with insights into the post colonial nigerian condition.
His characters were fantastic. Amuda sango the Trumpet playing journalist in the people of the city was a favourite.

He was contemporary in his selection of themes and you could feel the excitement reading through his novels. I met the great man when he came to launch his book jagua nana's daughter at my mothers bookshop on allen avenue in the 80's. we spoke quite a lot about books and my love of reading . I hope someday a publishing house somewhere will reprint his works.

2005-10-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Five essential 80’s Nigerian Music Albums.

Reading most music magazines and historical sources it is argued that the 80’s were a low mark in Popular music. The introduction of synthesisers and drum machines meant the introduction of cheesy adulterated fare.
That might be so in some areas but in Nigeria some groundbreaking albums were being recorded.
Here are five that I think are essential listening and which can be easily acquired either via the net or through record stores.

Bongos Ikwue: Cockcrow at Dawn. Produced by bongos ikwue.

This is probably the finest soundtrack album to come out of Nigeria.
Bongos ikwue is an influential musician whose soft acoustic country influenced style brought him a large audience in Nigeria. Cock Crow at dawn was an award winning soap produced by NTA the Nigerian state television network in the early 80’s period when the Nigerian economy was still strong enough to allow large scale soap productions.
The title track is very nice yet the most moving piece is Larai a tender ballad. Bongos ikwue has been cited as a direct model by Tu face idiba the Nigerian Music artist.

Fela Kuti: Live in Amsterdam
Try also (teacher don’t teach me nonsense)
. A jazzy spacey big band Afro beat album by the late Nigerian Music Composer pianist Saxophonist and political maverick.
For live albums nothing tops this. Recorded by Dennis Bovell the West Indian Born British engineer and producer famous for inventing lovers rock and collaborating with sly Dunbar and Robbie shake spear the famous Jamaican rhythm section.
Fela’s band was firing on all cylinders at this concert and the material is worth repeated listens.
Give me shit I give you shit is sly and revealing about the Nigerian condition with it’s first person narrative where fela assumes the voice of a foreign business man bent on exploiting Nigeria without any regard for the people as long as he can connive with corrupt leaders. The music is groovy with serpentine solos on some hot vamps. Fela plays soprano saxophone solos with other improvs by Dele sosimi (piano) Femi kuti (alto sax) and lekan animashaun (baritone Sax)

Jimi Solanke: Stories

Recently reissued on Compact disc this is a treat to music lovers. Jimi Solanke was able to get together the cream of Nigerian internationally accomplished session players for this album.
With Remi kabaka on drums, Jerry Ihejiato on bass, and Gboyega Adelaja on keyboards alongside other accomplished musicians the album rocks to a mid tempo groove. It has since been released on cd by ekostar records.

Sunny Ade: Synchro system
try also (Ase)
One of the groundbreaking albums he recorded for Island records.
This album features the amazing Moses Akambi on drums and some crisp intricate guitar work. The vocal melodies and call and response between the lead and the chorus show the link with Afro beat also later to be
Confirmed when Tony Allen the Afro beat drum legend played and contributed a song to the Ase album the third in the trilogy of albums recorded by Mr Ade for Island. Ase features a stevie Wonder harmonica solo.

Majek fashek: Prisoner of conscience
Try also (spirit of love)
Majek was part of jahstix a reggae group with a healthy underground following in Nigeria but without a record deal when he was offered the chance to go solo. The result was an album that produced a superstar.
Apart from his superlative guitar skills (he has a style based around Hendrix and his voice has attracted comparison to Bob marley and David hinds of steel pulse) and modern vocal style the album provided a monster Hit. Send down the rain the first single was released at the time of a nationwide drought. After it’s release by some miracle the heavens started to pour and a legend was born. Majek became known as the rainmaker and went on to have a top ten hit in Jamaica with a cover of Bob Marleys redemption song. He signed for interscope records and his debut international release spirit of love was produced by little Steven van zant of Bruce springsteens E street band.