Oseloka obaze reads to the audience
By Obiora Aghadinuno
The arts and entertainment scene in
Awka, the capital of Anambra State got off to a promising start at the
weekend when a tribe of young poets, storytellers and singers held the
audience spell-bound with dazzling performances in the first ever Open
Mic show in South East Nigeria.
The event which was timed to exploit
the mood of the Valentine Season cackled to life in the early evening
of Saturday, February 13 as the Awka Literary Society (ALS) sought to
mine the depth of artistic talents that the region has in abundance.
Setting the stage with his Welcome
Speech, a co-founder of the Awka Literary Society, James Eze, explained
that the Open Mic show was a bold effort by the group to create a
platform for artistic expression for the South East region, using
Anambra as the entry point.
He recalled with nostalgia that
there was a time when musical and literary creativity flowered
tremendously in the region with Onitsha and Aba as the epicentres of
musical excellence in the 70s and 80s while the sprouting of writing
talents found expression in the publishing outlets in Onitsha which were
the oldest in the country, thanks to the Onitsha Market Literature
which influenced writing in the early 40s and consequently publishing.
"We thought that it was time the
South East joined the rest of the world in the growing art form called
the Open Mic. We thought it was time the city of Awka joined other
cities like London and New York where the Open Mic phenomenon has since
become a part of the urban culture. And why not Awka? Why not Anambra?
Why not Nigeria? We thought that the home state of Olauda Equiano,
Cyprain Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Christopher Okigbo and Chimamanda
Adichie and many more should also be part of this evolving culture," Eze
explained.
Arguing that Anambra State had
always played a prominent role in Africa’s literary and cultural
movements, Eze further explained that the state was ripe for artistic
and entertainment explosion because under Governor Willie Obiano,
Anambra had become a very peaceful and enchanting state.
"Obiano has solved the problem of
insecurity in Anambra. The business sector is thriving. The
manufacturing sector is growing with Innoson Vehicle Manufacturers in
Nnewi producing the first indigenous automobiles in West Africa. The
agricultural programme of the government has created the Anambra Rice
brand. The only thing that is missing in Anambra is a thriving arts and
entertainment scene. And that’s the vacuum that the Awka Literary
Society is trying to fill," he further explained.
The event soon flared up after Eze’s
speech with Nwankwo Benneth reading a short story to the audience.
Nwankwo’s performance drew a round of applause as he ceded the stage to
Kemi, a poet who also gave a good account of herself. But it was
Emmanuel Okoye’s short story on Breast Cancer that drew bouts of
laughter from the audience because of its hilarity and the topicality of
the subject matter. Okoye left the audience pinning for more when he
exited the stage for yet another Okoye Emeka, a Christian novelist whose
work is steeped in rhetorical questions with a bold hint of philosophy.
The first segment of the show came to an exciting end when Nkiru Ani
who looked like a fairy, brought the audience to its feet with a
tingling rendition of Chiquitita by Abba. Her choice of song and
riveting performance evoked the mood of the season and reminded the
audience that love was in the air.
There was a brief period of pep
talks and glancing reviews of the works shared by the writers by Odili
Ujubuonu, a co-founder of the Awka Literary Society before the second
segment of the show ensued. Ujubuonu praised the writers for daring to
tell their stories and urged them to keep perfecting their works until
they felt confident enough to share them with the world. He revealed
that his first novel took thirteen rigorous drafts before it assumed a
publishable shape and advised the young writers to feel free to express
themselves in any language the felt comfortable in.
The second segment of the show began
when Hon Oseloka Obaze, a top diplomat, formerly with the United
Nations who recently retired as the Secretary to the Government of
Anambra State took to the stage. Obaze read from his new collection of
poems - Regarscent Past, and hypnotised the audience with his masterful delivery and enchanting tone. His poems – An Ode to my Origin and The Blind Minstrel
resonated with the audience who rewarded his offerings with a
resounding applause. Obaze who also doubled as a Special Guest in the
evening further sustained his spell on the audience during a
Conversation with Uche Nworah, the MD/CEO of Anambra Broadcasting
Service (ABS) who himself is a published author. Their exchanges on the
Creative Industry offered snatches of crucial insight into the huge
potentials that exist in the arts and literary sector in the South East
if conscious efforts were made to grow it. It also offered insight into
the young and aspiring writers of the night the challenges and
opportunities that writing and indeed good writing offers.
However, the evening came to a
standstill when the Drama Troupe from the Theatre Arts Department of
Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka finally mounted the stage. They
mesmerized the audience with perfectly choreographed movements and drama
skits that interpreted the highlights of current progress that is being
witnessed in Anambra State and other relevant social themes. The troupe
showed so much confidence and harmony in their representations that the
audience was amazed at the fact that they were all undergraduates.
The next segment of the show
revealed a cast of artists whose works showed a lot of promise. Izunna
Okafor read some pages of his Igbo novel which he said he was working
on. Chiamaka, a poet from Ogbaru stirred the audience with a piece that
evoked nostalgia, titled – The Days of Yesterday,
while Mike Ogbuekwe, an engineer who is a senior special assistant to
Governor Obiano on Agriculture shared two seamlessly rhyming poems with
the audience. Ifeanyi Aniagor, another engineer who is also a senior
special assistant on social media to Governor Obiano also read his poems
to the audience. As it turned out, both engineers are love poets and
the works they shared were love poems which they hoped would remind the
audience that it was a season of love. But Akin Samuel gave the audience
what actually came close to performance poetry. His opening was
attention-grabbing and he sustained it with a smooth performance that
set him apart as a poet to watch out for. Uche Nworah read a draft of
his engaging work in Pidgin English and redirected the attention of the
young writers to a different mode of expression that might interest some
of them. Nworah also read from another work in Standard English which
was well received. Chinelo Obi, a young fine artist from the University
of Nigeria at Nsukka also exhibited her inspiring painting of Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe and shared a love poem with the audience. Obi’s poem
showed a lot of promise with remarkable imageries and polished
metaphors.
Interestingly, the musical talents
that performed at the show did not allow the writers total ownership of
the night as they deployed different tricks of their trade to announce
themselves to the people. Young Tee, the only rap act in the show was
mesmeric in his word-play as he free-styled to the amazement of the
audience in a rap genre that made Phyno and Da Nigga Raw before him
household names. A singer known as C.I also dropped two songs from his
upcoming CD. Both artistes came from Enugu to show what they had. But
the audience was back again on its feet when Nkiru Ani returned to the
stage with the classic All of Me by John Legend. Ani’s cover of
this song had the audience reeling like waves stirred by a passing ship.
The audience joined her in the chorus and allowed itself to be drawn
into the vortex of her performance. She beamed with smiles and returned
the favour in manifold and when she left the stage, there was a
pervading sense of fulfilment that made the evening look like time well
spent.
But the show wasn’t over yet.
Almost without warning, the DeeJay known as Kelvin Nelson took the
microphone and showed himself as the revelation of the day. He performed
a highly experimental song that was his own work and left the audience
shuddering in wonder. Kelvin sang like someone with a lot of soul and
crowned it up with a frightening stage craft. When he sank on his knees
in a magnetic interpretation of the lyrics of his song, the audience
lost its footing. His performance was so stirring that my friend, Odili
Ujubuonu quickly nudged me from behind and spoke excitedly about the
prospects of opening a record label in Awka.
When the audience finally recovered
its footing from Kelvin’s awesome performance, Odili picked up the
microphone and urged everyone to look out for the next edition of the
Open Mic show, promising that there would be two more before the close
of the year. He also reminded the audience about this year’s edition of
an annual poetry festival tagged The Return to Idoto 2.
He thanked the various organisations
that co-sponsored the maiden edition of the Open Mic show, naming
organizations like the Anambra Broadcasting Service, ABS, Brande
Aristortle Ltd, Little Drops Media, Ifeadinmesi blog, National Light and
Havila Suites as being supportive of the outing. The house almost came
down when the audience rose to its feet to belt a hearty rendition of the stirring Anambra Anthem; The Spirit of Anambra. It was indeed a night to remember
Maureen
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