ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing ktravula – a travelogue! blog archives for August, 2010.

Going Way Back

I stumbled on a pack of seven albums of a legend called Odolaye Aremu a few weeks ago and my life has never been the same again. The famous exponent of a brand of poetry/music/chant called Dadakuada recorded more than two dozen albums of his brand of art between 1977 and 1990 in Ibadan. He himself is a product of the town of Ilorin. His art spanned decades of politics, religion, social issues, love, lust, feud and music itself, and my first intimations of it must even be earlier than I can even pinpoint, way back to pre-youth, when music was played only on record plates. The reproduction of the albums by the original production company (ORC) in Ibadan for mass distribution in today’s world there is a very welcome development. I’ve particularly had a very pleasant time reconnecting with the curious mix of musical styles hidden within the vein of this particular peculiar art form never since reproduced on this scale by any other indigenous artist before and since the death of Odolaye.

Dadakuada stands in equal stead with Apala, Awurebe, Ijala, amongst many other distinct indigenous styles of musical poetry from the sixties that have all but died off in their original forms. Thanks to digital technology, we still have enough of them now to remind us of the richness of Yoruba poetry, especially of the performance kind that, though commercialized, retained much of their original distinctness.

Going Way Back was published on August 2nd, 2010, with the tags , , , , , , under the Art, Observations category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

Funny

I saw this online yesterday… Click to enlarge.

Funny was published on August 2nd, 2010, under the Fun category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.

August

By some chance, I will return to school sometimes this month to become a student again, and there are a few chills that accompany that realization. The last time I was a full-time student in a University was more than five years ago and I have (almost) forgotten what that was like. I woke up at six, got prepared, went to school and stayed around the school area until evening when I’d finished all courses for the day. I had time tables, and there were oftentimes gaps between each course that I sometimes had to go back to my hostel, take a nap or complete and assignment, and return to school. The little memories I have of that says that it was a mixture of fun, frustration and stress. Add to that the chance of doing exactly whatever what one wanted.

In the intervening years between then and now, I had grown a beard, however little, lost (much of) my innocence, and become a teacher (of some sort), seen the world (or some of it) and grown pretty relaxed. What kind of student will this one make? Back in the University, my best way of being a sane student was to do exactly something else whenever I’m supposed to be studying. In this case, it was campus journalism, and it worked, and of course almost ran me out of my mind at different times. If I am to survive such another ordeal of learning in the University, I must develop a new past time. Blogging? Writing? Basketball? Swimming? Anything to take the mind off the stress of writing papers along with references. Now let’s see how that goes. Any other suggestions?

August was published on August 2nd, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Academic, Opinion category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

Outward Bound

I told a close friend that if I return to the US again, I will do so with mixed feelings, and she freaked out. “Why,” she must have thought, “would I relate with such levity to a golden chance to study in God’s own country?” Well, I continued, I am happy to reconnect with places and people that I love and who love having me around, but I also would be missing the company of those who love, respect and cherish me here. It is the beginning of a kind of cultural hybridity that I welcome with open arms, and the mixed feeling reserved for such mixed blessings. I was just beginning to fully enjoy the company of my hosts when it was time for me to return. Now here I am, not altogether fully integrated again when another duty calls.

Now, on the day that this adopted second country gave me a pass to come back into her arms, I suddenly developed another thirst for new adventures, and new possibilities seemed to open up. I admit, I should be happy, and I am. On the visa application forms were question as to whether I intend to conduct any terroristic activities against the United States, or whether I’ve been a convicted criminal. What? Well, I wonder how Nelson Mandela would fare under such questioning :). But you could could see the point of the immigration folks. The first thing to worry about if you’re caught trying to blow your junk on a plane into Detroit is how much trouble you’d be in for having first lied under oath.

Now this seemed like August last year all over again, and I’m here as stoic as before, not outwardly grinning, yet wishing for the very best in coming possibilities. If the question is “Will I miss Nigeria?”, the answer probably would be “yes”, but said with a readiness to accept the

Outward Bound was published on August 1st, 2010, under the Soliloquy category. There are currently no comments on this article so far.