Nigeria - Special Supplement and Advertisement

Ebony, Feb, 1990 by Yinka Craig, Sonala Olumhense, Remi Oyo, Tanoloju, Pat Utomi

The National troupe is set to make an input into the activation of global cultural dialogue and consolidate the African identity in drama, dance and music. This is in furtherance of a new national cultural policy that aims at re-invigorating the presentation, propagating and preservation of culture at home and abroad.

The musicianship of Kuntigi-soloist, Dan Maraya, or that in Mamman Shatta's percussion-intensive Kalangu, is appreciated worldwide even as folk-based Juju music to a great height for cosmopolitan acceptance. The latest album of the enigmatic social crusader, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, one of the most outspoken among Nigerian popular musicians, who recently concluded a successful tour of the United States, is currently being released for the world market in Geneva.

Whatever becomes nowadays, of the deft, syncopative fireworks and quaint notes of the African Konga in commercial music and discotheques around the world, owes itself to tradition and the likes of Michael Olatunji. He has, in the last three decades, helped in the sustenance of the African art of drumming among Americans, through lectures, workshops and performances.

Grammy-award-winning Sade Adu is a Nigerian artiste who bears the banner of cultural contacts very high in the world of pop. Her music is a subtle re-enforcement of the jazz statements of contemporary pop with the intense spirituality that is vintage African.

The visual arts, too, are testaments to the dynamism of the Nigerian cultural heritage. While the damage to ancient civilizations is a fact, their various components have been fully rehabilitated. Works of antiquity, from NOK to Tsoede, continue to tour the globe. Exhibitions of 2,000 Years of Nigerian Art were mounted in several parts of Europe and America in the first half of the 80s.

While the Benin sculptures adorn the most prestigious museums in London, Leningrad and Los Angeles, the works of master-sculptors Ben Enwonwu and Bruce Onobrakpeya, are boasts for reputable collectors. Enwonwu, in addition has the reputation of being one of the few artists the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, has ever posed for.

Bohemian Oshogbo artists such as Jimoh Buraimoh and Twin Olaniyi Seven-Seven, as well as Professors Uche Okeke and Obiora Udechukwu of the Uli tradition are refrains on the lips of promoters and collectors.

Of equal significance is Felix Eboigbe, based in the United States since the 1960s. He has had many successful exhibitions and has as one of his collectors, the famous African-American actor, Bill Cosby. One of Eboigbe's works can be found at the lobby of the United Nations in New York.

Nigeria, noted William Fagg, a renowned authority in African culture is "almost a cultural microcosm" of the African continent. This observation can, as well, be conveniently extended to the diaspora. It applies to virtually every area including the textile and culinary arts. As it is now widely acknowledged, for instance, African fashion is gaining increased international respect and patronage. As the gem catches on, Nigeria, boasting a whopping 97,000 communities with distinct cultural nuances, wields wide influence in this connection. Fashion-designing is one of the nation's fastest-growing business today.