Nigeria, the land of plenty

which Christmas hat:cow-boy or santa claus? Red it will be, partly perhaps. Red and white would be better to be more compatible to the traditional hat from Santa Claus. nigerian Santa Claus But what about the shape? Well this year it seems that American cow-boys have influenced cheap chinese hat makers to produce red and white Christmas hats with "Merry Christmas" printed over them. a winning Christmas hat While people are wishing "Compliments of the Season" a few days before Christmas, the usual greeting by message is " Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" after the song with the same title. Let's see next year what will feature on the red Christmas hats! you can always buy a Christmas if you don't need a hat

elegant round announcement The wind was sweeping sand over a vast flat expanse. Light from street poles was giving a dimension to the space in the night. City skyline was visible on the horizon. In the center of that expanse stood a box ring erected on the occasion of a "white collar charity box tournament" called "Rumble on the Atlantic". The scene took place in the middle of Eko Atlantic. Club lights and sound system filled the air of what is due to become a smart or futuristic city of the area. Around the ring were VIP tables catered with small chops (the usual chicken wings, fish fingers, samosas, liver etc...) and gin cocktails. Water was nowhere to be found. Behind the tables dressed in red, where black clad plastic chairs for ordinary guests. wait, don't throw him just yet The tournament started with light weight fight where the two opponents seemed cautious of not punching or being punched to hard. Then came a more aggressive pair opposing a Sou...

Omar at Lagos Jazz Series 2016 End of November came the new edition of Lagos Jazz Series in Muri Okunola Park in Victoria Island. The music event organised by Oti Bazunu. Same setting as the year before, a lawn with individual mats to enjoy live music in a picnic mood. Food, wine and a new concoction called Catuma (Riesling wine infused with natural extract of guarana) which is claimed to be a mild aphrodisiac for ladies. In other words a sweet sparkling wine to be had on ice. Catuma girl The show started a little later than advertised, 20.30 instead of 18 which even by Nigerian standards is fairly late. Some people came and left before the start of the music as a result. But it was well worth the wait for those who wanted to discover some new nigerian talents like Maka or Evelle who played accompanied by the Lagos Jazz Quintet turned into a septet for the occasion. Evelle and Sandro joining forces Then the mood turned to Cabo Verde with three artists playing either...

Art X at Civic Center On the first Friday night of November in Lagos, at the Civic Center, an unusual buzzing was going on with a collection fancy cars attempting to enter the exiguous parking lot by the water side. In the end cars we moving out of the parking lot after having delivered their passengers at the red carpet entrance of the first international contemporary art fair in Lagos called ART X . Friday night was the preview night for acknowledged potential buyers or influencers. Drivers went away through the evening traffic to park in some nearby improvised car park or perhaps line-up on the road until the time they would be called to pick-up their passengers again. Well, as usual, there is always a way to find a parking space where "no parking" signs are put. Just promise the guards that there will be something for them and they creatively come up a some space by moving way the signs. "Bros, can you find us some space, there is something for you" would...

bye bye flower beds The Baron Haussmann opened large avenues in Paris, destroying insalubrious areas and replacing them with sumptuous hôtels particuliers and 5 or 6 stories buildings with finely chiselled stone facades. Two centuries later they are still up and fanciful. The creation of large avenue has also simplified traffic in the city. The city lives, the city evolves and evolution is sometimes synonymous with sudden and harsh transformation. Lagos is being cleaned-up by an initiative called Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), perhaps with the hope that with a few kicks in the butt it could become as orderly and charming as Switzerland under the tropics. Well that is a tall order for a city where informal is the norm and where survival mode is a way of life. But it would be retrograde to think that things can't change for the better. For instance creation of taxi parks for buses off the side of the road can remedy traffic jams as proved by the one created at the exit of T...

Afropolitan style It rained gently the whole evening, not enough to discourage the crowd from gathering at Freedom Park to listen to an eclectic mix of nigerian singers and musicians. That was a blessing after seeing the sky tormented by distant lightnings, it was probably pouring a few kilometers away. Afropolitan Vibes is a monthly live music concert gathering of nigerian musicians and singers from all musical styles: Afro-beat/ hip hop/ pop and highlife. Adunni and Nefretiti The party has become very popular over the years, people are still coming en-masse despite the recent steep price increase of the entry tickets. The increase has helped improve the quality of sound as a result of more money being spent on the sound system. The show started with Bantu, 2 Nigerian - German brothers, who powered the evening. They invited Musiliu Haruna Ishola, famous for singing Apala music which originated in the 1930s as wake-up call during ramadan in yoruba land, a joyful call for bre...

Arese Amokpae in the role of Sandra This week is the week of Felabrations . Many music events are celebrating the memory of Fela Kuti across Lagos. Freedom Park has a series of Afro-beat concerts, same thing at the New Afrika Shrine . And this year a musical called Fela - arrest the music, written by Paul Ugbede, in reference to the life of Fela, in Nigeria, during which Fela was a strong critic of the short-comings of successive governments and generals. State coffers where used to fill private pockets, especially with bubbling oil resources being the main government income. Theft, corruption were the essential ways to get rich for the happy few who in the meantime ignored the poverty and the stagnation of the masses. The musical was played at Muson Centre, the classical musical institution of Lagos. It was musically directed by a Nigerian who graduated at the Muson center itself, Ayo Ajayi, therefore one of the first musical made in Nigeria. This was, in my view, a very good th...

keep walking Nigeria! Lagos, the city of 22 million people is adjusting to new economic conditions. Times are tough for most people who have to face the ever increasing inflation with their salary that has not been adjusted. The naira, that has depreciated by at least 70% against hard currencies, makes imported products much more expensive and sometimes missing from shop's shelves. Of course products 100% locally produced are not directly affected. Last but not least fuel prices went up earlier this year  in an attempt to cut subsidies, since then road has thinned considerably, more people "trek" (walk) hence the cynicism of Johnny Walker's advert (see above) discreetly plastered on a large building wall so that no-one can possibly miss it. Champagne is still there "Champagne has become a luxury" declared recently the organiser of the Lights Camera Africa!!! Film Festival to acknowledge the sponsor who had managed to provide some for the VIP pre-la...

Lagos photowalk job A gathering of photography amateurs, in 65 cities in the world, took place on Saturday 17th September. Lagos was one of them, the purpose of the walk was to take photographs around the theme of movement and adventure. People gathered early afternoon at Tafawa Balewa square (TBS) which looks like a stadium from the Munich Olympic Games the 1930's with metal eagles and standing horses guarding the building. someone had a party long time ago The highlight of the walk was the climbing of a nearby abandoned concrete tower of 25 floors, known as the Independence building on Cable street. The place was made accessible to the participants for the occasion. The climb was easy, letting us discover mostly empty floors with a few signs of occupations such are archives left there in the a wooden cubicle - waiting to be rediscovered or trashed sometime in the future. The lower floors had some graffitis colouring the otherwise grey concrete structure. The light was di...

dragon cloud over Victoria Island Despite the economic difficulties: the strong and hard-to-find dollar, the falling naira, the Niger Delta Avengers successful attempt to cut down the oil production by blowing up pipelines;  Lagos goes on building-up further. New places mushroom and others disappear like the cool Seaside, which was set-up on land belonging to Lagos State and recently flattened by bull-dozers. A new place is born, sort of consolation for the amateurs of fresh air: the Eko hotel rooftop which offers breathtaking views over the ocean, the upcoming Eko Atlantik and Victoria Island. A great place which locals tend not to like because the breeze is too strong. The music is not too loud. As the night comes, city lights are filling-up the air inviting to some photographic experiment, this time round the light painting option of my new phone camera. Nestoil, the latest skyscraper in town VI colours Adetokunbo Ademola street

let's go to the river Once a year, in Oyo, there is a procession to honour Oduduwa. It starts at the Oduduwa shrine on the outskirt of the compound, a low structure with white walls. A blessing ceremony with the kola nut is performed.  Then a young virgin girl emerges from the entrance of the shrine all clad in white, bare-foot, her dark skin decorated with white spots to highlight her purity and wearing on her head a large calabash. The talking drums beat and tell what is happening. She sets-off supported by two elderly ladies also clad in white like the priest who is wearing black-pointed leather moccasins and carrying an iron scepter decorated with birds.  keep going Everyone walks very fast behind the priest. The procession is going to the river where a kola nut ceremony will take place to listen to the omen that will be then brought back all across town up the palace of the Alaafin.  which piece of news from the river The girl fainted ...