Nigeria, the land of plenty

running up the hill Iragbiji is a small but lively town, in Osun state, surrounded by hills made of curvy rocks emerging from the plain and partly patched with green. It is part of Yorubaland, about sixty kilometres East of Osogbo . The heart of the town is the palace of the Oba (King of the area) next to a yellow multi-storeyed central mosque. The Oba is a muslim. the Oba of Iragbiji Chief Muraina Oyelami , a versatile artist born in 1940, is residing in Iragbiji. He is both a talented talking-drum player and a painter. He welcomed us in his house for a talk on Yoruba culture especially about the talking drums which evolved in shape overtime to the modern form of goat skin cylinder whose sound can be altered by squeezing the ropes that are tied along the circumference of the drum to produce tons and therefore allows to emulate the Yoruba language through rhythm and tonality. three sets of Yoruba drums There are actually three types of drums each playing a specific ro...

everyone is stuck in traffic It has now been two years that I live in Lagos. The indiscriminate fears of a freshly arrived traveler have morphed into a more focused knowledge of the things I like and enjoy doing and those I would rather avoid and stay at home. Let’s start with some of the do’s: military vetted hairdresser (not immune to KAI) Yo!          Go to Elegushi beach or Tarkwa bay to have fun on Saturday or Sunday afternoon and enjoy the swag of young Lagosians          The Eko hotel rooftop to chill, with a music not loud enough to drive you away or discourage you from having any sort of sensible conversation ( however the playlist is somewhat repetitive and short if I recall the number of times,  in the interval of two drinks,  I heard the word “pussy” which was part of the first song). But the view is awesome and the breeze fantastic.        The boat club (if you have a f...

16.30 - fun time at Elegushi Beach Harmattan is filling the air with thin particles of sand. Lagos skyline is blurred as if there was fog and sun at the same time. It is the last of day the year. Victoria Island and Ikoyi are asleep, most Lagosians are busy on the outskirt of the city to prepare the New Year celebrations, be it at Church or with their families. And the Young sleep in anticipation of the night to come. Lagos Island though is still alive, particularly the Balogun market which buzzes are usual, perhaps a little less because of no deliveries being made that day. Customers and sellers were still out and about to buy and trade goods of all sorts. 12.00 noon - gingery view at Balogun market I was looking for a hat, of the kind of Panamas. A year ago, I had got one chinese paper-made that looked nice at that time. This time, going through the market, it looked like the latest version of something similar to a Panama hat was everywhere the same (paper-made bu...