A local Christian hip hop/R n B group called Prosper and GPM performed at the event last year and I loved their music enough to buy their cd. During the Black History Month activities that took place this February, I got to hear one of their new singles live. They performed the new single (It’s not over) again this past weekend and it couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I hope you’ll find it encouraging too. They dedicated the song to the Haiti earthquake victims so the accompanying images might be hard to watch.

There are two particular areas of my life I can think of right now where I’m tempted to stop trying to get where I want to be or get what I want because of the difficulty involved. I know that challenges are a part of life and I’m no stranger to them but I get tired of the struggle sometimes, and how slow things progress. The song’s chorus was just the reminder I needed:

It’s not over
I’m holding on ’til the end
If I stumble
I’ll rise again and again
It’s not over
I’m holding on ’til the end
Eeeeehhhhhh

For the past week Yinka Ayefele has been crooning to me (on YouTube). I can’t get one of his older albums, New Dawn, out of my head.

The part that has me completely hooked is from 7:04 onwards. I have to get up and dance as soon as I hear it. Needless to say, surviving a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down is reason enough for Ayefele to be discouraged and down about his life. No doubt he feels that way at times but I’m encouraged by how’s he’s been able to turn a Bitter Experience to a Sweet Experience (titles of previous albums).

What music do you turn to when you’re in need of encouragement or inspiration?

The first time my parents went to see Sunny Ade, I was only seven or eight years old. I remember it only because it was the first time my parents hired a babysitter to look after us children (I was 8, my sister 6 and our brother not yet 2 years of age). My parents weren’t comfortable leaving us with babysitters, especially since we had only been in Canada for less than two years at the time, so if they couldn’t bring us to an event they didn’t go, or only one of them would go. My dad always says they never felt comfortable leaving “all that they had” (us) in the hands of a teenager who is probably more interested in what was showing on tv or talking on the phone than anything else. Anyway, it’s a testament to how much my mom must have wanted to see Sunny Ade because we had a babysitter for the first time.

I don’t remember much except that my brother almost fell into the toilet at one point during the evening, and was playing with the toilet water when my parents arrived. I was a tattle tale back then so I remember telling my parents about my brother’s toilet adventures and that was it for them for a long time: no more babysitters.

While at the concert, my parents invited Sunny Ade’s crew to our humble home to eat the following day. My mom prepared all the Nigerian heavy hitters food-wise for these musicians to eat, and they enjoyed it very well. I vaguely remember lots of people in the house and noise; nothing more, but it’s a memory that my mom recalls fondly.

In 2005 Sunny Ade came to Canada again. We were living across the country, and this time the Nigerian association here coordinated themselves well: my mom and other Nigerians got to dance on stage with him and they all sprayed him, Naija-style. The oyinbos at the concert (they sha almost outnumbered us) were just watching us and wondering, and a few people in the audience asked me what those people on stage were doing. After the concert, his musicians were working the audience. I remember one was seriously chatting my sister up.

What I thought was cute is my father is not one to get star struck. He’s very humble, he just doesn’t get excited about the things that my mom and I would be squealing about. So when my mom and I said we were going to try to see if we could meet Sunny Ade, he came along with us, but he thought it was ridiculous…until we were allowed to go on the tour bus and we see the man who had finished entertaining us sitting and looking very slight, humble, unassuming and welcoming. And see my normally reserved dad start to speak up! He introduced us, told Sunny Ade that they (he and the King) were from the same hometown and they starting yarning and it was just nice to see my dad so animated. My parents told him how they had hosted his musicians at their house so many years ago and he seemed to remember (but seriously I don’t know if he really did; it was about 18 years ago!). Anyway, it was another memorable experience.

And then…yesterday! We had a great position for viewing and dancing to the music…we were very close to the outdoor stage. The concert was great and we danced our hearts out, especially the birthday girl (my mom). She was dancing with one woman closer to the stage for a while, then she came to see us and by the time she looked on stage, the woman she had been with was just off the stage, gisting with the dancing girls while just a few feet away from Sunny Ade, who was performing! You should have seen the look my mom gave me before saying “Ahn ahn! Shebi that woman and I were dancing down here a minute ago. Can you believe she didn’t invite me to come join her back stage?” Lol! She caught the woman’s eye and waved to her and was mouthing the words but of course the woman was dancing her heart out and didn’t care.

And then, as God would have it (my mom loves to say that), after the concert was over, one of the musicians came to greet some of the audience, including our group. We asked if we could come backstage and just that easily, we were back there, waiting for Sunny Ade to get changed and come and greet us. While waiting we talked to the twins who were the dancing girls, and took pictures with them. Instead of saying cheese one twin told us to say “Mushin” — lol, but as you can see, it makes for some nice pictures (you can click to make them bigger).

King Sunny Ade came, and what a lovely man! He’s not a big man by any means; and if you passed him in the street and he was in plain clothes you wouldn’t look twice. There’s nothing flashy or over the top about him. Since I’m bigger than him, when we were taking a group picture I was standing behind him and he just put his arm around my waist and told me to move forward. So nice! (yes, I’m gushing). And this time when my dad told him his name, he seemed to recognize the name, if not the face (there aren’t many with our last name around, even in Nigeria). My mom took a picture alone with him and it will definitely be something to add to the photo album.

And that is the extent of our family’s interaction with King Sunny Ade. The man is still rocking at over 60…dancing the night away when even my feet were ready to quit. Good for him!

On my birthday, I played the following video for my mom because she loves it, but she didn’t think it was Sunny Ade singing until she saw the video. Enjoy! The song has a good message too.

I am thankful for the social events coming up before the end of the summer:

• one baby’s first birthday (his actual birthday is today, so I thank God for his sunny face that really makes everyone around him smile. I have not seen a happier child in a long time…mine will be happier sha)
• a house warming for dear friends who have bought what we’re calling a “forever house” because really, when the house is that lovely, why would you ever move (also: moving is a pain in the neck)? I pray they have many happy years and memories in their new home.
• one engagement party. This engagement and actually their relationship really makes me think that there is someone for everyone. It’s a comforting thought sometimes…I just hope I don’t have a twin who’s out there looking for the same man as I!
• one wedding (a friend I have known since I was 12. Though we do not see each other regularly, I think we will always want to know that the other is doing well). She has been engaged before, and her fiancé today has a child from a previous relationship. I saw my friend’s inner strength and maturity develop through this relationship and I can tell her fiancé adores her. I wish them both the best.

I’ve also been enjoying a music festival going on in our city! Tomorrow I will be seeing King Sunny Ade perform (Asa was supposed to open for him but unfortunately she isn’t coming anymore) and on Sunday I’ll be rocking to Estelle and Divine Brown. There are some other acts I want to check out before the festival is over, including a Gospel Jam day that I’ve been told is really awesome.

What have you been doing this summer?

Earlier this year, I went to the eLDee concert that was heavily publicized, and was disappointed. I felt bad because I convinced a few friends to go with me and nobody got their money’s worth.

When I heard there was another Nigerian-organized event being planned a few weeks later, I decided to give it a try, but sadly it disappointed again. I will officially count on Ms. O and Bob-Ij to advise me on events that are worth it and events that have “Fail” all over it.

When my friend and I arrived, we were the first two females there. The other six or seven people there were guys. We went in, called our friend who had arrived there before us (he had said the place was completely dead), and he met us there. We stood around waiting for people to arrive for a couple of hours and they just trickled in. I felt horrible for the organizer because when we left after a couple of hours there were less than 50 people in the whole place. He was actually in the back of the bar taking shots of alcohol and looking very down when we left him.

The organizer tried to get people in a party mood: he came up to my friend and I a couple of times and told us to not worry, that there would be tons of people arriving any moment. Sadly he was wrong. The DJ was great but for some reason no one was dancing! I’m not the type to open up the dance floor so maybe everyone who was there that night felt the same way. Even the bartender started drinking Red Bull to stay awake, it was that dead…she certainly did not sell up to 30 drinks.

Let me give the organizer credit:

• he came up to us and welcomed us and thanked us for coming
• the DJ was good
• the club was nicely organized
• we received a facebook message after the event, thanking us for braving the rain to come

But again, I left feeling cheated and angry that once again I was duped by something that sounded good and would have been good had it delivered what it promised. I honestly believe that we have to support our fellow Nigerians who take on these initiatives but how many chances should they get? Nobody wins if we give up: Nigerians don’t get an opportunity to meet and mingle with people in the same city that they might not otherwise meet, and promoters or organizers decide that there is no need or interest on the part of Nigerians in this city for such events, which is totally wrong. When I think of Femi Kuti and King Sunny Ade who are coming to my city this summer, I can be happy that at least they will come (God forbid bad thing) because the organizers are not amateurs and have consistently delivered on their promises year after year. Perhaps some of these people running around calling themselves promoters should volunteer at this festival and learn a thing or two about how to organize an event and deliver what you promise.

I’m sure the organizer of this last event I attended barely earned enough money to pay the club for renting the space, but he wasn’t the only one who lost out. What about those of us who paid to come to a club and were sorely disappointed?

Well eLDee was great…for the 15 minutes, maximum that he performed.

By the time 1:30am (clubs here close by 2am) passed and we were still waiting for him to show up, and people started saying we had been 419ed, I was starting to think he wouldn’t show up at all. So I just glad that he came that I forgave him for totally cheating us.

To be fair, the evening wasn’t supposed to be all about eLDee, though he was the main attraction: there were suppposed to be two Nigerian DJs there. Dj Don X came, but the other didn’t show up. We were also supposed to have two surprise Nigerian artists performing and again we were let down (the act that did perform was good, though I don’t think they were Nigerian — someone correct me if I’m wrong). They had to deal with an audience that just wanted Eldee to show up already…not the most welcoming of audiences they’ve had I’m sure!

Add to that the fact the event was supposed to start at 9pm, we showed up at 10pm and were told that the place where the event was taking place was not ready, something about the fact that the floors were still being cleaned…an hour after the show should have started. I have no problem with them not starting the festivities until more people showed up but surely the room should be ready for people to enter and mingle and whatnot.

When we were finally allowed to enter the place almost an hour and a half after it was supposed to be ready, none of the guest DJs had arrived yet, so we listened to some other DJ who was playing some random music, and the organizers were still setting things up. One thing that was set up though was a paparazzi corner, where they had some professional photographers taking pictures of the attendees as they came in…it was pretty neat (we all know how Nigerians like to be photographed).

For me the most apalling part of the evening was when the woman taking our tickets came up to us and asked for two of our IDs. Clueless me, I thought she was asking because she hadn’t seen them when we gave her our tickets but no, she wanted us to give her our IDs so she could get her underage friends in! I found it so unprofessional, but maybe I’m just showing my age.

The music was okay but of the many many Nigerian songs out there, why did we hear some songs three and four times!? There are so many great artists out there that I expected to hear new music and awesome remixes of music I already knew. I was very disappointed by that.

Anyway, my friends and I had a talk about this event because this always happens: an event that sounds good on paper (and in the advertising leading up to the event) ends up getting a lackluster turnout or ends up being disorganized and turning people off from attending the next event. And then what happens is the organizers get disappointed by the turnout and the negative comments and decide not to bother throwing such an event in our city again. And then everyone just decides that no one in this city likes to party, that they should stick to having events in Toronto when it’s not true! If you’re going to throw an event, take the time to do a good followthrough: don’t just sell the tickets then forget about delivering what you’ve promised the attendees! I’ve seen it happen time and time again and it’s really sad.

It almost makes me want to go into event planning: either to see if I could do better (and I really think I could) or to see how hard it really is to make it happen.

Now, I don’t think it’s very helpful to criticize someone or something without offering ways they could make things better, so in my mind here are some ways that this event could have been improved (based, of course, on my limited knowledge of what actually led to the disorganization I sensed):

• They should have chosen a smaller venue. This venue was HUGE, which only served to emphasize how few attendees there were. Better to have a venue half the size, that makes people feel like there are a lot of them than to have a room where you can almost hear the echo. The location was beautiful but there was no feeling of “wow, everyone wants to or wanted to be here!” and I think that has a a large effect on the vibe of the event.
• They should have created a great mix cd of Nigerian artists (which they could have gotten from one of the DJs who would be spinning) and played that for the first hour, when people were arriving, to get them excited about the music that they’d be hearing, and to get them dancing. There was a lot of waiting around to hear good music.
• There should have been periodic announcements as to when the guests of honour were expected, to build interest and curb people spreading rumours that eLDeeb likely wouldn’t even show. That sort of got folks down.
• Those other opening acts they promised should have shown up!

With all the Nigerian talent we have in the city (I’m thinking of this makeup artist, or this graphic/web designer to name just two), maybe having the first part of the evening be some sort of networking event where Nigerians in the community who have a business or are offering services could have gone on stage and shared a two minute thing on what they do and how they can be reached would have been good (especially if the DJs and eLDee weren’t going to show up for so long). I for one would love to know more about where to buy ankara or find someone who does hair well or something. They could have totally had some great music playing in the background while each person had a two-minute slot to tell us what they do and how they can help us. It might not have been the time or place for it though. I don’t know, but I think people would have liked it!

Oya gist me: what are the best and worst Nigerian-organized events you’ve been to?

My guess is the expression means that you can’t compare two things that are so obviously different but I’m wondering if this is a common saying or quote because I had never heard it prior to these songs.

Educate me!

The thing with mixes though is you don’t always recognize the artist who is playing. So, my solution is to try and get some exposure to as many Nigerian artists as I can, so that recognition of artists will be easier.

Artists that I am familiar with (meaning that at least 50% of the time I’d guess the artist correctly):

• 2 Face
• 9ice
• Asa
• D’banj
• P Square
• Styl Plus
• Wande Coal

(I’m not including the classics that I grew up listening to—Obey, Sunny Ade, Sunny Okosun—and though I haven’t heard any of their songs used in a gbedu yet, I woudln’t be surprised to hear some of them sampled in future songs.)

Artists I’d recognize only if they play specific songs (indicated in brackets):

• Marvelous Benjy (Just a Little)
• Mad Melon and Mountain Black (Danfo Driver)
• Olu Maintain (Yahooze)
• Sunny Nneji (Oruka)
• Tosin Martins (Olo mi)

Your turn: What Nigerian artists’ work do you admire? Is there new talent that the rest of us need to know about?

(If you want to listen to a bunch of music by Nigerian artists, the place to go is Dudu Radio. It has an amazing collection of music by many artists (but look how many of them there are! This is why I turned to you.)

On her site you can listen to part of each song on her debut album. If you’d like to hear a couple of her songs in their entirety, here you go:

Ok, let’s having a sharing time: are there any Nigerian artists that I must check out?

Here they are:

This would be a great song to dance to with your loved one during the reception. I only heard it played at one of the four Naija weddings I attended so maybe the song has been overplayed so much that it should be avoided.

Although the gist of this song is the guy is telling his girl not to listen to those people who are talking behind his back and sort of discrediting him, but rather to believe in their love, I can’t get enough of it, and it works for a wedding, right? Especially if you’re marrying a man or woman that your family and friends still think isn’t the right pesin for you, even on the wedding day (lol).