Yearly Archives: 2019

Okpan Arhibo: A Traditional Kind of Disco Music

Okpan Arhibo: Traditional Disco Music

Okpan Arhibo: Traditional Disco Music

Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango invented disco music out of the blue with his release of the phenomenal hit single record, Soul Makossa. The year was 1972, and it was a staggering feat from an unknown personality. The listening public could hear the instant break beats and jazz funk influences in the song. And the western musical instruments; the saxophone, drums, percussions, guitars (bass, acoustic and lead), and the piano. Soul Makossa took disc jockeys, clubbers, and everyday radio listeners in large numbers. It soon became a big favourite within the New York music scene and later the globe.

The song’s core sensibility, as developed and perfected, came from somewhere; Africa. Around this time, other African musicians, Fela Kuti, Osibisa, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, working within the same jazz funk paradigm, found instant fame and recognition as innovators on the world’s music scene. And Fela fashioned “Afrobeat” which soon became a distinct international music genre in its own right. (more…)

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Black Spots and Human Rights

Black Spots and Human Rights

Black Spots and Human Rights

No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes. On the contrary, whatever the punishment, once a specific crime has appeared for the First Time, its reappearance is more likely than its initial emergence could ever have been – Hannah Arendt

When punishment becomes too common or an overused resort, it is evidence of an ill-governed organisation, institution, or brethren dependent on wielding the stick to hide the visible inefficiencies and corruption of its leadership and its day-to-day affairs. The rottener the brethren, the more punishment meted out to its members. Innocence or guilt do not count in the decisions of punishment. The errors arising from such vague decisions are not to hold the brethren back. We are talking about oppression here. (more…)

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A Death In A Dream

A Death In A Dream

A Death In A Dream

I had a dream last night that I had died while dreaming. My dream began by wooing me into a medium unlimited by the problems of physical travel to a place twice better than real life. The location, a well-lit cave. How far above or below sea level I could not tell. I was certain gravity, air pressure, and the fresh air were identical to what I had always known. Away from an opening cum door was a natural pool with a rim of smooth boulders of fifteen metres in diameter and white sandy ground twice that size surrounding it. (more…)

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Yankius on

Yankius on Julian Assange

Yankius: You have human rights in Nigeria only if you have a lot of money and can beg very well. And that may not even save you. And do not forget, Nigeria has not had human rights since independence especially since 1966 and during colonial rule. Forget what you hear on telly or read in the papers; Nigerians are not too keen on human rights, they have not experienced it and the rights they have is where the governemnt and its clients have no reach - money is enough for them. And who knows if the nation is even ready for truth. Nigeria is torn up by tribal, religious and corporate interests and it is those interests that matter. What impacts have truth-backed exposes and scandals about corruption and misrule have on the government of Nigeria, despite democracy? None. Human rights is the noise of lawyers, the grandstanding of polititians and an intellectaul's right to a seminar audient. That's all. Finito. <a href=""> Read More...

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