A TRIBUTE TO A GREAT NIGERIAN/AFRICAN-CHIEF N.O. IDOWU BY BAYO ADEBOWALE,AFRICAN WRITER-FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER,APRIL 28,2010

BAYO ADEBOWALE (CENTER) WITH CHIEF AFE BABALOLA

FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

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The N.O. Idowu that I know The beauty of Africa
Is slain upon the high places.
How are the mighty fallen!
SIR: The Erin-wo epitaph clearly sums up people's general opinion of the eventful life and times of Chief (Dr) Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu (OFR), the Mayeloye and the Okanlomo of Ibadan land. Chief Idowu led a crowded life of progress and specular achievements in virtually all fields of human endeavour Ð as a community leader, philanthropist, pillar of sports, business tycoon, devout Christian, committed family man and a complete Omoluwabi.
Steadfast, diligent, disciplined, intelligent, honest, firm and forthright, N.O. all though, kept his head while others were losing theirs, in the face of challenges and vicissitudes of life. He was adored by his admirers and venerated even by his detractors, over whom he perched mightily like an eagle bird on the giant Baobab tree. He was in perfect accord with friends and at peace and harmony with all who dug holes round him.
Chief Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu had no space in his tender heart to harbour malice, rancour and recriminations. His heart was a level-ground for positive thinking and record-breaking tendencies. No nooks, no crannies. Several times he had summoned us in African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre (AHRLC) to Lagos, to discuss confidential matters which touched his heart intimately, and these were matters concerning the progress and development of Eniosa, Adeyipo, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and Africa. At such meetings, N. O. would bubble with hope, optimism and the commitment of a true messiah, on a rescue mission to improve the lot of his people. A great lover of the rural communityÉ When we took the news to him about Chief Afe Babalola's unprecedented act of philantropism to AHRLC at Adeyipo village, he grabbed his phone and poured encomiums on the legal luminary telling him, "You have done what Napoleon would not do, Afe, turning back the Duke of Wellington. May Almighty God continue to enrich your purse and bless you abundantly as you put smiles on the faces of my people. Congratulations."
On Saturday, September 24, 2005, during the official commissioning of AHRLC, Chief N. O. Idowu risked his health to grace the occasion. That day, he met with seven thousand jubilating community people of Olorunda Abaa, Igbo-Elerin and Igbo-Oloyin waiting impatiently to welcome their mentor and leader with traditional dundun and sekere music. Fortified by a sudden gift of good health and strength from above, N.O came that day to Adeyipo smiling, singing and dancing (in company of late Archdeacon Emmanuel Alayande and Chief Mrs. C.A. Idowu, his amiable wife, in front of a vociferous community audience who bestowed on him honour and recognition, never before witnessed in Lagelu Local Government Council of Ibadan, Oyo State. Together with Chief N. O. Idowu (our beloved Grand Patron) we formulated a universal caption for the task ahead of us in AHRLC, it is that: We have great works to do,
We have been called upon to build a new Africa
And a new Black World.
The N.O. Idowu that I know was a patriotic and worthy son of Africa. A man who stretched himself to ensure relief and comfort for the poor and the needy. A man who put others first and himself last; who kept sleepless nights to secure solutions to the problems of the society. A great man who left his footmarks boldly in the sands of time.
Chief (Dr.) Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu (OFR) can never die, in the hearts of all of us who love him at home and abroad. He will forever be aliveÉ so, Death be not proud! Because those whom thou thinketh thou slayest, Dieth not, Poor Death!
Bayo Adebowale.
Adeyipo Village, Ibadan

BAYO ADEBOWALE-A GREAT AFRICAN WRITER-A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

from africanliterature.wordpress.com BAYO ADEBOWALE,EXTREME RIGHT,WITH OLOYE AFE BABALOLA ATI IYAAFIN YEYE AKILIMALI FUNUA OLADE (ABOVE)

BAYO ADEBOWALE:BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
By Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade

Bayo Adebowale, poet,novelist,short story writer,critic, teacher and librarian,was born in Adeyipo Village, Lagelu Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, on 6th June, 1944,to a peasant farmer and traditional drummer, Alagba Ayanlade Oladipupo Akangbe Adebowale. His mother, Madam Abigael Ayannihun Atunwa Adebowale is a traditional rara chanter and dancer,who hails from the neighbouring Apon Onilu Village,Ibadan, Oyo State.

Bayo Adebowale attended St. Andrew’s Kindergarten School at Kufi I Village, and St. Andrew’s Senior Primary School, Bamgbola, Igbo-Elerin District of Ibadan, where he obtained his Grade A Primary School Leaving Certificate in December, 1955. Thereafter, he was admitted to the Local Authjority Secondary Modern School, Aperin, Ibadan, between 1956 and 1958. In 1959,he became a pupil teacher at St. Mathias Primary School, Busogboro,Oluyole Local Government Area, Ibadan. The need to be trained as a teacher took him to Ilesa where he was admitted to St Peter’s Grade III Teacher College between 1960 and 1961. He was headmaster of St. Michael’s Primary School,Eko-Ajala,near Ikirun, Osun State, from January 1962 to December 1964. He was transferred to head another school in 1965-St. Andrew’s Primary School, Ilawe,three miles from Ifon, Osun State.

In 1966, the year of Nigeria’s military coup,Bayo Adebowale gained admission to Baptist College, Ede for his Higher Elementary Grade II Teacher Training Programme, which he finished in 1967 with Merit in ten subjects, including English Language, English Literature and Music. At Baptist College, Ede, Adebowale’s creativity boomed. He was a College House Prefect, the Secretary Literary and Debating Society,and the Editor of the College magazine,The Echo . He was a voracious reader of English and African novels;an ardent reader of the works of great writers like Gerald Durrel,Rider H.Haggard,Jane Austen, Daniel Defoe,John Buchan,R.L. Stevenson,Alexandre Dumas, Charles Dickens,Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Alan Paton, Peter Abrahams and Amos Tutuola. Bayo Adebowale’s creative ebullience was kept alive as a Higher Elementary (H.E.) teacher at Baptist School, Afolabi Apasan (near Araomi Akanran)Ibadan,between d1968 and 1970 and also at Ibadan City Council Primary School, Agugu, between 1970 and 1971.

In October,1971,he was admitted to read English at the Universtiy of Ibadan, having passed his General Certificate of Education(GCE) at both the Ordinary and the Advanced levels, between 1968 and 1971. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (Hon.) English in 1974 and had his National Youth Service Corps at St. Augustine’s Teachers’ College, Lafia, Benue-Plateau State, Northern Nigeria, from July 1974 to July 1975.

Bayo Adebowale was employed as an Education Officer (English) by the Western State Public Service Commission Between August, 1975 and August 1979 when he was posted to the Government Trade Centre at Oyo as an English Instructor. But in-between, Adebowale was given admission to the University of Ibadan for his Post Graduate Diploma in Applied English Linguistics (1976) and his Master of Arts Degree in English, which he successfully completed idn December 1978. His higher educational status qualified him for employment at the Oyo State College of Education,Ilesa,where he was appointed a Lecturer I in English in September 1979. He was posted back to St. Anderew’s College(then a Campus of OYSCE Ilesa) to head the School of Arts as the Deputy Dean,in 1981. He became athe Acting Dean of the School of Arts in Oyo State College of Education,Ila-Orangun in 1987. After the creation of Osun State(out of Oyo State) in 1991,Bayo Adebowale returned to his State of origin, with other officers of Oyo State indigenes working at OYSCE Ila-Orangun and was redeployed to The Polytechnic,Ibadan where he,at various times, as a Senior Principal Lecturer,was a Head of Department, and Acting Dean, and the Deputy Rector of the Institution between 1999 and 2003. Bayo Adebowale completed his Doctor of Philosophy Programmed in Literature in English at the University of Ilorin in May,1997.

To date, Bayo Adebowale has published over one hundred short stories in magazines, journals and papers in Nigeria and abroad.He admires a lot the works of distinguished writers, in the short story genre, like Edgar Allan Poe, Guy de Maupassant, Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, O. Henry,Jack London, Stephen Crane, Judith Wright, Agnus Wilson, Chinua Achebe,Eyprian Ekwensi, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o,Ben Okri, A.G.S. Momodu, Rasheed Gbadamosi,Lekan Oyejide, Nadine Gordimer, Lekan Oyegoke and Danbudzo Marechera.

In 1972,Adebowale’s short story,”The River Goddess” won the Western State Festival of Arts Literary Competition, in Ibadan, Nigeria and in 2002,he edited a collection of new Nigerian short stories-Talent-involving the words of fifteen Nigerian writers,including those of Femi Osofisan, Wale Okediran, Akeem Lasisi,Lekan Oyegode, Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade,and Amos Tutuola. Adebowale’s short stories had appeared in important Anthologies like Frontiers:Nigerian Short Stories (1992)d;A Passage to Modern Cicero (2003) and Horizon Journal,University of Ibadan (1975). Adebowale’s short stories are collected in book form in Iron Hand,Girl About Town; and Book Me Down. His collection A New Life was published in 2006 by Bounty Press,Ibadan.

Over ninety per cent of Bayo Adebowale’s short stories have rural setting, and deal with local community people in Nigerian villages and hamlets. A common trend of culture runs through them, stretching into his poetry and his three full-length novels.

For Adebowale the so-called modern society has nothing to offer to communal African village life “except chaos, corruption and other manifestations of of western narcissim”. Africa,for Adebowale,is a passion. “The contemorarisation of the mystic of the African essence is an addiction”.

Bayo Adebowale exhaustively examines the theme of culture in his poetry. Village Harvest,his first book of poetry,bears testimony to this. All the fifty-eight poems in the collection discuss sceneries,seasons,people,places, experiences,events and beliefs of the rural community people. This same trend is discernible in his second book of poetry,A Night of Incantations; where Yoruba traditional incantations are broken into three broad categories, viz: Malevolent Incantations;Benevolent Incantations and Propitiatory Incantations. In 1992,Bayo Adebowale’s poem, “Perdition” won the Africa Prize in the Index on Censorship International Poetry Competition in London. Quite a good number of his poems have been anthologized in Poetry for Africa 2(United Kingdom),Index on Censorship Journal (United Kingdom),African Literature Association Bulletin(Canada);Poetry Drum (Nigeria) and Crab Orchard Review(United States of America).Adebowale’s latest collection of poems, African Melody (2008) gives a realistic literary repositioning of the African Continent and has been acknowledged as”deeply reseached and a compotently crafted work of art”.

Today, Bayo Adebowale is most well-known as a novelist. His first novel,The Virgin, has been adapted into two home videos under the titles of “The White Hankerchief” and later as a thirteen week National Television Serial under yet another tile- “The Narrow Path” -all by the Main Frame Film Organization of Lagos under the directorate of the ace Nigerian cinematographer-Tunde Kelani. Adebowale’s second novel,Out of His Mind has several tiimes also been adapted for the stage. Both novels have been used by researchers as final-year Long Essay Projects in Colleges of Education, and for the Bachelor of Artrs degree final-year research and for Master of Arts dissertations in Nigerian Universities. His third novel, Lonely Days is probably his most ambitious literary endeavour to date. The novel predictably deals with an important aspect of the African culture-widowhood- and has its setting, predictably also, in African rural environment. Adebowale has two other yet to be published novels:Sweetheart and Lone Voice Bayo Adebowale has been described variously as “an advocate of the grassroots people”,”a village novelist” and “a protagonist of the African culture and tradition”and “Africa’s Charles Dickens”.

His pet project, The African Heritage Research Library (at Adeyipo Village, Lagelu Local Government Area,Ibadan,Oyo State,Nigeria) is the first rural community-based African studies research library on the Continent. The objectives of the Centre are (i) to serve the educational needs of students, researchers, scholars, documentalists, and archivists in Africa and all over the world;and (ii) to serve the socio-cultural needs of the local community people:peasant farmers,local artisans, craftsmen and women in African villages and hamlets. Adebowale’s Centre at Adeyipo Village, now incorporates the cultural aspect of the life of the people with the introduction of a Music of Africa Auditorium,a Medicinal Herbs Garden and a Talking Drum Museum.
The establishment of the African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre (AHRLC) has helped a lot to enhance the quantity and quality of Bayo Adebowale’s literary output.The African Heritage Research Library has a formidable Board of Advisors which include eminent scholars and writers all over the world like Ngugi Wa Thiong’o,Elechi Amadi, Niyi Osundare,Bernth Lindfors,Akinwumi Isola;Femi Osofisan;Sam. A. Adewoye,Lekan Oyegoke, Tony Marinho and Niara Sudarkasa.
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Tags: BAYO ADEBOWALE:A GREAT AFRICAN WRITER, BLACK NOVELISTS, BLACK WRITERS

This entry was posted on February 9, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under AFRICAN FILMS, AFRICAN FILMS BASED ON NOVELS, AFRICAN LITERATURE(GENERAL), AFRICAN NOVELS, AFRICAN SHORT STORIES, AFRICAN WRITERS, BAYO ADEBOWALE:A GREAT AFRICAN WRITER, BLACK WRITERS, NIGERIAN LITERATURE, POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN LITERATURE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

YEYE AKILIMALI FUNUA OLADE APPEARS IN THIS CURRENT ISSUE OF TW MAGAZINE(NIGERIA) VOL.3 NO.6,2010

 

PATAKI O! CORRECTION-AFRICAN HERITAGE RESEARCH LIBRARY WAS FOUNDED BY DR. BAYO ADEBOWALE- NOT BY ME! IN 1988 AND ADEBOWALE MADE ME THE VOLUNTEER CHIEF LIBRARIAN THEN AND SINCE I HAVE HELD THIS POSITION!

AFRICAN HERITAGE RESEARCH LIBRARY AND CULTURAL CENTRE IS LOCATED AT ADEYIPO VILLAGE,VIA BASHORUN-AKOBO-OLORUNDA-KUFI 1 ROAD,IGBO ELERIN,IBADAN. E-MAIL ADDRESS-

africanheritagelibrary@yahoo.com

telephone- 080-3449-5485

ATI OMO MI (my child's name is) FEHINTOLU,not tolufe toluwa!

The Destruction of Black CivilizationBlack Athena Writes Back: Martin Bernal Responds to His Critics

"ARUGBA"-TUNDE KELANI'S LAST GREAT YORUBA FILM!-UPDATED WITH ALL ARTICLES ABOUT IT DAILY!

FROM yeyeolade.wordpress.com \"BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL!" BLOG-

“ARUGBA”,TUNDE KELANI’S GREAT YORUBA FILM,A LANDMARK IN YORUBA FILMS PREMIERES-FROM THE SUN NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA JULY,2008

By Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade

from thesunlonline.com



Sunday, July 20, 2008



ARTSVILLE

BY TOYIN AKINOSHO



Kelani Caricatures OBJ In Arugba

THERE’s no mistaking the parody of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in the action of Peter Badejo’s character in Tunde Kelani’s newest film, Arugba, screened at the University of Ibadan’s Arts Theatre last Wednesday.



In the presence of Obasanjo’s close aide, Afe Babalola, who was guest of honour at the event, one of the series commemorating the University’s 60th anniversary, Kelani presented the story of a king of an imaginary small town, somewhere in Nigeria’ s southwest, who makes a loud splash against corruption, rigorously prosecutes an economic reform and handily welcomes foreign investors. But the word on the street is that the fruits of the reform don’t trickle down, the Kabiyesi deeply distrusts people, including his assistants, believes in his own gut feeling and has enough weakness for women to compromise on his own core principles. The leadership portrait emerges as the key subplot in a love drama featuring the Arugba, the virgin who carries the sacrificial calabash during the Osun Osogbo festival and a young dancer intent on winning her. Bukola Awoyemi is fresh as a sea breeze as the Arugba and the movie benefits from its wide array of experienced stars, including Lere Paimo, Kareem Adepoju, Bukky Wright and Badejo, himself an accomplished artiste, who is making a debut in Nigerian movie project. There’s applause for Segun Adefila’s choreography and his direction of the winsome Crown Troupe in segments that feature as drama within the drama. But Adefila’s portrayal of the Arugba’s suitor is rather casual and comes up rather plain in this gripping, fast paced feature. Kelani is a brilliant arranger of pictures (the sequencing is consistently neat) and an ardent promoter of the Yoruba worldview. He’s also a gadgetry freak. The film is shot in High Definition format (with Panasonic P2 HD/DV) which can be outputted in 35-mm celluloid print. “The technology is getting more exciting,” the filmmaker enthuses. Arugba feels, like most TK’s other films, an intimate story telling, something gorgeous for the family around the dining table at home. But what stops this outstanding filmmaker from reeling out a grand, sky hugging, vast vista of a movie, with crowds that actually look like real crowds in big festivals, with festival rehearsal scenes that are close to frenetic preparations that actually happen before a mammoth feast like Osun Oshogbo’s, with picturesque sites that are comparable with Osun groves, and an airy landscape that take the movie outside of intimate, family drama? At the height on which he stands in African cinema, Kelani can raise the money for such a movie.



Osofisan, Ishola Tackle Fagunwa On Stage



THE playwright Femi Osofisan is directing the play Langbodo, Wale Ogunyemi’s adaptation of Daniel Fagunwa’s epic novel, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irumole. Akinwunmi Ishola, the professor of Yoruba studies, will be directing a stage adaptation of the same novel, in Yoruba. Osofisan is running rehearsals with his cast in Ibadan, whereas Ishola has camped his actors in Ile Ife. The premiere is August 15, in Lagos and there will be performances in Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja. It seems likely that the Yoruba performances will run on stages in some key southwest cities. Chams, the electronic card company, is the sponsor.



CORA Holds Book Editing Workshop In October



THE Committee For Relevant Art (CORA), working in partnership with Bookbuilders Editions Africa, is hoping to bring back Dan Izevbaye, emeritus professor of English as well as Gbenro Adegbola, CEO, Evans Brothers, to address participants at the 3rd Workshop On Book Editing, which holds from October 22 to 24, in Lagos. “The two are quite popular with our participants,” says Chris Bankole, head of Book Builders and the workshop’s leading facilitator. “Everyone wants to hear Prof Izevbaye talk about editing a novel and everyone wants to hear Gbenro speak on the publishing process.” The Workshop On Book Editing was started last year for the purpose of developing a generation of fully trained book editors who are expected to energise the book industry. Participants are given a general overview of the editorial process, initial assessment of a book, copy editing, substantive editing, science editing, proof-reading, indexing, grammar and usage, cliches, Nigerian malapropisms. The workshop looks at the challenges in editing creative writing, both of children and adult fiction and has a do-it-yourself segment. Participation fee is N20,000.



ANA Pairs T.M. Aluko With Mandela At 90



THE Lagos Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), wants to celebrate TM Aluko’s 90th birthday by visiting him at home to read from his works as well as from writings of the South African sage Nelson Mandela. It’s not clear why Chike Ofili, the chapter’s chairman wants a pairing of the two men, in Aluko’s Apapa home, on July 26. Other than sharing the same age, the two grandfathers don’t come across as having similar priorities in the prime of their lives. Mandela is not a writer; his Long Walk To Freedom is a product of an extensive interview after 27 years in jail. Aluko did not lead a rebellion, although one of his novels, Conduct Unbecoming is a substantial effort at illuminating where Lagos went wrong and how a once carefully governed city ended up a chaotic urban sprawl whose leaders interprete the phrase ‘mega city’, as something hip when really it means uncontrollable. But you have to give it to Ofili. He looks for material where there appears to be none, just to keep the society, ANA in the public consciousness. He had actually led a team of writers to Pa Aluko’s house on the day of his birth, which was June 14. “Aluko, like Ekwensi, hasn’t been properly attended to in terms of literary scholarship,” Ofili says. “On July 26, we are giving him a home delivery.” Ofili is scouting for those who have Mandela’s writings and any South African resident in Nigeria who happens to be a culture enthusiast. His contact is chikeofili@yahoo.com. He also appeals to ANA members who are 50 years and above “to be there by 2pm to partake in celebrating longevity in this season of deaths in the art family.”



© 2003 – 2007 @ Guardian Newspapers Limited (All Rights Reserved).



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Tags: "ARUGBA", "ARUGBA"-TUNDE KELANI'S LATEST FILM, THE GREATEST YORUBA FILM YET IS OUT, TUNDE KELANI'S GREATEST YORUBA FILM, TUNDE KELANI-GREATEST YORUBA FILM MAKER, YORUBA FILM BREAKTHROUGH IN "ARUGBA"



This entry was posted on September 20, 2008 at 9:30 am and is filed under AFRICA, BLACK CHILDREN, BLACK CULTURE, BLACK MEN, BLACK NATIONALISM, BLACK PEOPLE, BLACK WOMEN, BLACKS IN AMERIKKKA!, THE BLACK RACE, TUNDE KELANI-GREAT YORUBA FILM MAKER, YORUBA FILMS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.



10 Responses to ““ARUGBA”,TUNDE KELANI’S GREAT YORUBA FILM,A LANDMARK IN YORUBA FILMS PREMIERES-FROM THE SUN NEWSPAPER,NIGERIA JULY,2008”

Bisi Afrika Says:



October 16, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Reply

hello, i will like to say well done to the master of all filme maker in nigeria today, which is TUNDE KELANI and TADE OGIDAN, they are mt role model because they produce and direct. Anythings you guys do i think is the best.



I use to appreciate people like LATE YOMI OGUNMOLA, MUYIWA ADEMOLA, ANTAR LANIYAN, ABBEY LANRE, SAHEED BALOGUN and my youngest Directoe and producer KUNLE AFOD.



As for me i will like to a great Script Writer & Producer Like TADE OGIDAN & TUNDE KELANI



Yoruba films is best.



Bisi Afrika Says:



October 16, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Reply

To Mr. Tunde Kelani and Mr. Tunde i will like to have their contact, is very important to me, because i want to know more about you people and i also have a gift of write a good story.



Sir, i need your support by getting your phone No. or email address.



This is my own phone No.08051841122, 07025448278 or E-mail address bisioneesa@yahoo.com



Thanks.



Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade Says:



October 17, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Reply

Bisi Afrika,will send this to T.K. at his e-mail and he will reply you- oda? O se o.



olabode odeyemi Says:



November 6, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Reply

you’ve been known to produce GOOD FILMS,baba,one day our film will win an oscar award.this i pray .amen



Wilson Says:



November 23, 2009 at 5:31 am
Reply

Hi,

can u pls link me up with Olabode Odeyemi, we went to high school together and have lost touch for over 21 years. I currently lives in Philadelphia USA. Thanks



adekunle abiola Says:



November 8, 2008 at 11:03 am
Reply

Kudos, Baba! I must say i know arugba will be a blockbuster like any of your films. Cant wait to see it, I really need to cause i need it for my project. Be good to inform me when u’re showing the film in any cinema in nigeria, pleeeeeease. Sky is ur beginning sir, Long life!



Durowade Najeem Olarewaju Says:



April 14, 2009 at 9:41 am
Reply

I think the movie industry can strive better with the likes of Tunde Kelani and Tade Ogidan being in the administative post.I mean they are just too great.I think that’s why you don’t see them producing movies anyhow like most of our young producers.They are the ICON of our time in Yoruba land.



oye Says:



December 7, 2009 at 9:53 am
Reply

Uncle TK,

Well done sir.

ls when will arugba get into the market for us to have in our homes?

Rgrds



Flint Says:



January 15, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Reply

why are we african so obssessed to win an oscar, this goes to say we still do not believed that what we have is the best, we wait on the white man to approve it first before we believe it is good enough. What is with this winning oscar of a thing, by the way the oscar is not even a world award it is a hollywood award with just a section for best foriegn language movie, now does that translate to a world award, why can’t we take pride in what is ours, why can’t the amma(african movie academy award) be the highest award and honour to an african film maker, why must we always think that what we have is not good enough until the white says it is good enough, i believe the amma is what all africans should be hoping and wishing their film makers to win as their best and highest accolade.Before i forget i love tunde kekani’s work and i believe arugba is one of his best works.



oluwatoyin Says:



February 6, 2010 at 10:42 am
Reply

hello,my name is toyin Akinrosoye am a scritwritter am i want to lent how to direct a yoruba films,sir help me out

77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777

FROM TUNDE KELANI'S BLOG
tundekelani.blogspot.com

Tk's Notebook


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

ARUGBA Goes Mobile



Right now, I feel like a recalcitrant, sober, itinerant husband creeping into bed after a long, unexplained absence from the matrimonial home. I cannot explain it and I am not going to try but why is writing sometimes so tedious? I envy writers who have to write with deadline looming all the time. They are nothing short of super humans. However, they continue to be my inspiration and hopefully they will dash me some more to write regularly. One thing for sure is that there is enough to write about as we embark on the special screenings of Arugba, our latest film in fifty seven local government councils and development areas of Lagos State. I can confirm authoritatively that it is a reality. It was flagged-off yesterday 17th February, 2009 with a packed press conference held at the Press Centre of the Lagos State Secretariat. My speech follows.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we are gathered here today to flag-off a very important journey, a set of premieres of our latest film Arugba in each local government and development area of Lagos State.

Physical contact with the audience is a filmmakers delight and this opportunity to observe and interact with the audience of Arugba is most appreciated. I must therefore acknowledge the visionary leadership of His Excellency, Governor Babatunde Raji Fasola, the Executive Governor of Lagos State for providing this opportunity to screen the film Arugba in each of the 57 Local Government councils and development areas of Lagos State. By doing so, the Lagos State government is opening up an important communication channel between the government and the governed. This feed-back channel, in accordance with modern approaches to governance will avail government a vital insight into the feelings of the people of Lagos State. Modern approaches to governance puts a lot of emphasis on interactivity as interactivity with the governed ensures inputs from the people in the governance process. True development cannot be achieved without the input of the people, after all, development is fundamentally about people. This set of screenings will surely fulfil this important purpose.



I am delighted to inform you that Arugba has been selected in competition at the approaching Pan African Film and Television Festival FESPACO 2009 holding in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 28th February to 7th March, while The Women of Color Arts and Film (WOCAF) Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, USA has already programmed the film to feature at this year’s festival from 19th March to 22nd March, 2009. For me however, it is gratifying that we have this opportunity to show the film to its primary audience before it goes out to the international community.

The Film Arugba is yet another effort to state a case for our language and culture in a fast globalising world. It touches on wide ranging issues such as gender equality, HIV/AIDS, good governance and many other contemporary issues, all within the context of traditional

and contemporary Yoruba culture. The heroine moves smoothly between the two sides of the same culture coin, functioning as the votary maid in the traditional Osun festival yet, a key figure in her secular University. She combines traditional virtues of chastity with modern life skills that enables stand against the distractions of modern living.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I invite you to join me in flagging off the screening of Arugba in the 57 Local government councils and special development areas of Lagos State.

Posted by Tunde KELANI at 11:01 AM Labels: Arugba

6 comments:

Iredotp said...

I am excited about the film 'Arugba' and just can't wait to watch the complete movie. I tends towards the cultural(not surprising as I am a reporter on the arts and culture desk)I believe the society will be better if we are able to go back to our cultural values which has been eroded by colonialism and the greed of our current crop of 'rulers' who can not speak the truth!

March 18, 2009 7:55 AM

The y river said...

I love this too.

March 18, 2009 8:23 AM

yelebalogun said...

This post has been removed by the author.

April 4, 2009 8:19 AM

yelebalogun said...

I grew up knowing my first interest to be in acting more because Baba Ade-Negro's Theatre Group were rehearsing close to my family house in Ado-Odo then in late 1970s.

Today, as an experienced screen writer, actor and producer, I featured in "Arugba" as Pastor, I felt on top of the world.

TK's contribution to Nigerian, African and by extension global film industry is immesurable.

Well done Baba.

You are our pride.

Yele Balogun, the producer of "Aramanda" (The Amazing God), directed by Jare Adeniregun, acted the role of Pastor in "Arugba".

April 4, 2009 9:41 AM

Bola said...

I am so dying to see this, hopefully we would get the originals here in the states, else i will have to send for it from home.

May 20, 2009 12:28 PM

Adekunle Falae said...

When Is Arugba going to be avaialable

June 7, 2009 2:59 PM

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Tunde KELANI

Blog Archive

▼ 2009 (2)

► July (1)

Ayantunji Amoo Goes Home

▼ February (1)

ARUGBA Goes Mobile

► 2007 (2)

► February (1) To Lapland And Back In Five Days

► January (1) When Reality Overtakes Art

► 2006 (1)

► December (1) Year 2006 - a retrospective...

About Me

Tunde KELANI

Tunde Kelani holds a Diploma in the Art and Technique of Filmmaking from the London International Film School, London. After many years in the Nigerian Film Industry as a Cinematographer, he now manages Mainframe Film & Television Productions, an outfit formed to document Nigeria’s rich culture. Tunde Kelani has worked on most feature films produced in the country in his capacity as a Cinematographer and Director.

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