EP03: Morrison's Black Book, Chimurenga's Festac '77 – "Unwritable Stories" in a Book Form
04/29/20 • 36 min
1 Listener
In Episode 3 of Dots of Thoughts (DoT), Emeka Okereke reflects on a book which preoccupied him of late: Festac ‘77. This book, “decomposed, an-arranged and reproduced” by Chimurenga the Cape-Town based Pan African art space/publishers, is a compilation of the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture which took place in Nigeria, in 1977. It was an epic event that Ntone Edjabe, founder of Chimurenga, placed on the same historical pedestal as the Great Pyramid. The Festival brought together some 30,000 black artists and scholars from 56 different countries of Africa and the Diaspora to present, converse and debate African/black art and ideologies.
Emeka Okereke (in Berlin) connected with Ntone Edjabe (in Cape Town) via a phone call to discuss the intentions, thought processes and conceptual positions which necessitated the book. Okereke suggested a descriptive premise as “anti-book” evidenced in the book’s unconventional form-content relation. Edjabe expanded on the analogy by referencing Toni Morrison’s Black Book as a significant source of inspiration. Like Morrison’s Black Book, Festac ‘77 set out with the audacious goal to put in book form an “unwritable history and story”. The foremost aim was to “experiment with new forms of writing that can capture the complexity, the epic scale of an event such as Festac ‘77.” A book that would account for the opacity, incomprehensibility, inconsistencies that are the crossroads of any foreseeable (African) unity.
“The experiment was not to write a book about Festac. The experiment was to write a book through Festac”, Edjabe inferred.
Join the conversation by leaving a comment on your preferred platform of listening.
Listen on: nkatapodcast.com, Apple Podcast, Spotify, TuneIn and more.
Want to become one of the foundational supporters of Nkata Podcast Station, see our Patreon page: nkatapodcast/patreon
Hi, amazing listeners! Emeka Okereke here. I am the founder and host of this show. If you’ve enjoyed the stories, insights, and creativity we bring to this podcast series, I invite you to join my Patreon community at patreon.com/EmekaOkereke. 🎉
By becoming a patron, you’ll gain exclusive access to my artistic world, including:
• Behind-the-scenes content from my photography projects.
• Sneak peeks of upcoming films, vlogs, and video podcasts.
• Exclusive DJ playlists curated just for you.
• Bonus podcast episodes and a chance to contribute to future topics.
Whether you’re a fan of the podcast, my visual storytelling, or simply love art and creativity, there’s a tier for you. Your support helps me continue creating high-quality content, and it truly means the world to me.
Thank you for listening. Follow Nkata Podcast Station on Instagram @nkatapodcast and Twitter.
See the website for extensive materials: nkatapodcast.com
In Episode 3 of Dots of Thoughts (DoT), Emeka Okereke reflects on a book which preoccupied him of late: Festac ‘77. This book, “decomposed, an-arranged and reproduced” by Chimurenga the Cape-Town based Pan African art space/publishers, is a compilation of the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture which took place in Nigeria, in 1977. It was an epic event that Ntone Edjabe, founder of Chimurenga, placed on the same historical pedestal as the Great Pyramid. The Festival brought together some 30,000 black artists and scholars from 56 different countries of Africa and the Diaspora to present, converse and debate African/black art and ideologies.
Emeka Okereke (in Berlin) connected with Ntone Edjabe (in Cape Town) via a phone call to discuss the intentions, thought processes and conceptual positions which necessitated the book. Okereke suggested a descriptive premise as “anti-book” evidenced in the book’s unconventional form-content relation. Edjabe expanded on the analogy by referencing Toni Morrison’s Black Book as a significant source of inspiration. Like Morrison’s Black Book, Festac ‘77 set out with the audacious goal to put in book form an “unwritable history and story”. The foremost aim was to “experiment with new forms of writing that can capture the complexity, the epic scale of an event such as Festac ‘77.” A book that would account for the opacity, incomprehensibility, inconsistencies that are the crossroads of any foreseeable (African) unity.
“The experiment was not to write a book about Festac. The experiment was to write a book through Festac”, Edjabe inferred.
Join the conversation by leaving a comment on your preferred platform of listening.
Listen on: nkatapodcast.com, Apple Podcast, Spotify, TuneIn and more.
Want to become one of the foundational supporters of Nkata Podcast Station, see our Patreon page: nkatapodcast/patreon
Hi, amazing listeners! Emeka Okereke here. I am the founder and host of this show. If you’ve enjoyed the stories, insights, and creativity we bring to this podcast series, I invite you to join my Patreon community at patreon.com/EmekaOkereke. 🎉
By becoming a patron, you’ll gain exclusive access to my artistic world, including:
• Behind-the-scenes content from my photography projects.
• Sneak peeks of upcoming films, vlogs, and video podcasts.
• Exclusive DJ playlists curated just for you.
• Bonus podcast episodes and a chance to contribute to future topics.
Whether you’re a fan of the podcast, my visual storytelling, or simply love art and creativity, there’s a tier for you. Your support helps me continue creating high-quality content, and it truly means the world to me.
Thank you for listening. Follow Nkata Podcast Station on Instagram @nkatapodcast and Twitter.
See the website for extensive materials: nkatapodcast.com
Previous Episode
EP02: Neukölln to Bariga from a Bird's View
Features: Innocent Ekejiuba /Oladimeji Olasoju /Ade Bantu (Lagos, Nigeria)
Host: Emeka Okereke (Berlin, Germany).
Episode two of DoT is an extension of thoughts explored in episode one. This time, Emeka Okereke connects with Innocent Ekejiuba and Oladimeji Olasoju, in Bariga Lagos – Nigeria. They conversed about the state of things with regards to the present situation. They offered remarkable views, garnished with pointed anecdotes (contradictions, grey areas, “politricks”), of how the everyday person of Lagos, and specifically, Bariga are dealing with the realities imposed on them by the lockdown.
“Many people consider themselves as part of the “Essential Services” category because, essentially, that’s what they are to their family and loved ones”, Innocent inferred. While Oladimeji pointed out that no one has yet received any welfare benefits from the government, he was quick to note that the situation has encouraged acts of sharing, kindness, generosity and togetherness amongst neighbours. The masses, churches, and the private sector – not the government – are the real mitigators of this crisis.
The entire episode is backdropped by “Disrupt the Program”, the new single from the Nigerian band, Bantu, led by the Nigerian-German musician, Ade Bantu. The song is a vehement rebuke of the government – calling out its ineptitude and abject disregard for the plight of the masses while imploring the people to do more than be social media protesters.
Ade would further expand on the motivation behind the realisation of the song; why he chose to make its video in Bariga; the urgency from which this song, brimming with a Fela-Kuti intensity, emanated.
What do you make of the different points raised in the conversation?
Leave a comment on the episode in your preferred platform of listening. Selected comments will be addressed in subsequent episodes.
Hi, amazing listeners! Emeka Okereke here. I am the founder and host of this show. If you’ve enjoyed the stories, insights, and creativity we bring to this podcast series, I invite you to join my Patreon community at patreon.com/EmekaOkereke. 🎉
By becoming a patron, you’ll gain exclusive access to my artistic world, including:
• Behind-the-scenes content from my photography projects.
• Sneak peeks of upcoming films, vlogs, and video podcasts.
• Exclusive DJ playlists curated just for you.
• Bonus podcast episodes and a chance to contribute to future topics.
Whether you’re a fan of the podcast, my visual storytelling, or simply love art and creativity, there’s a tier for you. Your support helps me continue creating high-quality content, and it truly means the world to me.
Thank you for listening. Follow Nkata Podcast Station on Instagram @nkatapodcast and Twitter.
See the website for extensive materials: nkatapodcast.com
Next Episode
EP04: It Takes Many Trees to Make a Forest – Tribute to Tony Allen
To dedicate a conversation to Tony Allen is to recall the rich history of African Music, unsurpassed wit and creative ingenuity, needful rebellion, activism and truly African artistic inventions and languages through that very melodious, harmonious, rhythmic, soul-soothing art form called music.
Much of Africa's temperament, sense of community, sharing, family, humanity and spirituality has been captured and indeed preserved in music. But it didn't stay static. If anything, it travelled at the same pace, if not more, as every slave ship that left the continent to cross the Trans-Atlantic ocean in the 16th century. It preserved itself in the subconscious and the imaginary until it was ripe to let itself out inform of Jazz, highlife, Palm wine music, Funk and eventually Afrobeat.
This episode aims to discuss the legacy of Tony Allen from a perspective which takes into account his contribution towards the preservation and dissemination of Afrobeat.
Joining Emeka Okereke (host) through a phone call is Jahman Anikulapo. He is a reputable name in the culture industry in Nigeria. He has been an arts and culture journalist since 1987. But in between, he is a theatre director, producer, and manager of numerous cultural projects and platforms. He is well conversant with the work and legacy of Fela Kuti, and he knew Tony Allen personally.
They discussed the legacy of Tony Allen given the concerted effort to attach it, and somewhat overshadowing it with, the legacy of Fela Kuti. Their conversation threw light on the achievements of Tony Allen. If Fela Kuti is, rightfully so, the inventor of Afrobeat, Tony Allen – through a consistent, prolific career, boasting a discography of over 70 albums and collaborations – was indispensable in sustaining Afrobeat. That, in and of itself, is a worthy legacy.
No foundation can stand without sustenance. No unique identity (as can be attributed to Afrobeat) can fulfil itself without collaboration outside itself. Needless to say: it takes many trees to make a forest
It is such broader correlations and historical perspectives that are of utmost importance.
Listen to the podcast on: www.nkapodcast.com/dot
Also available on: Apple Podcast, Spotify, TuneIn and more...
Hi, amazing listeners! Emeka Okereke here. I am the founder and host of this show. If you’ve enjoyed the stories, insights, and creativity we bring to this podcast series, I invite you to join my Patreon community at patreon.com/EmekaOkereke. 🎉
By becoming a patron, you’ll gain exclusive access to my artistic world, including:
• Behind-the-scenes content from my photography projects.
• Sneak peeks of upcoming films, vlogs, and video podcasts.
• Exclusive DJ playlists curated just for you.
• Bonus podcast episodes and a chance to contribute to future topics.
Whether you’re a fan of the podcast, my visual storytelling, or simply love art and creativity, there’s a tier for you. Your support helps me continue creating high-quality content, and it truly means the world to me.
Thank you for listening. Follow Nkata Podcast Station on Instagram @nkatapodcast and Twitter.
See the website for extensive materials: nkatapodcast.com
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