An afternoon at the Revelation Palazzo

Segmented into different exhibition points, each one treats extensively a specific subject from music to culture telling different sides of the Binis. Guests are educated on history and times they may never have heard about before then. Upon entering the premises, guests are greeted by three towering male sculptures dressed in different Bini traditional costumes. […]

Segmented into different exhibition points, each one treats extensively a specific subject from music to culture telling different sides of the Binis. Guests are educated on history and times they may never have heard about before then.
Upon entering the premises, guests are greeted by three towering male sculptures dressed in different Bini traditional costumes. One of them a chief, so determined by his haircut, which is clean shaven from the back to the middle, leaving a bit of hair to give a tiara effect. According to our tour guide, Mr. Chris Osaretin, manager of the Palazzo, this is a style unique to a Bini chief that has been honoured by the Omo N’Oba (the Oba of Benin). Another is a man in a dress worn over a skirt; this is considered the latest of Benin traditional fashion trend. A third one, a man with a wrapper draped over his shoulder, as the Esans of Edo state would also wear.
Lining the outside walls are photographs of school children on excursion, tourists from Europe, America and Africa. Transporting them down memory lane is a refurbished human drawn rickshaw used before the 1800s donated by a family upon the passing of their father, who once used it. This leads the eyes to three muskets lined up according to their sizes in a showglass on the wall. They are shotguns used in the 1500s during the Bini war with Igala of present day Kogi State.
There are also photos of various episodes of the colonial era from 1914 to 1960. A catalogue of the different dress codes of policemen from across Nigeria in that time stood imposingly in one corner. Catching the eye was the fact that no matter how elaborately dressed their cloths were, they had no shoes on.
One photograph guests cannot ignore and are forced to interact with is that of painfully sick children, malnourished and suffering from kwashiorkor during the Nigerian Civil War. The irony of it all is one of the children, a fair skinned child clinging onto an empty tin of corned, bent over trying to support his bloated stomach whilst the other children with equally bloated stomachs, hands on their heads, looked away, seemingly at an uncertain future.
Ushering guests into the main building is the Hall of Fame where portraits of distinguished individuals like Nelson Mandela, Wole Soyinka and Donald Duke as well as a lineup of artefacts, antiquities and creations by Prof.   Uwaifo including his famous two-headed guitar.  In the early 80s Sir. Uwaifo invented the first Wonder Guitar, also known as Magic Guitar, so named for its ability to play the keyboard and guitar at the same time and also spin round 360 degree. Also, on display is a lookalike of Uwaifo’s invention, the Double Neck 18-stringed guitar, which was exhibited in London in 1967 and was adjudged the first of its kind in the world.
Also displayed at the Hall of Fame is Africa’s first Gold Disc presented to the legend by Philips Recording Company for the vast sale of 1965 hit song, ‘Joromi’.
Guests get a chance to listen to and watch a documentary on Nigeria from pre-independence to the civil war and post that era till Yar’ Adua’s time with sculptural busts created by the artist, showing the different leaders who have ruled the country.
With the need for people to disguise the natural bitterness of their life’s experiences by adding sugars and sweets to their diets, there was an increase in sugar plantations in the West Indies and subsequently lead to fishing for labour in Africa, and thus slave trade of more than 2.5million Africans. Representing this era is first a life size sculpture of a glossed up slave chained around his neck heading to be auctioned. Other sculptural works which depict the brutal era and conditions they faced were replicated as they were ready to be shipped to Europe, make up the ‘Slave Market’ exhibition point. 
Coming back to more recent times and marking the end of a period when most Bendelites lived in fear of the tyrant/criminal, Lawrence Anini. Captured at this exhibition point, is the firing squad style by which he and two members of his gang were executed by soldiers.
Before the advent of bronze casting and photography, weaving and carving were already in existence in the art of the Binis. The ‘Ekhure’ the staff of office is a carved wooden object with a rattle built inside the upper arm.  A number of them were on display and Prof. Uwaifo explained their significance. “This is a form of representation as photography is, to immortalize the head of the family whenever he passes on.
“This staff is placed at an alter dedicated to the ancestors one after another. It is believed that each ancestor has a gift be it knowledge, warfare, inquisition or art; if an ancestor lives up to a hundred years and there are about twenty staffs of office, the family’s history can be traced to about two thousand years back. It is also believed that they answer prayers, just as saints are canonized. One announces his presence at the alter by a ringing a bell kept there.”
Going on from there one enters into the ‘Palace of the Oba’ as sculptural works representing Benin’s current Oba Erediuwa and his aide who sort of overlook the goings-on of the British invasion in 1897. Explicitly replicated is the trial of Oba Ovonramwen with all the key players in the process, Captains Philips and Moore, before eventually sending him on exile to Calabar.
The Binis have 52   ways of greetings and each begins with ‘La’  with every Bini family tied to one of these greetings beginning with the Oba’s who greets  ‘Lamogun’. According to Uwaifo, it may be that 52 people who started Benin. “This is a part of Bini history people may not perfectly understand, but it is one that makes our genealogy traceable.”
Many have asked if the lyrics, ‘… if you see mammy water, never, never you run away…’ were born out of an actual encounter with a mermaid. Uwaifo tell his own story with an effigy of him and a mermaid. He did that through   a narration when he was  a staff at the then Nigerian Television Service, now Nigerian Television Authority. Uwaifo had routinely gone to the bar Beach when a mermaid swam up to him. Frightened by what he had seen, he could neither shout nor run. He attempted to run but before he could make his move, the mermaid swam back to him and said, ‘Guitar boy, if you see mammy water, never you run away’; thus the 1967 song, ‘Guitar Boy’.
A relaxing spot was the ‘You too can fly’ where guests are treated to video clips of Uwiafo’s past and current works in an aeroplane like structure with the maestro as host.
Also, giving guests an insight into ancient Benin tradition where a human sacrifice was made to appease the gods in cases of heavy rainfall and floods. “When houses and farms were swept away by floods the Oba after consulting the oracle would ask for human sacrifice. It was the same when the sun was scorching and destroyed property. These scenes were replicated in sculptural pieces at another exhibition point, ‘The City of blood’. Also for guests to see were works detailing how individuals committed suicide after being asked to do so by the Oba for committing a treasonable offence. If he failed to do so, he would be beheaded in the forest at nighttime and his blood offered to the gods.
The tour ended at the studio where latest compositions yet to be released are preserved.stomachs, hands on their heads, looked away, seemingly at an uncertain future.
Ushering guests into the main building is the Hall of Fame with portraits of distinguished individuals like Nelson Mandela, Wole Soyinka and Donald Duke as well as a lineup of artefacts, antiquities and creations by Prof.   Uwaifo including his famous two-headed guitar.  In the early 80s Sir. Uwaifo invented the first Wonder Guitar, also known as Magic Guitar, so named for its ability to play the keyboard and guitar at the same time and also spin round 360 degree. Also, on display is a lookalike of Uwaifo’s invention, the Double Neck 18-stringed guitar, which was exhibited in London in 1967 and was adjudged the first of its kind in the world.
Also displayed at the Hall of Fame is Africa’s first Gold Disc presented to the legend by Philips Recording Company for the vast sale of 1965 hit song, ‘Joromi’.
Guests get a chance to listen to and watch a documentary on Nigeria from pre-independence to the civil war and post that era till Yar’ Adua’s time with sculptural busts created by the artist, showing the different leaders who have ruled the country.
With the need for people to disguise the natural bitterness of their life’s experiences by adding sugars and sweets to their diets, there was an increase in sugar plantations in the West Indies which subsequently lead to fishing for labour in Africa, and thus slave trade of more than 2.5million Africans. Representing this era is first, a life size sculpture of a glossed up slave chained around his neck heading to be auctioned. Other sculptural works which depict the brutal era and conditions they faced were replicated as they were ready to be shipped to Europe, make up the ‘Slave Market’ exhibition point. 
Coming back to more recent times and marking the end of a period when most Bendelites lived in fear of the tyrant/criminal, Lawrence Anini is another display. Captured at this exhibition point, is the firing squad style by which he and two members of his gang were executed by soldiers.
Before the advent of bronze casting and photography, weaving and carving were already in existence in the art of the Binis. The ‘Ekhure’ the staff of office is a carved wooden object with a rattle built inside the upper arm.  A number of them were on display and Prof. Uwaifo explained their significance. “This is a form of representation as photography is, to immortalize the head of the family whenever he passes on.
“This staff is placed at an alter dedicated to the ancestors one after another. It is believed that each ancestor has a gift; be it knowledge, warfare, inquisition or art; if an ancestor lives up to a hundred years and there are about twenty staffs of office, the family’s history can be traced to about two thousand years back. It is also believed that they answer prayers, just as saints are canonized. One announces his presence at the alter by a ringing a bell kept there.”
Going on from there one enters into the ‘Palace of the Oba’ as sculptural works representing Benin’s current Oba Erediuwa and his aide who sort of overlook the goings-on of the British invasion in 1897. Explicitly replicated is the trial of Oba Ovonramwen with all the key players in the process, Captains Philips and Moore, before eventually sending him on exile to Calabar.
The Binis have 52   ways of greetings and each begins with ‘La’  with every Bini family tied to one of these greetings beginning with the Oba’s who greets  ‘Lamogun’. According to Uwaifo, it may be that 52 people who started Benin. “This is a part of Bini history people may not perfectly understand, but it is one that makes our genealogy traceable.”
Many have asked if the lyrics, ‘… if you see mammy water, never, never you run away…’ were born out of an actual encounter with a mermaid. Uwaifo tell his own story with an effigy of him and a mermaid. He did that through   a narration when he was  a staff at the then Nigerian Television Service, now Nigerian Television Authority. Uwaifo had routinely gone to the bar Beach when a mermaid swam up to him. Frightened by what he had seen, he could neither shout nor run. He attempted to run but before he could make his move, the mermaid swam back to him and said, ‘Guitar boy, if you see mammy water, never you run away’; thus the song, ‘Guitar Boy’.
A relaxing spot was the ‘You too can fly’ where guests are treated to video clips of Uwiafo’s past and current works in an aeroplane like structure with the maestro as host.
Also, giving guests an insight into ancient Benin tradition where a human sacrifice was made to appease the gods in cases of heavy rainfall and floods. “When houses and farms were swept away by floods the Oba after consulting the oracle would ask for human sacrifice. It was the same when the sun was scorching and destroyed property. These scenes were replicated in sculptural pieces at another exhibition point, ‘The City of blood’. Also for guests to see were works detailing how individuals committed suicide after being asked to do so by the Oba for committing a treasonable offence. If he failed to do so, he would be beheaded in the forest at nighttime and his blood offered to the gods.
The tour ended at the studio where latest compositions yet to be released are preserved.