Day of the tall drum

At 6.25pm, history was made as the world’s tallest drum, measuring 16ft tall and 5th in circumference, was unveiled amid pomp and ceremony in the ancient town of Abeokuta by the Ogun State governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun. The drum, which was draped in  Nigeria’s  flag before the unveiling, had to be bent towards the podium […]

At 6.25pm, history was made as the world’s tallest drum, measuring 16ft tall and 5th in circumference, was unveiled amid pomp and ceremony in the ancient town of Abeokuta by the Ogun State governor, Sen. Ibikunle Amosun.
The drum, which was draped in  Nigeria’s  flag before the unveiling, had to be bent towards the podium before it was played to the admiration of the crowd at the open space behind the  June 12  Cultural Centre, Abeokuta.
On January 15, 2014, at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understandings, Osogbo, Osun State, a 12ft drum, acclaimed to be the tallest, was unveiled. And since history is expected to be made and broken, Abeokuta stood still to witness yet another feat on April 19, 2016.
Six African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Senegal, Sierra-Leone and South Africa – were part of this historic event. They were ably  represented by their ambassadors.  Two states of the federation were also in attendance.
Also, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who is generally accepted as the chief custodian of Yorubal culture and tradition, led the Egba paramount ruler, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo,  the paramount ruler of Yewaland, Oba Kehinde Olugbenle and the Ose Ile Egbaland, Dr. Adedapo Tejuoso, to the epoch-making event.
The unveiling of the tallest drum was packaged under the first Nigerian Drums Festival, which took centre stage for three days. The state commissioner for culture and tourism, Bashorun Olumuyiwa Oladipo, stated that the festival was initiated in recognition of the fact that the Nigerian culture was dying; hence there was the need to revive it. He added that the festival was also aimed at bringing Nigerians across the federation together to foster unity.
Also speaking, the governor described the event as an avenue to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the state. He assured that his administration would continue to promote unity through arts and culture.
“Drums have continued to serve as  important means of entertainment and communication, particularly among the Yoruba-speaking people of Nigeria,” he said.
The opening ceremony witnessed a razzmatazz of drumming performances by some of the best examples of drumbands in Nigeria. The first performance, after the opening prayer, was by Aanu. Aanu, a female ekwe player, led a band of male and female drummers to get the audience singing to the rhythms of her ekwe, a wooden percussion instrument with origins in eastern Nigeria.
Unique Fingers performed after Aanu. Unique Fingers, featuring about 10 females out of the total 40 drummers on stage, showed that women could play any drum, just like men. Aralola, one of the best female talking drum players in Nigeria, also took the stage, accompanied with a xylophone to thrill the audience.
The Olo Bata also came to the stage to show the world that what a man can do on drums, a woman can also do,  perhaps better. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) drama group that performed last, also featured female drummers. The Kegite team was led by a female Isokan drum. The unity drum, as it is fondly called,  is made of hardwood and sealed at the top end with a deer’s skin. Constructed around its long and solid body frame are carved reliefs of various cultural and historical representations and interpretations.
Drummers from the northern region were also not left out as the troupe from Kano State also thrilled the audience to the all-drums outfit performance.
During her  goodwill message, the director-general of the National Council for Art and Culture, Dayo Keshi, who was apparently excited, suggested that the festival should be an annual event. She added that such festivals would be a perfect answer to the  economic diversification drive of the present administration in the country.
 Keshi proposed the establishment of a craft village in Ogun State and big art malls in big cities of the country. This, she said, would be achievable through collaboration with the private sector.
“This type of festival will play an economic role from the grassroots, which has the custody of our heritage right from the state, national and international levels. For these  reasons, permit me to suggest that this festival we are all part of today would continue for many years. And we will all make it a date here in April every year till eternity.
“Indeed, festivals such as this would be the right answer to the economic diversification we are all going through in this our great country, Nigeria. The festival has brought together, people of various cultures. It brought tourists who came to enjoy what they had not witnessed before. The young and the old enjoyed the festival. It is a bottom-top way of wealth creation.
“I also want to suggest to the governor, all the dignitaries here present, and decision makers, that we should think of another way  to generate further income  using today’s festival. We should think of creating, if possible, an artiste village here in Abeokuta. This will enable all artistes from various local governments to come out and send all their art works. Indeed, we should be able to enjoy and see the creativity displayed in the state. I know that by this time next year, the governor would be showing us, or formally opening one of the biggest art and craft village in Nigeria.
“To further promote and expand  our economic gains from the culture sector, I hope  the good people of Ogun State would work with the private sector to, not only establish your state art and craft market, but let us start looking nationally where we could also establish, with the help of the private sector, three art malls in at least three of our big cities in Nigeria. The essence of this is that each art mall will promote the works of every Nigerian artiste.
“When we travel abroad, a number of us can’t come back home without visiting one of the malls in those cities, especially in Europe and America.
“Let me reiterate that  there’s need for investment in the creative industry to generate the massive economic advantage beneficial to us as a nation.  Indeed, this remains  one sector  where the main drivers are all Nigerians. We don’t need any foreign expert to help us within our creative industry.
“While continuing with African festivals, of which the good people of Ogun State have  been a key factor, we in the NCAC look forward to the establishment of more national festivals such as the national masquerade festival, the national textile fair festival, etc. I know that Ogun State, and other states here present, will be part of these celebrations. I hope this is the beginning of many festivals in Ogun State, especially the drum festival.  As I said earlier, this is definitely the beginning, not the end,’’ Keshi said.
The director-general of the  Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation, Sally Mbanefo , was also of the view that the time is now ripe  for the country to move away from oil and its crisis in the international market, to the richness of our culture, which was demonstrated through the festival.
Mbanefo, who expressed the need to protect and nurture the African culture and heritage, explained that any nation without history has no legacy, and that any nation that abandons its heritage and culture has no reason to be in existence. To her, the unity of not only Nigeria but the whole of Africa,  can be achieved through reviving the dead cultures.
“Do you know that the whole of Africa has come to a standstill because of this special event? Ogun State is the centre of action this year. One important part of this occasion is that the Ooni of Ife came, and  with him were not less than six African ambassadors. That is to tell you the importance of this occasion, the importance of Yoruba people, the importance of Egbaland people and the importance of Yoruba heritage and culture in Nigeria.
“It means that now is the time for us to move away from dependence on oil revenue to embracing the richness of our culture. Everywhere I go, the first people I go to see are the traditional rulers of the community.  I do that because civilisation has made us forget our history and heritage. A country without a history has no legacy, a country that abandons its heritage and culture has no reason to be in existence, especially in Africa.
“I tell you, the people, the food, the music, the entertainment, the movie industry, our culture and the various festivals we have, are so fascinating that you can’t stop writing about them.
“The reason why we are here  today; the whole of Africa is here, the ambassadors have closed down their offices to support the executive governor of Ogun State on this special celebration  is because we are no longer looking at unity within Nigeria, we are looking at unity within Africa. We want to unify from within: Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba.
“The presence of these  ambassadors here today means that all these nations have respect for the unity of Africa .
“We have over 500 drummers.And what is this drumming all about? Drumming is a very major historical form of communication in Nigeria, especially among the Yoruba people. I have a talking drum of my own, and I make sure my children have talking drums. It’s part of embracing our culture. And the second is entertainment,’’ Mbanefo said.
The president of the La-Campagne Tropicana Worldwide, Dr Wale Akinboboye, explained that it was time for Nigeria to borrow a leaf  from Dubai,  which has a population of about five million but records over 25 million tourists on an annual basis.  Senegal also recorded the same number of tourists last year.
Akinboboye advised that the Ogun State government should take ownership of the festival on the continent of Africa by naming it Africa Drums Festival. He revealed that Kenya’s  ambassador to Nigeria had promised to bring all the drums in Kenya to the festival in next year’s edition.
“Today, I must tell you that Ogun has seen the beginning of something. I will guarantee you that we  will never see the end of it because you have begun something that has been left untouched for so many years, for hundreds of years. The time has come for us to borrow from Dubai with just five million people recording 25 million tourists on an annual basis.We must borrow from Malaysia. Recently, the ambassador of Senegal said they  recorded a total of 25 million tourists last year.
“Now, we have Nigerians in the Diaspora, with only about 17 million of them recording approximately 21 million dollars without tourism products in Nigeria. Jamaica, with just 2.5 million people, records a total of 3.5 million tourists on an annual basis.
“The Kenyan ambassador said that next year  he would  bring all the drums in  Kenya to Abeokuta. So I will like to  appeal to the governor of Ogun State  to pay more attention to this. I will like to appeal that we don’t need to only call it a Nigerian Drum Festival, we should call it the African Drum Festival and take ownership of it.  In Africa, we need to understand the fact that the platform we are standing on today was the doing of yesterday people, so the platform of tomorrow people must be built by us, today’s people,’’ he said.
As the unveiling of the ceremony got closer and some hefty young men were seen carrying the 16ft drum into the pavilion, the audience got into a  frenzy, perhaps to ensure that the story of the drum was true.
Oba Ogunwusi, who expressed satisfaction at the rejuvenation of what he called a dead culture, said the only thing that could bring harmony and progress into the entire continent was embedded in its rich culture and heritage.
The traditional ruler went down memory lane, saying, “Nigeria came to be a nation in 1914, but before the existence of Nigeria, there had  been governance through the kingship system from the northern and southern parts of the country. It has been so  for centuries. And what has been the driving force? It’s our heritage, our culture and our tradition. There’s a strong driving force across the entire country and to the entire Africa as a continent. One of it is why we are here today – the Drums Festival.
“It is very common to all the countries in Africa, same with our pattern of dressing and the same with the reason and the way we worship. That is our source, that is our heritage,;we shouldn’t forget it.
“This is a binding force for all of us in Africa, and as a result, it’s something we should  not joke with. I give all the glory for giving it to the entire Ogun State people, being led by Senator Ibikunle Amosun. This will dovetail to the entire country and the  continent as a whole. The ambassadors  came to support the binding force that is common to all of us in Africa. We shouldn’t joke with it, we should work on how to bring the harmony together. It will definitely boost our tourism potentials in Africa.
“As a result, we should all come together as one driving force to help this heritage, this culture, and continue to nurture it. We should be very proud of what we own. This is what we own and this is what is bringing all of us together in the entire soil of Africa. We should be proud of our heritage. Today, I am very proud that we are rejuvenating our dead culture, we are rejuvenating our dead heritage. We are very proud to be associated with it. This is a good starting point and we should all capitalise on it.’’ 
Oba Adedotun noted,  “This is one thing that will make people come to us in millions. They would want to see how we were before the white man came. We know the white man came and he found out that we already had a society that was well cultured; they had nothing to add to the civilisation they met here.
For a hundred years we had the Yoruba civil wars, but people were here before the wars, and the same people were here after that wars. The culture was never abrogated like some historians would want us to belief.
“So we are back to what we ought to have been doing over the years. Oil is gone and gone for good. We can’t expect to find as much money as we got from oil before. We can’t continue mourning our fate, we have to go to what we have and use what we have to get what we want. We have so much to offer the world.
According to Oba Gbadebo: “Some people say when you practise your culture and tradition you are practising idol worship.  That is totally wrong. Any culture you do not have to put palm oil and the blood of chicken and bow down to a particular thing cannot be idol worshipping.
“Governor Amosun has set the pace and we expect  other governors in the country to follow suit. If we have more festivals like this, we will not have to travel abroad for festivals again.”
The paramount rulers from Yewa and Oseile Egba also expressed  satisfaction at the festival and commended the state government’s initiative.
Governor Amosun, who was joined by his wife, Olufunsho,  later unveiled the drum. High point of the unveiling ceremony was the bending of the drum towards the governor   in order to get his hands to it.
Femi Coker, the creator of the drum, told Daily Trust Sunday that his love  for innovations ignited his interest to produce the 16ft drum. Coker, a Badagry, Lagos-based artist, culturalist and curator but hails from Ogun State, said he was also behind the 11ft drum unveiled in Osun in 2014.
“When the Ogun State Ministry of Culture approached me to do something to commemorate the drums festival, the idea to break my initial record came to mind. Again, what came to mind was who would beat the drum. And when this was settled, I went to work, and the result is what we have today. We are all happy for it,’’ Coker said.
He further explained that the concept of an African family was another unique point of his initiatives. According to him, the drums represent the father, mother and son.
“As you know, Africans have always cherished and embraced the concept of the family. So I have the father, which is the tallest, standing at 16ft, the mother at 15ft and the child at 14ft.
“This is for African unity and progress. I have seen different types of drums, but they all represent different cultures  and places. This is for Africa and I am proud of it,” he said.