In conversation with Ali Bature (II)
“Yeah, you see, this is maybe something that is really close to our culture, but it was not written in the law. We face this problem also with our artists in the bureau. When they get married, they retire into their house. But when they become a little bit older, you know, and they have […]
“Yeah, you see, this is maybe something that is really close to our culture, but it was not written in the law. We face this problem also with our artists in the bureau. When they get married, they retire into their house. But when they become a little bit older, you know, and they have family, maybe the demands of the daily needs [are not as heavy] some of them come back. So, it is only when they are young, they have a lot of fans and a lot of admirers, and with manhood, you know,” he laughs again, wryly, “with jealousy and things likea that, maybe that would put them off the track for some time.”
In addition to the early contribution the History and Culture Bureau made to the film industry, Bature points out that the History and Culture Bureau also has “our own state cultural troupe, which we retain as promoters of our culture in the area of drama, dance, music, all the traditional performing arts. In almost all the local governments in the state, there is a cultural troupe. We assist them by giving them instructors. If they need any assistance in training for dancing, singing, instrumental playing, we find the resources and give them this assistance free of charge, in order to guide them also, and to maintain our indigenous folklore. We go and ask elderly women in the palace, for instance, when they were little kids what songs they used to play, when they were girls, when there was wedding. We try to get all these lyrics, document them, and add them to our contemporary presentation. We try to revive all this folklore.”
I ask about the controversy surrounding singing and dancing in the film industry and whether this extends to the singing and dancing by the Koroso International Dance troupe, whom I had seen performing at the Kano opening of the German cultural centre, the Goethe Institute. He answered: “The Koroso troupe is one of the oldest dancing troupes in Nigeria. It is more than thirty years old. What we are doing there is purely cultural, Hausa-Fulani steps, reflecting social events, daily activities and so on. The people in the state are used to the Koroso. They never think of it in any other aspect, that boys are holding the girls and things like that. In fact, everybody moves when they dance. It is a very energetic dance and a very lovely rhythm of music. It is also practiced in the schools. So, there is some part of our culture that we really bring in on that innocent level. Because when such activities occur in the Hausa community, young men and ladies go out to those festivals, Fulani festivals as well, like sharro. The men and women go there and there is a lot of entertainment, and there is nothing that embarrasses the people that are there.”
“In fact, all the international events, if there is a reception in Abuja, or an international seminar or conference, our troupe is one the one that is always invited. At the opening of the All-African games, our troupe participated there. For the recent FIFA opening, Kano was one of the zones where the FIFA event was taking place, therefore we also had to go show the culture of Kano at the opening ceremony. So it has been a tool for promoting our culture both at the state level, the national level, and international level. They have gone to festivals in Germany, in the United States. Even the ‘We are the World’ album with Michael Jackson, they were part of the show. They’ve been to Jamaica, they’ve been to France. So they are a really good opportunity to show the world that there are other cultures in Nigeria apart from Yoruba and Igbo because these are the main two cultures that are known abroad. So, sometimes people get really amazed with this new outlook from Nigeria. It is unique, and we try to maintain a standard to promote Kano state in general.”
As for the singing and dancing in the films, “I think in the films, it comes from the contemporary movement. The steps are not all that indigenous and the mode of dressing is maybe a little bit aggressive. But I think if the presentation was well studied and researched and well inserted on the script, [it would work.] When we give advice to the censorship, we say that sometimes it depends on the script, how the song really matters in introducing the drama, bringing up emotion of the audience. So, we should look to it as being part of the production. Quality can come if we have a very good script with very meaningful songs and music.”
Since so much of our discussion has centred around culture, I ask him for his definition of culture. He answers, “The definition of culture is what the people utilize out of the environment and their surroundings. You feel that the Hausa culture is really part of the environment and surroundings. Take for instance, this building,” he indicates the high ceilings, small windows, and adobe walls of the room we sit in. “It is part of the environment, everything here is a local component. It is very friendly to the environment, and at the same time, gives comfort. You can see here it is a cool temperature, neither hot nor cold. You can measure that in all aspects, not only architecture, but in the mode of dressing. Even the evolution of Kano was based on the craft of iron smelting. The first settlers were good smelters. Because of the presence of the iron ore and the good environment, the hills around, they had agriculture, weapons, and civilization. Kano became a big entity on the rocks before even the coming of Islam. It is, like any culture in the world, well rooted into the environment. We feel that we have an indigenous technology that something can evolve out of. Between how they used to smelt and the modern technology of smelting, what is the missing link? How can things be improved?”
“Culture is dynamic. We live with globalization. We are no more a small village. You are now part of the world. You are very much exposed. So, we have to open our minds and our hearts. We feel culture is the best area by which we can present our people, whether it is in trade, whether it is in industry, in lectures, and intellectual aspects, Hausa songs, poems. All of these things, we feel is just like any other civilization on earth. We are trying to tell the world about it.”
Concluded