One year of ‘My Thoughts Exactly’

“That’s my area,” I replied. “Would you like me to write on something else?” “Politics,” he said. I promised him I’d try. Another time a university colleague confronted me, “You’re always writing about movies,” he said. “Why are you running away from music?” I have gotten similar emails from people, wanting me to write on […]

“That’s my area,” I replied. “Would you like me to write on something else?” “Politics,” he said. I promised him I’d try. Another time a university colleague confronted me, “You’re always writing about movies,” he said. “Why are you running away from music?” I have gotten similar emails from people, wanting me to write on different topics, advising me on my writing, asking me for more information.  I have even gotten a few insults and threats. But for the most part, people have written to me engaging with what I have written and asking me about myself.

This year, I’m working full time on my PhD dissertation, so it’s likely that the column will mostly reflect issues I am trying to think through academically. I also hope to write more actual movie reviews and perhaps share excerpts from interviews I have been doing for the past three years. Last year, I focused on several major areas. Primarily, yes, I focused a lot on movies, writing reviews of Balaraba directed by Aminu Saira, Duniyar Sama directed by Hassan Giggs, Aisha Halilu’s film Makuwa directed by Suleiman Alubankudi, Lonzo Nzekwe’s Anchor Baby, Kunle Afolayan’s The Figurine, and  Champions of Our Time directed by Mak Kusare and written/produced by Chidi Nwokeabia. 

In addition to these Nigerian films, I wrote reviews of two older works of “classic” African cinema, Haitian Raul Peck’s biopic Lumumba, and Burkinabe Dani Kouyate’s Keita. Most recently, I published Chidi Nwokeabia’s response to my review of Champions of Our Time, which gave more background on the inspiration behind the film. In addition to reviews, I interviewed Ali Bature, the now director of the Kano History and Culture Bureau who was involved in the Hausa film industry at its inception, and Hausa film producer Hajiya Umma Ali, who spoke about the challenges of being a female producer in Kannywood. Sadly, I also had to write several pieces mourning the passing of two actresses: Amina Garba, fondly known as “Mama Dumba” famous for her motherly roles in Hausa films; and the young Maryam Umar Aliyu, who featured in Sai Na Dawo, Dan Zaki, and many others. I also wrote about specific film related events: a review of Zina Saro-Wiwa’s Nollywood-themed art installation “Sharon Stone in Abuja” in New York, and over four week’s worth of columns on experiences at FESPACO film festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I pointed to the problematic exclusion of the digital video format from the main category at Africa’s oldest festival and reflected on what I learned about distribution in Africa from a marketer selling pirated Nigerian films in Ouagadougou.

I also reported on the Kannywood debriefing session held by the Hausa filmmakers who had attended the festival, Dr. Ahmad Sarari, Nasiru B. Mohammad, and Mikail Isah bin Hassan. FESPACO was still on my mind as I described the African Movie Academy Awards held in Bayelsa State, and how, in their acknowledgment of Nollywood, they seem a fresher and more forward-looking organization. I also wrote on the Nigerian Copyright Commission’s war on piracy, responded to LA-based consultant Rob Aft’s assessment of the new Nigerian cinema, and meditated on questions raised by a several Nollywood conferences held in Lagos.

 

Although, I have an MA in African literature, I probably did not write as much on literature as I should have. When author Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani wrote a New York Times opinion piece saying she said she was glad Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o didn’t win the 2010 Nobel Prize for literature because she “shudder[s] to imagine” that young African writers might copy his commitment to writing in African languages,  I responded that perhaps Nwaubani would find more of the humour and light reading she claims is lacking in African literature if she actually paid attention to writing being done in African languages, particularly the vast amounts of literature that are being written in Hausa. In the literary vein, I also spent a couple of weeks highlighting some of my favourite authors and books, including Hausa novelists Nazir Adam Salih, Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, and Ibrahim Sheme.

For my friend who wanted more on music, I did write about the “Kano to Lagos” concert, which brought together Lagos and Kano-based artists for an exciting Hausa-English musical collaboration. I also included a translation of Kannywood musician Yakubu Mohammad’s song “Bankwana na Kauna” by Zaria-based writer, translator, and guest columnist Ibrahim Waziri. Sadly one of my first pieces on music was mourning the passing of upcoming Abuja based producer Osaze “Sazzy” Omonbude. Not long after he died, his friend Korex of Intersection Media, finished editing a brilliant music video of Sazzy’s “Mr. Chairman” that demonstrates just how much we have to miss.

For those readers who wanted to know more about me personally, I kicked off the column with a piece explaining how after spending years in Jos, Nigeria growing up, I came back to write my PhD dissertation on the Hausa film industry. Other personal columns included a piece on my struggles to maintain privacy in the intrusive world of Facebook and about how plans to visit Mali with my best friend were scuttled when we realized how expensive air fares were between African countries, illustrating the arbitrariness of borders that continue colonial divisions of Africa. Recently, I also wrote several pieces on the joys and difficulties of observing Ramadan, as a Christian, alongside my Muslim friends.

My personal passions also came out in the other major focus on the conflict in Jos and elsewhere. My first column on the Jos crisis, came out on Christmas Day, celebrating the peace efforts of the Young Ambassadors for Community Peace and Interfaith Foundation who organized a football camp and match, with teams balanced with Muslims and Christians. Ironically, on Christmas Eve, the night before this celebration was to be published, two bombs went off in Jos. Thus began a series of articles on peace. I pointed to lessons taught by Martin Luther King Jr on the importance of recognizing the humanity even in our enemies, shared my own experiences of September 11, 2001 in New York, and celebrated inter-faith cooperation during the Egyptian revolution (which has unfortunately disintegrated into sectarian violence this week). Unfortunately, following the elections, violence spilled over into the rest of the north. I wrote about experiences in Kano during the riots there and mourned bombings and violence elsewhere in the country.

Three other guest columnists  contributed their perspectives on peace: Dr. K.A. Korb of University of Jos, wrote on the problems of stereotypes in seeking revenge in “Case of Mistaken Identities,” “Grieving for Jos Again,” and called for a focus on the positive rather than the negative in “The Stories we Share.”  Maiduguri based Samdi Lazarus Musa shared the heartbreak of the Jos crisis from the perspective of a mixed-Christian Muslim family in “Torn Between” and Jos-based peace activist Kingsley Madueke gave suggestions on how to improve the situation in Jos in “Why Christian, Muslim Jos youths should climb the ‘peace tree.’”

Although I have written frequently on violence, I hope my column was able to point out the many positive things going on in the country, as well: peace building, developments in film and music, infrastructure developments. After my articles on the Goethe Institut in Kano going off-grid with solar energy, I received dozens of emails from people asking how they too can take advantage of the “free” energy of the sun. As we head into a new year, I pray that my writing on crisis will decrease and the positive stories will increase. If you want to find any of these articles, check them out as archived on the Weekly Trust website. Please send any suggestions or comments to my email address listed in the column header. Thank you for reading!