By Lanre Idowu
With words and music, mime and dance, nine performance poets serenaded their audience with their interpretations of selected poems of the literary giant, Professor Wole Soyinka Thursday evening, at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island.
It was the occasion of the annual celebration of World Poetry Day, on March 21, as declared by UNESCO in 1999. Organised for the fifth time in Nigeria by Providus Bank, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), initiative, it was an event that featured nine poets – six from Nigeria and three others from Kenya, Qatar, and the UK.
Although previous editions had centred on development issues especially those concerning the environment, education, gender-sensitivity and inclusivity, the 2024 edition was designed to flag-off Soyinka’s imminent entry into the Club of Nonagenarians.
It was presented as a conversation around Soyinka’s poetry. Each poet was tasked with picking two poems of Soyinka’s for appraisal and providing a poetic response. Hence, it was headlined, “Engaging the Quintessential Poet Wole Soyinka @ 90”. And what a delightful two hour outing it was.
Evelyn Osagie’s opening act, reminded the audience of the evil of banditry as captured in Soyinka’s ode to Leah Sharibu, the young Christian girl, who was stolen from boarding school by godless animals in northern Nigeria and remains a hostage for refusing to renounce her faith and standing up to evil men.
For as long as she remains a slave of the filthy pigs, Evelyn said that we are all hostages to bloodied hands that suck unformed breasts and the matter “is no longer Leah”.
Other acts followed in quick succession, connecting with the audience with words, movements, and music that brought their hearts alive, and set their minds, thinking.
Owoicho Oko, Uche Uwadinachi, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (Kenya), Salamatu Sule, Ruth Mahogany, Akeem Lasisi, Malika Booker (UK), and Natalie Handal (UAE) put up enlivening performances befitting their enchanting names!
Salamatu, adopting the style of a teacher moderating a tutorial class, described a writer, nay a poet, of Soyinka’s standing as a “social crusader, public investigator and defender”. She challenged filmmakers to tap more into the poetic form for a rewarding outcome.
To Booker, poets are those who dissect and challenge language use; indeed “poets anoint the people with words”.
Ngwatilo Mamiyu expressed delight to be in Nigeria, pointing to her shared rage with some of Soyinka’s works. In a tribute to diligence, she noted, “Sweat is living for the earth…”.
Lasisi, waxing lyrical in English and Yoruba, reminded the audience of the return of the savages to the sacred zone …. anarchists, kidnappers, bandits with no notion of order or greatness who would rather hold everyone and everything hostage than let Nigeria breathe.
Wole Soyinka was compelled by the project consultant and compere, Jahman Anikulapo, to speak to the audience. He did for barely one minute, and expressed delight at the turnout, but said his birthday in July would be the best time for more talk.
The turnout was good. It was a good mixture of the Ancient and Modern drawn from the Arts, Academia, Media, the Diplomatic community, and a welcoming crop of young professionals. It was a pointer that with strong corporate organisations showing sustained interest in the Arts, poetry can continue to contribute its quota to making the people vent, think, and act.
- Lanre Idowu is Editor-in-Chief of Media Review