“This is going to be a very informal evening, we will just go straight to business,” compere, Dafe Ivwurie, said after reading ‘Heartstrings’, the title poem from Sam Umukoro’s poetry collection being presented that evening of Sunday, August 7.
Upscale Bogobiri, Ikoyi, Lagos, was the venue and present to support Umukoro, a former 9ja News writer for Vanguard and The Guardian newspapers, were some of the cream of Nigeria’s creative industry. Comedians, Basket Mouth and Bovi; musicians, Ade Bantu, Yinka Davies, and Emem Ema; celebrity designer, Mudi; London-based actor, Wale Ojo; writer, Toni Kan; and Olumide Iyanda, editor, Saturday Independent.
The romanticist
Editor, Guardian on Sunday, Jahman Anikulapo, was assigned the task of presenting the collection of love poems. He did the job with aplomb, begining with a tribute to veteran actor, Sam Loco Efe, who had died earlier in the day.
The editor disclosed that the late comedian, Joe Emordi, and Jimi Solanke, were the only adults that used to read with them during meetings of the Tuesday Poetry Club, which later transformed into the Ibadan Poetry League when Anikulapo was a student at the University of Ibadan.
He noted that being asked to present the book after Harry Garuba, his old teacher at UI had done so last year in South Africa, was like being taken back to Ibadan.
The art critic noted that Umukoro is a man “who still believes in the old ways because people hardly write love poems nowadays.” All of such tender writings, he disclosed, is done on Facebook and Blackberry. Anikulapo said Umukoro has “turned us to that ancient thought process that love turns the world around and it is what can change our world.
The programme chair, Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA), further described Umukoro as a ‘romanticist’, for sounding as if he is writing short stories about women in some of the poems.
Anikulapo, whose review was titled ‘Of Love, Lust and Loss’, commended the the author of ‘Once Upon A Monday’ for presenting love as something to be cherished.
South Africa-based Kolade Arogundade, whose outfit, Giants in the Land, published the collection in association with Epik Books, disclosed that the goal of the the non-governmental organisation is to publish affordable books.
The teacher at the University of Cape Town disclosed that ‘Heartstrings’ – first launched on February 14, 2010 at the Book Lounge, Cape Town – would be sold cheaply in Nigeria because he and the author want as many people as possible to own copies.
Cruel, beautiful love
Keeping with the light mood, Basket Mouth initially pretended to be reading nursery rhymes from the collection; and had some guests wondering if children’s ditties were in the collection.
“I am happy to be the first person to read from Sam’s book,” he later said, to kickstart the celebrity reading sessions before rendering ‘Tribute for Mama’. Former member of the now defunct female singing group, KUSH, Emem, read ‘You Will Know’ while diva, Davies, who had been cracking people up with ripostes to comments, movingly performed ‘Red Red Wine’.
Gynaecologist, Femi Omololu, read ‘Anasthesia’ while on-air-personality, Wana Udobang, who admitted to being “a helpless romantic” read ‘If’. Singer Nneka, who was scheduled to read but could not make the event, registered her presence when ‘Lovesong’, a poem from the collection set to music, was played.
Ojo, in town for some production engagements, toed Anikulapo’s step by paying tribute to Sam Loco with whom he featured in ‘Why Worry The Barber’ on the NTA in the 80s. He read a self-penned poem, ‘I Did Not Die’ – and swiftly transited from death to love with, “I find love to be difficult. It can be cruel sometimes but it’s also beautiful” before reading ‘Catherina’.
Jazz artist, Chinasa, read ‘Jasmine Flowers’; Bantu read ‘Firedrops’; and Bovi, who expressed concern about the overly sexual content of Nigerian songs, read ‘On Her Cross’.
A good day
CORA secretary general, Toyin Akinosho, commended Umukoro for his selflessness. He recalled Umukoro’s role in getting Helon Habila’s ‘Prison Notes’ – which later transformed into ‘Waiting for An Angel’ – published.
The culture landscapist further intervened by expressing regret that conversations about Nigerian and African literature are being held in the West. He enjoined the Lagos State government, which charges high entertainment tax, to give places like Bogobiri some reprieve so they can host more literary and arts events.
The chief launcher, Dennis Amakri, noted that it is “a good day because we are doing something the new generation of Nigerians are forgetting.” He recalled the era of writing love letters back in the day and described “poems as the raw materials for love.”
He decried the fact that Nigerians hustle too much and do not appreciate the finer things of life which include poetry. Amakri, whose wife celebrated her birthday on the same day, displayed his romantic side by purchasing a copy of ‘Heartstrings’ for her with a hefty sum of money.
Umukoro rounded up the event with a vote of thanks, disclosing that he started out writing political poems but was advised by his father, who was also in the audience, to hide his anger more in verse. He read ‘Seasons’, the first poem in ‘Heartstrings’ and an untitled one that is a work in progress.
