Nubiart - Wed 5-7pm / Sat 7-9pm on Sound Radio 1503AM. Tel: 08700 414 606. Also on the web at: www.soundradio.info E-mail: Nubiart@soundradio.info or afrikanquest@hotmail.com
NB: Nubiart Diary can also be read weekly at www.ligali.org and on the Afrikan Quest website.
NUBIART EDITORIAL:
Editorial Pt 1
“One has to remember we have very little tradition of people not cheating at elections.” - Ayo Obe, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI-Nigeria)
On midweek Nubiart we interviewed Ayo Obe, a Nigerian Lawyer and former President of the Civil Liberties Organisation – Nigeria’s oldest indigenous human rights group – for eight years. She has just finished five years on the Police Service Commission. Ayo is currently a member of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and is involved in overseeing the forthcoming presidential, national assembly and gubernatorial elections in Nigeria in April 2007.
There were 65 million registered voters for the last election although she felt this may be exaggerated. Currently only the All-Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) have chosen their Presidential candidate - Chief Emeka Ojukwu, former leader of the Biafran secessionists. There are 50 registered parties in the country and Ayo expects that up to 35 of them will field election candidates.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) registration process for potential electors is being done electronically meaning that every person wanting to vote has to provide a photo and a thumbprint. Problems have arisen because of trying to register everybody at once instead of having it as a rolling process; a shortage of electronic registration kits – 120,000 were ordered, 33,000 expected and only 3,000 delivered so far; INEC have converted laptops but they still need to be near a printer; machines need to be charged and the battery life appears to be about 2 hours; trying to register people during Ramadan; the harmattan winds meaning dust is clogging up the machines. The register for April’s elections is meant to close by Dec 14, 2006 and INEC is already saying that voters can vote with their old ID cards as they know not everyone will be registered by then.
A maximum of 500 people will vote at each polling station and they will only be open for 6 hours. This is to enable observers to monitor the boxes to reduce ballot stuffing, intimidation, multiple voting and miscounting. Ayo was strongly in favour of this reduced voting time pointing out that in the 1993 elections people only had one hour to vote and these were considered the most fair in terms of votes cast although annulled by General Babangida. People were able to confirm in advance that they were coming to vote and the votes were counted on the spot at the close of voting instead of being transferred to a central counting place. The NDI will have observers in the country for 2-3 months observing the whole process and ensuring that after the elections the mandate of the people is properly carried out.
At the moment parties are conducting their primaries to select candidates. While there has not been much intra-party violence within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) there has been at least two gubernatorial aspirants assassinated. There are stories of infighting, expulsions, consorting with warlords and ‘fantastic amounts of money changing hands’. Ayo felt that this was because so much of the state’s money comes from oil rather than personal taxation that people don’t see it as being the people’s money that should be properly used and accounted for. While there are anti-corruption laws people do not feel that they are being applied impartially.
Nigeria has only had three periods of civilian government - 1960-66, 1979-83 and the present regime of Olusegun Obasanjo which came in after a transitional period following the demise of Sani Abacha. The South-South (including the Niger Delta) has never produced a president and the east not since the first independent government. Since then the south west and north have had the presidency in both civilian and military governments (with Obasanjo being both a civilian and military president.) Ayo felt though that candidates should have credible policies rather than just appealing to regional affinities to get votes.
The incoming President needs to ensure that the country’s wealth is seen to benefit the country through fixing the infrastructure such as roads, pipe-borne water, electricity, education and employment. The Transitional Monitoring Group (TMG) was set up to monitor the transition to civilian rule “but we’re still to transit to democracy”. The Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE) has formed to make sure that registration, the elections and the mandate are followed rigorously and to stop disillusion and apathy about corrupt elections. The INEC Chairman is regularly called to the Senate, and National Assembly to explain their progress.
Ayo will be following up the post-election appeals process and making sure things such as substituting candidates at the last minute, which is not allowed except in cases of death, does not happen. She felt that although the Nigerian media is vibrant they were doing mainly celebrity-driven election coverage and weren’t following up some of the stories away from the big names and parties. “When we held the media briefing we tried to ensure that some of the news editors and political editors attended so that we could tell them, ‘ Look! Your journalists need to be sent out to some of these places’.”
We discussed corruption in UK elections such as with postal votes (which Nigeria doesn’t have) and the election finances where parties are millions of pounds in debt having borrowed money from dubious people and through dubious practices. In the 2002 and 2004 US elections corrupt officials pre-programmed the electronic voting machines to start counting backwards once they got to 5000 votes.
Nubiart will be following the elections as this is the first time that the Nigerian presidency has transferred from one civilian to another. Ayo finished by expressing her hopes for the election: “One is hoping that if this president has any legacy he will at least achieve the record that he achieved in 1979 and make sure that we can cast votes at which the numbers are not going to be too much in dispute.”
We read two poems from ‘Of Slaughter and Consumption’. Firstly, ‘Mothers of a Nation (For Cynthia Jarrett and Cherry Groce)*:
“I can’t believe it – police won’t put away their guns / I can’t believe it - police won’t put away their guns / I can’t believe it – they shoot us down in Brixton / I can’t believe it – they killed us in Tottenham.
“I can’t believe it – murder in Birmingham / I can’t believe it – roadblock in Nottingham / You must believe me – that our time soon come / You must believe me - tribulation soon done.
“Some call us stupid / But we’re a noble race / Some call us n*****s / But we’re a noble race.
“I can’t believe it – police won’t put away their guns / I can’t believe it – killing us is their fun / But I know that our time soon come / You must believe me – tribulation soon done.”
*{Thanks to Horace ‘Shock Out’ Martin and the late dub poet Mikey Smith.]
The second poem was ‘Measurement (inc. London Weighting)’:
“Test, trial, race, space / Time, money, size, height / Worth, distance, length, weight / Stress, pressure, love, hate / Better, worse, more, less / Bigger, smaller, longer, shorter / Stronger, weaker, harder, softer / Slimmer, fatter, tighter, slacker / Heavier, lighter, darker, clearer / Originally, immediately / Ultimately, infinitely / Actual, relative & imagined / Similarities & differences / Personal choice, partnership / Teamwork, line management / Group accountability / Collective responsibility / Regional autonomy / National unity / Global understanding / Self-determination / (In)dependence by degrees. / Liberty is an extreme / It knows no boundaries.”
Editorial Pt 2
“One of the beautiful things about reggae sound system culture was it squashed those little differences so it didn’t matter where you came from - if you was from Nigeria or Port of Spain in Trinidad.” - Dr William (Lez) Henry aka Lezlee Lyrix
On weekend Nubiart we played the first part of an interview with Dr William (Lez) Henry aka Lezlee Lyrix, cultural consultant, deejay and author-publisher of ‘What the Deejay Said: A Critique From the Street!’. The book came out of his doctoral thesis where he found that many people writing about reggae and Afrikan culture in the UK either hadn’t been there or were plain wrong and distorted in their analysis. He cites Jah Bones, Les Back and Prof Paul Gilroy as three writers with a true understanding of issues.
Lez highlighted the pivotal role of social theorists in creating constructs that still blight how Afrikans are viewed in education, (un)employment, crime, leisure and housing. “A lot of the definitions and the way how Black youth are described to this day can be rooted back into what was coming out of the sociology of race in the ‘60s and ‘70s.”
‘Black youth’ (like teenager and childhood) was a construct that meant that Lez was stopped by the police under the Vagrancy Act / ‘Sus’ law every time he went to London’s West End in his work as a solicitor’s clerk. Eventually, he got his employer to write him a letter explaining what he was doing there – effectively an apartheid-style ‘pass’. “This is what youths used to talk about on sound systems. This was our way of addressing and dealing with our immediate concerns for being born and raised and rejected in the womb of a very scornful and inherently racist mother – United Sindom, United Kingdom, or whatever you want to call it.”
Lez’s sound experience started as a ‘boxboy’ with Bill Marsh and Picka for Jah Shaka. His deejay influences include General Echo from Echo Tone / Stereophonic, Lone Ranger on the original Jamaican ‘Soul-to-Soul’, ‘the Godfather / Senator D’ Nicodemus on Socialist Roots and Brigadier Jerry on Jah Love. Nicodemus never stopped chatting even if the record jumped, was rewound or finished.
Lez’s sound system experiences were mostly based in south London. The first sound that changed the way he listened to music was Brixton’s Frontline in 1978 with deejays Colonel Flux and Welton Youth. This was Lez’s first experience of people coming out expecting to hear the deejay on a version throughout the dance. Then came ‘the fast-style originator’ Peter King, ‘the squadron leader’ Papa Levi, Tippa Irie, Smiley Culture, Asher Senator, Papa Benji, Mikey Sprat and Trevor Notch with the English / cockney style. They met with resistance at first but Jamaican deejays who came over appreciated what they were doing gaining them more respect and broadening the appeal of the British-style. Lez started deejaying in late 1981. By 1982 the crop of deejays had grown to include Daddy Colonel, Rusty, Sandy, Pato Banton, Macka B, Rankin Ann, Champion, General Slater, Ricky Ranking, Lana Gee, Bubbler Ranking, Desi B and Youtie General.
Lez’s first sound, Ghetto Tone, was based in Lewisham and co-managed by Caesar and his elder brother, Victor. Although Ghetto Tone was only around for about 18 months they became well respected when Al Campbell and Lui Lepki, two of the biggest dancehall artists at the time, came and chatted on their sound with news of this spreading like wildfire. After Ghetto Tone, Lez joined Frontline with Mikey ‘Singer Man’ General and then moved to Diamonds. Another pivotal moment was the Sir Lloyd albums from Dick Shepherd Youth Centre in Brixton in 1983. These featured a slew of British deejays and showed that there was a wider market for the kind of issues that the deejays were chatting.
When Lez presented his thesis for his PhD he included a 21-track CD of live cuts of the tunes that Lez’s discusses because “whoever is gonna examine examines my doctorate work is going to have to listen to the culture. There going to have to listen to it and then they will understand why people like myself will always say ‘you can’t read about reggae music, you have to experience reggae music…People trying to transcribe a lyric, you’ll never get the gist of it’.”
We moved on to discuss methodology and the claims of the social sciences to have a monopoly on analysing and presenting objective reality. “Sociology, anthropology and all these social sciences for the last 20 to 30 years have been going through a major crisis. The crisis has been based on representation because they’ve realized that what they have been presenting people with is basically Eurocentric, racist dogma based on what they think people do, think, feel and experience.”
Lez recounted a lot of the racist language and stereotypes that white people believe and continue to perpetuate such as Afrikans having learning difficulties, are governed by the pleasure principle, don’t feel pain hence it’s alright to experiment on them, are monkeys with tails, eat kit-e-kat cat food (corned beef and rice). Many whites were shocked to find that Afrikans in Britain slept in beds and walked on carpets. Teachers at school reinforced these ignorant prejudices. Even now there are students at Goldsmiths University in south London who have never met an Afrikan face-to-face until they arrive there at 18+ years-old. This is part one of the interview – part two will be on midweek Nubiart.
We read ‘Blue Valentines’ from ‘Afrikan Science for the Massive: Meditations on the Three R’s – Race, Religion & Relationships’:
“Just when you want a reaction / That’s when I’ve decided to cool out / Woman you’re like a fatal attraction / My mouth a gwan like a fish in a tub / Your look sends me down in confusion / Your style, length and quality are so right / Your dress sense is really saying something / More than me by the end of the night.
“Now is the time though you may have to wait / But if tomorrow comes then it’s never too late / Cos it’s never too late for a shower of rain / Especially when you live in Britain.
“I man must look a second chance / To make up and reason with you / But when I saw you three months later / You were still too nice to talk to / Maybe you think I disrespect you / Cos I don’t use the standard check and chat / But if I could put my feelings into words / Then you’d see I’ve gone through that. / Ease!”
Full copies of the shows and track playlists are available from Afrikan Quest at the address below.
FORTHCOMING NUBIART SHOWS:
NUBIART 1: Every Wed at 5-7pm. Focus on arts, education, business, sport and health.
Dec 13: ‘What the Deejay Said: A Critique From the Street!’ – Interview with Dr William (Lez) Henry, Nu-Beyond Ltd: Learning By Choice. Meticulously researched study of the social, political, spiritual and cultural influence of British-based reggae Deejays in the 1970’s and 80’s by one of the craft’s main practitioners, Lezlee Lyrix. Pt 2
NUBIART 2: Every Sat at 7-9pm. Focus on political developments and the media.
DEC PROMO:
~ ‘Spotlight on Kenyan Music’ – Various Artists [ARC Music - Out Now] Contemporary songs from Kenya rooted in East Afrikan musical traditions. Sung in Kiswahili, Kikamba and Luhya.
NUBIART LIBRARY – DEC MEDIA:
We will try to recommend books we have read and DVD / videos we have seen and that are available in shops or libraries. However, given the nature and current state of Afrikan publishing and production there may be books, games and films on this list that are worth the extra effort to track down.
~ ‘What the Deejay Said: A Critique From the Street!’ – Dr William (Lez) Henry [Nu-Beyond Ltd: Learning By Choice. ISBNs: 13 978-09554094-0-0 or 10 0-9554094-0-3] Meticulously researched study of the social, political, spiritual and cultural influence of British-based reggae Deejays in the 1970’s and 80’s by one of the craft’s main practitioners, Lezlee Lyrix.
~ ‘Nigeria: The Case for Peaceful and Friendly Dissolution’ – Adedapo Adeniran Esquire [Adedapo Adeniran Esquire] Introductory pamphlet to some of the issues facing Afrika’s most populous nation. Includes analysis of the thoughts of Mallam Mohammed Adamu, a Special Adviser to the Presidency in Abuja which outlines the problems with the ongoing Hausa hegemony of the military-political structures.
~ ‘Black Conscious Mini Factionary: A Foolproof Shortcut to Black Empowerment and Positive Blackminded Thinking’ - Yeshuah [Cultural Resistance Publications] From the ‘Forward’ - ‘The purpose of a Black Conscious Mini Factionary is to help Afrikan people the world over who are looking for a positive alternative way of life to the insane stream white way of life they are presently being forced to adhere to’.
NUBIART DIARY:
~ ‘The African History of London’, The 100 Black Men present ‘1831: The Jamaicans Strike Back!’; ‘Blacks Britannica’; ‘Pamela Franklin's Masterclass’. The trade in slaves was 'abolished' in 1807 but the British did not get around to abolishing slavery itself until 1834. Due to the European biased teaching of history the word abolitionist conjures up images of white men in wigs giving speeches in parliament. The true abolitionists were the millions of African people who fought back using any means necessary over the centuries of the Parliamentary endorsed genocide. Over the next 12 months we will be telling their stories starting with...
‘Jamaica 1831: The Sam 'Daddy Sharpe' Rebellion’ Paul Crooks, author of the best-selling book Ancestors, will present audio-visual evidence describing abolitionist Sam Sharpe who led the biggest rebellion Jamaica ever saw. This rebellion had an international impact and provoked the British Parliament into rushing through the 1834 abolition legislation. For more info on Ancestors visit http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~prcrooks/index.html
‘Blacks Britannica’: This classic film from 1978 features Colin Prescod, John la Rose, Jessica Huntley and other activists from the 1970's explaining exactly how racism works in institutions. Too black and too strong for TV this film has never been broadcast on national TV despite being commissioned by one of the main channels.
‘Pamela Franklin Masterclass’: Award-winning businesswoman Pamela Franklin will repeat her exceptional presentation ‘How to Achieve Against the Odds’. Pamela runs a personal development business and is also an art dealer who specialises in positive images of African / Caribbean people. You can sample her beautiful illustrations at: www.diverseimages.co.uk
On Sat 16 Dec at 2-5.30pm at Museum in Docklands, West India Quay. To book free seats tel: 0870 444 3855. Web: www.musuemindocklands.co.uk
~ Dec B.L.A.K. FRIDAY: ‘The Barefoot Technocrat: Empowering Ourselves in a New Communications Era’, with Brother Keidi Obi Awudu - The Conscious Rasta - one of the most powerful speakers on Afrikan upliftment and self-determination you will ever experience. In the talk he will suggest that Africans need to be connected with the Earth through natural living and that we who would consider ourselves on the cutting edge of social, economic and political evolution, must be quick to acknowledge the current pace of technical innovation. Our philosophy with new technology of empowerment must be, "Get in. Get in early and Get in deep." One of the main areas for us to master is securing digital communications technologies toward the aim of dispersing an ever-expanding, African-centred global family values of Ma’at, self-reliance, innovative creativity and economic viability. On 15 Dec at 7.30pm at SIMBA, 48 Artillery Place, Woolwich, SE18. For info check: www.nubeyond.com
- ‘The Great AIDS Hoax’. On 16 Dec at 7.30-10pm at Nation of Islam South London Mosque, 1-4 Hinton Road, Brixton, London, SW9. Adm: £7 For more info tel: 07956 134 370.
- ‘Technology in the New Communications Era’. On 18 Dec at 7.30-10.30pm at Harriet Tubman House, 136-142 Lower Clapton Road, London, E5. Adm: £7. For more info tel: 07956 134 370. |