Benjamin Njoku
21 June 2008
Lagos — Roli Hope Odeka is one of the very few notable Nigerian art ambassadors who is doing the country proud in the outside world.
Based in Milan, Italy, her name does not strike any strange chord to anyone who is conversant with the classical opera lyrical music and poetic recitals. But she represents that specie of composers that are endowed with musical creative talents writes Benjamin Njoku.
Though, almost choked by a punctuated beginning, Roli Odeka has etched her name in gold as one of the very few African composers and performers, who has broken barriers of race to make her marks in the international front. Apart from being a music composer, she is also a writer, poet and painter. When she is not composing, she is either writing or painting her thoughts on canvass. She came to lime light as soon as she discovered the enormous creative endowment locked up in her bones.
Roli was a victim of single parenthood. As a child growing up in the early 50s, she was traumatized by the divorce of her parents. Her formative years, she narrates, witnessed daunting challenges that suppressed her vision as a child. However, she continued and continued to listen to the voices in her mind, which she calls her invisible friends, and which, to her, served as a guide and source of inspiration.
Nonetheless, what she missed in terms of true parental love, and acceptance from home as a child, she got in the atmosphere she finds herself today. Now, she is on a vengeful mission of sorts, determined ever to leverage on these experiences to make soothing impact in the lives of children, many of which are still being scorched in the heat of multiple deprivations.
Roli was in Nigeria last weekend to launch her Roli H. Geiger Foundation. The launch of the Foundation, held at the Muson Centre, Lagos, featured a musical performance by the international composer with her Child Ambassador Classical Orchestra. During the launching, the Delta State born composer narrated the essence of her pet project.
"The foundation is to help promote the alleviation of the practical problems and other diseases on children and young people and the application of the principles of medicine, psychology, skills development, culture and attitude change to current socio-economic and moral problems through publications, advocacy and mobilization, poverty alleviation/economic empowerment...."
The Foundation, according to her, is an offshoot of Odeka's milk of kindness for the less privileged and down trodden children, especially Nigerian children. The motto of the Foundation tells it all, " Hope for the hopeless".
Roli Hope Geiger Foundation is sure to usher in hope for children who, otherwise, would have lived their lives without hope. Beyond her artistic involvements, Roli's consuming passion for the alleviation of the plight of the less-privileged children of the world is unmatchable.
Her foray into the despised world of the less privileged also promoted her humanitarian gesture. Hence, her decision to use her music for positive change and development of humanity. Her activities in this area have earned her an award of Diplomatic Adviser of First World Embassy for Children (Rome, Italy) and European Personality Prize(2005) by the Council of Rome.
She says, her Foundation is prepared to network with other governmental and non-governmental organizations, community based organizations, cultural and missionary societies towards curbing and cushioning the scourge of poverty in Nigeria and beyond " I believe in creating new things. I talk about the child because, it has to do with my childhood experience. That's why I wrote my auto-biography, "The Revenge of the Child".
The book tells about the story of my growing up in a difficult situation, where I have to face the world all alone. Those are some of the things that inspired me to think about the child. We have a lot of children suffering not only in Nigeria, but also, across the world."She said.
Roli indeed is in this sense using her resources and art to fight for the rights of the child. According to her, "In my music career, I try to reflect my African identity. All I have got with my identity is what I have got with the music that I made. What I made is the classical music that represents my great ancestors that came through the Delta region. They met with the black women and later produced mixed races. Those are the things that actually formed my gene. I don't need to go to any university to do what I have to do. I knew I could do that when I was only four years."
"Continuing, she said, "But it took me about 45 years later to uncover my hidden talent. My people couldn't understand me. My spirituality, my way of creating, my art and my paintings all come from nowhere, but from God. Actually, I can do things either through dreams or through what people here call divination. I think, it comes from God. Once, one is touched by the angel, one will no longer be a normal human being anymore."
"I don't want to be a normal human being, because every normal human being frightens me. For my paintings, my inspiration comes from above and dreams. There are three ways to my paintings; deriving from dreams, from waste-tissue papers emanating from cleaning my lips, and using whatever design that comes forth as an artistic medium, and finally, that of medium that comes from the bottom of coffee.
Creativity comes to me naturally. I don't need to learn it from any school. I started my art when I was in Nigeria. But then, people thought I was insane. They labelled me, an un- normal child. But today, you all can bear me witness that I am a normal child. Actually, my creativity was discovered, while I sojourned in Italy. I didn't get it from the academy."
Roli, a Nigerian Italian, has not forgotten her roots, neither would she fail to acknowledge Italy, a country that has helped her in no small way to bring back her "paradise lost." She went to Italy as an immigrant. And there, she saw and now, has conquered.
In her words, "I compose, I write, paint, listen to my soul, and never wait to be perfect because this only belongs to God. The mind should be left to float in space and so, creating good images for the present and future."
While comparing Nigerian concert environment with that of the Italy, Roli, remarked, " it is quite different. But I'm glad about what I am seeing in Nigeria, because Nigerians appreciate creativity. Nigerians love novel things. Most of my songs are spiritual in nature. They have got to do with the divine God. I also sing love songs. But today, I did only the opera classical music."
The Italian based Orchestra musician is also the author of two books, "The Reviving Echo (Poetry), and Revenge of the Child" (autobiography) as well as a musical album titled, "Twilight Dreams, Opera, Lyrical." Roli's autobiography was long ago put together, but the above stated facts keep haunting the present hence the idea to float the Roli H. Geiger Foundation, a child rights initiative dedicated to the memory of her great grand father.
Enam Obiosio, Editor, Life at the BusinessDay Newspaper, in his assessment of Roli's works, describes her as " one who represents the young and old heroic form of artistic vision. However, she is still traditional in the way she uses classical forms to embody her ideas and expression perhaps, because the past is often identified and is reminiscent of everything quality." Roli said, she is rarely temperamental; rather " when I am getting depressed, I just pick up my pen and write.
There is nothing like depression or annoyance in my life. When I see somebody that irritates me or when I'm feel stressed up, I pick up my pen and write. On the contrary also, do you see the lipstick that I'm putting on. I will clean it , and look into it and I will see a message contained in the lipstick. S
o, That's the kind of art that I do. Continuing she added that "In her music, as noted by Mr Obiosio that there is a great blend of extended instrumental composition, creating a sound subjected to decoration of ever-increasing complexity with jingling harness.'This she does, perhaps in the order of the first classical masters, Haydn Beethoven and Mozart, who also enjoyed the variation form; and being above all composers of beautiful and arresting melodies.
Childhood life
It was punctuated with struggle. I came from a separated home. But it was for me, growing up in a separated home. Normally, a child should grow up under the care of both the father and the mother. If there is any separation, the child suffers. In my case, I was a victim. But I got the love of my mother. And the love of the mother is not good enough for a child who crave for a father.
This initiative is an up-shoot of my childhood experience. After the concert, I will travel back to Italy. I am promoting my "Twilight Dreams Album" over there. My music have been acclaimed to be like that of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. I will keep on promoting it and go out there, to organize similar concert in Italy. It took me years of my life to perfect this project. And of course, as beneficiaries to this project, scholarship and free medical care will be extended to Children from less-privileged homes. I do classical opera lyrical music and poetic recitals with my newly created "Child Ambassador Orchretra" directed by Mr Dapo Omideyi .
Nigerian women in Italy
They don't represent the image of the country at all. All over the world, it is a phenomenal that is happening. I only want to concentrate on the positive aspect of the country.
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