Omale Allen Abdul-Jabbar
11 October 2008
opinion
What is it that makes a great writer remembered, quoted and sung for all times like that classical piece "The nutcracker suite" by Peter Illich Tchaikovsky? Undying. Unfading. Ever sweet and titillating to all senses like the stars that appear again and again each night, rousing little babies to spasms of ecstasy and adults to merriment and aged wonder, peddling questions that only throw up more questions.
No easy straight -jacket answer. Like life itself, everyone has opinions, but who truly knows? All we know is that life is precious and it hurts when we lose precious things. This is also true of a truly fantastic writer. His writings and the words deployed in their dexterity, charm, allure, finesse and magic, even the described fragrances remain with you long after you're done reading the book. And you never read such a book just once! I have read Mario Puzo's The Godfather five times, once a year for five consecutive years! And I can tell you dialogues, characters and descriptions vividly in the book!
I believe in America, America has made my fortune ...
Ok. I dash off but that is the undertaker Amerigo Bonasera beginning the book.
Back to the question, what is it that makes a truly fabulous writer? I think answer to this may be found in the following among other salient ones: creation of very believable characters, archiving so much verisimilitude that they could actually seem to have jumped out of the tales of their confinement, conversing and juggling the variables of life alongside us. See Ashikodi of Maik Nwosu, Lomba of Helon Habila, Joseph K of Franz Kafka, Okonkwo of Chinua Achebe, Brother Jero and Lakunle and several others of Wole Soyinka, Don Quixote of Cervantes, even Mairogo of Denja Abdullahi to list a few. This is also very true of all the titles of James Hardley Chase's fictional narratives. Remember Al Barney, the guy with his eyes to the ground?
Next is the ability of forever wedding a city to tales. Forever, like John Lennon and Paul McCartney, like Trinidad and Tobago, like the Nile and Egypt... James Joyce also did it with Dubliners, Obi Nwakamma with that simply indelible essay "Lagos and the Life of Poets", Pius Adesanmi with "Ibadan", Lola Soneyin: A poet's Penkelemess Days. Achebe's TFA is the quintessential African novel, Ben Okri's Famished Road is the Nigerian novel story, Anna Karenina is the all time Russian classic, the list multiplies .These, in my humble opinion are among the fine points that makes a truly great writer!
And this is where Denja Abdullahi's current poetry publication Abuja Nunyi (This is Abuja) comes in.
The late poet and Art enthusiast cum philanthropist Mamman Jiya Vatsa will forever be remembered not only for evergreen contribution to literature in Nigeria with the grant of the writers village in Mpape in the FCT as then minister, but also for being the truly first poet laureate of Abuja with his collection The Poetry of Abuja.
Denja Abdullahi's Abuja Nunyi will also go down in history for the same reason. And he could very well be the second poet laureate of the city after Vatsa. Just like Simbo Olorunfemi for his EKO RE (This is Lagos), Denja as he is fondly referred to by his peers will forever be hence forth synonymous with the FCT!
The collection harbouring a total of forty-one poems, spread across what for convenience's sake I'd prefer to call six seasons is a must-read for Nigerians as well as the global community. Let us find out why.
The first season is titled WELCOME SONG. The succeeding ones are SONGS ON THE LIPS OF MODERN ABUJA, SONGS THE CITY TAUGHT ME, and SONGS OF THE FUTURE AND FAREWELL SONG. One quick question comes to mind, why songs? For a song gives trappings of music, lyricism and musicality. It connotes a tale that is actually sung as opposed to a mere telling. Although the panorama and cruise effect of the poems and stylistic deportment may portray this, ABUJA NUNYI is actually told while the first impression is something like the troubadour or minstrel of Ezenwa Ohaeto or the author's own very Mairogo chanting away.
Each season addresses the particular thematic concern of their capturing, allowing the poet the ambience to wade and narrate his hilarious, emotive, serious, highly introspective, and historical cum educative tale of his enamoured city. Denja's style or approach herein is really commendable and that issue of ambience as mentioned earlier, he wades into the tale from all angles, from the omniscient narrator, the first, second as well the third person respectively. The poems become really thrilling when the poet steps aside and the characters begin to converse among themselves!
By mere looking at the book and upon going through the interred pieces, it is evident that the poet meant for the collection to be simply assessable. It is poetry for every facet of the Nigerian masses and even children alike. The last point is so true when gleamed from the point of view of the absence of dense jets of metaphorical postulations we are often quick to jump into when writing to impress.
His mentor Meg Peacocke who midwifed the birth of this collection via the British Council\Lancaster University Crossing borders on-line mentoring project 2005\2006 opines: "These poems deserve to be read." I add that ABUJA NUNYI (Gbagyi: This is Abuja ) deserves a place in the National Assembly, The Presidency, airports, prominent bookshops and tourist centres across the globe as the poet's task was to present the Nigerian capital city to Nigerian and the international audience alike.
Ok. Three questions. And very important ones at that. 1. Will ABUJA NUNYI get the desired place and attention in Government quarters? 2. Will the poet ever get a chance to read in the hallowed chamber of the National Assembly? 3. And how successful exactly is this particular outing by Denja Abdullahi in terms of thematic concern and craft?
The poet engages the vehicle of illustrations, in other words, he calls on the aid of images to assist in conveying his messages. The publisher Kraft Books deserves commendation once more for a job well done. The city gate, bright rising sun in full glory, rocky patches that welcome the visitor to the city is well captured in the front cover of the book. The font size lettering readily betrays the accessibility of the poems within.
The entries begin with the singular poem "City gate" in the first season WELCOME SONG, ending with "How has Abuja treated you?" in the last FAREWELL SONG
You are welcome
If only you would shun the ethnic
And soak in the waters of patriotism
On and on he goes with his welcome and call to patriotism. The second season NATIVE SONGS harbours nine poems "City of rocks", "Suleja's song", "We the people", "Song of the native son", "Gbagyi woman", "To the Honoured Potter", "Ushafa", "Gbagyi dancers" and "Giri Potters". All the mentioned poems chronicle the hydra- headed concerns of the aborigines of the city now owned and treasured by all Nigerians. Their joys, sorrows, pains and mixed expectations of the new dawn, especially their interaction/contract/negotiation with the Nigerian government when the federal capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja. Has the deal been fair to the original owners of Abuja? Are they worse off or better off with this capital now posted here? What I find very distinctive herein about the poetic style is the personification of this place as characters who talks and the poet himself becomes an observer and spectator! Hear "Suleja's song" on page 19:
I saw them as they came
They begged for my land...
Already you get the feel of the poem. And it isn't a sweet or happy song. She concludes thus:
I saw as they built to touch the sky
I rose to be embraced
And I was told to wait
"City of rocks" cries of erstwhile lure, rustic melody and the seductive algebra of rocks, here we witness a dialogue between Zuma Rock, Wupape hills, Aso Rock, Katampe Hill, summed up again on this sad note:
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