27 June 2009
column
Lagos — Michael Jackson was never meant to die. He was supposed to live forever. Yes, he will still do that with his great videos and ever green songs and entire legacy which he has left behind. But the truth remains that the man, Michael Joseph Jackson is no more. A lot of us grew up believing that he probably was not human. He did not use the toilet, neither did he sweat like we mere mortals. Thus, death was almost unthinkable for him. Obviously, all that has changed now and it simply brings to the fore the very popular and over flogged yet true saying that the only thing constant in life is change!
My first real memory of him is from the 'Thriller' video because my parents, as much as they were apostles of highlife and Nigerian music at the time, could not resist the birth of the pop icon and the power of that song/album. We would watch that video over and over again in my house and we all knew the dance moves. Of course over time, issues about his personal life and choices seemed to over shadow his talent but yet, with every album, no one could deny the fact that he still had a lot to offer the world.
His albums are some of the highest selling of all time with Thriller still selling hundreds of copies till date. I for one have not yet gotten my personal copy and will surely do. That is how much of a legend that album was/is. The album produced by Quincy Jones still has the world record for highest selling album all time with over 100million copies sold. Obviously, Quincy had done well for Michael and Michael had every reason to stick with him for all his albums till death. But he did not.
My friend Emma Ugolee pointed this out to me when Dr. Reuben Abati's article was generating all the controversy. According to Emma, if Michael probably was like Dr. Abati, then he would have also hated change and stuck with Quincy. But he realised the need to move with the times. Quincy's time had gone by and the new kid on the block at the time was Teddy Riley. Michael needed to tap into the new sounds of the time and as a result, his album; 'Dangerous' which Teddy Riley produced, has sold over 32 million copies till date. Yet that success did not still stop him from changing producers yet again.
Akon seems to be the go to guy these days and that fact was not lost on Michael. For his yet to be released album, Michael knew that he needed someone who was in tune with the new sounds and Akon seemed perfect. They had started working together, with a few singles already released before his death last Thursday. Obviously, that sort of change is what makes the music industry as interesting as it is and Nigerian musicians have come to understand that. They have evolved over time too and it has gotten them super recognition even outside the country. Nigerian music has not had it so good like they are now regardless of the criticisms they may be receiving.
In spite of all that, it was the very first paragraph of Reuben Abati's now very controversial article titled; 'A Nation's Identity Crises', published in the Guardian Newspapers on Sunday, June 21, 2009, that put me off. For those of you who did not get to see that article, I wonder where you have been. Anyway, in summary, the article took a swipe at people of my generation (a.k.a. the Hip-Hop generation) for being clueless. Dr. Abati had issues with us coming up with abbreviations like Naija and 9ja for Nigeria and Las Gidi for Lagos. He also did not understand why Nigerian music seemed to be losing its identity as a result of the heavy reliance on a borrowed genre; Hip-hop. He had issues with the lyrics and production style. He even had issues with the musicians' names as he could not understand why artistes had to go by aliases instead of their birth names. He did have his points no doubt but most of those points got lost in the sad generalisation and indictment of an entire generation.
But I still say that the very first paragraph and Dr. Abati's talk about how Nigeria was named, was what killed it for me. I have always admired countries like Ghana, Zimbabwe and Namibia who were able to change the names of their countries from Gold Coast, Rhodesia and South-West Africa respectively, as soon as the colonial masters left. They adopted names that their people could identify better with as well as names that probably meant something to them. I remember asking my parents once, why we did not do the same with the name Nigeria and my father said there was probably a language problem. What tribe would the new name for the country come from? Would we merge names from the three major tribes? What then happens to the other over 240 tribes? And so, we lost a chance to have a proper identity because of our constant tribal sentiments.
What does Niger area mean anyway? Of what importance is that name to us? Dr. Abati talked about how the River Niger used to be really important to us just like the Nile is to the Egyptians. But Gold too was and still is important to Ghanaians, yet they did not stick to the name Gold Coast. As if that was not enough, Dr. Abati reminded us that we were named by Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard's consort (a.k.a. wife, mistress, girlfriend or kele like we say in this generation). In Dr. Abati's words; "We grew up as school children, imagining stories about how Lugard in one special romantic moment, asked his mistress to have the honour of naming a new country in Africa. Something like: "Hello sweetheart, what name will you rather give the new country that I am creating?" She replied; "Let me give it a thought Awright; how about Ni-ge-ria?" To which Lugard replied; "That would do. How thoughtful, my fair lady? You are ever so dependable."
I know that was meant to be a joke but it really was not a good one because it made me wonder even more, why we had to stick to that name, 'Nigeria'. As much as he may have had a case for the supposed adulteration of the name Nigeria by coming up with versions like Naija and 9ja, I think it all fell flat with him trying to justify the beauty of the name Nigeria. Who on earth is Flora Shaw and why should her opinion matter? Is she more important than Mr. Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, the guy who designed the Nigerian flag, who is actually Nigerian but is dying without any recognition?
I have always believed that the biggest disappointment to this country has been the generation born around Nigeria's Independence and a little thereafter (one to which Abati belongs). I may be judging wrongly but I believe that most of the events that happened in this country that could have turned our fortune for good happened when that generation was just emerging like my generation is now. Sadly, a lot of them sat back and watched things take a terrible slide.
Iran is going through probably the toughest time in their history right now. Elections were held and a lot of Iranians have felt disenfranchised as a result. Protests have continued now for weeks without any signs of it abating. New media (which our generation has embraced gladly) like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, have all provided some of the most potent voices for the fight for justice in the Middle-Eastern country. But none of it more powerful than what the people of Iran are doing. Every day, men and women, regardless of what differences they may have, troop out on the streets of Tehran to show that they are ready to die so that their country will have justice. And they are really dying; some in full glare of the whole world. Thanks to YouTube, Neda, a young Iranian lady has become the name and face of the struggle. She was out on one of the daily protests with her father and friends, when a gunshot from a building above the streets rang out and
hit her. A passerby started recording it on his camera phone and the whole world was made to see Neda bleed to death while her father screamed out her name, telling her to hang in there. She never woke up.
It also keeps reminding me of the Sharpeville massacre from March 21, 1960 when police in South Africa shot and killed at least 69 black protesters and injured some 180 more for trying to stage a peaceful protest against the apartheid government. The Sharpeville Massacre was a turning point for South Africa as most countries around the world were finally awakened to the evils of apartheid and the need to end it.
I see these two events and get even sadder at how events between 1983 and 1999 conspired to make Nigeria sink more into oblivion, poverty and depression. From the countless coups through the institutionalization of corruption to June 12, Nigerians in that Independence generation lost a good opportunity to pull a Sharpeville or Iran on the Nigerian government and change things for good. We had a chance many times to get Nigeria back on track and start afresh but sadly let it slide. Yes, there were protests here and there by Civil Rights organisations and a couple of media houses did put themselves on the line. But where was the bulk of that generation of young Nigerians when they were needed to come out as a people and face the government head on? Where was that generation's sense of identity; since I am guessing there was no identity crisis at that time?
Unfortunately, that generation, instead of helping save Nigeria, adopted the 'if you can't beat them, join them' attitude. Corruption was helped to flourish, drug trafficking became a Nigerian thing as every young man at the time wanted quick money and drugs provided an easy way to get it. As a result, like one of Nigeria's foremost musicians Banky W, said in his response to Dr. Reuben Abati's piece; "We (now) want to travel (to visit other countries) but previous generations messed up so they won't give us visas."
Advance fee Fraud was born and even celebrated in that generation with chieftaincy titles and Honorary Doctorate Degrees, being dished out everywhere. Thus, whatever the so called 'Yahoo-Yahoo' boys are doing today can never be compared to how much the original '419' kingpins did in the 80's and early 90's.
But there should be no need for all this generational battle. One of the positives from Dr. Abati's article is the fact that he at least got us all talking. It showed that people in this generation can actually come together and speak with one voice. It also brought up the need to speak up about the inadequacies of our generation and the music industry. Let no one lose sight of the fact that Dr. Abati may have had a few valid points even if not very well put across.
Finally, I will always be a fan of Dr. Abati, his principles and writing. I am not about to change just because of one article. I know for sure that he is not scared of change because he does like the face of change in the modern world; Barack Obama. But that should not mean that all his views will be accepted all the time. He still is an icon for a lot of us in the media and will continue to be.
Rest in Peace Michael Jackson
ANSWERS ANYONE?
Half the year is already gone. Have you achieved at least half the things you set out to achieve this year?
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Is "Dr." Abati a medical doctor? The last time I read his bio, he is a journalist. Only in Nigeria is every dick and harry referred to as a Dr., an Egnr., a Barrister, SAN, Chief, Asiwaju, Turaki, Alhaji…even a mere Mr. will still have an Esqr, at the end of his name. Like Michael Jackson's Kaddafi’s epaulets and glitter, an honorary degree in Nigeria has becomes an official appellation appended to the honoree to be worn as a pendant - a la (Dr.) Turai YarAdua. I guess every Nigerian Jim and Jill's egos need to be massaged to feel a sense of importance - I think there is a name for that complex. What's the word...?
One cannot but shed tears for the ups and downs of this gifted man. Does his medical history include a visit or two to a "Shrink?"
May the soul of Michael Joseph Jackson rest in peace. I do appreciate his immense talents and contributions to his genre of music and to the arts, but one thing I wouldn't forget easily, is his fruitless attempts to become white, which was utterly stupid.
That's why Reuben Abati shouldn't be crucified because that's the way a lot of us are - we try so hard to be who we are not to the detriment of our real selves, and more often than not we lose our identity and then finally die being neither ourselves or the person we tried to be.
Thanks
And apparently the author of this article doesn't understand that Michael had a kind of skin cancer that made his skin mottled--with white patches, and that his skin bleaching was to hide this condition, not his race, which he had on several occasions proudly declared himself to be. Also his nose and plastic surgery was discovered by accident after he broke it and needed surgery...or at least that's what I understand, and the first surgery wasn't left him with breathing problems so he had a second surgery done and that is when he, while he was at it, asked the surgeon to make his nose smaller. I think Michael Jackson continued to have nose jobs not because he wanted to be white, but because he had a low self esteem, thanks to his father. And yes I think his story is all in all, very sad. As for God creating white people first--interesting, considering the origins of the entire race is widely believed to be in Africa. I suspect the first humans were actually black, not white. But whatever. I'm not a believer in god at all, so the notion that such a being created whites first and then realized his mistakes and then came up with an improved model is rather laughable.
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