MBARI

The MBARI was founded by a group of creative artists in Ibadan. It is a social club that is open not only to writers, artists, musicians etc but to all interested in the arts.

The premises in Onireke street contain: an Africana library, an exhibition room cum lecture hall, and an open air theatre. Members can also order food and drinks from the adjoining Lebanese restaurant. (West End Cafe)

MBARI will engage in the following activities:

EXHIBITIONS:•

MBARI will exhibit the work of young Nigerian artists and also try to bring the work of artists from other African countries to Ibadan.

EXPERIMENTAL THEATRE:• among the first productions planned for the open air theatre are: Brother Jethro by Wole Soyinka and a new tragedy by J.P. Clark.

LECTURES AND COURSES:-the MBARI p~emises will be available for cultural conferences and courses. From August 10th-I 7th the Department of Extra-Mural Studies is organising a Summer School in the Visual Arts which wiH be conducted by the world famous architect Amancio Guedes

It is hoped that MBARI will serve as a home for the Yoruba Poetry Society, the Institute of Brazilian Studies, and similar organisations.

CONTACT WITH AFRICAN ARTISTS OUTSIDE NIGERIA: MBARI plans a meeting of African artists in Ethiopia in December 61. A writers meeting is to follow later.

PUBLICATIONS: MBARI will publish a newsheet: Art News frmn Africa. This will inform members about artistic. activities all over the continent.

MEMBERSHIP: The fee for membership is £1 per annum. Members will be entitled to use the library (open from

2 to 10 p.m. daily including Sundays.) They will have free admission to al! exhibitions and will pay reduced rates for plays. They will receive Art News from Africa.

SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP: special membership at the reduced rate of 5/- is offered to

1) students.

2) people residing outside Ibadan

SCHOOLS: the library will be made available to schools on Saturday mornings. Principals of secondary school~ may apply for corporate membership of their senior classes.

To join MBARI write to the secretary: J. P. Clark,

Information Division, Ministry of Home Aff~irs, IBADAN.

How ,o F /NJ) MBARI

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MBARI - IBADAN

PETE SEEGER America's top folk singer

will be at

MBARI on

Thursday 2nd January 1964, at 8.30 p.m.

to sing the well-known folk songs and work songs that have made him so famous not only in America but throughout the world.

Admission 2/-

Tickets obtainable at Mbari, Ibadan

You are invited to the opening of an Exhibition of painting

by

JACOB AFOLABI and- RUFUS OGUNDELE

at MBARI IBADAN

on Feb. 5th 1964 at 6 p.m.

The Exhibition will be opened by Mr. Denis Williams

I

FELA n.A:rnorrn-l:<:UTI JAZZ QUDTTE'r

,rill perfor:c-:. 2,t

I'IBARI

on SATUJ:1DAY 30th T~ 2,y, 1964 2nd eve1·y l2st S2aturd2:; of the mor.tL~

Time~ 9 :p.n. Gc1 te :?ee 3/- ( 2/- for Dsnbers)

M1BAR will be in f1,:ll [l,ttendance as alwa;_y-s.

MBARI IBADAN

Invites

YOU

to the opening of an exhibition of paintings

by

JACOB LAWRENCE

on

Monday 19th October, 1964 at 6 p.m., at the Mbarl Club.

Exhibition will be opened by

Y. BAYO GRILLO (President Society of Nigerian Artists)

The Artist will be present

"Two years ago in November 1962 I was invi­ted to have an exhibition in Nigeria; an honour accorded me by the American Society for African Culture and the Mborl Club of Artists and Writers. It was my first visit to Nigeria-in fact my first visit to the Continent of Africa. As a painter the visit to a country which has made so great a contribution to modern art was an experienceof great value. As on American Negro, I had looked forward to this experience with excitement and curiosity.

The visit in 1962 was so stimulating. both visually and emotionally, that I have returned to point my Impressions of Nigeria. I hope sincerely that these paintings are a social state­ment of some value."

Jacob Lawrence.

MB.ARI IE.ADAN

Forthcornin~1_ctivities

JANUARY 11th to JANUARY 25th, 1965:

Exhibition of Graphic r•.rt by Peter Clarke - South Africen Artist.

JANUARY 13th - 15th, 1965:

In 1963, National Educational Television, U.S.A. (NET) made a series of f'ilms entitled "~.f'rican '.Jriters of Today11 ---- a penetrating six program look 2.t some of 'frica' s significant authors. ~hese films will be shown at the Mbari Club on 13th, 14th and 15th January, 1965 at 9 p.rn.

Wednesday" 13th January:

Program No. 1:

Program No. 2:

Walter Allen - Amos Tutuola - Ulli Beier.

David Rubadiri - Leopold Senghor -Bernard Foulon - Wole Soyinka..

Thursday 14-th January:

Program No. 3: Ezekiel Mphalele.

Program No. h: Chinua Achebe.

Program No. 5: William Abraham.

Friday 15th January:

Program No. 6: ~avid Rubadiri.

In addition on Friday, there will be a r,howing of "Culture In Transition11

• A film on Nigerian culturci, a.rt and Music, made by Ssso (NIGERIA) Ltd., 1963,

MBARI

MBAYO

OSHOGBO

invites you to the opening of an

Exhibition of Afikpo Masks

by

H.H. THE OLOTAN OF OTAN

at

4 p.m. on Saturday 23 Jan . 1965

to be followed by a performance

of the Oyoyo Masquerade

from Afenmai at 4.30 p.m.

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afikpo masks

Printed ~y !he Coxtan Press (West Africa) Limited Ibadan

afikpo masks

ETCHING BY "Seven--Seven"

You are invited to attend the

THIRD ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

of

MBARI MBAYO OSHOGBO

On Saturday I 3th March and Sunday 14th March 1965 at the

Mbori compound, Oshogbo.

PROGRAMME

Saturday 13th March 1965 6 p.m. Opening of an Exhibition of Etchings by

"TWINS SEVEN-SEVEN" a new Oshogbo artist.

8 p.m. First performance of "EDA", a Yoruba version of "Every­man" by Obotunde ljimere, Music by Duro Ladipo. Stage design Georgina Betts. Duro Ladipo Theatre Company.

Sunday 14th March 1965 4 p.m. Display of Dancing

by the lshan Acrobats and the Shango dancers of Okinni.

6 p.m. Opening of the Mbari Museum of Antiquities (on the Mbari Compound.)

8 p.m. First public showing of "NEW IMAGES" a film about Oshogbo by Frank Speed and Ulli Beier-and other films about the cultural life of Nigeria.

I L

MBARI MBAYO OSHOGBO: THE THIRD YEAR.

THEATRE The Duro Ladipo theatre company continued to produce a monthly Television play during this year.

Highlight of the theatre season, however was the trip of the company to Bertin in September 1964. "OBA KOSO"' was performed at the Berlin theatre festival with outstanding success.

ART SCHOOLS The third experimental art school was held at Mbari by Georg ina. Several new Oshogbo artists have emerged from this school, one of whom, "Twins Seven-Seven" is holding his first exhibition on the occasion of this anniver,;ay. Mr. Ru van Rossem, the famous graphic artist from Holland, held a Graphic Arts School in Oshogbo. This was attended not only by local artists, but by some well known Nigeriart artists like Bruce Onabrakpeye, limo Akolo and Solomon Wangboje.

EXHIBITIONS Exhibitions at the Mbri Mbayo gallery during the la.st year included: Yoruba Woodcarvings, Ibo Masks, Paintings by Georgina Betts and etchings by Christoph Meckel. Oshogbo artists held several exh ibitions in ! bad an and Lagos.

FOREIGN EXHIBITIONS Group shows of Oshogbo artists were held in Berlin and Amsterdam. The work of Asiru was shown In Prague. Prints by Rufus Ogundele and Jacob Afolabi were exhibited in Pak is tan.

OBATALA SHRINE Susanne Wenger continued her work of recreating Oshogbo shrines and monuments. Comple­ted this year were the Obatala shrine near the Oshu n grove; the ,non u ment to Os h u n on the kings market; and the Eshu shrine on the king's market.

PALACE OF THE OLOTAN OF OTAN The new Oba of Otan will be celebrating his first anniver,;ary on April I Ith 1965. He has de­cided to preserve the old part of his palace and has called in M BARI MBA YO artists to rede­corate the palace. The work wi II be completed before Ap r i I 11th .

PUBLICATIONS Three Yoruba Plays {Oba Moro, Oba Koso, and Oba Waja) by Dura Ladipo were published by Mbari Ibadan . (In Ulli Beier,; t ranslation .) Heinemann will publish the original Yoruba text,. Hbari Mbayo Oshogbo has publ ished two book$ by the Timi of Ede; "Oriki ati Orile" and "Oriki Awon Timi". /n prepar<ltion: The original text of E.K. Ogunmo\a's "Love of Honey",

MBARI MBAYO LAGOS Mbari Hbayo has opened an art gal lery in Lagos (at 23 lkorodu Road, Yaba) whose main function is to sell the work of Oshogbo artists like Asiru, Adebis i, Afolab i, Ogundele, "Seven-Seven", Susanne Wenger, Georgins Betts etc. etc. Friends of Mbari Mbayo like Bruce Onabrakpeye and Solomon Wangboje also exhibit in this gallery. The gallery is directed by artist Tayo Aiyegbusi. It also endeavours to bring great artists from other countries to Lagos. Th is year the ga llery exhibited the Japanese artist Naoko Matsubara.

I\L~ 4 his/ 1~(~

3rlwatmu <t}u.fius X. ;J{gerere

1Je.is Gxceffenc~ tfze Gfresident o/ Ganzania

~as graciously agreed to open

(,~e 6JGCo eArt @affery} ~aranfl

8fimo and 6Relecca :Kjau

(GfJirecfor and 'Promoter of l~e &affery)

re9uest t!ie pf easure of t~e company of

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R.S.V.P. Njau Art Studio, P.O. Box 9646, Nairobi, Kenya.

at t~is ceremony on ~une 9t~ 1965 at 2.45 p-m,

ff ~is wif{ Ce foffnwed Cy an e,JiCitioti of

;Jt[a~onde sculptures, a performance of a

play and triCal dancing. or: Kibo Art Gallery, P.O. Box 798, Moshi, Tanzania.

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No. 2, September - 1966. ~ ~ M:BARI ~TEWSLETTER ~ : ··· ·· ·••e·•··· ••o•i &••·· ••o• •··· ·------------- ----­···· · ·· ·········· ···· ······· · ···, ••••••••• e••• • •••• m•••o•• 1t• • • ••••

INTELLECTUALS DEPLORE NEW 11MAGAZIHE 11

Some weeks ago a new magazine, or rather photo comic strip

appeared on Nigerian newsstands. The reaction to this 11 rag" frorn

the intellectual and creative community has been vehement. Below

we reprint in full a circular letter from rwole Soyinka to the

Permanent Secretary of the Mini stry of Education:

Sir,

I wish to call your attention to a Magazine by the name of

AFRI CAN FI LM whose first number was published two weeks ago. The

second number is already out.

Both issues contain on the first page a message from the

Proprietor which claims that this cartoon- strip aids the reading

habit of the school- leaver. The message reads in part:

out 11Far too many children come/ of school and read little thereafter . So often the reading habit is lost and is never again recovered • •••• •• It is the story of education given at great cost by the State from which full benefit has not yet beeh obtained.

We hope with this magazine to cater for the lost readers . By giving them an exciting magazine made up with pictures in appealing form, the buyer . is led to read and by this means is kept reading. "

Later this magazine also asserts, referring still to the

school- leaver, that the magazine is

11executed in a styl e with which he can identify himself . 11

These are spurious claims in themselves for the kind of

sub-mental s t uff which the publishers have chur ned out in both

issues 4 It is also a s l ander on the educational standards and

i ntelle ct ual training which the schools of this country set out

to give our childr en . If I am wrong, if indeed this kind of

gar bage is what is needed to 11:l.ead them by the hand into paths

of greate.r lit eracy", then the education departments have

failed utterl y in their purpose .

' . . • / 2

- 2 -

And the suggestion that todayt s school-leaver will 11iden tify'

himself" with the style of this magazine is a deli berate calumny

and a treacherous wish on young school-leavers and those who bear

responsibility for their later development.

I wish to point out that if a drug company makes untrue claims

for its products it will be prosecuted and probably put out of

business. Deliberate subversion of the healthy development of

young minds ie a greater crime than the peddling of worthless drugs.

I must emphasize that I am not advocating censorship, as this

is wrong in principle. But the extravagant claims of the

proprietors clearly infringe on the responsibilities of your

department, and this demands your official attention in some form or

the other. This is a mercenary effort to subvert what the magazine

Proprietor himself recognises as 11education, given at great cost by

the State, from which full benefit has not yet been obtained." As

for the school-leavers, their benefit is the privilege of becoming

members of a moronic generation, brain~washed by falsified values,

insiduously unfitted for any mental exe1•cise above the level of

picture-stories. This is the aliruistic aid which these garbage­

dealers claim to be giving to the Educatio~ Department.

I wish to call your attention also the cynicism and contempt

of the proprietors of this picture--strip by their choice of the

name AFRICAN FILM. If such a rag were published in Great Britain

they would not dare call it BRITISH FILM without an immediate

injunction from the appropriate authoritieso

Finally, I am suspicious, to say the least, of the timing of

this journal, which has been launched at a time when those who would

be most vitally concerned at such an assault are preoccupied vdth

the tense events in the country, and would therefore tend to over­

look the full implications of such a venture. Befor~ the precedent

is set for the making of easy money by first corrupting young and

vulnerable minds, some effort must be made to educate their victims

against the deceit arid the true objectives of such unscrupulous

adven ture:rs.

I WO LE so YINKA.

- 3 -

[lir Soyink~ has dnce followed t.hifl letter up with appeals to

other writers and artists and ocucators to aid him in mounting a

legal assault on the maGazine.

A chroni clc of some of the most telling scE:nes to appear in

the first three issues of the strip is most revealing.

( a) The he r o is locked in a pit with a "man-eating gorrilla 11 while a woman and man watch him fight for his lire. Wide-eyed wonder and cynical 1loating on t he part of hi~ rGsnective tormentors is the order of the day.

(b) Haro hears from one millionaire crook t hat he has tc:\kon a bet with another millionaire crook that the Hsro will enter his employ for a certain price. Hero refusGs and then is subje:cted. to the 11 Cbinese v,atcr torture 11 vrhich involves wonderfully clcar photoeraphs of his head clamped in a sto!'le basE:d vice while miter drips on his forehead and the renders are clearly assured that this will driv€ the Hero mad as the drips ~~11 seem heavier and hee.vier as time goeG on •••••

' (c) Eoro 1 s mother is kidnapped,

( d) HEJ.ro trav0ls to Paris as Tesul t of another bet in which he is supposed to try to escap€ from the worldwide network of the l'.'.iillionaire crook for thirty days with one hundred thousand dollars to help him do so. It is a strange Paris•. Very few Frenchmen in the streets and 2.11 the crooks are South Africc1.ns there.

(e) Tho Millionair€ burns enc of his gunmen alive. Wonderfully clear photogre.phs • •••• •

and so it goes on.

It should nlso be mentioned the maaazine is published by DRUM

PUB.LI CATIONS o.nd. that the photoerapb.s \·1ere: cost likely all

produced in South A.f'rica where American st;rlc thug~_sm is often an

absurd but effective rc!Gase of vi.oient desires and e$cape fTom

the realities of that l and.

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••• / 4

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MAXINE LOVTE EXHIBITION AT MBARI

11EXTREt';ELY SUCC"ESSFUL"

Easily the most well re cei vec1 a.ri.d ger.e:rally talked about

exhibition of paintings at MBARI Ibadan in recent months, the

Exhibition of works by Maxine Lowe of Chicaeo was opened on Monday

August fifteenth. Spoaking to a crowd of more than sixty guests,

Professor Ayo Ogunsheye, Dean of the Faoulty of Education, Univer­

sity of Ibadan, said thut on meeting Miss Lowe he was first struck

by the unassuming charm of her personality and the lack of artis1:1·' s

airs in her attitude. He v1as sure that the p<:rcepti ve viev,er would

find the same qualiti&s in her paintings.

The opening was a.tt~nded by many MBARI members and friends and

seve.I."al Nigerian painters, among t hem Mr s Clara Ngu, painter and

Fashion designer who lives in Ibadan.

The highlights of the exhibition from the point of view of

both the layman a.nd the artist TTere the intricate tapestries shown

by Miss Lowe. These tapestl'ies are very colourful expressions of a

decorative form of thooking1 :rather than weaving which is the mol'e

commonly used method in tapestry and as such they are a.n original

form. But besides this thei:r suggestion of flower forms leant a

light and yet forceful feeling to the room in which they hung.

They were also a strangely solid compliment to the more ethereal

~nd cloudy forms of her oil paintings . More than once guests

expressed disappointment over the realisation that these tapestries

were not for sale. While Miss Lowe 1 s work is :primarily abstract in

form she manages by skilful use of colour and space to excite the

eye of even the least knowledgeable layman with her cl uster:, of tiny

circular shapes that seem to be living things and her vrorke hol d

something of valu£ for everyone .

The Exhibition remained open to the public until August 24th

and .Mis a Lowe returned to Chi ca.go on the 25,th.

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' •.• /5

- 5. -

SOYINKA'S PLAY SUCCESSFULLY STAGED

Ill Uo s. A.

MBARI ,1as pleased both for the playv,right and for the

reputation of Nigerian drama on the whole when a communique from

the United States Information Se rvice in Ibadan informed us that

11 The Sv:amp Dwellers" 2. play by 1 Wole Soyinka. wc,s staged success­

fully e.t The Barn Playhouse in Stony Point . The play which was

mounted ae part of the theatre's swnrncr activities was produced by

Mrs Jean Carruthers with a cast \7hi ch included actors from the

Phillipines, Guyana, and Canadae A Came:r·ounian playwright and

graduate student in England, Guillaume Oyono Mbia supplied the drum

musi c for the productiono

. ' 11The Swamp Dwellers II vms first produced in the U.S.A. two

year s ago at the KAR.Ai~U community arts centr e in Cleveland, and has

since been on tour irregularly, receiving in large measur e favour­

able critical and audience response. At 1€ast one very influential

critic, Howard Taubman of the New York Times has been a firm

supporter of Mr Soyinka 1 s work . Th6 critic for the Rockland County

Journal-News has so.id of this production that it is a "dramatic

gem 11 , enhanced by 11 clear and gracious delivery, deft touches of

humour and supe:rb acting. ;i

The play vres directed b,y Mrs Jane Schober who has sincG sai d

that it has opened a nevr field of interest for her ••••••••• Africarr

Drama. One of the finest ccmpl:i men ts to be paid to the playwri ght

so far was the com.rne~1f, fr•om the director that she had no difficulty ' in staging the play and that 11This can be attributed to the wti ter. 11

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The following ~ornm~iquc wus sent to MBARI by the Director of

Antiquities in Lagos~ M:BARI takes pleasure in being able to

reprint it for the benefit of oux readers:

' . ' •• • /6

- 6

NIC,'ERIAN MUSEUM:

Recently put on display are t hre e mGl,sks lent by the At'a.li of Igala and his tredi tional coun·cillo-rs. From the roy2.l masquerade called Egwu Atn they are large black heads decora~ed with red seeds. The Idah style of carving seems unrepresen·ted in collections abroad and except for photographs published in the 'Nigerian Fi€ld 1 in 1949, . these carvings, never exhibited before, v1€ re unknov,n till now.

Another very important new exhibit is from Azumini: a tall drum on leg~ ¼~th polychrome carving in high relief a round the cylindri ca.I body. Former ly belonging to an o.ge grade company it has now, with another and the remains of a third, been prescnt~d by Azurnini to the Museum as no members of the company survive. An outstanding example of Ibc art it gives an indica­tion of the quality and vigour the art had in the 19th century, a period from which comparatively few examples now exist.

IFE MUSEUM:

Thanh, o.rc due to U ~N .E . s. G. 0. who recently supplied the servi ces of a Svd ss expert Mr Bosscrdet1 to redesign the i nterior of the exhibit gallery ana. the display. The result is something fresh and up-to-date. Many pieces previously stored away are now exhibited together with new finds and loans previously unknown to the public.

Mr Bosserdet has been one of the instructors at the U.N.E. s.c.o. school at Jos for museum technicians which is a ttten·ded ,y trainees from all Africa (except Nor th and South.)

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Nig]:i1.1'_.QJ1_STORYTELLING SCHEDULED FOTI

GOETliE_~IJ-.JSTITlJTE nr LAGOS.

The Goethe Institute in Lngos vdll present n night of story­

telling at 9 porn. on September 18th. The program will feature Segun­

Olusola, Betty Okotj e and Segun Sofowote, re ading f!'om the works of

Cyprian Ekwonsi, Wolfgruig Borcher-t 5 Amos Tutuola, Gertrud F\isseneger,

Chinue Achebe and Heinrich Boll.

Incidental mus.1. c vdll be supplied by Kchinde Okunsaya and Meki . \

Zevli and the programmo rlill be i ntroduced by Chl'istopher Kolade.

Production i s in the hands of t he THEATRE EXPRESS a.nd admission- is

free.

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\ ' ~ •.. /7

- 7

FILM ON NIGERIA TO BE SHOVIN

AT MBARI

"Culture In Transi tion'1 the 1964 N .E.T. film in Nig1:iri?.n

culture will be shov,n at MBARI with the gracious permission and

aid of the United Sta tes Information Service Ibadan on September

24th at 8 p.m. This film which features the Duro Ladi po players,

1WolG Soyinka~ anc. an excerpt fr·om Soyinka 1 s 11The Strong Breed" i s

an important exposition of the main currfnts in Nigerian cultural

spectrum.

ir1BARI will \!elcome sixth formers and members of staff from

Secondary school s for \'/horn this film shov, v1ill hold special

importa.nce. We also look forward to seeing all our member.E who

did not hav€ an opportunity of seeing this film when it ,.,as :: creened

at the old MBARI last yesr.

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NEW JOURNAL O.b' .AF'RI CAN LITERATURE

From Stanford University, Californi a comes news of a new

Journal of African literature tc be publiohed twice yearly. A

Nigerian, M:r Joseph Okpaku will be the ea.i tor and Mr Roma.nus Egudu·

of the Department of English 9 University of Nigeria, Nsukka, will

be the African Representative.

Bel ow we reprint the J ournal' s sta.tsment of its Edi tori al

policy:

11Th Journal of The N'e'lt African Lite rature will publish crf; ati ve and literary works of art, including drama, essays, short stories, poetryi critiques, criticisms, and diecussions of African li terature as well as music, fine art, creative photography, and other aspects of African culture. In accordance with thE principles of the Journal, the African writer is not rest1•icted to African themes. Freedom in the choice of theme, universality of concept, and philosophical depth are particularly encouraged. The empha~is i s on quality and the freedom to create without having to . cater to the often strangling demunds of a publisher. It is not the policy of the Editorial Board to censor or dictate the philosophies or opinions of cont'ribui;ing authors, but rather to encourage free creativity •

• ,./8

- B -

Articles are also encouragecl from non-Africans if t.tiey are relevant to African literature, music, art, and other cultural aspects. Hitherto unknown writers are particularly encouraged to tclce advantage of the opportunities offerea by this journal as it is the qunlity of their work and not their reputations that determine vrhethe:r or not their work is published.

Discussions of articles published in this journal will also be considered for publication.

All articlC:'s should be sent to The Edi tor, Journal of The Nev,, African Lt teratu:re, Box 4392, Stanford, California, U.S.A. All articles in Africa may be sent to the representative above.

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M'BARI HOSTS DiDIGENOUS THEATRE ACTIVITIES

IN ENGLISH AND YORUBA.

The month since our last newsletter has again been filled with

theatrical acti vi tieo from outside of MBARI and the variety of work

seen at our open air theatr6 has retained our desi re to serve the

public on the broad level of creative and educative entertainment.

Military upheavals interrupted

Oyelano 1 s production of 11MAGI C

on Ibadan on the second night.

the scheduled three nights of ''lunji

IN THE BLOOD" as a curfew vias imposecl

However he bravely attempted to '

continue his program on the following we€kend. Production wise the

venture was a brilliant success and the sketch "BUSINESS HEADACHE" by 1Wale Ogunyemi was a popular hit with the audience. But unfortun~

tely, the mental hangover from the weekts political and social

disruptions had not quite worn off and pla.ygoers vrere not quite ready

to start going to theatre again. The result was that the revival of

the program drew very small audience 1 s. And yet for MBARI purposes

and the purely creative purposes of the members of the cast the

experience was certainly worthwhile. On the one hand the actors gave

of their best on each night in spite of the small turnout and they

were :rewarded wi tt applause so genuine as to make it seem that the

theatre was indeed filled.

At this writing (August 29th) MBARI is looking forward to the

start of three nights of brilliant theatre from the Adejobi Concer-fj

Pl:l.rty gxoup. Mr Adejobi I s ,group will perform his "l\,10REMI 11 ( which has

already been seen at the Arts Theatre Univexsity of Ibadan) for two

nights end on the third night his ow:n "0ROGUN ADEDIGBA1". Moremi is

truly one of th,:; rnost vc1lid theatrical experiences to be he.d in ' ' ' •• • /q

- 9 -

Nigeria thic season. If f:'pace allows~ next month the UBARI NEWS­

LETTER will publish capsule reviews and cor-unents on these works by

members of the audience.

MBARI was o-lso host in August to the Festival of Arts of the

Boys I and Gi:rls I clubs of Western Nigeria for their Drumming and

Orchestra compet i tion. Ibadan, wonderfully original in coetwne and

presentation, won both prizes.

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PEACE CORPS SEMINAR,

A nwnber of MBARI Cammi ttee members and friends vrere involved

actively in the success of the week long Seminar on Nigerian Culture

organised by the Peace Corps throughout the Western Region. Demas

Nwoko, hi~self an excellent sculptor took part in the discussion orr

sculptureo I Wale Soyinka presented his "Erother Jero 11 and a

selection of his poetry read by Dapo Adelugba, Lindsay Barrett, and

Betty Okotie, a.nd he also led the discussion on poetry.

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OP - POP SYNDROME I H AMERICAN PAINTING REPRESENTED lN AMBASSADOR'S COLLECTION

A collection of contemporary .American painting from Museums and

top galleries in America arrived in Nigeria last month and has been

tastefully hung in the residence of the American Ambassador. The

mode of the collection leans heavily on the side of the latest move­

ments in Western painting and the representation of Robert Mother·well

an older painter from the school of Abstract expressionism and Nell

Blaine a member of the pos~impressionist movement in style though a

bit more recent than the famous post impressionists in work, i's

definitely over balanced and coloured by the general tone of the

collection. Most of the work are graphics and silkscreens and as

such represent excercises in style rather than fully realised vision.

' ' ••• /10

- 11) -

The Nigerian reaction to tb~s collection has been very

i nteresting because in the main most painters and painting l ov~r s

who have seen the works are inclined to dismiss them as piddl e­

puddly toys . The reason for this is so obvious t hat one wonder s

if t he people responsible for bri nging them to the country were

actually expecting them be 11appreciated11 in the broad sense of that

word. Most abs tract painting of t he new styles of op and pop are

really circumstantial excur sions into familiar sensati ons of pattern

and form and as such are parochial in importance. No matter t hat

London, New York, and Paris might find it stimulating t o exchange

technological terms and forms in artt the sensation and eight s that

make op and pop valid just do not exist in Nigerian society and ( we

hope) never will. On the other hand the preoccupation with

sensuali ty in texture col our ann for m which Maxine Lowe displayed i n

her wor k was more seductive and understandable t o those Ni gerian

viewers who saw h€r work, even those who v10uld have dismissen that

work without seei ng it, on being told that she was an abstract

painter.

However the paintings are certainly well hung and to t hose of

us who have had to live vdth the vibrations that guide the lines of

western non- ob jective pai nting they do say something if onl y that 11they exists II

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EEARI RECOiiit~NDATIOUS FOR THE MONTH'S .READING

(1) HOUSEBOY a novel by Ferdinand Oyono/trane Heinemanns• 1C/- (Nigeria):

by John Reed;

Her o is a masterpiece of economical writi ng and fast paced

story-telling, cl early expounded and brutally sharp in i ta

observations. Her e is a tragic t ale that rings truest where

it assumes its fiercest brutality. And here is a work that

exposes the cancer of inhumanity as it was manifested i n the ' days of the colonial, in the hoy-day of the coloni al indeed.

And yet, her e is a t ender and compassionate voice crying out

of the mire with a breath so sweet it warms readers sensibi'­

li t i eo even at its most strikingly violent moments so that

l aughter comes easy wher e it r ises and dies painlessly whe~e

s uperb language and r emarkable compr ehens i on of mechani cs of

a t mosphere coaxes us back to the hard truth and the ete:r,nal

• •• /11

.•

( 2)

(3)

- 11 -

metaphor; the innocsnt or not eo innocent is th€ victim of his

own innocence, which is knowlec-g€. Mr Oyono, we are told, is

a diplomat. He is in fact the Caneroonian Ambassador to

Liberia. We feel the qualities of the diplomat ooursing beneath

the outspokenness of this novel and yet on rcfle ction; Might· not

t he fable of the cleve:r houseboy destroyed by the honesty of his

gaze and his thoughts be a fable on the traged.y of truly honest

diplomacy?

THE ROAD b? 1 Wole Soyinka. Thre0 Crowns Books ( Oxford Uni ver­si ty Press) 7/3d (Nigeria):

It i s not ea$y to be objective about a play as original in form,

content, and attitucs as this. It is even less easy to be 1 s£nsi ble I about it for the play irapreeses on the reader ( and. I

suspect the viewe:r too) e.n overwhelmi ng sense of the absuTd and

the ouh•ageous. The Road is to my mind well and away the most

brilliant of the k:no,;m dramatic v:orks from lvigeri a. in recent

years ( if not of all t ime) and it is clearly a herald of a. nev,

era of terrifyingly astute production from t his playwri ght, The

poetry of the depths so strangely magical when plurnbec: with

feeling in litErature over the centuries (Dostoevsky to Ralph

Ellison) attains a rare state of pure expressiveness here. One

will enjoy both the reading and the performance of t his work if

one is open to the sheer (almost animal) force of creative Vision,

and yet humour s trikes a ne,, YJ.ote of flipp~ncy here in the mids t

of despairing banter. The question, "How did he do i t? 11 came

often to my mind as I read this •.':rork, for Mr Soyinka ha.o

sustained a truly flexible and free form of exchange and language

throughout the work without sacrificing the solid shape of l1i's

dramatic vision. Hel'e is a playwl'ight, who has grown until, I '

suspect 5 he has probably outgrown some of his early admirers,

But this cannot last. We must ell be in The Road as The Road for

here we have been t;i ven a pathway t o purity instead of a diver­

sion from truth.

BRUSH FIRE (poems) by Felix Tchikaya U'ta.rn.si/illus . Ibrahim Salahi/tra.ns. by Sangadore Akanji - MBARI Publications 12/6d

utTamsi is a young Coni;'olese poet who lives in Paris and his

most frequently quoter. associations in poetry a r e the major

Nesritude poets of the late forties and early fifties, But in ' reality he is a poet outside of narro v: associations. His most

obvious parallel in the Nebri tude movement is Cesaire not Sengbor

and as sue~ he is a poet of sensibility rather than polemic

although the tone of these burnin<; pieces does retain some of tho

• •• /12

- 12 -

pole□ic dircctiven€ss of the lar6er body of N( ~ritud€ poetry.

Yet there is in all hie \;ork a bocly of myth and immediacy

intc-rmin0led. His work ri,-;ci:: and pulsates vri th the violent

qualities of imaGcs remernber€d 'riverst 1 fire t 1 roots r but

colt\P.lonplace to the immediacy of tLe experience of the soil and

in txuth one is left at the encl of this volwno Yri th a nervous

memory of having voya6ed a□onl, the spirits of these transformec'l

co!!1□onplace:s. Of no li ttlc aicl here is tbG strikin5 desii;n e.nd

illustration for the book devised co complimentarily by Salahi

tlte great Suclanesc artist .

U1 tamsi is a major poet. His use of the Ccenire system of

associated disassociates c. ~.;

"the river flowe;

broken rhythnsn

••• is so assurc>d that he succeeds in crcatinL~ ne•.v myths and

mysteriac out of thG revelation:=.: and €Xprc, ::don of olc't mythE'

and mysteries .

The o.bove list of books fron Afri cn.n autho1·s, all in their

thirties, all still ,_;ro•:1in1_ is only a sliGht indication of the

va:=.:t vreal th and o.ctual frf.shnesz a.nd orit:,i.n2.li ty of th€ 11 varions

li t€raturee "that arc now (not Gl"O\·linb") but in existence on the

continent.

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EH D

LB/t t:daudu 31/8/66