Saturday, June 30, 2007

Lights, Camera, Action, Edo Style

They are there, tens of them all eager for a shot at the limelight. Eagerly they step into the rehearsal grounds at Brodricks Inn, a hangout for most of the budding actors and actresses that are within the Benin metropolis. Their display as the rehearsal went in full swing was adjudged okay by the producer and director and the curtains was called for the day.

This is the hub of the home video industry in Benin and a great many indigenous language productions had their conception here. Populated by young school leavers keen on occupying their time productively to undergraduates and proffessional actors. All together in one conundrum, giving life to some script.

As one of the actresses who called herself Osas said, "I love to play roles, and even if we are not as appreciated as our colleagues in Lagos and in the East, we must build our own local industry and promote our own culture. I believe that we are creating a legacy for the industry in Benin and in the entire Edo (state)."

Such is the enthusiasm expressed by these young men and women, crowds are mostly encountered on days scheduled for auditionings. Edoland is beginning to experience the birth of a new generation of artistes who are alive to their cultural endowments, they provide ample role models for the younger generations of Edo born.

This land is the Arts and cultural heartbeat of all Africa. The churning out of home videos, done in indigenous dialects and subtitled in English is a veritable means of re-engineering the cultural, social and political renaissance that is expected from a people that has been so gifted in resources and people.

It is hoped that recent reforms of the entertainment industry would not stifle the existence of these productions as the strategy employed should create room for the many positive effects that the burgeoning of indigenous productions creates for the individual as a part of society and also part of a nationality...

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The announcement


See am, na me! Ajadrage, I dey announce BC
No try am, for we dey on stage, now y'all listen

From days of yore, the minds dem dey firm
The hearts of men and the rest from a womans bosom

Announce yourself, I be Edo Nation!
Ajadrage na me, copy?

Na so we go dey do am, come see for BC
"From thenceforth the trumpets blare, beyond the plains and the mountain tops

From henceforth the hornets nets been stirred and the wind worries even in the air
Whenceforth the sea's tell stories only they know for they grow as peers with the earth"

You know am?
No try yourself, great Bini, oma easy

Great Edo Nation
This na still part of the the introduction