Category: Arts
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Nri; town, 20 miles south-east of Onitsha and three miles south-west of Awka, Anambral State, once a citadel of Igbo civilisation. Until 1911 when the British colonial administrators forced an Nri king to abrogate all codes of abomination nso ani binding the Igbo villages in Nri hegemony, Nri had the political and spiritual ascendancy in…
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Shamsudeen Amain; Nigerian Professor of Theatre, and Drama touted as the Shakespeare of Northern Drama being the first from his region. Amain is a bilingual playwright and dramatist, using the Idoma and English Languages. He is also a university administrator, rising from different ranks till his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin. Amain graduated from…
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Muyiwa Peter Awodiya; Cultural crusader in Nigeria and Professor of Theatre Arts and Mass Communication at the University of Benin. Awodiya lamented the decay that has engulfed the country and eroded its cultural values in his treatise, Leadership Failure and Education, published in the 14 July 2009 edition of The Guardian Newspaper. Born in 14…
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Layiwola Peju; Nee Olowu, leading figure among the new generation of metal sculptures in Nigeria. A grand-daughter to Oba Akenzua II of Benin, her career was shaped by the Royal Art of the kingdom. Peju’s mother who did metal casting in Benin at a higher degree was her earliest influence. When young, she helped her…
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Ben Tomoloju; pioneer of Nigerian art journalism who through his literary enterprise added value to journalism. With his Saturday column in the Punch called Portrait of an Artist, Tomoloju projected very powerful productions to national reckoning. He also reported developments in policy and implementation in the country’s cultural sector[i]. Places of Growth Ben Tomoloju…
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Classical music is a cultivated or art music descended from western tradition. Usually depicting seriousness, this type of music, as opposed to most everyday music are often written in form of staff notation. Classical music had impacted on the scene many centuries ago, long before the advent of Jazz and popular music. It marked the…
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Benin Empire is the kingdom of the Edo people in the Guinea Coast, near the mouth of the Niger. Portuguese travelers described its capital as a big city, surrounded by high wall, and having a broad street through the center. To be sure, the kingdom is, using R.E. Bradbury’s definition, the area within which the…
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Benin Expedition of 1897 was the punitive action of the British against Benin following the massacre of unwelcome advancing party led by Acting Consul J.R. Phillips to the Benin palace one month before. Although the killing of Phillips and his men by Benin chiefs was the direct cause of the Benin Expedition, it is recognized mostly…