BEAUTIFUL NUBIA AND THE ECHO FOR COSMOPOLITANISM

Afolasade Ola

While we derive pleasure listening to great hit by Beyonce, Rihana, Burno Boy, Naira Marley, Reekando Banks, Mr. Eazi, Whizkid, Davido, Tiwa Savage and the like of them, there is also a need to create a vacuum for songs that touches the very soul and awaken our consciousness to present day realities. Our eyes are capable of seeing beyond the spectrum of these mind-fiddling songs. A pause, a reflection and absorption of collective folkloric songs may not be the ideal kind of song to jeer our bodies into ecstatic waves but it is one that will settle in our subconciousness and drive home the core question of our roots and longed paradise. Can we still trace back our roots? Is our longed paradise forever lost to us?

Bringing into limelight the essence of our roots and societal change are the sporadic and enchanting songs of Beautiful Nubia. The poetry concert which held at the Wole Soyinka Theatre on the 28th of August could not have received a greater highlight with the wonderful presentation by him .Beautiful Nubia is the performing name for Segun Akinolu. He was born on the 11th of November 1968. He is a Nigerian-born songwriter, music composer and band leader. Beautiful Nubia and the Root Renaissance Band is Nigerias foremost contemporary folk and root music group.

Beauiful Nubias song brings to memory the rich folkloric traditions and native wisdom that many of us never got to experience, or perhaps, can only hold claims to fragments of such stories told to us by the old. The universal message of his songs strives on value, respect for life and nature, and communal living. His music also champions the dream of a balanced societyone free from the horrors of injustice, oppression and corruptiona classless society where individuals are truly free and equal. Love and tolerance are also echoed in his songs as they teach people to stand and defend their rights when trampled upon anywhere in the world.

A beautiful Nubia musical concert has always been more than music. It is a communion, a meeting of minds, a place of renewal, a place people come together to have a good time and leave feeling refreshed, invigorated, inspired and emboldened.

When pure music becomes intertwined with enriched poems, then the result is boomingthe effectenthralling. The poetry concert organized by Ola TheRawPoet at the WOS theatre featured performances from a variety of spoken words artistes and poets in the country. The event tagged Social Work emphasized on the utility function of literature literature as a corrective tool to change social ills and vices. Many poems performed where meant to reflect, satirize and challenge the ills in the contemporary Nigerian society. Beautiful Nubia most definitely is one of the Nigerian artistes who could not have been left out from this scheme as his songs also speak against these ills.

A cosmopolitan, a citizen of the nation and the indigenous son of the land, Beautiful Nubia will continue preaching his moral position to all sundry and make minds go agog with his in-depth lyrics until a change is made.