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Mecca II Medina -- LIVE ON STAGE in Nigeria (at bloody last!!!)

Started by Abdalla, February 03, 2007, 08:28:15 PM

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Muhsin

To be sincere enough I have had attended the event. And it went very wonderfully and well-organized. But...... ::) :o
What actually forbade me to tell you of how it went is just my little English, which I consider as unripe to describe the exact blow-by-blow description of the marvelous concert. What I then decided doing was to tell you of how they (M2M people) convert to Islam. Eventually, I later learnt that doing so is of no use, hence I gave up the idea.
I hope Prof. himself will soon answer your call Goga.
Get to know [and remember] Allah in prosperity & He will know  [and remember] you in adversity.

HUSNAA

Ghafurallahi lana wa lakum

MySeLf

!!!........................I STAND 4 ISLAM..........................!!!

alkanawi

Quote from: HUSNAA on February 27, 2007, 02:51:15 PM
In baza ka fada da turanci ba ka fada da Hausa. Chi kenan

aa to. Dama sunan dandalin ko faggen, "Kano a yanar gizo" Kaga hausa ma  ta zama karbabbiyar hanyar da za ka iya yada ra'ayi,shawara,rahoto,manufa ko furofaganda a wannan fagen.

To mallam Muhsin Bisimillah:
"corgito ergo sum"

gogannaka

Aww ashe ba ni kadai nake jira na ga breakdown of event din ba.
Shine da duka kuka yi shiru?
Surely after suffering comes enjoyment

Muhsin

 :)Thanks for your approaches. By Allah's grace I'll soon come up with it. Unluckily; no enough time for that, now.
Get to know [and remember] Allah in prosperity & He will know  [and remember] you in adversity.

bakangizo

Lallai na zama bako! yaushe akayi wannan bidirin bana nan? I wouldn't have missed it had I known. In fact I just saw a picture of M2M at the british council on yseterday's Daily Trust newspaper. That's how I knew the about he event. Well, Prof., ba mu mu sha. Yaya aka kare? ;D

Abdalla

Tsira da Amincin Allah su tabbata gare mu gaba daya

Since young Muhsin has suddenly become shy (and he used to be such a a chatterbox too!), I thought I will close this thread by updating forumites about the M2M concert. I conceptualized and produced it -- and as such I don't think I can give a fair account -- that is why I had wanted Muhsin's review, as that might be more objective than mine. In the absence of his review, I am going to give a mechanical report of the concert (not what the punters say or do!).

The Mecca 2 Medina concert was tagged Rap Across Cultural Borders (RACB). It was based on the wake-up call given by the success of the Kukuma Rap, and it was the next level in empowering local performance artistes in northern Nigeria. This time, with an international, British, flavor. That flavor was provided by Mecca 2 Medina (M2M), a group of three British Muslims who preach Da'awah (call to God) through hip-hop nasheed (a capella lyrics). The group had visited Nigeria and gave two performances in 2005 at the BC Kano to an enthusiastic reception. The increasing high profile of Hausa hip-hop makes it possible to consider the possibilities of inviting M2M back to Nigeria for collaborative performances with local hip-hop artistes.

The usual format of holding performances at the British Council, Kano, however, was revisited and this time around a series of concert performances was conceived as being held in Jos, Kaduna and Kano. The planning for these series of concerts meant traveling to Jos to sound out local hip-hop artistes whose musical fare will blend with M2M's Islamic calls to peace and multicultural unity. With this collaboration with M2M, the entire concept of the concerts assumed a wider dimension and the particular expectations of the visit of M2M to Nigeria were, among others,


To poster greater understanding of contemporary youth musical cultures in the U.K. and northern Nigeria
Enable exploration of possible networks to facilitate musical exchange between musicians across the borders
Create situations and contexts for exchange of skills and training in musical production to promote appreciation of the individual cultures[/li][/list]

These expectations are to be realised through a series of concert performances as well as interactive sessions between local hip-hop musicians and members of M2M. Due to logistics and tight schedule – M2M had only 10 days in Nigeria – the interactive sessions were held only in Kano.

The concerts were scheduled for 10th (Jos), 12th (Kaduna) and 17th (Kano) February. The interactive sessions were took place on Thursday 15th February, while M2M held an open day for members of the public and journalists on Saturday 17th February to enlighten members of the Kano community about their brand of hip-hop and how successful it was in multicultural Britain.

In Jos the support act was a combination of two artistes – Living Scroll, Malomen & G-vibes. In Kaduna local support artiste, Buzun Kaduna, provided the support act with additional supported provided by Dan Hausa (both from Edo State!) In Kano, Billy-O and Shaba were to provide the support; although Shaba did not take to the stage because his daughter was scalded with hot water and had to be rushed to the hospital about two hours to the concert; nevertheless, X-Man Sarari ("Corruption"), another local rapper, took the stage and supported Billy-O's finishing performance.

Next up was Arewa providing a scintillating performance, which included new songs they had composed for the event. They were followed by Mecca 2 Medina who started their slots a capella, followed later by a backup CD of drumming with which they used to conclude their set. This was followed by a question and answer session during which M2M interacted more with their audience and provided more insights into their music and their approach to using music to further improve multicultural relations.


Sheikh Rabi'u Usman Baba (left) and Rakim (M2M) in Hausa gown – Rappin' All Over the World!

The finale was the Kukuma Hip-Hop with Arewa providing backing music to M2M's lyrics to songs sung both in Hausa and English. The effect was as eclectic as it was innovative. In one song, Ya Rasulillah (on the Prophet Muhammad), sections of the lyrics were sung in Hausa, Cockney English and Patwa (patois – Jamaican Creole). This was certainly giving new meaning to the phrase, World Music! Most significantly, in the last song, Ka Yi Rawa (you have danced), Rakim (M2M's front man) invited various people to join him on the stage to give it the old bop! One of those who joined was a respected poet Sheikh Rabi'u Usman Baba – showing clearly how music became the message, even if in mutually exclusive languages.




      Rap concert punters at the British Council, Kano

A series of successes were recorded by this visit of M2M -- including a record deal with Arewa that will hopefully see the release of a true Kukuma Rap towards the end of the year. The tracks have been laid down in the studio, all that remains is the production of the CD label. The marketing will be done by Center for Hausa Cultural Studies (of which I am stepping down as the Chairman, but remaining onboard!). M2M also recorded some tracks with Rabi'u Usman Baba, and PEACE a duo of young Islamic hip-hoppers (which included Nazir Ahmed and Umar Gombe, the latter probably best known as Hausa video film star).

Another success was the rising profile of Arewa -- now rappers are eager to jam with them, and this is very encouraging because it brings prominence to the traditional music sector. While strongly appreciative of modern music and its forms among the Hausa, nevertheless the Center for Hausa Cultural Studies would wish to revive the spirit of acoustic traditional Hausa music as part of our cultural heritage which we can export to the world.

I have started thinking about the NEXT round of concerts. Our concerts, since last year, have a tag – Empowering Local Traditional Performing Artistes. I am thinking about a Dueling Banjo (does anyone remember the Burt Reynold's film, Deliverance, about a funny-looking kid (who is my age now, by the way!) strumming a banjo, while being echoed by the acoustic guitar of one of the characters?) type of concert – running up a gurmi, kuntigi against kukuma! We are also thinking of getting an all-girl band (musicians, vocalists, the lot!).

I will, insha Allah, be going to Morocco in August to be part of an international conference on Music in the World of Islam – that should provide new ideas for more, possibly collaborative concerts! So watch this space 8).



Muhsin

Get to know [and remember] Allah in prosperity & He will know  [and remember] you in adversity.

IBB

hello people, wats that about? r they moroccons i like the building, but the dress look senegalese to me
IHS

gogannaka

LOL IBB read the thread from the beginning.

Prof i think it would be a nice idea if,since the hausa music and film industry is greatly influenced by the indian industry,a concert be organised that will bring the indian and hausa music together.

Hmm i'd love to see the famous Salman or if possible the great Lata Mangeshkar perform alongside Shaba or Maryam Fantimoti.
Wallahi ko kudi za a saka zan je.
Surely after suffering comes enjoyment

Abdalla

Quote from: gogannaka on May 10, 2007, 07:02:33 PM
Prof i think it would be a nice idea if,since the hausa music and film industry is greatly influenced by the indian industry,a concert be organised that will bring the indian and hausa music together.

Lallai kam da an ga sabon salo! Seriously this idea might have some merits if not for one or two things. First, the Indian backbone of the Hausa video film industry is based on the infrastructure of piracy and identity crisis. The Indians have a formal arrangement with northern Nigerian-Lebanese cinema owners to distribute licensed Hindi films across Nigeria. What gets to the markets are pirated copies of these same films -- so arranging a concert along that line might create copyright problems.

Secondly, the core focus of Indianization of Hausa video films is based on cultural identity crises of the purveyors of the Indian influence in Hausa popular culture. Not being mainstream Hausa, but living on the fringes of Hausa cultural universe, they latch on the Hindi film as a means of negotiating access into the Hausa cultural mindset. This worked. It gave them credibility, respectibility -- and in two or three cases, actual mainstream "Hausa-Fulani" wives.

Yet this mechanism worked brialliantly, because it created a chiasma through which there is a massive revival of interest in Hindi film music, especially among urban educated Hausa (whereas in the 1970s only the non-Western educated Hausa actually bother with Hindi and Chinese films; the Western-educated prefer American or English films). Nazeer Abduallahi Magogo of Kano (Nigeria), for instance, has created a nice niche for himself on Radio Kano FM by translating Hindi film songs into Hausa. He has also published two books on "Indiyanci a Saukake" (a sort of Teach Yourself Hindi Language). I have attempted to attach the picture of the cover of one of his books -- let's up it works, because sometimes this board gets a bit stroppy! I have extensive contacts with Magoga -- which actually led to his radio program -- and he told me he learnt Hindi language (which he speaks fluently!) purely from watching Hindi films.



I have tried my best to see if the local Indians in Kano (through their cultural groups) could meet with the local Hausa filmmakers for some collaborative efforts but I was not successful. First, the Indians are contemptous of whatever the Hausa do in the name of "film". In 1999 some real Indians came from India to Kano and produced a Hausa video film, Wasiyya. It flopped. The Indians wanted to create a Hausa "art" video film for the Hausa. The Hausa could not be bothered with such high-concept ideas. They wanted the Indians to show them how to sing and dance. The market did not care. The Indians went back. No more Indians coming. End story!

Second, the local Indians are not impressed that the Hausa are copying them. In fact in my interaction with some of them (who, incidently were born and bred in Kano and speak the Hausa language fluently), they say they cringe when they hear attempts by Hausa to sound like Indians in Hausa video films.

So yes, such musical collaboration would be fantastic, but unfortunately, not feasible. I simply happen to be at the right place and at the right time, doing the right things. The British Council that provides impetus for our (Center for Hausa Cultural Studies) activities is basically interested in British-Nigerian youth networks; they certainly would not provide funding to bring Indians to Nigeria. The local Indians are not interested in any networks. That leaves private investors -- the Lebanese. They tried this in the 1970s when they brought the famous Hindi film actor, Dara Singh (Tarzan and King Kong) to Kano (he was a wrestler, who, like Hulk Hogan and Dwayne "The Rock" Douglas Johnson meandered into film through wrestling). Since they they did not bother getting involved in such cross-cultural currents.

But you have given me an idea, though. When funding becomes available, we might try to see if among the local Indian residents in northern Nigeria there might be musicians -- tabla, sitar etc, and we can see how we can create a jam session with our traditional musicians (not, I am afraid, Shaba or Billy who tread different paths!)

Abdalla