MASTERSTROKE - Knowing the How

Raindrops on roses
And whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Many people identify that tune not bothering who wrote the words. Many played that musical over not caring if neighbours enjoyed it that much. Yet many others relive their first experience seeing that movie not worrying about the science that explains how they’re able to do so.

         But learning ‘the how’ was John Coltrane’s business. Born in 1926 America, when and where jazz was just taking roots; having no grasp of mathematics, crucial to understanding the genre; and living for only 40 years, which meant too little time to achieve mastery; John William Coltrane lumbered against the odds to know ‘the how’. His work would endure by learning how. And learn he did – inflection, syncopation and improvisation – the very how of writing, recording and performing on “Moment’s Notice”. He had to learn if truly, and how, “The Night Has a Thousand Eyes”. John Coltrane found how “Midriff” would reel out of the Art Blakey Big Band. For Trane, nothing compares to knowing the how.

On John Coltrane for Legends of the Score

MASTERSTROKE - Composing a Master's Brew

How do you compose a master’s brew? He knows – this Camerounian born in 1933 – that selecting the finest quality ingredients do not necessarily translate into a perfect age-old lager: assembling professionals. The best grains are crushed and mixed with demineralized water: creating originality. The resulting mash is boiled, its starch broken down with enzymes: melodic and rhythmic phrases. Fermentation begins here using purpose-grown yeast in suitable tanks: pitching the process. The beer you arrive at will now be filtered, bottled, pasteurized, labelled, cooled and shipped to your favourite pub so you may savour the bubbles, sparkling and tempting: staging the performance.

Begin with Soul Makossa and Africadelic in the 70’s. Go on to Goro City and Douala Serenade of the 80’s. Find Wakafrika and Mboa from the 90’s. And make certain to return to Aye Afrika and The Panther released in this millennium. Manu Dibango fuses the syncopation and improvisation of jazz with its bass groove. He blends the complex rhythm of afrobeat with blues riffs and wind blasts always in a bid to lure you to the art of the science of composing a master’s brew.

For Legends of the Score on Manu Dibango

MASTERSTROKE - The Twist in the Plot

Just like we speak of multitasking in work and life today, Handel’s music is typified by contrapuntal harmony. That jargon is from the word “counterpoint” which refers to the use of more than one strands of independent, yet concordant, melody. We hear a lot of that in Messiah.

But it was not only this German composer’s music that was contrapuntal. His very life, between 1685 and 1759, was a paradox of sorts, a couple of twists and turns: he went to law school but took organ lessons; he wrote fascinating operas like Rinaldo depicting sensual love then composed dramatic oratorios like Samson evoking ethereal devotion; he was religious enough to serve as church musician yet secular enough to drink and squabble a little too often; he was a commoner whose finances were debt-laden from declining patronage, nevertheless a nobleman whose works thrived on royal commissions repeatedly.

The truth is: life is not a straight-line graph. Sometimes you take a right turn but end up on the left wing. Do what needs to be done therefore, choosing the best options under the circumstances. Somewhere around that turn lies the Twist in the Plot.

For Legends of the Score on G.F. Handel

MASTERSTROKE - Expertise Emerges Effortlessly

An equal length of sections and a proportionate use of instruments were Bach’s dogma for writing music. As a result, this German composer seemed to effortlessly summon his talents at will. His harmony was predominantly polyphonic. He chose his ornaments so carefully that their effects were never lost on the listener at mass, in court or in concert. Why? Born in 1685, Bach wrote Baroque music, and baroque means highly decorated. So, it wasn’t enough to just balance the sections, the phrases had to wear ornaments in the same way a beautician skillfully makes up a woman, adorning her gorgeous dress and graceful hair with expensive matching trinkets.

Yet all that balance and beauty happened naturally for Johanne Sebastian Bach so that today, almost 270 years after his death, we enjoy his Minuet in G minor for the keyboard, Badinerie from Suite in B minor and the orchestral arrangement of Fugue in G minor which he had written for the organ. Of course, he wrote several pieces for voice: cantatas, oratorios, songs, arias and so forth. But he seemed to have done all that and more while intentionally hiding his sweat. Morale: When we are easy in our own skin, expertise emerges effortlessly.

For Legends of the Score on Johanne Sebastian Bach.

The Nigeria That I See

Introduction 
Today I choose to adjust my lenses so I may see a nation different from the one we always have seen. I do not seek to delude you into thinking it is better than what it is and how it has always been.

Past
The past is unpleasant. At the core of the fight for independence were men who were on to their own little games. As such, in half a decade, we led over a million lives to the slaughter. Worse, in half a century, their blood haven’t washed that half of a yellow sun from the pages of Nigeria’s history and the crimson colours of her people’s conscience. From north, south, east and west precious people pour into glittering cities – people who haven’t learnt to live together. We have been told we are different. We have been taught caution around one another.

Diversity
Rather than our cultural diversity earning us competitive advantage, we lead ourselves into squabbles which degenerate into ethnic friction so we may torch our neighbours’ houses with flames. Where is the economic advancement which comes with so many cultures gathered in one geographical space? South Africans are so diverse and so successful. The most prosperous nation on earth is peopled by representatives of all races. Britain, Canada, China and Australia are all multicultural societies which have translated their differences into positive economic equivalents. The governments of these nations play vital roles. But here, recurrent regimes of poor leadership, from tyrants to
despots, have not done badly enough otherwise one wouldn’t expect things to get worse by the day.

Present
Unfortunately, the present is uninspiring. Across the nation amenities and social infrastructure are in disrepair or altogether absent. The direct impact of our greed, indolence and helplessness is a poor, stagnated economy – a sorry sight. So, what in the world is wrong with Nigeria? The answer is in what we see in our country, which affects what we do to our country, which in turn informs how we react to the results we get from our country.

Aspiration
That’s why today I choose to adjust my lenses for the Nigeria that I should see. We must want to be like the great nations of this world. An aspiration is where it all begins. The UAE has shown that this can be done. Therefore, aspiring to personal and national greatness is a possibility. Friends, if we think this country can get better, it will get better. According to Henry Ford, “If you think you can, you’re right. If you think you can’t, you’re also right.”  Aspirations are a better thought culture. We need to exit our stereotypes. If we have no national identity, religion we do little help positioning us among the nations of the world. And so, the Nigeria that I see is one in which a Christian is not better than a Muslim just because he is a Christian. We have good Muslims and good Christians. All we need is a good nation.
We must aspire to a greater sense of value. Content and character are more important than age or ethnic locality. A child is not less than an adult just because he is younger. There are prodigies among us and genius has no respect for age. So, each person deserves their own respect. The best man, woman or child must get the chair. We are Nigerians first, before we are Hausas and Igbos and Yorubas and Itsekiris and Ijaws and Tiv and Fulanis. We are Nigerians please. We must change the way we think about ourselves and the way we think about our country. If 200 million people think this country is great and speak and act like it is, it eventually becomes great. I suggest the thought that Nigeria evolves the strongest military, the most versatile entrepreneurs, the slickest professionals and the finest academic minds.

Patriotism
But that might and mind must be channelled to the heart of this country in true love. There is no substitute for patriotism. We must buy Nigeria. This nation should indeed grow what it eats. We must invest in our people. We have expert bricklayers who didn’t go to technical schools. We trained civil engineers who have no jobs. Enough of foreign construction firms building our roads and bridges. I see a Nigeria in which resources are put in the hands of citizens who have brain and brawn to do the job. The Nigeria that I see is one in which the institutions of learning, healthcare and justice do not rank in the rear of budgetary allocation. In the Nigeria that I see, we teach math in Hausa language in the north, science in Yoruba in the west and economics in Igbo in the east. This is true patriotism. It shows we have an identity we are proud of, a feeling for what is truly ours.
Compassion Speaking about feeling is a tempting gnawing. The idea that we don’t feel for our national heritage is as unacceptable as the fact that we hardly feel anything for our next door neighbours. In the Nigeria that I see we care for one another – for the young lad still on the way to school at half past nine because he has no transport fare and for the old woman who bears the burden of tiring market day on her back and pain of ailing health in her bosom. I see a Nigerian nation where middle aged folks give up their seats for frail older people in public places because it is the right thing to do. I see a Nigeria where nurses are nice, giving painless injections just like they used to do. I see a Nigerian doctor treating a Nigerian president in a Nigerian hospital on Nigerian soil. What nation cannot care for its own people?

Conclusion
It's not PDP - our past, our diversity or the present mess! No, it's not APC should that direct our thoughts to the party, except of course we choose to aspire, to be patriotic and to be compassionate. Though the past may be unpleasant, our diversity may have been woeful, the present may be uninspiring; we can aspire to personal and national greatness, we can love our country to the exclusion of all else and we can care for the weak with true compassion. That is the Nigeria that I see! May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

@sojiojeniyi