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By Henry Akubuiro
One of the criticisms of poetry is that it is the most private of the literary genres and its audiences are mostly limited to poets themselves and the literati, for they are the ones who can fully appreciate its significations. But there is a seasoned bard in town who is winning new audiences outside the cocoon.
Enter Chijioke Amu Nnadi. Spoken word poets have brought fresh vibes to poetry, but Amu Nnadi has bettered what was in existence before now in performance poetry with stellar performances laced with music.
Watching the public presentation of The love canticles (his latest collection of poetry) and everything beautiful (a music album derived from his poems), which was jointly tagged The Revelation, one would think Justin Bibier was live at the magnificent Dome, Peter Odili Road, Port Harcourt, that Thursday.
The audience, drawn from all walks of life, burst into ohs and ahs intermittently, amid plaudits. The Amunnadic afflatus isn’t pedantic: not many would doubt that.
The appearance of former Ohaneze Ndigbo President-General, Chief John Nnia Nwodo, on the podium was heralded by an enchanter, Chief Chijioke Iyioku (Ikoro Ndigbo), blowing his flute deftly while singing his praises. His wowing folksy ensemble added colour to a colourful day. Chief Nwodo’s oratorical power further held the audience spellbound. He traced Amu Nnadi’s roots in Nsukka and how his father blazed a trail in university education years before Nigeria’s independence in his locality, a foundation that has rubbed off on Amu Nnadi. He wasn’t surprised the poet was going places with his talent. “Amu Nnadi gives me intellectual orgasm,” he extolled.
The Managing Director of NDDC, Effiong Okon Akpan, in his opening remarks, described Amu Nnadi as one of the finest staff at Niger Delta Development Commission and one of the best poets out of the Southeast, Niger Delta and the NDDC. He had to halt other events to participate in this.
“My reason for that is that when you see a good brain anywhere, it is good to celebrate. I like celebrating good things. It is good to celebrate excellence. It is good to celebrate hard work. It is good to celebrate great achievements. Here I am to chair and participate in the public presentation of this great literary work, the love canticles, written by Amu Nnadi and his music album.
“Amu Nnadi is an award winner at local and international levels. He has won many laurels, which have attracted recognition to the people of Southeast, and the people of Niger Delta.” He would, therefore, like everybody to read the new poetic offering, for it “is something that will enrich your soul.”
In a brilliant review of the love canticles entitled “Place, Love & the Lyric-hood of the Lyric Form”, Onyemuche Anele Ejesu, a lecturer in the Department of English, University of Nigeria, Nsukka said: “In Amu Nnadi’s poetry, the lyric form self-actualizes, not only in terms of its primordial association with music, but particularly in terms of its significant reputation as the most deeply personal of all kinds of poetry.
“What we encounter in the lyrics in this new collection is a consciousness bewitched by love and place. Divided into five parts, it is a collection about the love of place and place of love. Even though much attention has not been given to the discussion of ‘topopoetics’ in African poetry, place poetry is not new in Africa.”
Ejesu was impressed by the poet’s deployment of symbols: “And there is a Symbolist feel about the poems in the collection. I am referring to that quality of activating the inner life of things. Things, places, and objects in Amu Nnadi’s poetry acquire surplus value. The poems cut beyond mere matter to the very soul of things, stretching the imagination and giving us heightened experiences of the things, places and moods they describe and evoke. We perceive the transcendental value of things, of milt shakes, emojis and letters, of foods, minutes and opening prayers.”
The reviewer acknowledged love as another tradition that gained full expression in the new volume: “It must be said that even though a good chunk of the poems in the collection are love poems, this does not imply a sort of boring sentimental singularity. Love itself is a complex phenomenon, a sequence dotted by a variety of feelings: pains, angst, desire, melancholy, ecstasy, emptiness, sadness, and longing. Taken together, therefore, these love poems project a rich tapestry of emotions, addressing themselves to a variety of romantic inclinations and experiences, imagined and lived.”
The lecturer summed up the poetry volume by saying the poems “are not just about places and loves”, for they are in themselves “created places and lives”, so that the speaker in one of the poems speaks of ‘this lost being who crafts you into being’.”
Amu Nnadi is one Nigerian poet who has groomed so many poets through the Port Harcourt Literary Society where he is a Resident Poet and beyond that platform. The Revelation reinforced that view. There were readings by many of these young poets, including Michael Chiedozie, Sotonye Julius, Chioma Ibegbunam, to mention a few.
But it was the whoosh of sounds, the boom of bass and dulcet tones that upped the ante. Port Harcourt was electrified with a different kind of current. Amid romantic lightning effects on stage, August Chuks performed “to be loved by you” and Pamela Scott performed “photographs”. Except if you have read these poems before now, you wouldn’t know that the songs you were hearing were poems written by the bard. The songs were rendered in RnB that put everybody in the hall on the edge of their seats. Amu Nnadi himself took to the stage to perform the title track of the album, “everything beautiful“, with music playing in the background, as a young couple choreographed the lyrics that reminded us of the Olympics gymnastics.
More performances brought the roof down. Jenny Chkwuemeka wowed the crowd with “dear”. Felix Sam did “memories”, while Amu Nnadi performed “beloved”, which the poet likened to a “communion”, and which was first performed at the University of New York as a guest of the Centre for Black Culture. Tarri Guitarri compelled the audience to dance with “how will i love you”.
The medley of poems and songs made this day special, and Amu Nnadi is looking beyond a one-off show. “We are working on a 10-city tour round Nigeria,” he told The Sun Literary Review. “But it’s going to be capital intensive, because we need to move all the artists and other auxiliary members of the crew from state to state. The details of the tour will be announced soon once we get the funding. I am glad you liked what you saw at the Dome. It is the first of its kind in Nigeria.”
Professor Amanze Akpuda, a lecturer at Abia State University, agreed: “This is beautiful. Amu Nnadi has taken his art to another level. He has shown everybody here that poetry can appeal to every Dick and Harry with this unique musical infusion. I would like to watch this again and again.”
Earlier in his speech, the poet said: “The Revelation is both a culmination and renewal. Both a declaration and an affirmation. The stop on a path that never stops. As it should be with art, as well as our shared allegiance to this spirit of beginnings.”
The love canticles is Amu Nnadi’s 7th collection of poetry. The album, everything beautiful, contains 16 tracks, produced by Pamela Scott.
Famous Nollywood actor, Bob Manuel Odokwu, made a cameo appearance at the Port Harcourt event. Chuks Ugwoke represented the governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Father of the Day. Present also was James Eze, Chief Press Secretary to Anambra State Governor, among other dignitaries.
