31.3.12

blame game


Polly put the kettle on
the napkins got burnt
and she blames molly
cos she didn't put the kettle off

Molly busts into tears
"why do you always blame me"
if I didn't have so many chores
it's mummy's fault

what do you kids want from me?
I got 3 jobs and buy you "adidas"
I smile to you and cry on my pillow
I blame your dad for leaving

I pay alimony, so ssshhhh ...
if only you faced the truth
on why we fell apart
then you'll blame Polly


see you at the next post






14.2.12

I propose ...



Hey love 
I got something I want to tell you 
No I didn't run the dog over 
We have come a long way 
And I want us to go further 
I want to wake up to your smile 
I want to wake up to your smell 
At night, I want you to be the last person I talk to 
Before we talk to the One who created us two 
The times we've shared makes me know 
I want our babies to have your traits 
Cos you're calm when I'm hot 
And you're hot even when I'm not 
Did I catch you off guard? 
Yeah, I want you to have my baby 
Cos you make me high, Cocozza 
Yes this is my proposal 
Would you marry me, marry me 




I'll keep watch at that time of the month 
I'll be quiet and not get on your nerves 
If you're too tired to cook; I would 
Better yet, we'll just fast food 
But never forget 
The way to a man's heart is his stomach 
I'll never forget 
What we've built this relationship on 
G O D 
and not meaningless things like 
D O B 
we've got what everyone is looking for 
Friendship and love together 
And that makes me high, Cocozza 
Yes this is my proposal 
Would you marry me, marry me 


see you at the next post


11.1.12

The girl I loved ...


I met her when she was 24
black beauty and all
I knew how I felt about her
but I couldn't find the words
her radiant beauty made me blink
so I barely looked at her
she told me about her background
It made me cry
she told me about her plans
It made me smile
the more time we spent together
the stronger my feelings grew
we ebbed and flowed
told her I had to fly away
to hustle and flow
I'll come back
and we'll spend forever together
but as years go by
she keeps breaking my heart
promise after promise
she keeps breaking her word
her heart goes in leap cycles
there's no continuity in her words
she makes me vulnerable
and plays on my vulnerability
I'm feeling to favour Lola Godheld and 'let it go'
but still feel we can work it out 
cos that's what love's about 
you occupied my life for so long
failing me and making me think I failed you
tables have turned
you occupy me no more
I choose to occupy you
ioccupynigeria






see you at the next post

7.1.12

pXg music contest 2011



If you think Gospel music is still that ‘boring’ genre of music you listen to only when you visit grand-ma? Think again! pXg Music Contest 2011, organised by G.R.I.P, re-established the relevance of Gospel music to the industry.

It was Friday, 2nd of December 2011, the pXg music contest held at SOL House in Manchester, UK delivered gospel entertainment on all counts; fun, laughter, poetry, thrill, soul-steering music, and even suspense. Converging four dynamic upscale Manchester church Choirs; Lighthouse Chapel, NCC, God Centred Voices and Naacah, the winner of the contest will record a single in a top music recording studio, plus a music video.

The judges on the night were music instructor, Sam Amusan and the talented duo - the Levites312, who themselves won a music contest few years ago.  With an array of talented acts and exciting performances, Maria opened the show with a rendition of Mali Music ‘All I have to give’; Sean did a unique dance to the worship song ‘Awesome God’. Guest artiste, David Nwator created a buzz as he rapped with a live band to his songs – crack the sky, look for me - before calling the talented Daniel Walker on stage to join him for the ‘Enough’ song.  MOBO award nominee Faith Child got the crowd buzzing with his sultry performance as he shared his testimony on the track ‘Flashback’ and performed other tracks off his “Illumination” album.


One attendee had this to say of the event “as a Christian, I really enjoyed my time at this show. It was a good way to relax, have fun, meet with new people and an awesome start to my weekend”.

Finally, there was a photo shoot after the event and people mingled and made friends.

The winners on the day were NCC. The single and video will be out in February 2012.

pXg is coming your town really soon … 

see you at the next post
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27.12.11

My Grand Habitat



Every Christmas, no matter where we were in the world, we had to go to the village to spend time with my grandparents. It was a tradition mama (my grandma) had instilled in her children over the years; and as her grand-kids, we were born into it.

Our village home was a 5-bedroom building with two bathrooms, and a kitchen with 2 detached buildings (a special kitchen and toilet). A room each for baba, mama, girls, boys and guests completed the sleeping arrangement in this "grand habitat" but the grandkids always ended up sleeping on matresses in the living room because we always had games to play, dramas to act and gist to give all through the night. While the rooms were not en-suite, the two bathrooms were surely decent enough to serve the population without awaiting-bath queues.  Jealous yet? Don’t be please.  By bathrooms, I don’t mean the regular bathroom that also houses a toilet bowl for "you know what". We used to do 'the-do' in the toilet outside. The bathrooms were what the Yorubas call baluwe - just for washing the body. We also had an additional bathroom which was built with corrugated zinc  roofing sheets outside the house.
 
Most people's favorite room in a home is the kitchen and that's not different in my case. It is not just my love for cooking, but also my love for amebo (juicy gossip) that makes the kitchen my favourite spot. The kitchen in the house was quite useless to me though, it was used to keep cooked food, water, spices, pots, cutlery and stoves but our special kitchen, my special kitchen was where business went down.
 
We had to walk outside where some "aproko" chickens and goats welcomed us to the external structures. The gazebos, a grill/barbeque stand, games corner, swimming pool...errrm...ok, none of that but there were 'sha' structures, the toilet, zinc bathroom and the special kitchen in the form of a thatched-roof hut where the real cooking took place. I mean proper Benue, grinding stone, fire wood, smokey, cooking. Chai, my red eyes! While my aunts, mum and grandma were cooking, we would beg them to roast a small tuber of yam for us to eat with palm/groundnut oil as an appetizer then hang around to run errands and listen to amebo.

There was a Julie-mango tree in the middle of the compound we used to climb in the afternoons then sit/lie under in the evenings while the adults told us Tiv 'tales by moonlight'. At the back of the house though, we had a large, bare, expanse of land where we had a battle of the sexes - football style. Every 24th or 26th of December, about 15 of us females would play a match against just 4 of the males and when we won - like we always did - we would run around the house chanting (depending on the scores) " 4 - 0, kokoriko, hey! kokoriko, hey!" my foot never touched the ball on the field but i was always in the front line of the victory run.
 
This is just a glimpse of how we lived during the Christmas holidays and razz as it may all sound, I loved those days. I miss those days. Family is everything and though sometimes they seem to make life miserable for us, they do what they do because they love us and know that when the spotlight fades out they will still be there, loving us.

written by: doshima
see you at the next post

23.12.11

Everyone's Christmas


Everyone wants the Christmas
but no one wants Christ
so they quick to call it xmas
quick to write a wishlist

Everyone loves the stories
the shepherds, the king, the stars
the manger, the chase, the gifts
but quick to dismiss the moral of it

Everyone wants to be free
but no one wants salvation
they want to get to the top
and shop till they drop

Everyone wants to live it up
not wanting to give anything up
we all want the sweet life
without a bitter tale

My way of saying:

have a MERRY CHRISTMAS
and a  TRUE     CHRISTMAS too

see you at the next post

3.11.11

Rosetta translation

I have a good friend who works for a big translation company, it is actually one of the most reputable translation agency. We meet up every other week and he keeps giving me tales of clients he represents. Some of them make you sober, others make you cry but this particular one made me laugh. There isn't any particular way I can write this that will give the clear picture of what happened during the translation service, but I will try. 

Somewhere in Birmingham, police raided a house mistakenly. I say mistakenly because they meant to raid the next house after gaining inside information on drug related activities. Anyway they still followed protocol by identifying everyone in the house properly. Na there kasala bust. 

One of the residents was sleeping when the police came in. He had actually just arrived from Nigeria that morning and was tired. He came in illegally to mention. He claimed not to understand English and didn't answer any of the questions asked. They struggled to identify him and as time went on they took the case to court. My friend was called in from Rosetta translation to translate for him. 

After going back and forth between the judge, interpreter and client for about 32 minutes, the judge decided he will be deported and be on the next flight home, my friend was about to interpret to him, that's when the client bust into tears:
"I understand English, I understand, I don't need an interpreter. I came into this country on the morning the police came in, I spent 14 days on boat and now you are sending me back after one day. I have not even gone to macdonalds ..... lai lai"