Zahra Gordon

Someone at the BBC only recently discovered that there’s an art scene in Nigeria. Or, they’ve only recently discovered the Western art scene in Nigeria because certainly the centuries old traditions of music, literary arts, dance, sculpture, etc account for something, right? 

This article speaks about the “thriving art scene” in Nigeria by focusing on children learning classical Italian compositions and the growing number of art galleries. 

Excerpt: “News from Nigeria often concentrates on corruption in politics, fighting with the Boko Haram militants in the north and unrest in the oil-producing Delta region – but Africa’s most populous nation has also quietly become a hotbed for the arts.

There was a very different atmosphere in the room where the strings were practising – it certainly had an international flavour.
A strict German conductor was guiding the Nigerian violinists and cellists through the Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli’s 300-year-old Christmas Concerto.”

My thing is, the market place was the art gallery long before the modern art gallery came into place and being. The drumming, dancing and story-telling that are part of everyday life from the wedding ceremony to the funeral to the naming ceremony are just as significant as the violins these children are learning to play. I mean, what’s being implied is the “arts” only consist of violins, Italian composers and Ave Maria. How can we discount the many generations of Nigerian musical innovators who blended various genres of music? Or the comtemporary artistes who have delved into hip-hop, R&B and more? 

#justsaying, but in short, art in Nigeria has always been thriving.