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| Kazeem Balogun |
Kazeem Balogun, founder
of Kalo Africa Project, is part of the team that organized the Sakara Music
Festival that took place on Sunday 16, 2017.
He told GodfreyTimes in an interview that the major thing is we want to promote people within
Africa and Africans in the diaspora to promote African content.
GodfreyTimes: could
you kindly brief us about Kalo Africa?
Balogun: Kalo
Africa, from the name Kalo means ‘let’s go’ it’s a Yoruba word.it means let’s
go to Africa. So if you come to Africa, what are you coming for? To see the
beautiful side of Africa. What we are doing in Kalo Africa is that we want to
project the good image of Africa. We want to change the generality from
negative to positive.
I was listening to a CNN reporter onetime (when Barrack
Obama erstwhile President of America wanted to come to Kenya) he described
Kenya as the hotbed of terror in Africa. Then I thought, here is a reporter, a
foreigner, telling the story of Africa. It is when we start telling our own
story that we can say it in a positive way. If an African is reporting that, he
wouldn’t say that because we know that Kenya is not a hotbed of terror. So I
thought we need to take it up and that is what am doing with Kalo Africa. We
are using tourism, we are using media to pass a positive message across to
every part of the world, to different parts of Africa.
The major thing is that we want to promote people within
Africa and Africans in the diaspora to appreciate the African content. So in
essence what we are geared towards is for the betterment of Africa.
GodfreyTimes: I like
what I just heard, given that Africa is a unique place and having witnessed the
impact of Nigeria in every sector when I was in Ghana, I was proud to be a
Nigerian. I appreciated where I was coming from more when I was outside. But
what shocked me was, two francophone ladies from Guinea were in an argument
that the location of the series Tinsel was in South Africa and the other said
it was Nigeria, with credible facts I enlightened both when they came to me but this drew my attention to knowing that there is so much they need to know about
Africa. Nigeria is Africa so how do you intend to create that awareness beyond
Nigeria to carry Africa along?
Balogun: Like I
told you, what we do is focused on Africa. Have been to over 25 countries in
Africa and am still going. I will be in Ivory Coast from 28, 29, and 30 to 1st
of May. Now, the message is this, we want to sell Africa. Nigeria is part of
Africa, if am selling or marketing Africa, and projecting Africa, I am
re-projecting every part of Nigeria. What we can do is that individuals, let’s
think of what we can to promote the continent. We know that the image of so
many African countries is battered outside.
I tell you like what you experienced, at times they see me
as one of this Nollywood actors, they come to me, and they take pictures with
me. I remember when I went to Namibia, when I got to one of their international
airports, they so much thought I was a Nollywood actor, they started taking
pictures with me. I said no I’m not, you wouldn’t believe they went to the
internet and brought out my picture…. I said yeah ok, ok I couldn’t say
anything. So what we are doing is that if we look inward I think that we can
promote Africa positively. It’s going to be the best thing.
Let me give you an example, most times, I find myself in
these francophone countries and I find they play our songs in their clubs
consistently and it is the same thing in South Africa. Nigeria can be the lead
of which we are, it’s a pity that things are getting harder for the country but
we’ll get there. Most of my friends –lawyers, doctors, professionals they
always tell us that hey, what is your government doing? We need that leadership
and it is only Nigeria that can give us that leadership.
So as a Nigerian am
taking it up personally, and the country as a whole needs to take it up from
there. We don’t need to wait for small countries, Nigeria is there already,
everybody is looking up to Nigeria –the creativity, music, entertainment
industry, generally the same thing we are doing. I shoot on the streets of
Accra, Ghana. They ask me oh, where are you from? I say am from Nigeria, they
see me as someone from America and accord me the same respect they would to an
American and I feel happy. I feel that ok this is something we need to do and
collectively, individuals at the level of government we need to take it up.
Nigerian government is trying. I remember when we were in Ivory Coast with
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, we attended United Nations World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO). It’s a tourism conference, the secretary general of UNWTO gave Alhaji
Lai Mohammed the floor to speak about the developments in Nigeria, I felt
happy, you know, as a Nigerian and that stands for Africa because it was a
global event so we still need to do more, as an individual am trying.
Today
what we are doing, it looks like a local event but tomorrow you will see that
it’s a global event because we have some people scattered every parts of the
world that have interest in this kind of music. So whatever you think you can
do as an African to better the lot of the country or the continent –Africa,
let’s put it forward. For Nigeria I know we are going to lead the continent.
GodfreyTimes: how
would you describe the importance of this event here today?
Balogun: Being a
member of the team, what we thought was that this genre of music is dying
gradually and we want to revive it. Now, what do we do? Let’s organize an event
that will bring people together. This is the kind of music that I grew up
knowing. I am a Muslim, anytime my dad finished praying in the morning, this is
the music he listened to. He is late now and I thought that this can be part of
me so today I thought let’s bring people together to revive Sakara Music and
I’m very happy that children and grandchildren of the legends of Sakara Music
are brought to stage for the first time in Nigeria, in south-west Nigeria.
This
is the kind of music that corporate guys are listening to, so you can see the
kind of people gathered here today. It will come to a time that people will say
this is the type of music we want to be listen to. The reason is this, you have
a lot message. I don’t know if we are of the same age bracket, when I was
growing up, at a point if I want to do some kind of thinking, this is the kind
of music I listened to because it gives wisdom, they pass messages of God to
you, a message of how you can do business with someone and many more.
This type
of music is a must-listen to everybody. For us we are glad we staged this
event, the convener Mr. Hakeem Adenekan and the team which I am a part of,
thought that we need to rejuvenate Sakara music even if government is not
coming up, let’s do something on our own. As I said that individuals we need to
come up with something –it was a pleasure having this and people came around.
Evidently they are still here and not willing to go home so it is wonderful
knowing it’s a great thing we have done.
GodfreyTimes: having
been to most African countries, you must have observed that there is a huge
difference of perspective between a Francophone and an Anglophone, how do you
think this can be connected to yield your aim?
Balogun: Thank
you. Like what I always tell people, most of this francophone countries because
we don’t reach out to them they feel we don’t need them. Personally I have met
them, am doing business with them and it’s quite unfortunate I don’t speak
French but if you see me in Benin Republic, Togo, down to Dakar you will think
I speak their language. As we speak, I have two people from Senegal in the
hotel, they came to see me. Yes they came to see me because they believe that
–see let me tell you something, they want to do a lot of things with Nigeria,
Nigeria is the America of Africa, so what we can do to breach the gap, is come
up with creative ideas.
Currently am planning an event titled ‘Anglo-Franco
meets’ it’s going to be a musical thing, we will have musicians from Nigeria
and francophone countries come together and sing. We will further on by going
to morocco to strengthen that idea so we can use music to create that awareness
and with art.
Like a guy is supposed to be here tonight if not that I told
him to hang on. He is from Benin Republic, he sings in Yoruba and another lady
also from Benin Republic they call her Zainab, she sings in Fon, Yoruba and Gun
including English with French. With that we can use music to breach that gap
and we can use our culture, who says we cannot have an event between Nigeria
and Benin Republic? Two countries coming together…we are the closest in terms
of neighboring borders –we can come together and have any kind of event and the
whole world will say that this two countries are great and can do so many more
great things.
Music and creative work are the two great things we can use
to bring that togetherness and achieve our aim.
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