Saturday, June 20, 2020

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FEAR (TBU) BY CHUMA IKEAZOR



Fear, what is this word? who created it and where did it come from, what were they thinking when they came up with it to represent one of humans most cowardly emotions and have you ever given a thought to how negatively this emotion could affect us. 

I had gone to bed on the stroke of midnight on this particular morning and was only able to sleep for about three hours before the so-called sleep ran away leaving me seated on the edge of my bed, looking emptily at a blank wall that had turned shadowy. Lack of sleep has become part of my new realities since the advent of CORONA VIRUS carrying COVID-19 and information(s) that followed it, part of which stated that a person or persons with "underlining medical condition" has an almost zero percent chances of survival and being a cancer patient, the depth of the reality that I am now confronted by yet another deadlier enemy than the prostate cancer I am struggling with, got stuck in my head subconsciously, enforced by the "Lockdown" that has locked the whole world out and away from my grasp and left me marooned at home with nothing but hope, the fear that came with realities of dying from cancer, was enamoured enormously and has completely taken over my life, be it subconsciously.

My life now revolved around the shadows of death and dying and fear of leaving my children behind to face the ever bludgeoning wicked world on their own, as young as they are -  FEAR. I was so afraid of this "looming encounter" with COVID that nothing else mattered, not even the fact that the deadly prostate cancer that is still there, slowly chipping away at me as well; "Underlining medical conditions" my mind was filled with imageries of death and dying as if I had experienced it before – FEAR, unbridled fear, it took away my sleep and has become part of my new realities, just like millions of people around the world who woke up one glad morning in December of 2019 to hear of the arrival of the brand new death merchant which came from nowhere; they said it started in Wuhan, somewhere in remote China, a place many of us have never heard of before; before we could grasp what was going on, many got caught and began to die, thousands are still dying and the world is at a standstill with everything completely out of order, things are out of kilter, life as we know it is spinning madly, turning crazily; the world is locked in a closet shelf, bleeding and confused.

Here we are today, here I am, at this time, in the very early hours of the morning of yet another tearful day, alone and very fearful, writing about it in the wee hours of the morning, middle of over two months of staying at home, not stepping out, going nowhere and doing nothing but fear and keep praying; that has been my state of mind, we have been told to stay home in other to stay away from the marauding pandemic that has now struck millions of the world's people and taken a population that is more than that of a country.

Ironically, COVID-19 sounds like a noble term, a name that could be given to a genuine scientific breakthrough instead of a deadly spine chilling pandemic; then CORONA VIRUS, something we expect to find or hear of in a sci-fi movie, an inhabitant of a newly discovered planet, somewhere in "the milky way" but painfully, these are names associated with something or system that came from nowhere, we were told it "came in from the cold" and changed the face of the earth and course of the world we used to know; it has now given us a brand new world, with lots of terms and conditions breeding fear and pandemonium, a world we do not want, a system we abhor, a bewitching situation that has left us in dreaded fear. Among the new realities are new words like social distancing wherein we are not to embrace nor shake each other's hands let alone hug and kiss for fear of contamination because every one of us is a potential career; from Presidents to street urchins, no one is spared.

This damn thing is so audacious that it has no respect for power or authority, it even defied a President that said it will disappear as quickly as it came, instead of disappearing, it has ravaged his country more than any other and has continued to do so; damaging lives daily.

Many other words were made significant because of it; like "The New Normal" a term used to define the new world we are stepping into, a world where the basics are all but gone, love and relationships are replaced with machines and technology, sports and recreation are reduced to a spectre of its former glory, a world where my brother, my sister, families are suspects at any time, after all, coronavirus may strike at any time; lovemaking has become a dreaded enterprise, sex, a risky sport unless you are ready to stake your life on it, travel and tourism are all but near dead – FEAR.

We are weakened immensely as the world struggles to deal with it effectively, forcing us to ask these questions, what kind of a world is this and how did we get here, to this point? Is this the world we have decided for ourselves? the way we want to live our lives going forward? a life we want to bequeath posterity? surely, we can do better than this, unless I am being told that this is the price we have to pay for the intrigues of fast-paced developments that brought the fourth industrial revolution, ever changeling face of the new world that came with the new millennium where the major focus has been on monitoring, control and dictation of how to live our lives instead of making the world a much better place for everyone.  Our people are now dying in droves; sacrificial lambs laid at the altar of the unseen. – Things that were foretold? To make things worse, words used by those in charge have left us with nothing but hopelessness and pandemonium – The psychology of Fear.

In continuing with finding an answer to my questions about fear, I dare to write that it has many faces, depending on how you have allowed it to affect you, many schools of thought described it in their way and here are some of them – Wikipedia says "it is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat which causes physiological and ultimately, behavioural changes such as fleeing, hiding or freezing from perceived traumatic events"  in this case, nothing can be more traumatic than the situation we have been in – this is one of the reasons why sleep has run away from me.

Further, the Online Etymology dictionary in describing the origin and meaning of fear says that it is a sense of; "state of being afraid" uneasiness caused by possible danger".
Some old English words, developed in the late twelfth century, gave us the word, "fear" as fyrhto, and ondraedan, meaning "Feeling of dread" as well as "Reverence for God" which is a different kind of fear to the one we are witnessing momentarily, while we revere God with fear and deep respect born out of love and sense of belonging, we fear our new situation out of hate and abhorrence because of what it has so far done to our lives and may continue doing unless we find a way to stop it, remove it completely, therefore these are two completely different kinds of fear.

Continuing… we have lived with fear and in fear in many areas of our lives before coronavirus and many of us have allowed and continued to allow it to define who we are, we have allowed it to short-change what would have been our spectacular achievements, accolades that would have reached us had we found enough courage to destroy fear and live our lives like it is golden – Fear.

 There are yet many other definitions, such as the feeling of distress, apprehension or alarm caused by impending danger, awe, anxiety, and others, in all, it is an unpleasant emotion or thought we have when we are frightened, worried or confronted by something or situation that we perceive as unpleasant and possibly, a threat.
Elements and components of fear include anxiety, dread, fearfulness.

It is, therefore, time, the days are here, reasons abound for us to stand up and confront our fears, particularly these compromised times brought about by the emergence of COVID-19 and Coronavirus which has now given birth to the "New Normal" a new kind of existence we do not want. Our courage shall see us confront the situation, a system that was imposed on us, our courage shall see us emerge with an antidote to the pandemic, shall see us reclaim our lives by adopting a positive perspective to the spectre of fear for it is said that "Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once", it is also said that "Things done well and with care, exempt themselves from fear", continuing with William Shakespeare's words on fear, he said yet again that when "One fears a foe, fear crushes your strength and this weakness gives strength to your opponent", let us, therefore "Be just and fear not" because "Our doubts are traitors and makes us lose the good we often might win by fearing to attempt"
While we battle with these situations and its effects on our mental and physical well-being, we must be courageous enough to stand up, rewire our psychology, and refuse to allow this thing to destroy us more than those it has killed already for it is better off dead than living dead… Let us destroy the psychology of fear for it is deadlier than Coronavirus and the times themselves.

"Fear, and be slain--so worse can come to fight; And fight and die is death destroying death, Where fearing dying pays death servile breath".
 


#hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia


Monday, November 2, 2015

From Enugu With Love: 5 Anthems

Jidenna

Enugu is the unofficial "capital" of the South East and is probably the most ethnically diverse city in that neck of the woods.

The town has given many things to talk about from the legendary Rangers Football Club to its beautiful scenery and not to mention its history of musical talent.

The story of Nigerian music would be incomplete without the repertoire of some famous artistes who either lived in, grew up or came of age in the Coal City. The likes of Sonny Okosun, William Onyeabor, Nelly Uchendu, Tuface Idibia and Celestine Ukwu are just a sprinkling. Start on the likes of Flavour Nabania and we'll be at this all day.

Here are 5 Enugu anthems from the last couple of years that we love silly. Enjoy!

1. UKWU (2010) By Flavour Nabania
    Awesome joint collabo by Flavour and Stormrex. This song was on rotation for years...no kidding. No video sha but we still love it.



2.  ALOBAM (2014) By Phyno
     Guys pasa nogbe! Monster hit that created a movement. You know the rest no need to go on...





Sunday, December 28, 2014

Jodeci: Story Of The Original R & B Gangsters

Jodeci in 1991
Its been 23 years since Jodeci released its debut album, Forever my lady and changed the Rhythm and Blues genre as we know it forever. The "coolest" R & B group ever was formed in 1990 by two sets of brothers; Cedric and Joel Hailey (K-Ci & Jojo) and Dalvin and Donald DeGrate (Mr. Dalvin & DeVante Swing) from North Carolina, U.S.A.

The brothers came from a gospel music background and had collaborated earlier in childhood on a number of church choir recordings before Jojo and DeVante Swing ran into each other again courtesy of their girlfriends and agreed for the latter to produce a demo track that Jojo was working on. The results of the collaboration encouraged both artistes to leave their hometown and chase their dreams to New York City with K-Ci and Dalvin tagging along. fortune smiled on the guys when the late Heavy D heard their demo and talked Uptown Records CEO Andre Harrell into signing them. 
They were given their first taste of exposure when they featured on a track by Uptown rapper, Father MC called Treat em like they want to be treated. Back then in 1990, your average R & B group was a suit wearing ensemble but Andre Harrell handed Jodeci to a hot and upcoming A & R executive called Sean "Puffy" Combs who threw out their colorful suits and made them dress like gangster rappers. 



In May 1991, Forever my lady produced by Al B Sure, DeVante and Mr. Dalvin hit the streets to a yearning audience that embraced the street-smart group, bought 3 million copies of the album and sent it to No. 1 in the US R & B charts. Tracks like Come and talk to me and Stay turned the boys into sex symbols as had never been seen before in an R & B band. The band followed up with Diary of a Mad Band in 1993 which is considered their most creative and generally best album with tracks like Cry for you, My heart belongs to you and What about us. Their last album The Show, the After Party, the Hotel was released reached No. 1 in the U.S charts, spawned several No. 1 singles and went double platinum. 

The weight of success began to take its toll on the band after Diary of a Mad Band. The band seemed to on top of the world with sold-out tours and great record sales. K-Ci was dating Mary J. Blige who was also a Puffy protege, Devante Swing was an in-demand producer in the same bracket as Dr. Dre and Teddy Riley. However their success brought women, wine, cash and drugs which is a tried and tested combo for wasting talented artistes. The bottom dropped out when their bad boys status attracted the attention of Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight who engaged the band in work on his movies "Above the rim" and "Murder was the Case". They also featured on Tupac's smash single, How do you want it off the multi platinum album All Eyez on Me.


When it seemed they were on top of the world the band collapsed on itself and didnt release any more albums. The Hailey brothers broke away from the group to form "K-Ci and Jojo" to moderate success with their more subtle mature music as evidenced in their huge 1998 single All my life.

Jodeci was directly and indirectly responsible for grooming artistes who would rule the music scene for the next twenty years. Jodeci proteges include Timothy Mosley who was mentored in the art of music production  by Devante Swing and even given the nickname "Timbaland". Devante also mentored Missy Elliott, Tweet and Mr. Magoo but sadly failed to tap the Billion Dollar goldmine they represented. Not to mention groups they inspired like Dru Hill and H-Town whose lead singers sounded uncannily like K-Ci and Jojo respectively.

Jodeci fans like this writer was however pleased to bits to see the boys reunited at the 2014 Soul Train Awards where they gave a glimpse of what the industry has been missing for almost twenty years. They looked older and a bit worn out but the raw passionate talent was still there. For heartbroken fans worry not. The guys are in the studio with Timbaland in full effect, working on a new album scheduled to be released sometime in 2015. They recently released a new single titled "Nobody wins". 

Jodeci at the 2014 Soul Train Awards

Despite their trials, Jodeci has always been full of surprises. Let's see if they can show the industry why they are adjudged the greatest R & B band of the 90s (sorry Boyz 2 Men) and one of the greatest of all time.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Kizaro's Top 14 Songs of 2014



2014 will go down as one of the most interesting years for music followers and artistes alike. It was a year in which many new artistes got their foot in the door, while some not so new ones threw down statements of intent to rule our airwaves and playlists for as long as possible. 

Its never easy sieving through thousands of truly amazing songs to draw up a list of just 14 but we kept our focus with an eye on originality, production lyrical content and attitude to give you Kizaro's best 14 songs of 2014. We wish y'all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year!

14. Patoranking Ft. Tiwa Savage - "Girlie o" Remix


Patrick Okorie's career ascended to new heights this year after his monster breakout song Alubarika put the Dancehall crooner on the map big time. Girlie o, the follow up song took the music scene by storm and stayed on rotation across the country on Nightclub and Radio playlists for months. The song caught the attention of Mavin Record Label First Lady Tiwa Savage who lobbied her way into a remix of the song that blew us away and earned the No. 14 spot on our list.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Kizaro's Historical Trek: Jebba's Explorers

Day 2 (Jebba): Mungo Park & Richard Lander's Journeys.

Happy Independence Day from Kizaro’s Blog!

In the build up to our 54th anniversary of nationhood, this writer tuned all the bad news out and with a little time on my hands accepted a short job to document certain key historical sites and imagery in a number of places in Nigeria. The Site List had Kizaro’s Blog hurtling through an average of three states a day across towns like Jebba, Lokoja, Zaria, Abuja, Jos, Minna, Zungeru and a couple more and saw firsthand, places I had heard about in history classes and books as a young boy.

Nigeria’s amalgamation in 1914 was the culmination of centuries of voyages, journeys and the likes by European journeymen led by the British whose footprints across Nigeria are still part of our landscape.The Park-Lander Obelisk in Jebba, Niger State was erected by the British Government in 1929 upon strong request by the ubiquitous Sir George Taubman Goldie and Lord Scarborough, Chairman of the Royal Niger Company, though completed by Sir Hugh Clifford years later. It was in honour of the voyages of Mungo Park and Richard Lander though the voyages of both men were separated by more than three decades, together they traced the course of the River Niger from its source to the sea in the name of the King of England.
The Park-Lander Obelisk

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Was Craig David's Debut One Of The Greatest Albums Ever?

In August 2000, Wildstar Records released a raw 12 track album R& B/Garage by an unknown 19 year old from Southampton. The album titled "Born To Do It" went on to sell more than 8 million records worldwide, topped the charts in 4 countries including Nigeria, United Kingdom and Sweden. Not to mention top 10 in 13 other countries.


The success of the album sprang from the creativity of Craig David and its production team, Artful Dodger which was composed of Mark Hill and Pete Devereux. The team's classic garage sound coupled with Craig's excellent vocals produced a practically perfect body of work.


As the story goes, Artful Dodger, then a struggling studio in the back streets of Southampton was working on its debut album and identified Craig as a perfect voice to feature on a couple of tracks. The hard part was that they were too broke to pay him as little as £100 for his efforts and performances on the album. Instead they recorded a few tracks for him for free. The first three tracks they recorded were monster hits "7 days", "Walking away" and "Time to party". Mark Hill revealed that making the album was a great and relaxed experience as Craig did not have a recording contract, manager or pressure of any kind to perform. The result was an effervescent and totally fresh experience for fans everywhere.

In Nigeria the album was a monster hit whose tracks were on heavy rotation on radio, television, cable and club Dj playlists for at least two years. Unofficial sources estimate that at least 4 million pirated copies of the CD have been sold in the country till date. Globally It represented the ability of British R & B artistes to hold their own in a genre dominated by American acts like Usher and paved the way or inspired other UK acts like Donaeo. Canadian rapper Drake's singing adventure in tracks like "Find your love" and "Hold on we're going home" are largely modelled after Craig's singing style.

Like what happens to so many fresh ideas, The success of the album led to major deals, pressure to perform and a move to the USA and Craig David never hit the heights of his debut. Born To Do It was voted MTV's second greatest album of all time in 2009 and was barely edged out by Michael Jackson's Thriller. A testimony of what could happen when artistes make music for the fun of it and not just for the rewards of success.


Sunday, April 27, 2014

Kizaro's Historical Trek: 7 Towns In 7 Days

In honour of our country attaining the landmark age of a century, Kizaro’s Blog undertook a non-stop seven day marathon trip to document several sites in seven cities of great historical significance to Nigeria. The result was a trip of a lifetime that had several high points, close shaves, and ultimately, priceless education about Nigeria that can’t be learned from a classroom.

Day 1 (Minna): In Search of the Hunslet Locomotive.

Took off from Jabi Park, Abuja in a very comfy Toyota Van at 6.15pm and arrived in Minna really late. Checked into a hotel not far from the Minna Train Station, fell asleep watching “Tinsel” and dreamt of locomotive engines and their drivers in early twentieth Nigeria. 

For the uninitiated, the story of Nigeria would be incomplete without the North-South Railway line that connects the northern and southern parts of the country. Integral to the smooth running of the then colonial administration from the then Nigerian capital of Zungeru was the “Wushishi Line” which hauled the manpower, heavy machinery and goods needed to build the roads, bridges and other necessary infrastructure. The first and longest running locomotive on that line was a Hunslet 1901 Engine (pictured below). Its estimated to have conveyed in excess of 500,000 tonnes over three decades until its “retirement”.

Built in 1901. Still looks better than some cars I've seen of late
Highlight of the morning -

This writer was accosted by plain clothed detectives while happily snapping away at the Hunslet on a bright and early sunday morning. My camera and pictures were thoroughly “inspected” and returned. Apparently a certain ex-Head of State and resident of Minna was in the neighbourhood and I looked suspicious enough to be interrogated.


Next Stop – Jebba in search of Mungo Park’s boat!

The left ear of my "chauffeur" taking me to the nearest motor park.  No time, Jebba beckons!