The bond of camaraderie between the Italians and Nigeria took a new turn this year as the Italian Embassy in Nigeria organized series of art competition to commemorate its 2009 National Day (June 2nd) in Abuja recently.
In addition to an annual Art Competition and Exhibition which had in the last three years ushered in the Italian week in Abuja, the Embassy in conjunction with Culture Renaissance, an Abuja based art organisation organized a national poetry competition with the theme: Nigeria-Italy: The Art of Friendship.
According to the Italian Ambassador, Dr. Massimo Baistrocchi, himself a published poet with four published collections to his credit, the poetry competition was conceived as an addition to the art competition to give opportunities to local poets to express themselves through their craft. “And I must tell you that it has been highly successful because we received entries from more than 80 poets across the nation. And we are making arrangement with one of our companies to sponsor the publication of all the entries into an anthology” he said.
Corroborating the Italian Ambassador, the Founder and Coordinator of Culture Renaissance, Ekene Atusiubah, himself an ward winning poet fondly referred to by the Italian Ambassador as the Nigerian Bard said before the presentation of prizes to the winners “Nigeria and Italy have a long history of friendship, since I got to know the art loving Ambassador, they have always enjoyed my poem and so together we felt there is need to promotion of local poets”
The cash prizes of N30,000; N20,000 and N10,000 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd position out of the over a thousand entries received was won by Ebuenyi Ikenna Desmond (from Aba, Owerri-Imo State) with his poem Different But One, Anthony U. Chukwuka (from Abia State) with his poem True Love Strange Bird Fellows and Port Harcourt based Chitzi Ogbumgbada with the poem Our Symbiotic Complexity which without prejudice to the panel of judges Culture Renaissance and the Embassy, some member of the audience believed should have won the 1st prize rather than 3rd.
Chitzi, while speaking to the press later expresses his gratitude, in the first place for having the opportunity to participate in the project and of course being one of the winners – 1st or 3rd not withstanding - “that is always the situation with literary competition and especially with poetry. We see it differently. I appreciate those who think I should have taken the first position. I am happy to have participated and won something” he responded.
Two days earlier, on Monday 1st of June, at the opening ceremony of the Art Exhibition of the ten best entries received for the art competition which this time around was in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art who’s Director-General, Chief Joe Musa headed the team (Jury) comprising of renowned Art Connoisseurs: Mrs Ireti Kingibe, Mr. Abdullahi Muku, Mr. Ephraim Ekah and the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Sherif Naguib that selected the winning artwork. Abiola Idowu, Oladimeji Olaniyan and Muyiwa Akinwolere received their prizes as 1st, 2nd and 3rd position respectively for their entries.
It was not just about poetry on the night as immediately after the presentation of prizes and rendition of the winning entries, guests were treated to a musical concert by the Nuovo Trio Parsifal with Barbara Castelli on Violin, Laura Pierazzuoli on Cello and Ana Paola Milea on the giant Piano. Though, from the looks on the faces of the Nigerians and Africans in the house, and a handful of the sea of European, Asian and Southern American diplomats and guests in the house, it was obvious that they could hardly decipher what the wordless musical rendition was all about, the award winning and widely travelled group delivered a beautiful rendition of some Italian classics – Trio in D Major (1860-1861) by Alexander Borodin, Trio Elegiaque n.1 in G minor (1892) by Sergei Rachmaninov and Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas (1965-1970).
They play with such great temperament and fantasy that left the few in the house who appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of this classical music gasping for breath and stood rooted in standing ovation for more than three minutes for the group after their heartwarming performance.
The week-long activities tagged ‘A Taste of Italy’ which started in Lagos on Saturday May 30th a musical concert by Omo Bello will be wrapped up with an Italian film show on Friday 5th of June at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja and a National Day reception at the Italian General Consulate in Lagos on Saturday 6th.
Jerry Adesewo
In addition to an annual Art Competition and Exhibition which had in the last three years ushered in the Italian week in Abuja, the Embassy in conjunction with Culture Renaissance, an Abuja based art organisation organized a national poetry competition with the theme: Nigeria-Italy: The Art of Friendship.
According to the Italian Ambassador, Dr. Massimo Baistrocchi, himself a published poet with four published collections to his credit, the poetry competition was conceived as an addition to the art competition to give opportunities to local poets to express themselves through their craft. “And I must tell you that it has been highly successful because we received entries from more than 80 poets across the nation. And we are making arrangement with one of our companies to sponsor the publication of all the entries into an anthology” he said.
Corroborating the Italian Ambassador, the Founder and Coordinator of Culture Renaissance, Ekene Atusiubah, himself an ward winning poet fondly referred to by the Italian Ambassador as the Nigerian Bard said before the presentation of prizes to the winners “Nigeria and Italy have a long history of friendship, since I got to know the art loving Ambassador, they have always enjoyed my poem and so together we felt there is need to promotion of local poets”
The cash prizes of N30,000; N20,000 and N10,000 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd position out of the over a thousand entries received was won by Ebuenyi Ikenna Desmond (from Aba, Owerri-Imo State) with his poem Different But One, Anthony U. Chukwuka (from Abia State) with his poem True Love Strange Bird Fellows and Port Harcourt based Chitzi Ogbumgbada with the poem Our Symbiotic Complexity which without prejudice to the panel of judges Culture Renaissance and the Embassy, some member of the audience believed should have won the 1st prize rather than 3rd.
Chitzi, while speaking to the press later expresses his gratitude, in the first place for having the opportunity to participate in the project and of course being one of the winners – 1st or 3rd not withstanding - “that is always the situation with literary competition and especially with poetry. We see it differently. I appreciate those who think I should have taken the first position. I am happy to have participated and won something” he responded.
Two days earlier, on Monday 1st of June, at the opening ceremony of the Art Exhibition of the ten best entries received for the art competition which this time around was in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art who’s Director-General, Chief Joe Musa headed the team (Jury) comprising of renowned Art Connoisseurs: Mrs Ireti Kingibe, Mr. Abdullahi Muku, Mr. Ephraim Ekah and the Egyptian Ambassador to Nigeria, H.E. Sherif Naguib that selected the winning artwork. Abiola Idowu, Oladimeji Olaniyan and Muyiwa Akinwolere received their prizes as 1st, 2nd and 3rd position respectively for their entries.
It was not just about poetry on the night as immediately after the presentation of prizes and rendition of the winning entries, guests were treated to a musical concert by the Nuovo Trio Parsifal with Barbara Castelli on Violin, Laura Pierazzuoli on Cello and Ana Paola Milea on the giant Piano. Though, from the looks on the faces of the Nigerians and Africans in the house, and a handful of the sea of European, Asian and Southern American diplomats and guests in the house, it was obvious that they could hardly decipher what the wordless musical rendition was all about, the award winning and widely travelled group delivered a beautiful rendition of some Italian classics – Trio in D Major (1860-1861) by Alexander Borodin, Trio Elegiaque n.1 in G minor (1892) by Sergei Rachmaninov and Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas (1965-1970).
They play with such great temperament and fantasy that left the few in the house who appreciate the uniqueness and beauty of this classical music gasping for breath and stood rooted in standing ovation for more than three minutes for the group after their heartwarming performance.
The week-long activities tagged ‘A Taste of Italy’ which started in Lagos on Saturday May 30th a musical concert by Omo Bello will be wrapped up with an Italian film show on Friday 5th of June at the Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja and a National Day reception at the Italian General Consulate in Lagos on Saturday 6th.
Jerry Adesewo
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