By Anote Ajeluorou
Inside Terra Kulture hall
four days ago, it was a harmonious fusion of traditional African drums
throbbing and the clash of horns as Saro,
the Musical was unveiled to a critical audience made up of government
officials, theatre buffs and business executives. From the standpoint of the
production crew, Saro, the Musical’s
marks a remapping of Nigeria’s cultural landscape in this Broadway-style music
drama, the first to come out of the heart of Africa, Nigeria.
First was the Opening Glee, with classic
music master, Ayo Ajayi conducting his large choir in announcing the arrival of
Saro in Yoruba language. Indeed, the
pounding of the drum sequencing, with the horns weaving in and out reminded
audience of something primal and evocative as could only be coming of out
Africa.
However, this opening rhythmic throbbing soon
gave way to Saro’s unfolding story, a
story that begins with a love affair between two young people soon to be separated
by the twin forces of a father’s desire to give out his daughter to another
young man from a wealthy home, since her choice of suitor is an upstart
musician, with nothing else to recommend him, and the young musician’s
impending sojourn to find greener pastures in the city. The two youngsters
deftly perform this romantic plot in a classical Romeo and Juliet fashion to
the delight of the audience.
And when they lent their sensual voices to
singing about the impending separation threatening their love, there is evident
in air that tragic loss and longing for the divine.
But the pace of performance is quickened as
the foursome set out on a journey to the city of Lagos where they hope to
realize their musical dreams. When they arrive Lagos, it’s everything they’d
hoped for and more much. The frenetic pace of living, the lifestyles, the petty
crime, the extortion, the free dramas that are endless in Lagos suck in these
four rural folks; they are fascinated, shocked, and repelled by it. But they
also enjoy it. They respond to Lagos the way they see it, and then begin their
arduous road to building a career in Africa’s most turbulent but reputed city
of dreams.
Only four scenes were performed out of the 14,
as a foretaste of what is to come, when the show opens in October to audiences
from Nigeria and abroad.
According to
the Executive Producer, Bolanle Austen-Peters, “The most natural thing that
came to my mind was to come up with a story of people that make up Lagos. In
trying to do that, I said to myself, ‘who best can represent a true Lagosian?’
There are different types of people that represent Lagos. You have the Saros,
the Aworis, the indigenous Moslems, the Afro-Brazilians, etc. You know, the
Saros spoke to me simply because they are free slaves from Sierra Leone. More
importantly, my mother-in-law is also of that stock.
“So, it is just an easy way of representing
who Lagosians are and also talking about the free spirit that these people
brought with them. And being a music lover, I see music as a form of freedom. I
express myself through music; I love to dance and I love to listen to music. In
the writing of the story, I had to create emotions; that is why you have the
love story, the success, the failure and just all that depicts the everyday
scene you find in Lagos, hence the beach, the police, the motor parks… all
those things that make Lagos what it is are all the facets we are going to
feature in this play”
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