Fwd: Great Nation, Timi Dakolo

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Anthony Akinola

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Apr 29, 2018, 5:34:13 PM4/29/18
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From: Oladipupo Adamolekun <dip...@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, Apr 29, 2018 at 9:59 PM
Subject: Great Nation, Timi Dakolo
To: OLADIPUPO ADAMOLEKUN <dip...@yahoo.com>


Sharing.  I listened to Timi Dakolo sing this song a fortnight ago. Under-50s in the audience - the majority - sang along standing and with passion.  Listen to the youtube, if you can.   


Viewing lyrics for Great Nation by Timi Dakolo.

Here we stand as a people
With one song, with one voice
We’re a nation, undivided and poised
We will take our stand, and build our land
With faith to defend what is ours

Here we are as a people
With one heart, for one cause
We’re determined to rebuild and restore
Where freedom reigns, and truth prevails
A land where there’s hope for us all
A land where there’s hope for us all

We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe in this nation, and we know we’ll get there
We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe in Nigeria and the promise she holds
And that one day we’ll shine like the sun
We’re a great nation

Though we are many people
Different tribes, different tongues
We’re united in our strength and resolve
To uphold the honour of our land
And for generations to come
And for generations to come

We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe in this nation, and we know we’ll get there
We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe in Nigeria and the promise she holds
And that one day we’ll shine like the sun
We’re a great nation

Nigeria Nigeria
Nigeria Nigeria
Nigeria Nigeria
Nigeria Nigeria
Nigeria Nigeria
Nigeria Nigeria
Nigeria Nigeria

We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe in this nation, and we know we’ll get there
We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe in Nigeria and the promise she holds
And that one day we’ll shine like the sun

We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe
We’re all we have, we’ll defend our land
We believe

We’re a great nation



Sent from a mobile device.

Adeshina Afolayan

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Apr 30, 2018, 4:27:09 AM4/30/18
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Beautiful song! Timi Dakolo remains a wonderful singer. But then, how do we read this song of patriotism, or any such song in Nigeria? At one level, how do the singers understand loaded concepts like "freedom," "tribes," "nation," "people," etc that add to the song's sonorous quality? Who are the "we" Dakolo refers to? Does that "we" bring together the elites/politicians/wealthy with the masses/poor/citizens? 

By reason of his status as a successful singer, Timi Dakolo gives credence to the hypothesis that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Only the elite (politicians and the middle-upper class) are patriotic in the sense of a false sentimental attachment to a nation that is grounded on a status quo of injustice and inequality. However, Todd Gitlin, in "Varieties of Patriotic Experience," alludes to another sense of patriotism that makes one patriotic even if one rejects the sociopolitical practices and the way of life that define one's nation. I can be a patriot but not to my country. For instance, those that the Nigerian state has consigned to what Agamben calls "the zone of indistinction," a zone where the homo sacer are banned and abandoned, and opened to the vagaries of the state's irresponsibility, can band together in patriotic bond. This subnational patriotism derives from an epistemic standpoint of negative thinking, according to Marcuse. It comes from a thinking tat negates what is immediately before us, to quote Hegel. 

This is an exciting twist to patriotism that enables us to interrogate the relationship between unfreedom and freedom. What result will we get if we apply Agamben, Marcuse, Hegel to the unraveling of informality and patriotism in Nigeria?  

Timi Dakolo' "Great Nation" is a great song, but it will largely fall on the deaf ears of those who have been abandoned by the Nigerian state.  

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429


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Kenneth Harrow

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Apr 30, 2018, 9:36:46 AM4/30/18
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Nice posting

 

Kenneth Harrow

Dept of English and Film Studies

Michigan State University

619 Red Cedar Rd

East Lansing, MI 48824

517-803-8839

har...@msu.edu

http://www.english.msu.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/

From: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Reply-To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Monday 30 April 2018 at 04:15
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Great Nation, Timi Dakolo

 

 

By reason of his status as a successful singer, Timi Dakolo gives credence to the hypothesis that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Only the elite (politicians and the middle-upper class) are patriotic in the sense of a false sentimental attachment to a nation that is grounded on a status quo of injustice and inequality. However, Todd Gitlin, in "Varieties of Patriotic Experience," alludes to another sense of patriotism that makes one patriotic even if one rejects the sociopolitical practices and the way of life that define one's nation. I can be a patriot but not to my country. For instance, those that the Nigerian state has consigned to what Agamben calls "the zone of indistinction," a zone where the homo sacer are banned and abandoned, and opened to the vagaries of the state's irresponsibility, can band together in patriotic bond. This subnational patriotism derives from an epistemic standpoint of negative thinking, according to Marcuse. It comes from a thinking tat negates what is immediately before us, to quote Hegel. 

 

This is an exciting twist to patriotism that enables us to interrogate the relationship between unfreedom and freedom. What result will we get if we apply Agamben, Marcuse, Hegel to the unraveling of informality and patriotism in Nigeria?  

 

Timi Dakolo' "Great Nation" is a great song, but it will largely fall on the deaf ears of those who have been abandoned by the Nigerian state.  

 

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429

http://mail.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/06.gif

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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May 1, 2018, 2:55:41 AM5/1/18
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I have not heard Timi Dakolo's song but I imagine that it could help to mobilize into  meaningful action

various segments  of the population including policy makers and politicians.


 I hope that it is inspirational  -  and an antidote to nihilism and  self-

destructive behavior  and philosophies-   while  challenging  exclusivity and elitism, exploitation and marginalization.


Patriotic songs can  fuel  meaningful change when skillfully crafted.




Professor Gloria Emeagwali
 www.africahistory.net

     

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Kenneth Harrow <har...@msu.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2018 7:36 AM
To: usaafricadialogue

Adeshina Afolayan

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May 1, 2018, 6:06:27 AM5/1/18
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Of course, a song like Dakolo's will appeal to those who have something to benefit from Nigeria and the present status quo. What happens to those, the lumpenproletariat, who get the bad side of mismanagement of the economy? You expect them to be dancing and singing to "skillfully crafted" patriotic songs? What's there to be patriotic about in Nigeria for these people? 

Patriotism requires critical disambiguation. If the people will be patriotic, it will not be in the same way that the national looters and thieves are. When the homo sacer will rise to reject their abandonment, then these elites will quake. Except that the homo sacer may have been rooted in the kill zone, without the courage to take their destiny into their own hands.

There is nothing nihilistic about rescuing Nigeria from those who will bring her to her knees. And that rescue will not come through jejune songs. Remember Fela also sang "Viva Nigeria," and regretted it till his death. Yet Fela remained a patriot. 

Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan

+23480-3928-8429

Biko Agozino

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May 1, 2018, 9:57:06 AM5/1/18
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I love my kontri I no go lie
Na inside am I go live and die
When it turn me so
I go push am so

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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May 1, 2018, 1:20:00 PM5/1/18
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Adeshina-

So what is your solution? Are you organizing the exploited?

Are you a member of a liberation movement? Are you organizing workers in a labor movement?

Are you forming a coalition of various exploited groups to overthrow the status quo?

A patriotic song can also be critical -  and even embarassing to the ruling elite. That was my silly little point.

Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries on
Africa and the African Diaspora
8608322815  Phone


From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:07 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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May 1, 2018, 6:39:25 PM5/1/18
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"Yet  Fela remained a patriot."


I thought there was something sinister and wrong in being a patriot.

Kindly clarify. I probably misinterpreted the posting.


Are you for or against  patriots and patriotism?


If  someone composed a song that said that  I love my country but

hate the government,  how would you react to it.  I am no Chidi Opara but

I believe a " skillfully crafted"  song,  like a poem,  could actually be sarcastic

and critical  -  and also  joyous and celebratory

in terms of the country itself- depending on the composer's creativity.








Professor Gloria Emeagwali
(History) <emea...@ccsu.edu>
............................................

Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 1:18 PM

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

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May 2, 2018, 7:21:32 AM5/2/18
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Adeshina is doing his bit by doing his best as a scholar  in an environment in which hope may be easily lost.

But i wonder if he is not being too pessimistic in this context.

toyin

On 1 May 2018 at 18:18, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emea...@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Adeshina-

So what is your solution? Are you organizing the exploited?

Are you a member of a liberation movement? Are you organizing workers in a labor movement?

Are you forming a coalition of various exploited groups to overthrow the status quo?

A patriotic song can also be critical -  and even embarassing to the ruling elite. That was my silly little point.

Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries on
Africa and the African Diaspora
8608322815  Phone


From: 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:07 AM

Sent: Monday, April 30, 2018 7:36 AM
To: usaafricadialogue
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Fwd: Great Nation, Timi Dakolo

Nice posting

 

Kenneth Harrow

Dept of English and Film Studies

Michigan State University

619 Red Cedar Rd

East Lansing, MI 48824

517-803-8839

har...@msu.edu

http://www.english.msu.edu/people/faculty/kenneth-harrow/

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