Bling Bling Is Back!

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Joëlle Rolland PhD has organized a summer exhibition at Gallo-Roman Vesunna Museum in Perigueux, France that documents the archaeological trajectory of the Celtic seamless glass bracelet and the journey that discovered the Masaga glassmakers and their long history making seamless glass bracelets. The first exhibition held at  MuséoParc Alésia, France incorporated the story of the Masaga glassmakers of Bida, Nigeria. See Bling Bling in Bida.

Exposition temporaire: « Bling-Bling, le verre gaulois en toute transparence ! »
English translation follows:
Temporary exhibition: “Bling-Bling, Gallic glass in complete transparency! ”
 
Category: Agenda
 
This event takes place from July 12, 2022 10:00 to August 31, 2022 10:00.
 
Gallic glass in complete transparency! ”
 
From Monday, July 12 to Sunday, October 30, 2022
 
No extra charge to the museum’s entrance fee
 
Bling-bling is not discreet: it must be known, it must be seen. In other words: it must shine, it must slam! For a Gaul, what better way to show her success, above all material, than a glass jewel? In the footsteps of glass workshops, Bling-bling takes you to discover an ancient civilization, finally close to us by its concerns, and questions our own relationship to adornment. Through the study of materials and techniques, with the collaborations of current craftsmen, this archaeological research reveals the production and use of bracelets and glass beads, from the banks of the Nile to the wrists of the Celts.
 
Didactic panels, touch screens, light effects, video, illustrations punctuate the visitor’s journey.
 
The Bling-Bling exhibition, Gallic glass in complete transparency! Is an adaptation, by the Gallo-Roman Museum Vesunna, of the Bling-Bling exhibition, Gallic glass is displayed! Designed by the MuséoParc Alésia in 2019, then taken over by the Archaeological Museum of Val d’Oise in 2020-2021.
 
Curator: Joëlle Rolland
 
Joëlle Rolland, curator of the exhibition, is a doctor of archaeology from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. To understand how an apparent seamless glass bracelet was made, she experimented with techniques with contemporary glass craftsmen and carried out work in ethno-archaeology presented in the exhibition. Now a post-doctoral student, associate researcher at UMR 8315 Trajectoire and UMR 7065 IRAMAT, she continues her research on Celtic glass workshops with excavations in the Czech Republic and continues to document glass ornament manufacturing techniques in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bida in Nigeria.
 

**All rights reserved by Lesley Lababidi. To copy or re-produce photography and/or writings, written permission from Lesley Lababidi is required.

Celebrating the New Power House – Peju Alatise

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It has been 8 years since writing Tearing at the Fabric. Since then, Peju, Nigerian-born artist and architect, has forged ahead in the international world of contemporary art. Balancing motherhood with her relentless aspiration to create visionary art combining two successful shows at the Venice Biennale, not to mention relocating her atelier from Lagos to Glasgow, Peju has demonstrated that she is a non-stoppable, power house of a woman.

Originally named the Old Power House, this dilapidated space was waiting for just the right person to come along and revive it. Peju was searching, too…with a new vision and energy where her creativity would flow… they met. Peju’s decision to relocate in this far away country and start her own colony of African artists in Glasgow was a bold move. One year later, the Power House found new life as Peju’s vibrant art studio.

On June 18, 2022, people came from all over the world to celebrate Peju’s unique, powerful beginning in Glasgow, Scotland. The day was filled with music and dancing, eating and speeches, and joy, most of all joy for Peju, her courageous decision, her art, and her bright future.

Peju explains, Why Glasgow?

Glasgow is a thriving community of artists and Peju brings her dynamic personality and visionary art to this art scene.

The day was filled with music and people celebrating Peju’s journey of life and art. Even her mother, Mrs. Oluyemisi Alatise shared her newly published autobiography, Emii Ree, a meticulously chronology of the family and three generations of women .

Since my first post there has been many interviews and in-depth articles written about Peju. Here is just one but it is comprehensive and a MUST READ!

Peju Alatise
https://artreviewcity.com/2021/08/11/peju-alatise/

Hawan Sallah in Bida, Nigeria

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His Royal Highness, Alhaji (Dr.) Yahaya Abubakar CFR, ETSU NUPE,
Chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers

Durbar Festival which is known in northern Nigeria as Hawan Sallah “the mounting of the horses” (sallah from the Arabic word salat, meaning prayer) or Hawan Idi (mounting of the horses on the Eid—Muslim festival), supporting an equestrian tradition that can be found in cities throughout northern Nigeria today. In the predominately Muslim north, cities, such as Bida, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Yola, and Zaria are known for these celebrations, particularly after Ramadan, Eid el-Fitr—festival of breaking the fast—and Eid el Adha, festival of the sacrifice. A procession of horsemen comprised of traditional rulers, district heads and title holders along with acrobats, and musicians assemble to parade in front of the emirs’ palaces and through the city to pay homage to the traditional ruler. In Bida, seat of the Nupe Kingdom, various activities of horse riding, parades, musical entertainment, begin with the special prayer that commemorates the end of Ramadan.

In Bida the Eid el-Fitr celebrations begin Day 1 after Ramadan when the Etsu Nupe and his entourage ride horseback to the parade grounds to perform Eid Sallah, a special prayer that commemorates the end of Ramadan. The Etsu Nupe and the entire Bida community pray together.

Community prayers after Ramadan – Day 1

The slideshow presents some photos taken on Day 1 when the Etsu Nupe went through the streets of Bida in celebration of the end of Ramadan.

The Hawan Sallah dates back to when horses were used in warfare to protect an emirate. Each noble household was expected to defend the emirate by forming a regiment. Once a year, the regiments would gather for a military parade to demonstrate allegiance to the traditional ruler, by showcasing their horsemanship, readiness for war, and loyalty. The chief cavalry officer known as Madawaki takes charge of war activities, especially that to do with horses.

Madawaki, chief cavalry title
Showcasing the loyalty to the Etsu Nupe with traditional music

Day 2 of Eid el-Fitr The community came to the palace to greet the Etsu Nupe and congratulate him for the month of Ramadan. Each person was introduced by name.

An afternoon of reciting the Quran, music, dancing and stand-up comedy was enjoyed by all.

Talking drums praising the Etsu Nupe
Nupe dance and song is highly regarded
Spontaneous participation by title holders
Standup comedian, Nupe style

Hawan Barika – Day 5 The last day of celebrating Eid el-Fitr. Hawan Bariki is the day when the Etsu Nupe rides his horse through all the districts of Bida and visit the royal, ruling houses. Also during colonial times, the Etsu would ride with this entourage to the district officer to formally close the celebrations of Eid el-Fitr. The following video, outstandingly, represents the day .

NTA News

Portraits of a Parade

Recent Interview:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bida-unesco-world-creative-city-2022-olatoun-gabi-williams/

https://dailytrust.com/how-i-opened-bida-glass-works-to-international-community-lababidi

All rights reserved by Lesley Lababidi. To copy or re-produce photography, videos, and or text, written permission from Lesley Lababidi is required.

Barka da Sallah – Eid Mubarak – Happy Eid el-Fitr

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After the month of Ramadan, fasting from sunrise to sunset, Muslims around the world celebrate the ‘Feast of Breaking the Fast” – Eid el-Fitr. In northern Nigeria, some Hausa, Fulani and Nupe cities will celebrate with an equestrian festival known as the Durbar. The festival begins with prayers of thankfulness for completing Ramadan and prayers to see the next Ramadan, prayers for the community, the leaders, and the country. In Bida, His Royal Highness Alhaji (Dr) Yahaya Abubakar, ETSU NUPE, will preside over the festivities. Watch this space for the unfolding events!

Return to Bida, 2022

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The last time I was in Bida was February 2020, after which, one by one, countries closed their borders. By mid-March of the same year, ramifications of coronavirus detained everyone from leaving their homes much less to travel. Across the globe, each day we faced the unknown. But life continues, and as time marches, I, once again, am able to greet the Etsu Nupe in his Bida palace and return to the Masaga glassmaker’s community.

His Royal Highness, Alhaji (Dr.) Yahaya Abubakar CFR, ETSU NUPE,
Chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers

The week leading up to the Abuja-Bida road trip, The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini, was screened at the Alliance Francaise (Lagos) in conjunction with Screen Out Loud on March 13th. The attendance was good with a lively conversation during the Q & A session.

Left to right: Remi Vaughn-Richards (Director), Lesley Lababidi (Exec. Producer), Derin Ajao (Screen Out Loud)

iREP International Documentary Film Festival at Freedom Park Lagos March 17-20, screened The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini at Freedom Park.

Seven years of promoting heritage awareness and preservation in Nupeland includes articles, booklets, programs, international exhibitions, Instagram @bida_glassmakers, and the documentary (permanently displayed on the British Museum website). These efforts led to UNESCO designating Bida as the creative city of crafts and folk art in Nigeria. International and local designers are interested in the local crafts and we are hopeful that collaborations and projects will soon begin to emerge. Mr. Tarek Chazli, Chargé d’affaires of the Italian Embassy, expressed interest in visiting Nupeland and possible collaboration. Mr. Chazli accompanied me on this trip and it is hopefully that his trip will be the first of many to Bida for the Italian Embassy and others.

Left to right: Alhaji Dan Galadima, Jikandiyan Gargagiya,
His Royal Highness the ETSU NUPE,
Mr. Tarek Chazli (Chargé d’affaires Italian Embassy)

Women play an important role in Nupe royalty. Hajiya Aisha is the Emira or head of the Nupe women. Her title, Sagi Nupe, gives her the status as the highest ranking woman in the royal family. I am humbled and thankful for our friendship. Here is a photo of us on March 20,2022.

The Masaga glassmaker’s community suffered as a guild and cooperative during the past two years. There are only two elderly glassmakers remaining to work the recycled glass into beads. I met with the traditional leaders and we are in discussions as how to encourage 2-3 youth in apprenticeships. Bellows operators are not difficult to gather as this needs only strength and stamina but the craft of making beads and bangles is a long commitment to learn the skill and technology of the furnace and glassworks, not to mention patience and creativity. I fear we may be experiencing the last years of this craft even with local and international attention.

Standing in the middle is Alhaji Yanko, the 95 year old man, who keeps the secret to the ancient way of making bikini black glass.

The making of glass beads and bikini raw glass is well documented within this website and in the documentary but another story may not have been highlighted sufficiently, which is the technology of making seamless bracelets. (Bida Glass at MuséoParc Alésia, France and Bling Bling in Bida)

Joëlle Rolland PhD, archaeologist at UMR 8215 Trajectoires, France studies the migration of glassmaking from Egypt to Gallo-Roman era and the innovation of Celtic technology of making seamless glass beads. Joëlle Rolland searched the globe for workshops still producing seamless glass bracelet with the same technology and concluded that the Masaga glassmakers are the only group remaining in the world who still know how to produce seamless bracelets in the same fashion as the Celtics. She discovered the work of Elisabeth Thea Haevernick who publish in 1960 her thesis on Celtic glass bangles in Bida and, the ethnologist, René Gardi who also researched Bida glass in the 1969 and wrote articles comparisons with the work of Celtic bracelets. As well as, Leo Frobenius  in 1911 who visited Bida also illustrated the techniques of fabrication with the famous illustrations Celtic glass.  All of this, by chance, led Joëlle to my documentation of the glassmaking in Bida. Joëlle explained that this technology is extremely difficult to replicate. She organises exhibitions about the Bida glassmaker’s seamless bracelet making.

comparison between bracelets made in 2019 (photo: Lesley Lababidi) and 1969 Rene Gardi, African Crafts and Craftsmen

Here is a new, 2 minute video of making of seamless glass bracelets on March 19,2022

**All rights reserved by Lesley Lababidi. To copy or re-produce photography and/or writings, written permission from Lesley Lababidi is required.

Bida, Nigeria Declared UNESCO Creative City in Crafts and Folk Art

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Leave something of sweetness and substance in the mouth of the world.                                  
–Anna Belle Kaufman

https://news.band/bida-city-declared-unesco-creative-cities-network-member-alongside-48-others/

His Royal Highness, Alhaji (Dr.) Yahaya Abubakar CFR, ETSU NUPE, Chairman of the Niger State Council of Traditional Rulers bestowed on me a great honour in his telephone call to congratulate me for the six years of research and promoting crafts in Bida, Nigeria, that helped to highlight the crafts and folk art in Nupeland.

From 2015, my journeys to Bida began as a broad interest in material culture and blogging about the experience to researcher of Nupe heritage, particularly, the study of glassmaking. All of which evolved into becoming an honorary member of the Masaga glassmaking community.  

These rich and rewarding journeys culminated in the month of November 2019, during the completion of the documentary, The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini, and the honoured title of Jikadiyan Gargagiya, Ambassador of Nupe Traditions from His Royal Highness.

Watch The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini , hosted by British Museum

The documentary can be found on the repository here: https://drs.britishmuseum.org/articles/media/Lost_legacy_of_Bida_Bikini/14535420
and on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTRxORja4Ik&t=1s

Articles and posts can be found throughout my website. Here are a few posts:

Red Walls of Bida – The Book

Between Two Rivers Bida City of the Nupe

Bida Glass: Bangles and Beads

Bida Brassworks

Bida Blacksmiths

Bling Bling in Bida

Bida Glass at Muséo Parc Alésia, France

Nupe Day

Portrait of a Glassmaker

Bida Bracelets, The Ancient Art of Glassmaking

Turbaned! Jikandiya Gargajiya

Indigo and the Durbar

Instragram: bida_glassmakers or https://www.instagram.com/bida_glassmakers/?hl=en

Humphrey Davies, In Memoriam

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On November 12, 2021, Humphrey Davies, my co-author of Field Guide to the Street Names of Central Cairo, died of complications of pancreatic cancer. Just a few months earlier, we had completed the manuscript for submission to an Arabic publisher of our book. We were discussing a second edition but by August, Humphrey fell seriously ill. All too soon, he passed.

There has been many wonderful eulogies and tributes to Humphrey:

https://arablit.org/humphrey/

https://aucpress.com/news/remember-humphrey-davies-a-towering-figure-in-arabic-translation/

When one creates something new with another, there is a deep and special bond. I will miss our lengthy conversations while researching Cairo street history and all the subtle twists and turns of unraveling complicated stories. The Field Guide was the ultimate treasure hunt and our rewards were excavated, layer by layer, through the sequence and identity of long forgotten names. Our time and effort for this book was a labour of love for Cairo, a city that welcomingly adopted each of us within our own separate circumstances.

Here is a full obituary from the New York Times that sets out the work and life of Humphrey Davies. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/books/humphrey-davies-dead.html

All Photographs and text are under international copyright laws. No re-use without the written permission of Lesley Lababidi 2023.

The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini at the Glasgow COP26 Film Festival

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themoonandthesledgehammer.com/cop26-event-5th-7th-november-2021/

The screening at the Glasgow (Unofficial) Film Festival a COP26 event coincidentally coincides with the two-year anniversary of filming The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini in Bida, Nigeria.

VENUE:   The Revelator, Barclay Curle, 739 South Street, Glasgow, G14 0BX 6-7th November 

The Revelator will host a selection of old and new films from around the world during COP26 on 6-7th November.  
The films look at different visions and versions of sustainability: some feature those who have had to find inventive, sustainable ways of solving problems through necessity, while others show those who have found contentment and joy in life without succumbing to consumer traps.  We will also be featuring works that highlight the dangers of wonderful traditional skills being lost in our modern world which comes at a price we cannot afford.  
Together these films highlight that creative thinking and a will to change can actually change the world.  

Films will be screened FREE of charge (booking is essential through Eventbrite).  Our aim is to allow the public to fully absorb all the potential of sustainability and hope this inspires change.

 GLASGOW’S UNOFFICIAL FILM FESTIVAL OF COP26,   NOV 6th – 7th, 2021

Real change can only come if the will of the people is behind it, pushing politicians from the ground up.  Using Art as inspiration, this rare opportunity to view a collection of films from around the world, curated for the festival,  show different versions and visions of sustainability; some offering inventive solutions, (Dance of Joy) some highlighting the high cost of progress, (Bait, The Raven’s Dance, Slow Glass, The Lost Legacy of Bida Bikini).  Others feature those who have found contentment and their place in life without falling into the consumer trap, (Big Ware, Lambing, The Glory of the Garden).

All films are being shown free of charge thanks to the generosity of the film makers.  Booking is essential and can be done through Eventbrite.  Masks must be worn throughout.

Borders Literature for All Nations

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Olatoun Williams, founder of Borders Literature for All Nations, is one of those rare individuals who comes into your life and stays. Her friendship is unwavering, her support is steadfast, and her love is encompassing. Olatoun is a gatherer of knowledge and shares these gems to the world. But, her passion is literature and her commitment is to promote reading in Nigeria, regionally, and Africa, broadly. Take a look at her website, there are interviews, podcasts, book reviews to name a few. The literature selected is as diverse in subject as the authors who tell them. My story is one of the first to have been featured under Africanist Global category, which has been updated recently. I am humbled to have a place among such distinguished honourees.

Olatoun’s voice champions African literature. Borders Literature for all Nations is the founder of the Borders SDG Book Club and in addition, a founding partner of the African Chapter of the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter.