LAURA NORAH IKECHUKWU . . . A Burgeoning Talent & Henrisol Entertainments In-House Artistes By 'Tunji Ajayi
I hate being obtrusive. I am not learned at all, needless talking of being a learned lawyer. But I remember that the learned Lord Justice L.J. Bowen in Edgington v Fitzmaurice (1885) made a far reaching comment from which we should all learn about what propelled human actions. Unlike in law which thrives on its own alibi: “Du minimis non curat lex” viz, law takes account of no trifles, I argued in “Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti: A Legal Luminary Bequeaths Legacy to Humanity” that almost every little thing matters in journalism and indeed news or feature writing. Little information may form the fulcrum of your story or your scoop. So a creative writer or journalist must be perceptive enough to notice every minute detail in a piece of information. The misplacement of a comma, full stop or disregard for rule of concord etc. may change the intention being conveyed and make your thought to be misconstrued. The learned Justice L.J Bowen in that celebrated case bothering on misrepresentation averred in what seems his “ratio decidendi” that “the state of a man’s mind is as much a fact as the state of his digestion.” Bowen eloquently ascertained that there is a relationship between intention and action. Put in a clearer terms, “the state of a man’s mind is as good or as bad as his actions.” In other words, our thoughts, the inner mind impact greatly on our actions. But what is the correlation of my preamble to the above topic? I can see you pondering. I love anecdotes as a writer. The popular cliché is that there is no face to see the mind’s construction. But, the truth is that a man’s conducts are a perfect reflection of his unseen inner mind. Good music impacts on us greatly. A man ponders and cries inconsolably if he hears a serious evocative somber elegy. He weeps listening to a dirge. But the same man becomes excited and rises up to dance hearing very good, evocative and enchanting music. An audience listens to a piquant music and they, in unison rise up and dance in deep ecstasy. A society should not toy with the power of music. It impacts on the actions of our youths and old men and women alike. The Biblical King Saul became very sick and had an affliction which appeared to be delirium tremens. He was being troubled by evil spirits. All efforts were in vain to get him cured. But diseases of the mind are never cured with orthodox medicine. David, the great musician was summoned. He played his haunting and enchanting music. What happened then? Hear the outcome in 1 Samuel 16: 21 & 23; “Thus David came to Saul and attended upon him, and he got to loving him very much, and he came to be his armor bearer. . . . And it occurred that when God’s spirit came to be upon Saul, David took the harp and played with his hand, and there was relief for Saul and it was well with him and the bad spirit departed from upon him.” Consequently, from the foregoing, the English playwright and poet, William Congreve could not have bragged in his Hymn to Harmony, when he averred that “music alone with sudden charms can bind the wandering sense, and calm the troubled mind.” A world without good music is better imagined than experienced. It is a graveyard! The universality of music explains the ubiquitous capacity of music which, amongst other benefits, also has therapeutic power as seen in Saul’s case. Back to my anecdote on Lord Justice Bowen’s assertion above which unequivocally suggests that the state of a man’s mind is as good or as bad as his actions, good music with instructive messages and instrumental accompaniments is healthful to our inner mind. And bad music with insipid and vapid lyrics affects our minds adversely. It impacts on our actions. Succinctly put, a man is what he listens to. Most youths with their impressionable minds, if exposed to unedifying music, are more susceptible to bad conducts including proclivity to engage in drug abuse, rape, robbery, genocidal instinct, and all manners of ignoble and morally depraved conducts including arson and murder! Good and didactic music can instill puritanical discipline. Bad music with vapid lyrics can incite and encourage criminality which turns a society into a jungle with all forms of indecent behaviours, social vices and life insecurity. Music is a push. It also has a pulling force – the opium of incitement either into despicable acts or noble conducts.
That explains the noble efforts of Henrisol Entertainments Ltd. & Laolu Ogunniyi's Theatrical Organization’s (LOTO) collaboration to redress the present imbalance and correct the anomalies via their Cultural and Value Revival Project to transform our beleaguered society into a better place for all and sundry, using media arts, audio visual theatre arts, meaningful music devoid of obscenities, dance drama etc. to achieve her objectives. Henrisol Entertainments as espoused in their various Docu-Dramas now trending in the social media is not just deploying entertainment arts just for entertainment sake. Our youths often transmute into what they watch, the company they keep, or the music they listen to. LC-Studio Communications, a registered production arm of Henrisol Entertainments Ltd., is eminently blessed with many in-house old and new generation artistes who are ably talented to cause stir with their evocative performances any day, ranging from contemporary folk to afro-pop to hip-hop music, traditional dancing troupes, creative writers on contemporary issues and biographies from which our society can learn useful lessons, etc.
Norah Laura Ikechukwu embodies many things in the arts – a mass communication graduate and talented songwriter, singer and dramatist is the Head of Programs in one of the most prominent radio stations in Ogun State. A suave and well polished communicator with flair for news casting and presentation with enchanting diction, elocution and clarity of enunciation has caused radio listeners to stay glued to the box for years. The creator of Palaver – a radio drama series, is a talented songster who has enough to flaunt in her evocative songs with which evidently satisfy the canon of good music. Laura has an uncommon and enchantingly beautiful voice! Her recently recorded “Jigbi-Jigbi” track produced and recorded at LC-Studio Communications is poised to thrill our entertainment world. With many tracks in her trove being arranged for her debut album, the workaholic artiste is currently into a collabo with Adédàmólá Ajayi, a graduate of Sociology and an upcoming talented hip-hop artiste, songwriter and music producer who during the 2021 Eniobanke Music Festival (Emufest) earned an invitation as a guest artiste from the world renowned folk singer Beautiful Nubia, during which he showcased his latent talents to audience admiration. Some of his beautiful tracks and features have earned air-play on prominent radio stations. Henrisol Entertainments Ltd. also has as her resourceful in-house artiste Baba Shamang, a University of Ibadan graduate in Classics, and a Master’s degree holder from the same University. Baba Shamang is a Hausa hip-hop artiste hailing from Kaduna state in Northern Nigeria. A contemporary rapper who had thrilled audience in many shows and popular events from his undergraduate days at the University of Ibadan, Baba Shamang is a great talent to behold on the podium. The trio of Adédàmólá, Norah Laura and Baba Shamang’s choreographs are delightful to watch, and their aesthetically pleasing beats with compelling dance rhythms are good to the auditory nerves. They are poised to thrill the entertainment world with their collabo soon during the upcoming great shows on the platform of Henrisol Entertainment Ltd./LOTO Production.
If music involves the arrangement of sound, voice, and instruments in a harmonious manner to create appeal to auditory nerves, then music must necessarily conform to an acceptable format, including having good messages to elicit needed responses from the audience to satisfy the canon of good music. One dictionary says it is vocal or instrumental sounds or both, combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Being so defined, then anything that falls short of that expectation may not be music but noise. Henrisol Entertainments/LOTO shall give off her best in presenting the most adorable in media entertainment arts.
Powered by Otunba Olusola Adekanola FCA, mni, JP, a true philanthropist who moans and groans on the rate at which Nigerian talented youths are being ridiculed in the labour market as casual workers with asphyxiating working conditions, while many are completely unemployed, feels visibly worried at the current exodus of the Nigerian youths to foreign lands as survival instinct to the detriment of Nigeria’s future. A foremost accountant and chartered tax practitioner we will recall gave to Nigeria in the 90s an undying legacy by designing a workable template rightly christened Accelerated Revenue Generation Programme which ably reduced Nigeria’s sole dependence on crude oil now drying up and losing value in the international market. His ARGP which transformed the economic prosperity of virtually all the states of Federation has since been latched upon by poachers and many states in Nigeria as their saving grace.
Professor Laolu Ogunniyi on the other hand is a consummate artiste personified who was the engine room of the erstwhile Mass Mobilization for Self Reliance and Economic Recovery (MAMSER) project established in 1987 during the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime, with Professor Jerry Gana as its Chairman. A film producer, cinematographer, lecturer, script writer, and playwright, Laolu Ogunniyi we will recall was the author of the books Candle in the Wind, Faithful Eclipse, Riders on the Storm and the producer of the enchanting soap opera, Winds Against My Soul which took our television stations like the waves of oceanic tide in 1979 and ricocheted throughout the length and breadth of Nigeria for many years. He has produced Wole Soyinka’s The Lion & the Jewel, Opa Aje, and many great Nigerian doyens of the arts like Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, Ajimajasan, Baba Sala, etc. in the past. Heavens knows that with all these great Nigerians behind Henrisol Entertainments/LOTO Production, there is no straw in the wind to suggest any failure. After all, he that keeps moving forward never remains behind.
Like Thomas Beecham, an English music conductor once said: “Music first and last should sound well, allure and enchant the ear . . . “ Henrisol Entertainments & LOTO Production will revive and uphold the omoluabi culture of promoting decent and educative music, artistic audiovisual theater arts, dance dramas etc. Audience are enjoined to please watch their skits, docu-dramas, and subscribe to their YouTube channels for updates on many great events coming soon. Verbum Satis Sapienti. --------------------------------------- *Tunji Ajayi, a creative writer, author and documentary producer writes from Lagos, Nigeria. (+2348162124412; +2348033203115) 1.Please Like, Comment, Share, and Subscribe to Henrisol Entertainments Ltd. Youtube Channel https://youtu.be/-XaKx3HyBb0 2.Buy this Book via Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/KING-SUNNY-ADE.../dp/B09FSCJX78
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