Friday 12 August 2011

Teju Cole and Nostalgia

I heart this guy. His next work is non fiction, set in Eko, describing my city. He reads from it in this clip. It is such a powerful and evocative extract I want to get on a plane and return to my country. He has made me so homesick.

Me I like my country,
My country very good o,
Everything dey for my country,
So let us join hands and make Nigeria greater.

It was a song we used to sing when I was younger. Do you remember this one?

O eba, O eba,
When shall I see dodo
Ireti give us food o,
When I think of Egusi and Iyan,
I will never forget pomo.

And this one

There are seven rivers in Africa,
Nile, Niger, Senegal, Congo, Orange, Limpopo, Zambezi,
Azikiwe, Mohammed, Tafawa Balewa
White man don take the crown from us.

Anyways, here is the reading that sparked off all this nostalgia.

5 comments:

  1. That was a great reading - thanks for posting it. Can't wait to start Open City - as soon as I make some headway in my 'To Be Read' pile, of course...

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  2. Yeah, I wish it went on for longer. I can't believe the ocean swallowed that man's car. I've never heard that kind thing before. Yeah, Open City is on my list as well. I'm sure I'll like it. I like all his other stuff.

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  3. You absolutely should read "Open City". I reviewed it for last week's Observer, look for it online.

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  4. Teju is always a delight, to read and listen to! Everyday for the Thief is about Lagos...now this is non-fiction, waiting for it!

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  5. Hi petina, I've read the review. I'm really glad you noted that he'd written Every Day is for the Thief before Open City. It's not fair that it gets ignored when its so good. And yup temitayo, we will be waiting together.

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