Did we here someone try singing Yori Yori? What exactly does Yori Yori mean in the first place?

With barely a month to go before the Big Brother Africa 3 is announced, the battle for the Sh16 million prize money is headed to the wire — but that wire does look very Nigerian indeed.

There are seven starring survivors, four women and three men. The housemates are Emma, Kevin, Nkenna, Geraldine, Mzamo, Itai and Edward. Africa will decide who goes home with the loot.


Geraldine

But then again, the amazing thing is how, out of all participating countries, Nigerians have stolen the show with an overwhelming tilt of three contestants, out of the remaining seven. Now, Africa wonders if this is just coincidence, or if indeed there is some unfair play in the mix!

Kevin, Nkenna and Geraldine — formed the Nigerian trio three weeks after the show started. Taking advantage of their numbers, their strategy was (and has been) to have a few allies rallying behind each of them, after which they would intimidate, dictate and verbally "threaten" any other housemate posing potential danger — with gang nomination, like rattle of snakes full of poison. One would say, they have held every other housemate at ransom. It’s a game after all…

Or is it?

The Big Brother Africa Revolution has been reduced to what seems to be a Nigerian affair now dubbed the Naija Revolution. Others have renamed it the ‘Nijja Big Brother’ show where the rest of Africa seems to be holding together against a common "enemy". On their side, Nigerian fans — who are the majority followers of the show on the Internet — have vowed that the money has to go to Nigeria.
Ikechukwu


Critics argue that the highly populated Nigeria (140 million strong) offers Big Brother Africa organisers, Mnet a big market and hence some ‘favour’ in the competition.

Last year, Nigeria "dictated" terms on the TV show as Muslim extremists claimed it was promoting immorality. They argued that the shower hour was characteristed with nudity, vulgar language and sexual scenes in conflict with some cultural and religious beliefs.

Following this pressure, the popular mouth-watering shower hour was completely censored. To add insult to censorship, the Nigerians also made sure that when Ofunneka, the ‘good girl’ (some Kenyans would say ‘mboch’) contestant lost BBA II to supposedly immoral Tanzanian Richard, her State Governor offered her $ 100 000 (Sh 7.5 million) thus mocking the show’s prize purse, as well as other African nations whose reality show contestants can never get a penny out of the likes of Excellency Kibaki.

Kenya’s Alex Holi got zero macaroni. Jeff Anthony’s mushroom consultancy has no support from Ruto’s Ministry of Agriculture. Sheila Kwamboka is on the hustle to parlay her popularity into MC earnings. And if DStv hadn’t had a money bag for Teddy Muthusi and Jeremy, that would have been it. But Nigeria’s national pride can make them dig into treasury kitty, just to ‘restore dignity’ to failed reality show contestants.

Nollywood

Well, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Nigeria (Nijja as it is often referred in showbiz circles) has literally ruled showbiz in Africa for the last decade or so. First, it was their expansive Nollywood movie industry, which took Africa both by storm and surprise. Maids, maidens, housewives and hubbies in Kenya — all went gaga over the productions that often centre on cheap witchcraft or
Kevo

societal plots. The Nollywood produced films became the talk across Africa. They flooded the Kenyan market and were a big hit with River Road pirates. They became an urban must-watch before breaking through into DStv’s Movie Magic channel.

The obsession with the almighty dollar, or in this case ‘naira’ in these movie’s plots may be a sign of the Nijja ‘money power’ complex. In the Nollywood glitz shows, big cars and ghastly concrete compounds before stone mansions display the hard side of a raw capitalism.

Societal problems in these films are solved with ‘Naira,’ dads selling avaricious daughters to sleazy ‘dollar-o’ characters – and when one ties this in with the crudity of greed there over crude oil, past tyrants like Sani Abacha and a macho swagger where corny gold chains and a conning intelligence reign supreme over sophistication and substance, then things begin to look clear about ‘Naijo Swagg-o.’

Music

Another showbiz era broke over Nigeria as their musical artistes went ahead to become the big names striding the continent. Of course there was the Congolese Lingala era, before Tanzanian Bongo Flava took over the Kenyan club scene. That was before P Square’s popularity hit Kenya, announcing a new dawn over in this millenium. From 2 Face, P Square, D’banj, Naeto C, Ikechukwu and Kel, the Nigerians took dominance and ruled continental music awards. Kini Big Deal (Naeto C) and Enter the Place have become popular hits replacing P Square’s Do Me and No One Like You. And now there is this Fall in Love (D’banj) and Yori Yori (Bracket) craze in town, which seems to have overshadowed all local hits. It must be due to this wave that Kenyan artistes like Wyre and Amani are now looking for collaborations with leading Nigerian stars.
Nkenna


Nameless in early October, in fact, had hit Canadian cities like Ontario on tour to bond with his ‘Naija fans’ as he admitted to Pulse – and that may have given him a big boost in securing the MAMA awards. Not that the Nigerians murmuring discontentedly in the ‘Kichinjio’ venue were happy with his win. One was overheard asking: "Now how can you give on o-word to a nameless character?"

Now, some Nairobi clubs are hosting what has been dubbed as Nijja Nights dedicated to Nigerian music.

"We are working with Kenyan entertainers as well as the media to see how we can promote Nigeria artistes in Kenya. Soon, we will have many Nigerian artistes performing here," says Ikechukwu Anoke, a Nairobi-based Nigerian showbiz guru.

Besides their music, Kenyan ladies seem to have a fascination for Nigerian artistes (replacing the 1990s fixation on Congolese bands), something which has worked for an easy penetration of their music in the country. They (Kenyan girls) claim that the Nigerians are more styled and better groomed than their Kenyan counterparts, smelling of Bvalgari and other designer colognes, besides having a good physique.

On a trip to Nigeria last year, Pulse had the chance to talk to a state Attorney General on a local Lagos-Abuja flight who dismissed Kenyans on all fronts:

" Our corruption is four times larger than Kenyans’. Our population is four times larger than Kenyans’. Our **** is four times larger than Kenyans’. No wonder God felt sorry and left Mister Obama for you Kenyans, ho ho ho."

Football

In fact, last weekend after the Nigerian-Kenyan football game in the city, many groupies were out that night in Westlands’ night joints, hunting for Nigerian men who were said to have flooded the city. And they indeed caught-up with them in clubs like Rezorus, Black Diamond and Red Tape where they had gone to party alongside some Kenyan soccer stars. The rest is history.

Part of that history involves an infamous game in Lagos some years ago at the stadium where the local (Nijja) commentators were going, "O oo, look at these small Kenyan boys. Look at dem go. They don have the masos to play soccer, oh. They thin legs are better suited to running long, long marathons, ooo. In fact, oga-oh, they should run away very fost from this stadium, o o o!!" With this type of demoralising running commentary, no pun intended, it was no wonder that the Harambee Stars ended up losing that match 3-0. Three questions reign. Do Nigerian artistes deserve the hype they are getting? Is Nigerian showbiz at such a level that they can dictate which direction to the rest of Africa? Is it an ego and self-esteem success, propelled hype, or mere hard work that makes them seem smarter that the rest of Africa?


D’banj

"I think they are more organised than Kenyan and other East African artistes. They have good managers and they package themselves in a way which is appealing to fans way beyond Africa. Their music videos are great, with an international appeal," says Naliaka Wafula.

"They have better ways of marketing their music. They look at showbiz from a business point of view," says Dan Odhiambo, a music showbiz promoter.

However, some feel that Nigerian artistes have been over rated, adding that their fame is a creation of Nigerian media who always create a strong buzz about any song the Nigerians release.

"Unlike Kenyan artistes, these guys travel with journalists everywhere they go. The journalists get to expose them through their writing. Their music is always available via YouTube too," adds Dan.

"Nigeria has such a huge population and they have many artistes competing for space. That explains how they have moved to the next level," he concludes.

With this, Nigeria has managed to pull so many TV showbiz hit-shows such as ‘Nijja Sings’ and ‘Hip-Hop Nijja’ which are screened on DStv. Their dominance on Channel O and MTVbase has stood over the years, making the rest of the continent play second fiddle.

Pulse remembers how Nigerian artistes stole the show during last year’s Channel O Music Video Awards in South Africa. Just as the ceremony was coming to a close, they took over the podium, replaced the emcee and deejays with their own - and started playing Nigerian music as the rest of the continent watched in amazement.

Naija anger seemed directed at the hosts, their arch rivals South Africa, whose Kwaito music had hitherto dominated the night. Worse still, only a few awards had gone to the Nigerians that night.

This was round about the time P Square took over a continental show to lock out Sean Paul so one of their own could first perform in the name of patriotism. "They can have good music. But their attitude is sometimes intimidating. They seem not to respect the rest of Africa," says an award-winning Kenyan artiste, who sought to remain anonymous.

Whereas Kenya was colonised by the British, and so is a bit stiff and not so show-off, as the Brits trained us ‘ostentatious-ness was in poor taste’ (shagsmodos-like), Nigerians seem to have adopted that all-American ‘brag it from the rooftops’ ATT – that can turn off a lot of other folks. "They come with a feel good attitude. It’s not good for them to look down upon others," adds the source.

Dr Chijioke Wigwe, the current Nigerian High Commissioner in Kenya, seems dedicated more than most to the pan-African "cross pollination of culture," and with his amiable air and high intelligence, the man seems most culturally suitable to bridging of the East-West divide.

For younger Kenyans (Pulsers) over 25 who don’t associate with the North (Cairo) unless it’s football, and have seen EABL and other Kenyan companies beat South African multi-national bizness giants – the cultural challenge of the Nigerians was never going to be left to stand alone for long.

From literature, to the music scene, to the young film-makers like Waniu Kahiu, Judy Kibinge and Sagwa Chabeda as well as Riverwood that is now churning out local films (including adult vernaculars) with local content for consumers’ enjoyment. The race for Africa’s artistic heart is on.

But the competition is strong! For all Nijjas believe they are alpha-males, a la Okwonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s book. Sometimes, though, things fall apart

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culled from http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144028683&cid=123 The Standard