₦airaland Forum

emmatok: Oh, so were is the location of the MacGregor bridge.

naptu2: Funny thing I heard about Professor Abimbola.

A guy who attended Ife told me that sometimes they would plan a massive aluta and call out the students for a major demonstration (Ife was well known for their culture of "activism" ).

Professor Abimbola would come out to address them, "My children, I've heard you very well, you can now return to your hostels", and they would all go back to their hostels.

Getting back to their hostel, it's like they've just awoken from a trance or from a hypnotic state, "What just happened?", "Why are we back here", would be the questions on everybody's lips.

[size=14pt]In 1960, Ibadan was the centre of music not Lagos –Orlando.[/size]
ADENRELE NIYI 01/10/2012 01:35:00

Described by music pundits as the last of Nigeria’s titans in the highlife music genre, Orlando Julius Aremu Ekemode has packed 51 years of active music career under his belt. His flashback to the 1960s Nigerian music era reveals the far-reaching impact of a vibrant and artistically–inclined society. The springy musician shared even more compelling insights in an exclusive interview with ADENRELE NIYI last Saturday at his 69th birthday. Excerpts:

From the perspective of a 17-year old at the time Nigeria gained her independence, can you recollect your emotions and the experience at that time?

Well, that particular time of our life was great for me; I was already playing in a band. I was in Ibadan when Nigeria gained independence but I had been in the city since 1957 because of my passion for music. What I really wanted to do was music but it was not easy to play music and earn money. So I was working in bakery and at night I would go out to play music because by that time, Ibadan was the mega-centre of music as a result of things Chief Obafemi Awolowo (the Premier of Western Nigeria from October 1, 1954 to October 1, 1960) did. First, it started with free education which helped a lot of Nigerians. Then he brought the first TV station in Africa, Western Nigeria TV (WNTV), to Ibadan; he built the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the first big stadium in Africa and Cocoa House, Ibadan, the first skyscraper in Africa.

Those things were great and people come from Lagos and other parts of the country to be part of the change. Ibadan was the centre of music not Lagos. All the big names in music were in Ibadan and the ones in Lagos were coming to Ibadan.


Was there a special performance on that day?

Yes, there were many big performances in Ibadan; the mood was great I was with Eddie Okonta’s band and we performed at Paradise Club; not just our band but lots of bands performed. I was doing music and visual arts too; I was commissioned to paint the Nigerian coat of arms for various institutions in Ibadan that wanted to display it in their offices or public places. It made the 1960 celebration great for me because I was not just making money from music, I was also making money from art.


What kind of picture did the Independence give you about your future as an artist?

I know my talent is God-given and I was happy to use it in a way that would please Him. I had already studied music made possible through Awolowo. As the Premier of Western Region he didn’t have that chance of putting music in school and our Prime Minister didn’t do much about music in school too. Awolowo had a meeting with his political party the Action Group and they decided to contribute some money to buy musical instruments enough to set up about 30 bands. The instruments were put in AG’s headquarters in Oke Ado in Ibadan. The place was like a stadium; very big.

Whether you were from Akwa Ibom or Calabar, Sapele, Kaduna, Sokoto or even Cameroon, you were welcomed there to learn how to play music for free! No money paid. and that was great because by the time we entered 1960, the celebration was great already been cooking we’d already been playing. That was how we learnt how to play musical instruments like the saxophone, guitar, and drum set. Many of my colleagues and friends that we all received this training together are playing in some of the big bands we know today.

Your generation of musicians had the opportunity to study music for free and 52 years down the line we still do not have a College or School of Music in Nigeria. Do you think the government has failed in that area?

It is sad; yes they have failed. In Nigeria, it is only private schools that have music in their curriculum and kids in such schools are from rich homes. For some of those kids whose parent let them take music in school, the parents aren’t really thinking of allowing them to become musicians but just to have the knowledge of music.

In Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah (President from 1951 to 1966), a very close friend of Obafemi Awolowo, made sure music was compulsory in all schools; both public and private. Some budding musicians were even given scholarships to go study music in the UK and US. By that period of our independence, Ghana had so many successful bands. It is really sad that we have to go through what we are going through in Nigeria.

A veteran musician once said said that musicians were viewed as school dropouts who weren’t given much respect. Did you face that kind of stereotyping at home or publicly?

Yes, they were a lot of people that looked at musicians that time as unserious people. But everybody cannot be lawyers or doctors and by the time you were being played on radio, people began to love and follow your music. We took our job serious and we could be found entertaining at engagements, in the universities. I even played at Awolowo’s birthday in the 70s. I also played for Chief Rotimi Williams during his 25th wedding anniversary.

Sometimes, the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) played my music on radio early in the morning and people woke up to the melody of our songs. Our music was such that both young and old could embrace; what we sing about makes sense. We talk morals –to be honest, do good and work hard. We don’t talk about girlfriends and partying as our kids do now in their love songs.

But such songs were around then.
Yes, but it was a different kind of love song to what we have now. Love songs of those days were mature, serious and respective of the women. My composition **iwo ololufe mi ye jowo ma ko mi si le** (my lover, please do not forsake me) is different in meaning from a lyrics of “I want to sleep (have sex) with you” which we have these days.

By that time we write songs of morals like; mu ra si ise ore mi (work diligently my friend) or e ma se ika mo, e je ka se rere (stop your evil deeds; do good deeds instead), when people hear, they learn.

In your 27-year sojourn abroad, what was the central message of your music and how did you project this country’s image?

I left Nigeria in 1974 but before then, while playing in local clubs I was able to meet James Brown and many musicians who came to Nigeria on playing visits. Some of them jammed with our band and afterwards, we exchanged addresses. They wrote me and I’ll write them too. They were interested in seeing us perform in their country and so invitations came. Before ‘74 I visited Germany, U.K and U.S and some record companies, promoters and booking agencies to show my work. I finally left Nigeria for America because of the volume of invitations I was receiving to record.

Foreigners don’t understand my language but when they hear the music and the translation of what it means in English it gives them a good thing to feeling about African music. My kind of music and composition helped me move ahead. I played at big festivals in America with big names. I met Hugh Masekela (legendary South Africa trumpeter, singer) and we did a studio album about Africa together where I put my song Asiko. When people heard those songs, they thought about places mentioned and wished to go there.

So it was not just about Nigeria, it was an African message you were putting out there?

Yes. As a black man from Africa, it is a new environment. Theirs is a community of White people and African Americans, but they were all very happy to see us and hear us play. Both the blacks and whites have their culture even though they are in the same country. But I was able to share our culture with them through my songs. In fact, that was how I found my wife.

Would you say your music truly represent the African culture?

Well, I’m not been prejudiced, but our children are copying hip hop and it is showing more of American culture than African. That makes it hard for Nigerian artistes to move higher than where we, the older generation, are because of what they are singing. We do things differently; our music is live recording but the younger generation’s music is studio sequence; not live.

Live music is the real thing in big countries all over the world. Also, old people who are used to our kind of music cherish it; they still want to hear us. It is not prejudice towards the young ones. But it would help Nigeria if we do our thing our way. Sometimes you can copy a little but make sure that your down beat and foundation is your own; indigenous.

What have you learnt from your wife, Latoya in terms of cultural integration?
One thing I see about her and other Americans is their rich educational background. In America, music is compulsory in schools and they learn instruments too. By the time I met her, she had been trained in music, dancing and she was a teacher.

I met her through one of Nigeria’s great music ambassador, Ambrose Campbell. I went to Ambrose’s house in Hollywood in 1977 (shortly after my band released the popular song Going Back to My Roots and it was where I met her Latoya for the first time.

Later, I came to Nigeria and returned to the U.S. Seven years down the line, we met again when my band in California was looking for a dancer/singer to join us. A friend of mine who was with us at Ambrose’s house remembered Latoya was a singer and dancer; he got me her number. We spoke on the phone and she was interested in the opening. That was how she took a plane to San Francisco to meet the band; and the rest is history.

agbameta: [img]http://1.bp..com/-ye9aKjrrx2U/TsdTYwui8NI/AAAAAAAAAfc/1L-pWAdZDHs/s1600/Baba+THE+ASSIZES+COURT+TINUBU+SQUARE+LAGOS%252CBUILT+1906%252CDEMOLISHED+1960%2529.jpg[/img]


The Assizes Courts of West Africa, Tinubu Square, Lagos, built in 1906, demolished in 1960.

Eledan: Naptu2..

I thought Dapo Olumide used to be a pilot or a professional in the aviation industry....wrong?

naptu2: [size=14pt]Lagos Cable Car Transit system (LCCT).[/size]

https://cdn.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/cable-cars.jpg

The Lagos Cable Car Transit system is a cable car system that will be built and operated by the Doppelmayr Group. It is the brainchild of Michael Doppelmayr.

The Doppelmayr Garaventa Group is an Austrian company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks as well as urban people movers and material handling systems. To date, Doppelmayr and Garaventa have produced over 13,700 installations in 78 countries. The Doppelmayr Garaventa Group was formed in 2002 when Doppelmayr of Wolfurt, Austria merged with Garaventa AG of Switzerland to form the world's largest ropeway manufacturer.

Doppelmayr was founded in Wolfurt Austria in 1892. Artur Doppelmayr, the son of the founder, took over in 1967. In 1996, Doppelmayr's holding company purchased Von Roll, a Swiss maker of gondolas and cable cars. In 2002, Doppelmayr acquired CWA, a Swiss maker of gondola and cable car cabins. The merger of Doppelmayr and Garaventa was announced in 2001 and completed in 2002.

The company was selected in April 2011 as one of a consortium to build London's Cable Car system

DCC Doppelmayr Cable Car is a supplier of Automated People Movers (APM) based in Wolfurt, Austria. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group.[1] Their main product is the ropeway-propelled CABLE Liner shuttle used in airports, city centres, intermodal passenger transport connections, park and ride facilities, campuses, resorts, and amusement parks.

In 2003, after the world’s only Maglev transport system at Birmingham International Airport fell into disrepair, DCC installed the "AirRail Link" to replace the Maglev and temporary replacement bus-service that had been operating since 1995.

DCC is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company.



Company history

DCC was established by the Doppelmayr Group in 1996.

•1999: completion of the Mandalay Bay Tram in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
•2002: Doppelmayr merged with Garaventa Group
•2002: completion of AirRail Link at Birmingham International Airport, UK
•2006: completion of the LINK Train in Toronto, Canada
•2006: award of Automated People Mover contract for the City of Venice, Italy
•2006: award of contract for MGM Mirage CityCenter in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
•2007: completion of the Cable Liner Shuttle at Mexico City International Airport
•2007: award of Automated People Mover contract for the New Doha International Airport in Qatar
•2012: completion of the Emirates Air Line (cable car) in London


Michael Doppelmayr watched the BBC documentary, “Welcome to Lagos” and had the idea to build a cable car system in Lagos. He felt that the idea would definitely succeed because of the sheer population density of Lagos. He did his research and discovered that, by 2015, Lagos will be the third largest urban agglomeration in the world, with a population of about 25 million people.


He made contact with some Nigerian businessmen and Ropeways Transport Limited was formed. The chief executive officer of Ropeways Transport Limited is Captain Dapo Olumide, former CEO of Virgin Nigeria.


Ropeways Limited proposed 3 routes to Lamata. They are:

1)Apapa – Oluwole – Adeniji Adele
2)Ijora/7up – Iddo – Adeniji Adele
3)Victoria Island – Falomo – Obalende – Adeniji Adele

https://www.trico-capital.com/assets/img/projects/lagos3-resize-new.jpg

Lamata has approved the routes and granted Ropeways the right of way. This was officially formalised via a tripartite agreement between Ropeways Limited, LAMATA and the Lagos State Government.

The idea behind the selection of these routes is to decongest the three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the Mainland (Carter, Eko and Third Mainland bridges), decongest the two bridges connecting Lagos Island to Victoria Island (Independence [Onikan] and Five Cowry [Falomo] bridges) and connect the port and industrial district (Apapa) with the central business district (Marina). The Lagos Cable Car Transit system will be 12km long. A journey from Apapa to Adeniji will take roughly 4 minutes.

The project will be funded by a loan from the African Development Bank (ADB). The project will cost $500 million and it is expected that fares will be around 100 – 300 naira.

The project will have 5 sources of power viz – (1) The Independent Power Project (IPP) on the Island (2) Gas (3) Diesel (4) Turbines (5) Inverters (which will provide 30 minutes back-up power).

An interview with Captain Dapo Olumide (CEO of Ropways Limited) on Channels Television’s Sunrise programme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqud4IaxC00




[img]http://4.bp..com/-MfVeaaQc2q0/URme8ogawwI/AAAAAAAAFyU/6a4_MQz_Etw/s1600/aa.jpg[/img]
Governor Fashola, Captain Olumide and a representative from Doppelmayr at the signing ceremony.


https://www.trico-capital.com/assets/img/projects/lagos1-resize.png

bugmenot:

I thought cable cars ran on electricity. Is my naiveté doing overtime?

nukoduss: Africa with Black mentality
BLack Jesus indeed
RIP jesus

ujoinme: Why are nigerians always reactive instead of proactive? where is the improvement in the state building codes/enforcement of the codes, that will ensure that builders are not allowed to erect unsafe buildings as is the case in saner societies?

rather we wait till buildings start collapsing and in order to play to the gallery so as to avoid media blowback the the govt resorts to taking superficial actions as the one just posted.

plaindealer: naptu, your knowledge and intelligence towers above that troll and it beats me why you are paying that troll any attention and enabling him to derail the thread with his usual menstrual issues.

anonimi: This is from the wikipedia link provided by naptu:



The Doppelmayrs don't do cable cars for free- PPP or not, they must be SPONSORED by the beneficiary.
Dem nor be charitable organisation.
Do the maths!
If it smells like a scam, reads like a scam then it surely must be a scam!!
Go figure!!!

plaetton: An Israelite Negro(perhaps and hopefully the last of his kind).
A false prophet
A serial blasphemer
A one-eyed drunken pirate
A Pharisee priest
Or maybe even a Saducee.
A happy hedonist

Definetely a spaghetti meatball.


But,....
He is my pal.

django1: Naptu, please is there any progress/update at all on the LRT?

adultebony: Wow! Nice to see these pictures. Thanks @OP. I was born (in the early seventies) and partly bred in Ibadan. It use to be a very beautiful cosmopolitan place with a very vibrant social life. I grew up around Cocacola Area of Ibadan, then we had the Leventis Store around the area, it was such a nice place to shop, there was Kingsway too, UI was BEAUTIFUL and inspiring, we all studied hard to get into UI, the Zoological Garden inside the University was stocked with well fed animals, so many folks from other African countries clutched the Polaroid Camera beckoning on would-be customers to come have a shot. Dugbe & Lebanon Street had a few skyscrapers (Cocoa House, Glass House or Femi Johnson, etc) beautiful places back then. It aches my heart when I go to Ibadan now and see how messed up the whole place look. I hope someday we'll have a visionary leader who will have the political will do reverse these steady retrogression we have found ourselves....

Obiagelli: As reliable as naptu2. Always spot on. Thanks for clearing things up.

NFS Bob: I hope dis isn't another avenue for thiefunbu τ̅☺ get rich @ d expense of LASG taxpayer's money. Cable cars in gidi? If I hear say I enter d tin considering d bad maintenance culture we have with public infrastructure make d tin no go fall for sky one day