A REVIEW OF DERA MELANI'S "THE MANTRA" BY ADEBAYO TITIMATTHEWS
I am a believer of the
metaphysical, ‘cos I am a spiritual being
encapsulated in a body. Scratch religion outta this.
That if I see an Abiku, I'll definitely crush on such being. A man like a present, present to us at this age but carries a being of previous existence, sharing dual souls. Such being to me is a dynasty, a myth walking amongst us.
This is the kind of person I am.
So listening to Dera's "The
Mantra" gave my soul chills, sending waves of "un-nameable" frequency down my
being.
The first time I came across
this piece was on a spoken word website www.kulikuli.com.ng
I downloaded it amongst other spoken word poems I saw on the site. I personally
don't know Dera, I thought she was a new poet, prolly at spoken word poetry.
But this piece, even if it's a first or one of many, is like a queen in chess game
also possessing the move of a knight. Definitely she'll be regarded as a
complete piece on the board.
Africa is a continent known for
a vast and wide collection of rich cultures and indigenous arts; unity,
collective strength, heritage and power. The continent , from the Pyramid in
Egypt, to Victoria falls in Zambia, the Nok arts in Nigeria, Terra cotta, Gold coast, Sahara Deserts.
Mighty leaders like; Sango of
the Oyo Empire, Shaka Zulu, King Jaja of Opobo, the Ashanti kingdom, Kwame Nkrumah,
Steve Biko and lately Nelson Mandela and many more.
But all these above sound like
some folklore said about Africa and didn't really exist, when comparing what
the nations in the continent have become. The loss of cultural values, beliefs
and heritage.
Dera's "The Mantra" is
a revolutionary piece reawakening the sleeping souls in the continent. We're in
an age where citizens (princes) of Africa don't even know they're heirs let
alone try claiming a throne. We're in an age where "we're kings and
queens" sounds like a myth to Africans that has and will never occur
again.
But in the midst of this, where there's been uprising of watered down
works like music and even spoken word poems, in a bid to be appeasing to
the "heads that don't have crowns". Dera's piece is standing in a
pool of blood to be the only visible pure water.
One thing that continually gives me chills about The Mantra is the perfect combination of message, wordplays, imageries and heart puncturing vocals.
This is evident in a one of her lines
when she said, "what will you tell mother... that you suddenly vomited
her breast milk for sour palm wine?" I scratched my head listening to
that.
"Have you forgotten your
Mantra?... we've lost the Mantra, what then shall we chant at mama's
grave"
Her voice was like listening to Moremi Ajantala
calling men to be brave in the face of war. No flatteries here.
This piece is a Mantra waking us
up to shout the Mantra, like a Mantra preaching a Mantra.
"You are lions not
scared of any four limbed animal. Your father's were legends, they cannot breed failure..."
The Mantra is a chant, calling
us to sink into our souls, a sort of transcendence, to see ourselves as the
real kings and queens that we are. A communication with two worlds, your soul
and spirit.
That we've lost our identity
allowing religion and the white men tell us who they believe we are or what
they want us to believe that we are.
This piece, filled with anger,
grief, emotion, energy, reflected on our leaders, we the citizens, “the HATE we share amongst ourselves like
they were special numbers.”
And I thought “what was Dera
thinking when she said;”
"What exactly shall we tell
mama... that our education system, 6-3-3-4? 9-3-4, all sound like recharge
numbers that should be discarded after use". This line caused me to chant in an unknown
tongue.
I am poet known for my play on words and humour. But this line truly captures
what our system has become. And everything that used to be golden is now a scrap
of unwanted metals.
But just like metal scraps,
there's always a room for refining and this is what this piece is instilling in
us. The belief of who we are, our identity.
"Who unmasks Ijele", this amongst several lines in
this piece is calling the lion in us that no one dares to rip off our identity
and go scot free. I call it the Reawakening
No lies, this piece amongst a
few like Toby Abiodun's Revolution, the
revolution will not be televised are going to be remembered for ages.
Cos the truth never fades, it's
only what you think the truth is, that will keep changing till you know the
truth.
Edited by Bankole Kolawole "BankHALL"
Edited by Bankole Kolawole "BankHALL"
Adebayo TitiMatthews
popularly recognized as "TitiMatthews" in the Nigerian literary space
is poet/spoken word artist known for his trademark dexterous play on words,
especially when slamming any of his poems on stage.
His brilliance
encapsulates the temerity of Graciano and the ever efficacious diminutive
multiple slam champion, Toby Abiodun.
TitiMatthews was the
Winner of Wordaholics Monthly Poetry Slam (October 2018) edition.
Finalist War of
words season 7 (October 2018).
Was ranked by EGC as
the 37th poet in Nigeria, in their top 50 list of contemporary poets that
rocked 2018 (below 40)
1st Runner-Up,
Wordaholics Grand Slam (December, 2018), Winner of ASKIFA Demystifying Tech Spoken Word Competition (September 2018), LagosPoetryThon (April 2019)
respectively.
He likes to call
himself the "bridge", a commercial poet between what poetry is and
what the world is becoming.
Reach him on
Instagram: @titimathews
Facebook: AdebayoTitiMatthews
PS: To download The Mantra, click this link: https://soundcloud.com/onwuzuruike-chidera/dera-melani-the-mantra-prod-by
