This is Yemi Alade, a Nigerian secular artiste, one of our export to the international stage that has manned many in delivery of her songs. Beautiful lady, talented, purpose driven, rich, creative and cannot be exempted from the list of musicians with originality.
But, quite mesmerizing is how people describe her costume at AFCON opening as representing the Efik tribe. What about it? Is it the long hair comb? Meanwhile, Where is the onyonyo?That can’t be credited to us as we don’t wear any of our costumes the way she did.
Honestly, what I saw Yemi do was a fusion of cultures ( traditional and pop cultures) and that’s creativity not promotion per say!
When you are promoting a certain culture, in its entirety you model from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet. Yemi Alade was simply creating her own. After all, we the Efiks appear a certain way because someone or some people put on their thinking cap(s) to be creative.
To this end, Yemi is entitled to her rights including how she wants to appear and how she chooses to express herself. So, never try to put on fire where there is none.
Thank you!
