We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2018) & Songs About Africa

Yesterday was the birthday of a gay Facebook friend from Ghana. It would have been his 32^nd birthday. I wrote a “Happy Birthday!” wish on his page – but it wasn’t he who answered. Somebody else wrote that this boy was dead. I have never met him up close and I probably haven’t exchanged more than a couple of greetings with him but it hit me hard: a 32-year-old should be celebrating their birthday…

Coincidentally, I have just watched a movie from Nigeria that shows how difficult it is to be gay in (much of) Africa, even today. This is the movie we will be discussing today.

The movie is called We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2018), it is directed by Tope Oshin and The Initiative For Equal Rights helped get the film made. The event that kicks off the film happens off-camera, two 17-18-year-old school male students (charismatic Temidayo Akinboro and Francis Sule)being caught by a teacher having sex in an empty classroom. Our awareness of the event comes from a reaction shot of the teacher – she screams and runs out the corridor and throws up. She then informs the principal.

We then become acquainted with the boys’ mothers. There is Nkem (an excellent performance from Katherine Obiang), a single mother of modest means who works in a nursery school and is presented as even-tempered and empathetic. The other is Nike (a deliciously over-the-top performance by Funlola Aofiyebi) a successful businesswoman who is presented as resourceful but also ruthless when it suits her purpose.

Both mothers are called in by the principal to discuss the expulsion of their offspring. They both (originally) refuse to accept that their sons might be gay but they both ferociously defend their sons. Each does it differently: Nkem tries to communicate with her son, Chidi, lovingly, even if her solutions to the problem (prayers and appealing to people’s good nature) are ineffectual. Nike protects Tolu from his father’s rage and goes into damage-control. She decides to spin this as non-consensual sex, or simply put to accuse Chidi of raping Tolu, which is a lie. Tolu protests but the narrative is out of his control at this point.

Nike’s plan originally works (it helps that the family is a benefactor of the school) but eventually things spin out of control and both mothers find themselves coping with great loss. The open-ended final scene, however, introduces a ray of hope: some form of happiness is perhaps possible.

The film actually works: the director expertly shifts the focus between the main characters, making sure that all points-of-view are served. There is not one boring moment. The screenplay is highly melodramatic but at the same time, it is grounded to the particular reality of said time and place. Most of the acting is from passable to good – and even some bad acting (the principal, the teacher who witnesses the deed, Nkem’s female co-worker) doesn’t affect the end result. There’s also some very bad make-up (Chidi’s bumps and bruises) but that is also excusable.

What would have elevated the film even further, in my opinion, would be more interaction between Chidi and Tolu. The two boys are together on screen just for a few seconds. If we were more acquainted with them as a couple, the later developments would be all the more powerful.

But this is probably First World critique. Showing them together would necessitate showing male-to-male intimacy – and I’m not sure that such a movie would be allowed to be made or shown in Nigeria. Even as it is, with not even a frame of sex or nudity, the local film-board set the age-limit for the film at 15-years-old. Let’s just be thankful that it was allowed to be shown at all.

To end this on a positive note, the film won 4 major BON Awards (the Nigerian Oscars) out of 10 nominations. It won Best Picture, Director, Editing, and Most Promising Male Act. I think you should check this movie out.

This is the film’s trailer:

Since we’re on the subject of Africa, let’s listen to a few songs inspired by Africa and/or recorded by African artists. Let’s start from Nigeria: Band On The Run (1973) was Paul McCartney’s best album outside of the Beatles. He recorded it, along with his wife Linda and Denny Laine (as Paul McCartney & Wings), in Lagos, Nigeria. Jet is one of the album’s best tracks:

Graceland (1986) is among the three best solo albums by Paul Simon. It was partly recorded in South Africa. Under African Skies is one of the album’s best tracks. This version is from the Under African Skies Live Concert in 1987. With him is South Africa’s singing legend, Miriam Makeba:

Speaking of Miriam Makeba, here she is with Soweto Blues, a song written by Hugh Masekela about the Soweto uprising, which was forcefully put down by the police, leading to the death of between 176 and 700 people. This is a live version, also from the Under African Skies Live Concert:

Pata Pata is her most famous song internationally:

Speaking of protest songs about South Africa, Peter Gabriel’s Biko (1980) is a musical eulogy, inspired by the death of the black South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in police custody on 12 September 1977. Here it is:

A couple of paragraphs ago, we spoke of Hugh Masekela: Grazing In The Grass was his biggest international hit, a #1 US hit:

A Night in Tunisia (1942) was one of Dizzy Gillespie’s signature tunes. This version is featuring the great Charlie Parker:

Bing Crosby recorded (We're Off on the) Road to Morocco in 1944:

Kilimandjaro (1966) was one of the definitive French songs of the 1960s and Pascal Danel's biggest hit:

… while Kilimanjaro (2010) was composed by A. R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire) and sung by Javed Ali and Chinmayi:

In Zaire by Johnny Wakelin & The Kinshasa Band was a big hit in the UK and most of Europe in 1976. It is a homage to the boxing champion Muhammad Ali who fought on 30 October 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, against George Foreman in a matchup known as The Rumble in the Jungle, gaining victory in the eighth round.

Africa (1982) was a huge hit (#1 US) for Toto:

Crosby, Stills, and Nash had a US Top 30 hit with Marrakesh Express in 1969:

Dr. Livingstone, I Presume (1968) was a single B-side by the Moody Blues. The lyrics in the opening verse describe the accomplishments of Dr. Livingstone, who was a Scottish missionary and explorer in central Africa:

Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers (an act certainly worth discovering) had a hit in 1977 in the UK with Egyptian Reggae:

Baltimora had a big hit with Tarzan Boy (1985):

Tarzan & Jane (1998) is a song by Danish bubblegum dance group Toy-Box:

Babacar is a 1987 song recorded by French singer France Gall. Written by Michel Berger and released on 3 April 1987, it reached the top 20 in France and Germany.  All copyright revenue was donated to the family of Babacar (a little boy in Africa, Babacar Sall, whom they got to know on one of their vacations).

Ubangi Stomp has been recorded by many. It tells the story of a sailor who goes to Africa. This is Jerry Lee Lewis’ version from 1958:

Saga Africa is a song recorded by the former professional tennis player Yannick Noah in 1991:

Zamina mina (Zangaléwa) is a 1986 hit song, sung by a makossa group from Cameroon originally named Golden Sounds, popular in Africa for their use of dance and costumes. Due to the song's popularity, the group renamed to Zangaléwa during its mainstream success. Zangaléwa pays tribute to African skirmishers (a.k.a. tirailleurs) during World War II. Most of the band members were in the Cameroonian Army themselves.

In 2010, Shakira borrowed the chorus from the above song for the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which was held in South Africa. The result was the hit Waka Waka (This Time for Africa):

Oh Africa is a song performed by the artist Akon featuring Keri Hilson and was released to raise funds for Akon's charity to aid underprivileged children in Africa.

The great Bob Marley & The Wailers had many songs about Africa. In the song Africa Unite (1979), Marley proclaims Pan-African solidarity.

The song Zimbabwe was performed at Zimbabwe's Independence Celebration in 1980:

Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together is the anthem of the African Union:

Ponta de Lança Africano (Umbabarauma) (1976) by Brazilian Jorge Ben Jor, a well known football-related track, has been described as "[possibly] one of the best songs about sports ever written."

Swedish band Yaki-Da released Pride of Africa in 1995:

In 1976, Bob Dylan released Mozambique. This is a live version:

Kenyan singer-songwriter Ayub Ogada was a busker on the Northern Line in London when he came to Real World's attention in the late 80s. His only record for the label, in 1993, proved that it was a meeting of minds, with his disarmingly simple arrangements, allowed to hang there unadorned, making a lasting impression. Simply backing himself (albeit with virtuosic ease) on an East African lyre called a nyatiti, this record introduced Ayub as a performer of great charm, his warm vocals never leaving center stage. Kothbiro is my favorite song:

Cesaria Evora is one of the queens of World Music. Canadian Loreena McKennitt dedicated Tango to Evora to this great singer from Cape Verde:

Cesaria Evora herself sang about Angola:

… and this is my favorite song of hers, Sodade:

Youssou N’Dour is a superb singer from Senegal. This is his song, Moor Ndaje:

… and this is his international smash hit duet with Neneh Cherry, the moving 7 Seconds:

There are so many more great songs that I could play… If you want more, just say so in the comments’ section and there will be a second part. It’s up to you. For the moment, goodbye to everybody and a big hug. Keep yourselves healthy and safe, my friends!