We Have Performed Everywhere and We Still Come Back To Bariga - Adefila Segun

Head Masquerade, Segun

Segun Adefila, often refers to as the lead masquerade of Crown troupe is a Dramatist, Choreographer, Director, Performance Artist and head of Crown Troupe of Nigeria. He has featured in some home videos both Yoruba and English, notable among them is Arugba. He was probably one of the first persons to put Shomolu-Bariga on the world map with is drama tours around the world. He also runs a drama school for school children in the same complex that serves as rehearsing studio just around Grammar school bus stop. This year, 2016 the Crown troupe clocked 20 years of dramatic performance. And Commune Magazine, Ola Pat trailed the energetic performer to Freedom Park, Lagos Island, Nigeria where he and his troupe were putting the drama to Fela’s evergreen song “Unknown Soldier”. In this chat with CM, Assistant Editor, this passionate community dramatist shares his stage experience, the industry as he sees it and success story of his 20 years sojourn in the theatre industry and why he rarely features in home videos.

How was last year for your troupe?

Last year was very challenging. Last year was the 19th year that I felt we have to put pay to it. Several times, it came to my mind that I don't want to do theatre again. It was difficult because everybody was looking for how to survive, so theatre is not on their mind. Unfortunately, that is the trade I ply so it was challenging and also creative. Apart from the challenges, it was creative because you have to keep working somehow.

Has there been a solution to the problem?

The problem is not for anybody to solve. In the society you can solve any problem; if the Naira decides to fall you just keep going to the market. You cannot solve the rise and fall of the price of crude oil, the only thing you can do is to diversify your source of income, that all. So I can't solve it, things just have to go right and every other thing will fall into place.

How did the industry perform in 2015?

Well, while we are at it no matter how difficult things are there are still people making good things out of it. There are A-list hip-hop artists, A-list comedians, who are raking in money every now and then. So, the industry is not going down, it's getting better and more buoyant. People are getting more creative, beautiful things are happening and artists are working but under unfavorable condition.

I am more particular about your own area of specialization, stage drama. You now compete with home videos and pay TV; did that affect you in any way?

Nigeria is a copycat nation, we all know that. We don't have religion, we don't have culture, we don't have anything we can call our own. We don't even have language. All we do is to copy. Everything thing we do we copy it from the master, but then if we take our model from the masters. There was Broadway before Hollywood when Hollywood emerged Broadway was not abandoned. In fact, Broadway started thriving; any Hollywood actor that performs on Broadway is elevated to another level. We don't copy the right thing, we copy the wrong things.

What was your last year experience like?

We performed from January to December, regardless of what happens. We perform that is what is important; some artists don't have the opportunity to perform. Whatever, we are facing today our fathers faced it and survived it. We heard about them, that is why we are still holding on and hoping that thing get better. We just work; all of these things we are talking about are just worries. That is why I don't like talking about challenges. If you want to talk about challenges, ask a barber, mechanic, and driver. They all know what they are going through to ensure they ply their trade. We are all facing the same problem; it affects all of us except the thieves. The current situation affects all of us except those who got us here. But when rain falls, it falls on the bitter leaves and also one the sugar cane. It does not spare any of them. We just hold our causes and stay our course.

What was your biggest moment in 2016?

I don't know about big moment. Every working day is my big moment. I choreographed a play written and directed by Prof. Wole Soyinka as a choreographer. For me, that was a big moment. This is somebody many of us looked up to; somebody that inspired us. Then one day, you are standing with him and working with him on a creative project.

What are your plans for 2016?

Crown Troup started 20 years ago in 1996 with some friends. I was in my early 20s and now we have to look back at what we have done. 2016 is the year we have to ask, have we served any purpose and what have we been doing while we are around. 2016 is the year of reflection and more performance.

Who is Segun Adefila?

Segun is a simple rural boy born in Lagos, from the ancient town of Omu-Arun. My ancestral home is in Omu-Arun in Kwara State. I was born in Lagos, schooled in Lagos, Kwara and Kogi State.

What are the schools' names?

I can't remember the name of the schools because I went to lots of schools. Let me try recalling some of them. I went to God Bless Nursery and primary school in the 70s around Ilaje, Bariga, Muslim Community School, Omu-Arun, I came to Bishop Howells Primary school in Lagos. Then I went to Ade Akodo Memorial Nursery and Primary, Eri Moore, Surulere, I also attended Abdul-Aziz Atta Memorial College, Okene, when it was part of Kwara State in 1985. I wrote my last papers in Akoka high school because I failed my science papers, so I have to write art subjects. Afterward, I was roaming the streets and by 1995 I joined the Black Image theatre. 1996, we started the Crown Troup, 1997; I studied for certification in Drama in Unilag, 1998 I finally gained admission after many years of trying. I graduated in 2002. From then till now, I have been practicing.

Were your parents responsible for your moving around during your school days?

It has nothing to do with my parents; it's my restless nature that was responsible for my moving from one state to the other. I can't actually explain that part, I just go to space. My parents were stationed all through their lives in Lagos.

Now that you are grown, are you now restful?

I was just born a couple of days ago, I am not old. I am not there yet.

But now you have a family and a job. You can't just be moving around like before. What makes you restless then?

I am still restless now. I can't see myself in an office, sitting down with files. I know some people that can't do what I am doing, they prefer sitting with files. So, it about our nature, that is who we are. I like to move around, I love to explore. I am lazy, so I just want to enjoy Life while I am around. And you don't enjoy life sitting in a space.

You always wear this cap peculiar to a certain sect. Do you belong to the group, are you a Raster?

I am not a Raster. My name is Segun Adefila, my great grandmother had dreadlocks and people with dreadlocks are called Dada. The Yorubas even have Okiri (Nomen) for them. Rasterfarai ruled Ethiopia in the 20th century. We have had Dada long before then, Songo's elder brother had dreadlocks, thus the Yoruba saying that Dada ko le ja a mo oni aburo to gboju le (Dada is powerless but he has a powerful younger brother) that is Songo's younger brother, Ajaka. It is colonialism that makes you think when you see people with dreadlocks, they are Raster. Well, it’s the common thing.

They do claim that they are from Ja?

I am Omo omo Dada Alake, I am not a Raster. Is like saying Nollywood, I am an actor so I will answer but I am a Yoruba Nigerian actor. Remember I told you how we copy because there is Hollywood, and then we must have Nollywood. If there is a Scandal in the political arena, it must carry a suffix in association with the Watergate scandal in America, so you have Ettegate, Dasuki-gate. They set it down and we follow. I am not part of all of those things, but let's enjoyed it while it lasted. I want to belong to the set of people who lead and others follow. You know so that America and the rest of the world can copy some things from Nigeria. We have got so many beautiful things here. Everything here is what is repackaged and sent to us. Are you shocked that people will leave Ebute and go and buy Sardine and Geisha? They leave fresh fish to buy packed fish.

Does Nollywood pose any challenge to your stage plays?

I am not aware of anything of such. I am a stage actor and also a screen actor. I had been in movies and work with the like of Tunde Kilani of Main Frame. And I just don't do any movie; I do movies that I will be proud of. Campus Queens was my first one, Arrow Part, then Arugba and my last one was with Naija Nija- Sound Sultan, Baba Dee in Head Gone. So, I do that but the stage is my home. Though I fit in perfectly on the screen, but the stage is where I feel at home. There is no way you will work on stage and you will not be home on screen. You understand what I am saying. So, I don't see anything or anybody threatens anything. Is either your market sells or they don't sell, but you must know why you are going to the market. I am not in the market mainly for commercialization, but I want all the money in the world. I want to have a private jet like all Pastors do. If I can get it doing what I am doing now, I will be very happy, but if not good luck to those who have it.

On the set of Arugba

What will your plan be for the year?

This year is our 20th anniversary. We have a project with the British Council, there is a Director coming from London. For the whole of the first quarter and April, from May to June, we will be working with the German Cultural Center, Goethe Institute. And then in July, we will round it off the anniversary with Prof. Wole Soyinka's play Death and the King horseman. We will be staging it at Terra Culture and Freedom Pack.

Is there any possibility that you will be putting any of your stage play and works on CD?

Why not, we will use any available medium. We will embrace the new technology because it’s a friend. We will embrace the ones that make sense to us. It is my dream that some of these works should be in a video format. We need to find a way of sustaining these works.

What was the idea behind the establishment of the Crown Troupe?

I did not conceive the idea; I am a founding member of Crown Troupe. In fact, we started the Crown Troupe in a sitting room in King Sunny Ade's house. His son, Kunle, Selekume, Cynthia, Ada, Demi and a couple of friends about eight of us just came together and we just start this troupe. But along the line, people started moving to other things. Some of them have started having family and stop theatre. Some are into fashion, we are spread all around. It is just incidental that I am the only one left but we are still in contact. The Crown troupe is not my brain Child, it is a collective effort. However, they left and I decided to continue.

How has the journey been for the past 19 years?

It is been beautiful, it's been years of challenges, it's been years of understanding. One thing I know for sure is that if I knew theatre will be this demanding if I knew what was involved maybe I will not do it. You know, I did not know what was involved. I was just enjoying myself and I think if I come back again this is what I want to do.

You train people, how do you do that?

It is an academy of a sort; we are soon going to formalize it. There is a baby group called Footprints, it’s for children between the ages of 4 to 17. By the time they finished secondary, they will move to Crown Troup.

What has been the response to your troupe in your base area?

They appreciate us, if not I won't be here. We have been to many continents of the world, we have performed everywhere and we come back to Bariga. And they still come looking for us in Bariga. The unfortunate thing is that people measure success by the car you drive, the mansion you lived in and the money you have in your account. For us, that is not all, though that is important but that is not all.