In October I got a call while I was in my local butchers in Launceston, Cornwall. The line wasn't great, the number was unusual, and I was trying to pay for a pastie. Then I hear the words 'I'm calling from Nigeria' my initial thoughts are this is going to be expensive, but quickly Abiola introduces herself and says that she wants to book a juggler from the UK to perform in Lagos, Nigeria.
I've had many enquiries to glamorous places far and wide but they have always fizzled out or not come to fruition so I had to keep my feet on the ground and told myself not to get excited. I quickly googled the Ebola virus in Nigeria and the first headline was that America and the EU could learn from Nigeria in containing Ebola. This was enough to re assure me so we went through the processes of making the trip possible. A considerable amount of hoops to jump through but Abiola was helpful all along the way.
I was booked to perform a one man circus show at CMB Nigeria's end of year party. It was an awards evening for their customers, clients and employees. Aswell as myself there was Goddess of the Dunes, a bellydance company from South Africa who performed some really engrossing belly dancing (It was also hilarious to watch the young guys who were setting up the venue as the girls rehearsed, work efficiency definitely went down while the girls were practicing).
There was a Nigerian comedian who's name I did not get and then two of Nigeria's biggest music stars of this year; DavidO and Flavour. They were big acts and I had the difficult task of performing directly after DavidO who got the crowd so excited. But luckily the site of a little English guy walking on stage with my silly amount of different props excited the crowd nicely.
The show went great, the crowd was around 700 people and the back of the audience were really far away from the stage. It was filmed and played live on a big screen so I hope everyone got the experience from the lucky people at the front right through to the back and the catering staff who were all so friendly.
I met lots of lovely people that were very welcoming and would very much love to perform in Africa again. I have to thank Abiola and her husband David, who picked us up from the airport and my two minders/baby sitters Bolaji and Seun who were so helpful and friendly while I was on my stay. Hopefully I will see you all again some time. Sadly of all the pictures I took with strangers on the night I didn't manage to get a picture with any of the lovely people that looked after me.
There should hopefully be a video up at some point, but in typical Lucas Jet style my go pro wouldn't charge when I got to Nigeria so could only film from one angle.
Comentários