The Learner

Gidan Badamasi : A Short Review of the Hausa Sitcom   Premiered in 2019, the defining criterion for the popular sitcom, Gidan Badamasi , is comedy. However, it tells much more such as several socio-moral lessons. That is not a surprise as Kannywood, the film industry whose members wrote, produced, directed and acted in Gidan Badamasi , are known for promoting such causes. An oft-repeated raison dêtre of Kannywood, some of its members argue, is to teach morality, promote Hausa culture and Islam, among other related goals. Whether or not they do that is debatable and, of course, outside the scope of this short review. The title, Gidan Badamasi [ Badamasi’s House ], implies where the drama takes place – the house of Alhaji Badamasi. He is a wealthy, wheelchair-bound businessman who had multiple marriages from which he got several children. As he ages, becomes more frail and sickly, he asks most of them – he doesn’t know all of them – to come for a crucial meeting. After their ar...

Title : Line of Sight, Author : Ismail Bala, Pages : 114, Publisher : Praxis Magazine, Reviewer : Abubakar Isah Baba Introduction As a genre of literature, poetry is the most intensely focused one. Often, writers choose it as their transmitter of inward messages. Line of Sight in its first appearance establishes that poetry is a carrier of experiences and a painter of life. Ismail Bala’s personal experiences are apparent in his collection of eighty-one poems. His blending of layered themes: arts, love, politics, friendship, mundanity and Eurocentrism will continue to define poetry as both elusive and straightforward. And this is what gives the collection a startling flavour. It is not the intention of this piece to review every poem but rather to discuss some. The book’s title displays the most famous painting of George Seurat called Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte . It depicts the poet’s high level of exposure to the western arts, as the title Line of Sight sh...