My Village Shrine

My Village Shrine

I placed my feet one after the other in movement

Swirling red African dust settled on my feet

As I ate the distance between me and my destination

The laterite road surrendered to a leafy pathway

Noise of occasional passing cars and human chatter

Lost to the quietude of this enigma of a forest

Pulled forward by an invisible force of curiosity

I moved further into the forest towards the stream

From where they say my village shrine reigned

Even before the days of the father of my fathers'' father

And the deeper I went into the belly of the forest

The more fearsome the trees grew to be.

The shrubs became phantoms by tricks of my mind

And the eerie silence became loudly menacing

Running waters drummed to startle as I got near to it

And then, remembering the wisdom of the elders

I liberated my voice to hoarse shouts of the mortals

That the water spirits would go in and grant me safe passage

Between the water that gives life and the land of the African gods

The journey ends for the mortal female except the few favoured by the gods

And even those initiated into the revered cult of priesthood.

Just as the secret of the owl shall never be made known to daylight

So is the shadowy ancient trail to the seat of my village shrine.

My fathers'' father told me that I was initiated ahead of my mates

And so, I should not be afraid of a handshake with the gods

I shook off the cobwebs of trepidation hanging all over me

Looked around and in a leap of faith and courage

Sailed across the stream and walked into the thick undergrowth

Unnervingly evident that I was all by my curious self

It was a journey across the fabled playground of the gods

I knew about them – revered messengers of the gods

Right onto my path they sent chills down my spine

I had come too far to tolerate thoughts of going back.

The apes considered me with fearsome judging eyes

Found me worthy of an encounter with the abode of the gods

Left me to my fate and continued on their tour of duty

Cries of unusual birds I did not see bade me welcome

I ventured yet nearer my destination.

Excitedly, I sallied forth into the last of the shrubs

Before the sacred grotto but as nothing prepared me

For the extraordinary spectacle that beheld me,

I was bewitched and enthralled.

I cautiously moved my unwilling legs

Towards the subject of my visit

I sat down on a carved ancient wooden stool

Right in front of the cave and picked a piece of white clay...

Clay of the gods

I crushed a little and applied on my eyes

With a gradual comprehension that

I was really in the presence of a force

Beyond my mortal understanding,

My eyes grew accustomed to the darkness enveloping me

And I beheld it - my village shrine

Emeka Amakeze

She Died

She leaned on my shoulders and never woke up again

Her hot tears scalded me as they streamed down my back

Lifelessly she hung by me and nobody else felt her pulse

Couldn’t see her lips move but felt she had a bit to say

They argued and agreed she was as dead as a door nail

 

I am here now and you can talk to me I whispered to her

Her pains, fears and heartbreak took shapes before me

Fought back my tears as my heart melted to her ordeals

Urged her to agree with them that she was totally dead

Lost to the world of everything else but the two of us

Tiny warmth, strength of a woman within her heart

Fanned into unquenchable embers of affectionate flames

By the words I sang into her ears and rubbed into her skin

 

I told her she didn’t need to worry her pretty head off

She raised her head, looked me in the eyes and smiled at me

I smiled, she smiled, we smiled and our hearts glowed

And her feelings and soul died to all that hurt her in the past

Held her tenderly yet with arms so firm like no other

My strength and aura were the assurances she needed

Kissed her and promised her that everything is alright

She never woke up to the fears that brought her to me

Emeka Amakeze

Winning Edge

She wants a beautiful wedding. He wants to cash out. But somebody must pay the huge price.

Winning Edge is an exciting family drama that will keep you entertaining with lots of intrigues and suspense.

Written, produced and directed by Emeka Amakeze

Starring actors like

Emma Ayalogu

Tina Mba

Emeka Amakeze

Yvonne Jegede

Justice Slik

Jerry Williams

Ernestina Chikere

Ijeoma Nnanna

How to become a successful actor in Nollywood

I thought I should share this...

"I recently had an ‘interview’ with my old high school and one of the questions that was asked was one of the questions that I find so hard to answer. “What advice would you give to someone who wanted to become an actor?” Whenever I’m asked this, my first thought is – who am I to be giving advice? Especially when I’m still figuring it out myself. But this is what I said and it came out pretty cohesively, so I’m going to keep this and make it a monologue whenever I’m asked again in the future.

“Don’t do it. Find something else to do that you can be happy doing. It’s not glamorous, that’s only what you think it’s like because of what you see and read in magazines and the internet. There’s no money in it, you’ll be poor, poor to the point that every penny seems like $100. You’ll have to leave all your friends and family behind at some point, if you truly want to pursue it on a professional level. You’ll be rejected over and over and over and over again on a daily basis, countless times you will hear NO before you get out of bed in the morning. You can work and sacrifice for fifteen years of your life and never see a dime or even get a single part in a TV show or movie. If you can read all that and be unfazed, then you can start thinking about pursuing a career in front of the camera.

This is always a tough question to answer, one that I asked a long time ago too. And you’ll find so many people saying the same things – DON’T. I never understood why established and successful actors and celebrities, who were obviously successful at what I want to do, advising hopefuls to ‘do something else’. Now, over ten years of being in this business, I fully understand what they meant and whole heartedly agree with their advice. It’s a tough, tough business. I don’t think there’s anything like it, no industry to compare it to. There’s no corporate ladder to climb, there’s no step by step process, you don’t make money for a long time (if ever), and there’s just no guarantee of a job, ever. It sounds harsh but that’s the reality of this business.

To help paint a picture, when I started out, I didn’t have any idea of where/how/who/what I was supposed to do – heck, some days, I still don’t. It took a good two years just to get my bearings straight and even begin heading towards some kind of path I thought may be beneficial. I worked for free for many, many years, never saw a dime from acting. I worked various part time jobs to make rent and eat, spent tens of thousands of dollars that I didn’t have (thanks Visa, Mastercard and American Express!) on classes, workshops, pictures and more. It’s been doing this for over a decade and I’m still paying off the debt I created from many years of struggle. I was prepared to live out of my car, I never had to but I have friends that have had to, I know people who couldn’t afford anything except bread and peanut butter for every meal, every day.

Over a decade and I’m not a household name – my neighbor doesn’t even know my name, I’m not a millionaire, there’s no fame, there’s no fortune. I’m rejected everyday, I fail daily. I get about 1% of the acting jobs that I audition for, out of more than thousand auditions which has spanned over more than ten years, I only have about fifteen legitimately professional credits . I still work a day job. Often times, there is no free time, no time for hobbies because of classes, workshops, working a job, studying, etc. For awhile it was and still sometimes is, eat, sleep, breathe acting business, and not even because you want to, but because you have to in order to keep your dream alive. The worst of it all, I’ve had to leave all my friends from high school and college, and my family behind. And I’m not whining, I’m telling you this because this is typical for any actor and it’s what to expect. Sure we all hear stories about someone plucked from obscurity and thrust into stardom for instant fame, money and “success”, but that is not going to happen to you. You have a better chance of reciting the script of my favorite movie BRAVEHEART, better than me – it’s just not gonna happen. One of my favorite quotes is (not from Braveheart), “How does one become successful? – Right Decisions. How does one know which are the right decisions? – Experience. How does one gain experience? Wrong Decisions.” You will fail, hopefully over and over again until the doubt creeps in and you just want to give up. And that is exactly how you will succeed.

And honestly, there’s no one path to take. Every actor finds their own way and I promise you, they’re all different, all million of them. All I can really offer is that you keep consistent, do the work – no shortcuts, have patience, persistence, positivity and be yourself, not what you think others want or need you to be. And just know that this industry is full of opinions and don’t listen to any one who tells you that there is only one way or the way to do it, including me. Believe in yourself, your talent and don’t ever underestimate that you belong.”

The above are opinions based on our experience. We are not experts and do not make any guarantees as to the success or practice of these opinions."

I read through the above, mirrored the thoughts of the writer to mine and those of so many others in Nollywood and thought to share. I owe the writer big time.

                         Emeka Amakeze writes...