Femi Branch … Revealing my other parts
Femi Branch … Revealing my other parts
While many of his colleagues are busy moving into other areas of the arts to make ends meet, Femi Branch who achieved fame after featuring in an MTN advert, and playing the nasty role of Oscar in the now rested Soap, Domino, has pitched his tent in writing.
Femi Branch
He has completed his maiden collection of poems and short plays entitled “From Senbora.” The book, which he described as “ a collection of his thoughts and convictions about the happenings in our society is due for presentation to the public soon. In this encounter, the actor unveils his other plans.
By Benjamin NJOKU & Ishola BALOGUN
Your new written work is titled “From Senbora’, what is the book all about?
Odo-Senbora, in Ijebu North Local government Area of Ogun State is my birth place. So, “From Senbora” is a compendium of my thoughts and convictions which cut across different areas of my life.
How long have you been on this project?
I’ve been working on it since 1995, compiling the work in bits and pieces. And I’ve just decided to push them out in a volume. The book contains 50 poems and three plays. It was supposed to be four plays, but I had a problem with the manuscript, so the fourth play is going to be published separately.
What inspired you into writing poems and plays?
The writing is just an aspect of my creative ability. It is one part of me most people don’t know. All they know is that I’m an actor. There is a lot about Femi Branch most of which is going to be unveiled this year.
The book is one of it. So, it is something I love doing, I’ve been writing as since 1991.
But right now, this is tied to a cause because coming out with this book at this point is for a reason. The reason is mainly for my foundation called ‘Femi Branch Readership Network’. The book is important in itself, but the foundation gave strength to publishing the book at this point.
The Femi Branch Readership Network is designed fo take care of those who do not have the privilege of acquiring formal education. You know in this world, if you don’t know how to read and write, it is a big problem.
We‘ve seen different cases where people who are taken to the police station implore poicemen to write statements for them because they cannot read and write. In most cases such person are indicted by the heartless policemen, because they couldnt read.
The unlettered man tomb prints a statement he didnt write and later finds himself behind bars, for something he didn’t do. That’s the price he pays because he couldn’t read and write.
That is what brought about the birth of ‘Femi Branch Readership Network.’ The second aspect is that we do not have a reading culture anymore in Nigeria. Back then, when I was growing up, my father worked at the National Library of Nigeria and by the time they were doing leadership campaign whereby they go to different parts of the country, encouraging people to read, it created a very strong impact on me then.
As I was thinking of undertaking this projet, I remembered this readership initiative of the National Library then and said, since the National Library is not doing it anymore, I can do this as an individual. But I intend to partner with the National Library of Nigeria. I’m already working towards that. Considering the fact that young people pay more attention on the internet, movies and television, etc, nobody is reading anymore. When one stops to read, you stop to grow. That is just the way I feel.
The ‘Femi Branch Readership Network’ is aimed at re-inventing circumstances.
That also encouraged me to put this work together and to encourage them. It is going to be one of the teaching aids for volunteers that are going to help in this initiative. We are going to donate this book to libraries in local governments, states and all over Nigeria. That is what informed this publication.
Apart from the members of the public benefiting from this book what other purpose do you think the book will serve?
Quite a lot. The poems are commentaries of my thoughts on some of the things that have been happening recently in our country. Our society has been so abused such that we don’t know how to live normally again.
We’ll see that in the poems. There’s a particular play that is a parody of our social situation. That is what the book is all about. Then, comedy like the Jungle Justice – a courtroom comedy. There is another one called Kume which is an adaptation of the story of Esther.
I actually did a research on the Biblical story of Esther and there are lots of comic relief in that story. And everything you see in the play is factual and I interpreted it from a comic angle. So, there are lots to be learned from the content of the book. It is an interesting collection that will entertain and informed the readers.
When exactly did you start writing poems and how do you get inspired?
I started writing poems when I was in university and that was in 1994. Inspiration sometimes come when I see a situation, like one of the poems ‘I saw a woman Today’, I was in Modakeke in Ife, when I saw a woman carrying a bag of dried meat (tinko) heading to the market. I got inspired and saw a situation of what the woman could be going through.
I pictured a situation where she has a number of children she feeds, a situation where probably the husband was jobless and was relying on her enterprise to sustain his drinking habit. The man is supposed to be the bread winner but the woman was actually doing that. I tried to use that to mirror the plight of our women not just in Nigeria but in Africa. I get inspired by situation like that.
Would you say it was a mistake you got into acting?
(Laugh) I don’t know, it is very funny. The strongest of my gifts and the one I’m really passionate about has not been unfolded, it will be unfolded very soon. But I believe the acting thing is ordained. Acting has given me the leverage to be able to bring out the other gifts, because with the name and personality I‘ve been able to build through acting, has made it a much easier to launch this initiative and to get people to listen.
I wouldn’t say it was a mistake but I will rather say it was divine ordination. That was how God wanted it to go by arranging it in such a way that one will help the other to find expression. I never intended to go into acting, I had thought that it was the other gift which I don’t want to mention now that would launch me in the scheme of things.
Where and when is the launching taking place?
We have done the Lagos launch last December, at Western Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. We are planning the Abuja launch which is the main launch of the book and the foundation in February. The date will be confirmed and announced soon.
Plans are underway also to launch the book in different parts of the country and beyond. I intend to have launches in Ghana, South Africa, London, Dublin and New York and Canada. I will try to give it as much mileage as possible. We want to challenge Nigerians in the Diaspora to be sensitive to the plight of Nigerians who cannot read and write and support this cause.
While many of his colleagues are busy moving into other areas of the arts to make ends meet, Femi Branch who achieved fame after featuring in an MTN advert, and playing the nasty role of Oscar in the now rested Soap, Domino, has pitched his tent in writing.
Femi Branch
He has completed his maiden collection of poems and short plays entitled “From Senbora.” The book, which he described as “ a collection of his thoughts and convictions about the happenings in our society is due for presentation to the public soon. In this encounter, the actor unveils his other plans.
By Benjamin NJOKU & Ishola BALOGUN
Your new written work is titled “From Senbora’, what is the book all about?
Odo-Senbora, in Ijebu North Local government Area of Ogun State is my birth place. So, “From Senbora” is a compendium of my thoughts and convictions which cut across different areas of my life.
How long have you been on this project?
I’ve been working on it since 1995, compiling the work in bits and pieces. And I’ve just decided to push them out in a volume. The book contains 50 poems and three plays. It was supposed to be four plays, but I had a problem with the manuscript, so the fourth play is going to be published separately.
What inspired you into writing poems and plays?
The writing is just an aspect of my creative ability. It is one part of me most people don’t know. All they know is that I’m an actor. There is a lot about Femi Branch most of which is going to be unveiled this year.
The book is one of it. So, it is something I love doing, I’ve been writing as since 1991.
But right now, this is tied to a cause because coming out with this book at this point is for a reason. The reason is mainly for my foundation called ‘Femi Branch Readership Network’. The book is important in itself, but the foundation gave strength to publishing the book at this point.
The Femi Branch Readership Network is designed fo take care of those who do not have the privilege of acquiring formal education. You know in this world, if you don’t know how to read and write, it is a big problem.
We‘ve seen different cases where people who are taken to the police station implore poicemen to write statements for them because they cannot read and write. In most cases such person are indicted by the heartless policemen, because they couldnt read.
The unlettered man tomb prints a statement he didnt write and later finds himself behind bars, for something he didn’t do. That’s the price he pays because he couldn’t read and write.
That is what brought about the birth of ‘Femi Branch Readership Network.’ The second aspect is that we do not have a reading culture anymore in Nigeria. Back then, when I was growing up, my father worked at the National Library of Nigeria and by the time they were doing leadership campaign whereby they go to different parts of the country, encouraging people to read, it created a very strong impact on me then.
As I was thinking of undertaking this projet, I remembered this readership initiative of the National Library then and said, since the National Library is not doing it anymore, I can do this as an individual. But I intend to partner with the National Library of Nigeria. I’m already working towards that. Considering the fact that young people pay more attention on the internet, movies and television, etc, nobody is reading anymore. When one stops to read, you stop to grow. That is just the way I feel.
The ‘Femi Branch Readership Network’ is aimed at re-inventing circumstances.
That also encouraged me to put this work together and to encourage them. It is going to be one of the teaching aids for volunteers that are going to help in this initiative. We are going to donate this book to libraries in local governments, states and all over Nigeria. That is what informed this publication.
Apart from the members of the public benefiting from this book what other purpose do you think the book will serve?
Quite a lot. The poems are commentaries of my thoughts on some of the things that have been happening recently in our country. Our society has been so abused such that we don’t know how to live normally again.
We’ll see that in the poems. There’s a particular play that is a parody of our social situation. That is what the book is all about. Then, comedy like the Jungle Justice – a courtroom comedy. There is another one called Kume which is an adaptation of the story of Esther.
I actually did a research on the Biblical story of Esther and there are lots of comic relief in that story. And everything you see in the play is factual and I interpreted it from a comic angle. So, there are lots to be learned from the content of the book. It is an interesting collection that will entertain and informed the readers.
When exactly did you start writing poems and how do you get inspired?
I started writing poems when I was in university and that was in 1994. Inspiration sometimes come when I see a situation, like one of the poems ‘I saw a woman Today’, I was in Modakeke in Ife, when I saw a woman carrying a bag of dried meat (tinko) heading to the market. I got inspired and saw a situation of what the woman could be going through.
I pictured a situation where she has a number of children she feeds, a situation where probably the husband was jobless and was relying on her enterprise to sustain his drinking habit. The man is supposed to be the bread winner but the woman was actually doing that. I tried to use that to mirror the plight of our women not just in Nigeria but in Africa. I get inspired by situation like that.
Would you say it was a mistake you got into acting?
(Laugh) I don’t know, it is very funny. The strongest of my gifts and the one I’m really passionate about has not been unfolded, it will be unfolded very soon. But I believe the acting thing is ordained. Acting has given me the leverage to be able to bring out the other gifts, because with the name and personality I‘ve been able to build through acting, has made it a much easier to launch this initiative and to get people to listen.
I wouldn’t say it was a mistake but I will rather say it was divine ordination. That was how God wanted it to go by arranging it in such a way that one will help the other to find expression. I never intended to go into acting, I had thought that it was the other gift which I don’t want to mention now that would launch me in the scheme of things.
Where and when is the launching taking place?
We have done the Lagos launch last December, at Western Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. We are planning the Abuja launch which is the main launch of the book and the foundation in February. The date will be confirmed and announced soon.
Plans are underway also to launch the book in different parts of the country and beyond. I intend to have launches in Ghana, South Africa, London, Dublin and New York and Canada. I will try to give it as much mileage as possible. We want to challenge Nigerians in the Diaspora to be sensitive to the plight of Nigerians who cannot read and write and support this cause.
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