The 195th good thing about Lagos: lots of African dance and music

While in Osogbo, we had several opportunities to observe cultural performances. Our first night some dancers came to the open patio above Nike's guesthouse and there was some wild drumming and fast dancing. Look at the motion in this picture!

They did some displays of small controlled motion, as well.

This guy has some muscles!

The program ended with a kind of magic show -- something I hadn't seen here in a cultural performance. This guy did some serious fire swallowing -- I really hope he didn't damage anything!

And then he did something that made it appear he was swallowing glass. I'm pretty sure it was just an illusion....

When we went to visit Chief Muraina's compound, we were greeted by some musicians and dancers. He had arranged a performance for us. I like how this picture gives an indication of the motion of the drummers. In these performances, I'm always amazed at the stamina of the drummers. They drum continuously so hard and long -- I know I would never be able to do it!

There were some good acrobats in this group.


And some very flexible dancers!



This girl danced now and then in the performances. She was a really good little dancer, but she always had such a sober face. I really wish she was enjoying herself a little more!



There were a number of masquerade performances like what I've seen elsewhere, where the masquerader does some kind of transformation from one costume to another.

I didn't get a picture of it, but one of the young masqueraders in this picture was wearing some socks with the Adidas logo displayed -- it reminded me of the masquerader in Badagry who was wearing Nike tennis shoes under his elaborate costume. I wonder if they're getting any endorsement support for their product placement?

Then back at the guesthouse, we had another night of masquerades and dancers.

This is one happy drummer!

This guy was a really serious and special masquerader -- he seemed pretty professional about it.