An appreciation of Nigerian singer and dancer Yemi Alade's music video Johnny, in relation to the Hindu image of Shiva, the cosmic dancer, and the associated concept of Spanda, cosmic rhythm, enriched by images from the video and Hindu art.
One of the most comprehensive bodies of religious thought and practice is Hinduism. A central figure in that scope is the figure of the God Shiva and most iconic of the various images of Shiva is the picture of him as Nataraja, the cosmic dancer who dances the cosmos into existence, sustains it through the rhythm of his dance and dances it out of existence, in a continuous cycle, Shiva's dance of cosmic creation and his dance of cosmic destruction being key forms of Indian dance, the various postures that constitute these dances identified, numbered, named and represented in art.
Landmarks in the elucidation of the universal significance of this image are represented by Ananda Coomaraswamy's"The Dance of Siva", 1918, which introduced the world to the evocative range of the figure, describing it as "a synthesis of science, religion and art...a key to the complex tissue of life, a theory of nature [reconciling ] Time with Eternity [ ensuring that, as ] explorers of the infinitely great and infinitely small, we are worshipers of Nataraja still". Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics : An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism , 1975, expands the ideational resonance initiated by Coomaraswamy, interpreting the icon in terms of contemporary physics, describing the dance of Shiva as "the ceaseless flow of energy going through an infinite variety of patterns that melt into one another". This orientation is also projected by Carl Sagan in Cosmos : The Story of Cosmic Evolution, Science and Civilisation, 1980, depicting the picture of the cosmos undergoing cycles of creation and destruction as visualized in the dance of Shiva as foreshadowing the speculation in modern scientific cosmology of the span of existence of the universe as possibly constituted by a sequence of expansion and contraction. The widespread impact of these correlations is reflected in the instillation of a Shiva Nataraja statue in the grounds of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, which probes the fundamental structure of the universe, the statue being a gift from the Indian government in recognition of "the profound significance of the metaphor of Shiva's dance for the cosmic dance of subatomic particles , which is observed and analysed by CERN's physicists",as summed up in Capra's website, the descriptions of the symbolism of the work in the CERN statue plaque and report referencing Coomaraswamy's, Capra's and Sagan's responses to the image.
David Smith's The Dance of Siva : Religion, Art and Poetry in South India, 2003, integrates these and other threads in exploring the breadth of significance of the sacred dance through the lens of Umapati Sivacarya's poem on Siva's foot uplifted in rhythmic motion, in relation to the spatial and symbolic vastness of Cidambaram, the central temple dedicated to Shiva Nataraja, emblematic of both the centre of the universe and the human soul within which Shiva dances, in the understanding, central to Hindu cosmology, of the unity between the innermost self of the human being and the metaphysical core of cosmos. Deeply complementing the image of Shiva as the cosmic dancer is the concept of Spanda developed by Kashmir Shaivism, a school of Shaivite thought and devotion that flowered in Kashmir, Spanda being an understanding of the cosmos as animated by a rhythmic throbbing, a form of music that enables being and becoming, existence and the processes through which it undergoes transformation, a pulsation that may be sensed within the self as "one's own personal spark of that huge, primordial life force", as the idea is magnificently distilled at the site of the Spanda Foundation.
Shiva Nataraja, the cosmic dancer,
each gesture of hands and feet, each object held in his hands, each form in the entire image
suggesting an aspect of the creative, sustaining and destructive dynamism of the cosmos enabled by Shiva
descends from the Himalayas by standing beneath the waters, which divide over his hair, becoming the seven
Art Institute, Chicago.Image source unknown.
Repeatedly watching the 2014 music video Johnny in which Nigerian dancer and singer Yemi Alade plays the central role, along with music videos inspired by Johnny, the concept of Spanda comes to my mind. How are human beings able to move their bodies in such delightful, and to me, impossible ways? In viewing Yemi Alade's dancing, a sense of something primal is awakened for me, something that comes before and after the human capacity to formulate thought in terms of ideas, something that relates the fundamental biological identity represented by the human body and its animation by life, with the earth, the ancient one enabling terrestrial existence, watching various species come and go, harbouring many mysteries evoked in the earliest forms of human thought represented by myth and folklore, mysteries unacknowledged by most of humanity.
The dancing in that video evokes for me Mazisi Kunene's description of Zulu thought in Anthem of the Decades, of Iyandezulu, the cosmic snake, whose movements are in thousands. The image of the snake is also central to another motif from Hinduism, the idea of Kundalini, described as the humanly embodied aspect of Shakti, another version of the widely evident idea of cosmic force, this time understood in terms of a feminine power focused in the body, enabling transformations of consciousness, its dynamism suggested by the undulating motions of a snake, its being characterized as feminine suggestive for me of the erotic force demonstrated by the sinuous power of the dances in the Johnny video, beginning from the intriguing triangular formation in 0:47 as the three dancers undulate into action.
the snake curled in the form of an ouroboros, a widely occurring image of cosmic continuity.
at 3 : 02, the power of the contracted fists raised like a battle cry in 3 :15-16, 3 : 18 and 5 :05- 6, the crossed fists held like staffs of office at 4 : 28, these projections of force
Ardhanari's face is sublime! Beauty just pulsates from the expression. Ardhanari stares down with a passive aloofness of a god. Shiva is depicted on the right
India. The black marble, called sange-rathek, is found in Jhansi, in the state of Bihar, India. The stone is known for its wonderful deep black/blue color and the
colored purple and yellow veins that flow through the stone. Looking into a piece of sange-rathek is like staring into deep space and seeing distant galaxies.
It is a very unique and wonderful stone. Sculpture is very rare to find in this stone because there are seldom pieces of raw stone large enough to accommodate
a full-sized sculpture"-from Lotus Sculpture.
and commentary by Subrahmanya Sastri and Srinivasa Ayyangar. Stanza 1. "I salute the Goddess (Apara)...who resides in the body of the dancing Bhairava [ a fierce form of Shiva] and plays 
Ardhanarishvara dancing
In Johnny, all parts of the dancers' bodies, faces, hands, breasts, legs, bottoms, are speaking, their voiceless eloquence amplified by the sonic power emerging from vocalization and instrumental rhythms , a totalistic harmony in which the bottom as pivot of the body, the place of rest of the perambulating bipedal creature, standing upright, thereby enabling free use of their hands to manage tools and fashion nature or move those hands in independent rhythm with the body, is twisted in artistic curvatures, rotated in lyric configurations. A superb ensemble of expertise is demonstrated in the complex of factors brought together to make this video absolutely compelling,inspiring choreography across continents, from Africa, to Europe to Asia, spanning various age groups and genders, children to teenagers to older adults , males and females.The entire production of the original video is inspired, from the story line, to the setting in a village, to the shaping of the various scenes in composing the story to the spellbinding dancing, recalling for me the universal appeal of Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Gif from Onobello
The supporting dancers, actors and actresses, are superb, even in the briefest appearances of less than a minute within the electric compression of the five minute video, delivering memorable performances that may etch themselves into one's memory. The entire choreography is magnificent.The singing and lyrics captivating. The use of Nigerian Pidgin English, sprinkled with indigenous Nigerian languages, as the main language in which the song is delivered, generates unforgettable resonance, reaching deep into the existential realities of a nation and its global diasporic presence, as well as intertwining with the intimate being of its African neighbours who share these linguistic affinities, touching deeply even people from other linguistic regions, within the context of the sheer force of the melodic vocalisation in relation to the full range of the performance. The cinematography, in terms of camera angles and other elements of image positioning, is splendid. The film was produced by Selebobo, Nigerian song writer, dancer, audio producer and sound engineer Udoka Chigozie Oku and shot by Clarence Peters, described as one of Nigerian's most successful music video directors, filmmakers and cinematographers.
Dance sequence from Johnny
Gif from "The Ten Most Stylish Movers Around" at Spice: Fashion, Beauty, Lifestyle
Writing of the African-American singer Billie Holiday in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1971, a critic states "she never gave a performance unpermeated by the fierce passions of her heart". Yemi Alade, in a 2014 interview with Ebuka on Channels Television, describes Johnny as based on an amorous experience of hers, involving deception by a lover, hence the desperate search for Johnny in the video, the unraveling of the painful truth about his twisted escapades, wooing several women and committing to none, leading to the conclusion that his self described journeys to Sokoto, a famous Nigerian city used in suggesting distance and storied, exotic history in the Yoruba expression from which comes the name as used in the song, are actually cunning exploits in shokoto, the Yoruba word for men's trousers, indicating the near to hand, the immediately accessible, represented, in this context, by clandestine meetings with deluded women in the privacy of domestic space or the hidden intimacy of covert bushes. Through this song and it's video, private pain is thereby converted into a diamond of universal value.
Nigerians and Africans generally have demonstrated, unequivocally, again and again, the global penetrative capacity of their art. May these achievements actualize any information on strategies in other aspects of creativity that can facilitate the continent's greater contribution to the collective achievement of humanity?
from the Saundaryalahari : An Interpretation by Jim Danisch
The supporting dancers, actors and actresses, are superb, even in the briefest appearances of less than a minute within the electric compression of the five minute video, delivering memorable performances that may etch themselves into one's memory. The entire choreography is magnificent.The singing and lyrics captivating. The use of Nigerian Pidgin English, sprinkled with indigenous Nigerian languages, as the main language in which the song is delivered, generates unforgettable resonance, reaching deep into the existential realities of a nation and its global diasporic presence, as well as intertwining with the intimate being of its African neighbours who share these linguistic affinities, touching deeply even people from other linguistic regions, within the context of the sheer force of the melodic vocalisation in relation to the full range of the performance. The cinematography, in terms of camera angles and other elements of image positioning, is splendid. The film was produced by Selebobo, Nigerian song writer, dancer, audio producer and sound engineer Udoka Chigozie Oku and shot by Clarence Peters, described as one of Nigerian's most successful music video directors, filmmakers and cinematographers.
Writing of the African-American singer Billie Holiday in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 1971, a critic states "she never gave a performance unpermeated by the fierce passions of her heart". Yemi Alade, in a 2014 interview with Ebuka on Channels Television, describes Johnny as based on an amorous experience of hers, involving deception by a lover, hence the desperate search for Johnny in the video, the unraveling of the painful truth about his twisted escapades, wooing several women and committing to none, leading to the conclusion that his self described journeys to Sokoto, a famous Nigerian city used in suggesting distance and storied, exotic history in the Yoruba expression from which comes the name as used in the song, are actually cunning exploits in shokoto, the Yoruba word for men's trousers, indicating the near to hand, the immediately accessible, represented, in this context, by clandestine meetings with deluded women in the privacy of domestic space or the hidden intimacy of covert bushes. Through this song and it's video, private pain is thereby converted into a diamond of universal value.
Nigerians and Africans generally have demonstrated, unequivocally, again and again, the global penetrative capacity of their art. May these achievements actualize any information on strategies in other aspects of creativity that can facilitate the continent's greater contribution to the collective achievement of humanity?
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