Wow! Shabaka is gone? Oh, what a loss! Pity, I didn’t hear anything of it until now.

We got introduced by Henry Foluso in London in 2011 when I was researching how to explore the creative arts as a framework for youth empowerment and community development in Oyo State Nigeria where I was about resuming as the Special Advisor to the Governor on Communication & Strategy. Not only was he so welcoming and helpful with copious resources but he took me round several cultural centres and projects for on the scene evaluations and lived experiences. We were later to meet and share creative exchanges in Nigeria under the auspices of Wasee Kareem’s Z-Mirage. As always, he was a delightful bundle of enthusiasm and support for any project that sought to promote and protect Africa’s cultural. heritage and interests.

Just as no one could justifiably diminish the passing of the elephant, no one can possibly deny that Shabaka was a great cultural personage who’s eternal transition depletes our forest of a mighty tree🙌🏾

May his giant, creative, dutiful and curated soul find a peaceful resting place among the avatars even as his family finds the strength to bear his irreplaceable loss🙏🏾