[Previous entry: "Double Down in Monte Carlo: Murphy vs. Mutti (1985)"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Robert 'The Ghost' Guerrero Delivers Motivational Speech to Students"]
04/24/2008 Archived Entry: "DEMBE - Traditional Boxing in Northern Nigeria"
DEMBE - Traditional Boxing in Northern Nigeria
By Adeyinka Makinde
ROMANCE:
The men who dedicate their lives to it are wanderers, itinerant labourers in search of fame, or the sons of boxers - born into the ring.
POMP:
Dembe fighting is done to the sound of "talking drums", which gets the boxers’ adrenalin going.
PAIN:
Before the bout starts, the boxer will wet the flax cord wrapped around his hand and cover it in sand to maximise the pain he can inflict.
FATE AND DESTINY:
“I know that one day I will die in the ring. Or the friends of the man I killed will take their revenge.”
Not quite what the likes of Hogan Bassey and Dick Tiger did in their early days.
I am familiar with a number of traditional African wrestling styles--but not this. This is really fascinating!
Why, oh why, instead of silly video melodramas that are the lot of 'Nollywood' producers, can't someone tap into the large stream of real multi-dimensional life in NIGERIA to make meaningful, intelligent films with excellent production values (soundtrack, camera angles, studio and outside shots). A film along the lines of Charles Bronson's depression-era bare knuckle fighter vehicle 'Hard Times' but with an AUTHENTICALLY Nigerian-African story and setting would be ace.
