Sports
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Nigerian Footballer Asisat Oshoala Dedicates Her Historic UEFA League Cup Win To Young African Girls

Nigerian footballer Asisat Oshoala has once again made history by being the first African woman to lift the UEFA Women's Champions League cup following her historic debut in the European league four years ago.

Nigeria is celebrating Asisat Oshoala, who plays for Barcelona Femini following the wonderous defeat of Chelsea Women's team. 26-year-old Oshoala led her team to victory with less than twenty minutes left of the match. The enthralling match took place this past Sunday at the Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. Oshoala's high goal scoring rate has been hailed as a huge contributing factor to the UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) final win. The ever-consistent Oshoala dedicated the win to young girls in Africa as a way of inspiring them to continue striving for their dreams.


Oshoala came in the 71st minute as a substitute in a match that saw Barcelona Femini hungry for a win, following a defeat to Lyon in the 2019 final. Oshoala scored the only consolation goal in the match where they were defeated 4-1. The Nigerian captain had started off on the bench but had secured 15 goals by the end of of the league, four of which were scored in nine UEFAmatches, according to Pulse Nigeria. Oshoala expressed that her team's win is one she wishes to share with young African girls:

"It's is a great feeling and I can't really put my emotions into words because it has been a tough journey to get here. I hope this will continue to inspire other young girls in Africa and motivate everyone around the world that you can achieve whatever you put your mind to and work hard for it."

Women's soccer admittedly flies under the radar however stars like Oshoala keep raising the standards. According to SoccerNet Nigeria, the Nigerian national team player was recovering from an injury when she made it into the last few minutes of the Women's Champions match and put on a stellar performance.

She won the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women's Player of the award four years in a row. The striker has come a long way from playing soccer secretly on the streets to hide her passion from her parents. Her parents were initially reluctant to allow her to play football, labelling it as unfit for a woman. In the end, however, they gave her their blessing and she has since continued to break records.

Read: Why are Nigeria's Super Falcons Earning Significantly Less Than Their Male Counterparts?

The UEFA Women's Champion's Cup is just but the latest win for her international career which began four years ago. Her other league wins include the Copa de la Reina, the Supercopa Femenina, and the two Catalunya Femenina cups which she won during her successful three-year stay in Spain. Barcelona Femini wiped out the Chelsea women's team by four goals to zero marking Barcelona Femini's first every victory in the league cup.

Arts + Culture
Photos courtesy Bruce IV.

Photo Series: Inside Nigeria’s Egungun Festival​

Rooted in the Yoruba word for masquerade, the centuries-old festival honors ancestors, with a striking display of costumes and masks.

In Nigeria, one of the several cultural practices that remains today, despite the massive conversion of the Yoruba people to Christianity and Islam, is the Egungun festival. Egungun is the Yoruba word for masquerade, and it’s recognized as the return of an ancestral spirit from heaven, reemerging on earth to bless the people and the community.

The Egungun festival has become a popular communal festival held annually to honor ancestors, as well as keep their memories alive. It’s celebrated in numerous towns and villages across the South-West region of Nigeria–a region predominantly occupied by the Yorubas. One such town is Iragbiji, a hilly area surrounded by enormous rocks, situated 15 kilometers northeast of the state capital, Osogbo, and founded 600 years ago. The Egungun festival in Iragbiji is reportedly as old as the town itself, and is usually held annually around May, spanning seven days filled with countless activities and events.

On the festival eve, the Egungun, a hidden fellowship of people, led by the leader, pay a visit to the forest of the deities to receive the spirits of the Egungun and bring them back home. This officially marks the beginning of the festival.

Nigerian's celebrate Egungun Festival.Photos courtesy Bruce IV.

This year, the energy that came with the festival season could hardly be missed. For someone who’s witnessing the festival for the first time, one cannot help but be taken aback. Even though Iragbiji is rife with old buildings and dilapidated roofs, several of its inhabitants carry a refreshing vitality — many of them young — that keeps the town alive. Unlike Lagos and Abuja, motorcycles are the most common form of transportation in the town, and at the same time, the pace feels unhurried. Narrow roads filled with people trooping all over the place. Crews of young men holding long canes jumped in front of motorcycles to hinder movement, demanding money in the spirit of the season. All while elderly men, seated in front of their fenceless houses, looked on with a sense of longing.

It’s believed that each clan has at least one Egungun, and so each has a specific day allotted to it during the festival, some attracting more people than others.

Nigerian's celebrate Egungun Festival.Photos courtesy Bruce IV.

As is customary, each day, up until the seventh, sees these Egungun come out of their homes to parade the town, which is usually filled with throngs of people seated at different vantage points. Each Egungun comes out with its clan members alongside drummers who continually strike their instruments vigorously and viciously, as the Egungun dance about. They move from house to house, stopping to bless each one. One might be forced to believe that Egungun are diabolical in nature because of the voluminous amount of charms in their regalia, but the moment you come into contact with any Egungun, they immediately rain down torrents of prayers on you. As they do this, one might be expected to give the Egungun and its clan members a little compensation for their prayers.

Encountering an Egungun as a stranger in Iragbiji might at first come off as a terrifying thing, but one quickly realizes that they carry no ill intent, regardless of how scary their costumes might be. Generally, their aim isn’t to harm onlookers but to instead entertain. And sometimes, this entertainment can be predominantly violent in nature as followers of the Egungun wielding canes begin to flog themselves vehemently. The flogging is somewhat ritualistic and can appear frightening but seeing the joy that it evokes amongst the crowd tells an onlooker everything they need to know: It is merely entertainment.

Check out our gallery from this year’s festival:

Nigerian's celebrate Egungun Festival.

Photos courtesy Bruce IV.

Music
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The Best Nigerian Songs Right Now

Featuring new Nigerian music from Asake,Olamide, CKay, Wande Coal, Teni, Oxlade, Joeboy and more.

Every month, Nigerian music artists release new songs in hopes of momentarily owning the hearts and ears of current and new fans amidst a barrage of new Nigerian releases.

Here’s a list of the latest songs from Nigeria this month for your viewing and listening pleasure.

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GULSHAN KHAN/AFP via Getty Images

New Research Out of South Africa Brings Us Closer To Understanding Ancient Human Species

The remains left by “Homo Naledi” informs us of their use of burial grounds, tribal paintings, and more.

South African researchers continue their journey to discover the weird and wonderful ways human beings have developed over the last hundred thousand years. Their latest achievement is in the improved understanding of how the hominin “Homo Naledi” existed, thought, and behaved. Scientists have discovered that the ancient human species partook in burial practices, and created rock paintings and carvings -- acts previously believed to be above their level of intelligence.

“It’s a remarkable thing. My mind is blown,” said famed American-South African anthropologist Lee Berger and his team, who unearthed the artifacts and published the latest findings. Homo Naledi was first discovered in 2013, but our understanding of their behaviors has only scratched the surface. The new discoveries have shown evidence of behaviors humans only exhibited 100,000 years later, and the evidence left behind leads us to believe that they were incredibly intelligent - a major blimp to the idea that bigger brains make for smarter brains.

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Music
Photo by Burak Cingi/Redferns.

Three Takeaways From Burna Boy’s 'Love, Damini' Tour Wardrobe So Far

Wearing back-to-back Robert Wun from Paris La Dèfense to the London Stadium, the Afrofusion superstar has never looked this stylish.

The new leg of Burna Boy’s Love, Damini stadium tour is in full throttle. Done with arena spaces — he’s conquered New York’s Madison Square Garden, London’s O2 Arena, and Atlanta’s State Farm Arena with sold-out shows — the Nigerian heavyweight act is now scaling up tour venues to fit his image. Not surprising, then, to see some thoughtfulness in his outfit choices. Weeks after making his Met Gala debut wearing the new Burberry tartan, he thrilled fans in Paris in the first stop of his Love, Damini tour.

He sold out the 40-000 capacity Paris La Défense venue. Strikingly, he wore custom Robert Wun for a better part of his performance, a black, pleated matching set plucked from Wun’s SS23 “birding” collection. Over the weekend headlining at the London Stadium, home ground of Premier League club, West Ham United, Burna Boy turned to Robert Wun once more.

If he looked like a raven in Paris, he looked like a kingfisher in London. In crisp, autumnal orange, the bursting flare of pants and sleeves, and the glide of the top overlay as he moved about on stage, isn’t only hitting a sartorial tone with high fashion but might suggest a new metaphorical shift in how Burna Boy sees himself.

He’s become the first African to sell out London’s 80,000-capacity stadium, and with more stops in the Netherlands (June 17), Portugal (June 28), Denmark (June 29) and the US (July 8), here are three takeaways from his tour looks so far.

The Robert Wun-Afrobeats star relationship

Before Burna Boy donned his first Robert Wun ensemble in Paris, the London-based Hong Kong designer had Tems as a celebrity client, whom he had put in two custom creations. The first time at her 2022 London show at Koko, wearing a teal, halter neck set with billowing pleats. The second time was at the 2023 Met Gala, her showstopping feather couture in monochrome.

Both Burna Boy and Tems owe their stylists — Romani Ogulu and Dunsin Wright respectively — for tapping their celebrity into the world of designers like Wun. With the crossover of Afrobeats into global markets, its stars are now thrust into new worlds of fans, media, and public engagements. Wun is filling an opportunity gap where Afrobeats A-listers are making fashion statements on bigger stages. And we have a feeling this is a symbiotic relationship that will spring more surprises.

Breaking the Afrobeats male wardrobe ceiling

Due to gendered notions ingrained in music artistry, there are often low expectations for male artists regarding wardrobe and style choices when performing live. In Nigeria, where Afrobeats is situated as a nerve center, male artists arrive at their shows or concerts wearing streetwear or wardrobe basics. In some cases, they take off their tops in the throes of excitement or passion. This isn’t the case with female Afrobeat acts.

Asake has been one of the male artists who have pushed the envelope, causing a stir online when he wore a black denim skirt repurposed as a top to one of his shows. While Burna Boy has performed topless (one time he stripped to his underwear in Nigeria), his Love, Damini tour outfits show male artists can straddle the line between stage performance and stylish wardrobe.

A new Burna Boy iconography

Robert Wun’s avian-inspired garments honor his late grandmother, who liked the swallow bird. But seen on Burna Boy, they take a different meaning. His crossover stardom was accompanied by a nonstop supply of confidence on his part. Some might argue that it’s cockiness, so much so that he earned his name as the “African Giant” after the 2019 Coachella fiasco.

As time went on, he likened himself to the fearlessness of a gorilla, meshing with his persona in a way that has produced an emoji, merchandise, and more. His ongoing tour staged in stadiums demonstrates that he’s in a gigantic world of his own. Robert Wun’s avian motif in his designs seemingly codes for Burna Boy’s appetite for more space to dominate, more records to be broken. Even if it means launching himself into the sky like a bird.

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