COMMONLY MISUSED ENGLISH WORDS & PHRASES 4

November 23, 2020

(1) THE WORD & CONCEPT CALLED “RITUAL”…

(2) INFOTAINMENT: “RUB-A-DUB MASTER”

This is “No Bullshiting”, by Harry Agina.

Greetings, folks!

Very commonly, when people hear the noun RITUAL, or it’s adjective, RITUALIST, the first connotation that jumps to mind is NEGATIVE; a killer, to be specific. Any person that is called a “ritualist” (especially in Africa), is commonly seen as a killer that offers human beings to the devil to make money.

Here is a shocker for the persons who have this shallow perception or definition of the noun/adjective, RITUALIST: EVERY HUMAN BEING, indeed, every living animal IS A RITUALIST, period!!!

So, let’s define RITUAL to make this clear to those who need this information. In its most basic definition, a ritual is anything that any animal (human and others) does on a REGULAR BASIS, AT PRESCRIBED TIME, IN A PRESCRIBED MANNER (same given way), especially when it is done at a regular prescribed or particular place.

For instance, the fact that you go to bed every night (or at least most nights of your life), is a ritual, especially if you have a particular way of doing it. Let’s say that you ALWAYS have to brush your teeth as the last thing that you do before going to bed…it is a ritual, meeeen!!!

Indeed the fact that we eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are also rituals that we perform every day of our lives; again, especially if we have a specific way, place, and time that we take those meals. This is so for other animals, too; many have rituals that they perform every doggone day of their lives, meeeen!!!

EVERY RELIGION of the world, and a majority (if not most, or even all) organizations of the world have their rituals that they perform on given dates/times, and given locations. This includes the COSTOMARY fact that Christians go to church every Sunday, mostly at given times of the Sundays; and they receive HOLY COMMUNION of bread and wine on the prescribed Holy Communion Sundays, at a GIVEN TIME of the SUNDAYS that are PRESCRIBED for Holly Communion rituals. BAPTISM is also a RITUAL that initiates Christians into Christianity.

Muslims go to their mosques every Friday, and, they also have rituals that they perform every day that they enter the mosques. Muslims also have the ritual of praying five times every day, at PRESCEIBE HOURS OF THE DAY.

And so it is for every religion and every human organization. For instance, QUATERLY or/and ANNUAL MEETINGS of some organizations (business, and social), are rituals that are set for given dates and times of every year, where they also perform some prescribed rituals each and every time that they meet.

HERE IS ONE OF MANY DICTIONARY DEFINITIONS: “A ritual is a ceremony or action performed in a customary way…as an adjective, ritual means ‘conforming to religious rites,’ which are the sacred, customary ways of celebrating a religion or a culture…different communities have different ritual practices, like meditation in Buddhism, or baptism in Christianity.”

The point, therefore, is that there are GOOD and socially ACCEPTABLE rituals, some of which I have stated above; and there are BAD and socially UNACCEPTABLE rituals, such as rituals in which people are killed in some organizations, as Nigerian OGBONI and other fraternities are alleged to do. But, do remember that the fact that OGBONI fraternity is suspiciously secretive with strange rituals, does not necessarily mean that killings actually happen when the members meet. Maybe they do; I don’t really know. I’m only saying that we can’t rightly conclude just based or their “strange” secrete rituals, meeeen!!!

So, the next time that you call a person A RITUALIST, you need to stipulate whether the person is a good or a bad ritualist. Don’t assume that I am supposed to know that the person kills other humans to make money, as many Nigerians (Africans in general) commonly understand the word to mean.

As often among my blogs, this blog was inspired by a debate that happened between a friend and me…and, I trust that you know that I ain’t bullshitting ya, meeeeeeen!!!

NBB’S INFOTAINMENT: “RUB-A-DUB MASTER”:

Folks, I am both proud and sad to present to you today’s No Bullshitting infotainment segment with “Rub-A-Dub Master” song, by the Rub-A-Dub Master himself, Ras Kimono.

Yes indeed, it is very sad that Ras Kimono is no more. He died on June 10, 2018 (born in1958). I said that I am proud to introduce him because I played a very major role in his making as the international Rub-A-Dub Master of Nigeria.

Once upon my visit to Nigeria from the USA in late 1987, a fellow reggae fan, one of my best friends in Nigeria who also lived/lives in London, one Charles Attah, who is commonly and fondly called “Daddy C” by friends, introduced Kimono to me. In addition to “Daddy C,” I alone fondly call Attah “Charly My Boy” and “Charly Boy.” Mind you, I was absolutely unaware that there was one Charles Oputa who was/is called “Charly Boy.”

In return, ‘Charly My Boy’ fondly calls me “Harry My Man,” which is ironical and funny, considering that he is actually older by a couple of years; and whereas I call him “my boy,” he calls me “my man.”

Anyway, on that fateful day, ‘Charly My Boy’ said to me, “Harry My Man, you’ve got to see this emerging reggae artist called Ras Kimono. The guy is good, but he has no money, and he has not been discovered by anybody that can help him, so, he has not done any recording. I need you to listen to some of his tunes, and, if you agree with me, we must give him a chance, man.”

Incidentally, my visit to Nigeria was actually to establish “Rub-A-Dub Sound And Video“ Company, my pet project for Nigeria. Reggae music was gaining ground in Nigeria, and, rather than import reggae into Nigeria, I had an arrangement with a big and popular reggae recording company, SHANACHIE RECORDS of New Jersey, USA, to reproduce their reggae albums in Nigeria. And, since broadcasting and Motion Picture Production are my major profession, I incorporated RUB-A-DUB SOUND & VIDEO Company in Nigeria.

So, ‘May Boy Charly’ invited Kimono, and, when I listened to his demo tape, I concurred with the assessment of ‘Charly My Boy,’ and we promptly swang into action to make Kimono’s debut (first) album that was published in 1989. It was titled “UNDER PRESSURE,” and it featured/features the famous “Rum-Bar Style” song, and six (or was it five) other tracks.

For the promotion of Kimono, as well as creating a place for ‘the boys’ to have some fun, we also established a Night Club called “Floating Buka” was set in a disused boat that was anchored on the shore of Lagos Lagoon, along The Marina, on Lagos Island.

A number of reggae-loving friends (including Edgar Ekpagha, Frank Eboka, and six or seven other friends) joined ‘Charly My Boy’ and me to form “Massive Dread“ group, and we named Kimono’s music group THE MASSIVE DREAD BAND, which performed every night from Thursday to Sunday.

As they say, nothing lasts forever, and, there came a time (after one year) when I had to leave Naija back to the USA. And, sadly, Kimono himself didn’t last long enough when he left the world in 2018.

And, indeed, this story cannot last forever, either; I have to draw the curtain right here and now. If you want to hear all the details that I had to cut off for brevity, like how “Rub-A-Dub Sound & Video”, The Buka Night Club, and the Massive Dread Group faired, then, you have to beg me privately… hahahahahaaaa!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, here is ‘my boy’ Ras Kimono, and the Massive Dread Band, with “Rub-A-Dub Master”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3mERoes8eE

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