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Yemi

Alade
and
the Cosmic Vibration

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju



Compcros

Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

Cover image

Yemi Alade's stance in this picture, complemented by the dynamic
configuration of her hairstyle, in harmony with the elegant glow of
her form, epitomizes the combination of power, grace, beauty and
erotic allure that shapes her performance at its most potent.

Image from "Yemi Alade: Our Celebrity Fashion Styles Crush for the
Week" by Kate Joseph at JeekStyle.

Summary

An appreciation of Nigerian singer and dancer Yemi Alades 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, Hindu art and Hindu literature.

Shiva Nataraja, the Cosmic Dancer

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



Previous image


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.

"Shiva's cosmic dance sets in motion the rhythm of [ cosmic creation,
sustenance, destruction and recreation] the [ cosmos] symbolized
by the ring of fire that is filled with the loose, snakelike locks of the
god's
hair.

One pair of his arms balances the flame of destruction and the hand
drum (damaru) that beats the rhythm of [ creation ] while another
performs symbolic gestures: the raised right hand means "fear
not,"and the left hand (gajahasta) pointing down toward his raised
left foot signifies release from the ignorance that hinders
realization of the ultimate reality.

Shiva is shown perfectly balanced, with his right leg planted on the
demon of darkness (apasmara),stamping out ignorance. The tiny
figure of the personified river goddess, Ganga, is caught up in his
matted flowing locks. ...Shiva [ is described as breaking ] the fall of
the great Ganges [holy] River as it descends from the Himalayas by
standing beneath the waters, which divide over his hair, becoming
the
seven
holy
rivers
of
India".


Text source: "Shiva as Lord of the Dance (Nataraja), Chola period, c.
10th/11th century Bronze".

Art Institute, Chicago. Image source unknown.


Dance sequence in Johnny

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.

Yemi Alades Music Video Johnny

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

Sohan Qadri's evocation of Kundalini as an expression of Shakti, Kundalini, symbolized by


the snake and Shakti suggested by the stylized image of female genitalia circled by the
snake, the snake curled in the form of an ouroboros, a widely occurring image of cosmic
continuity.
Image source:
"You Must Let Yourself be Swallowed Up : Interview with Sohan Qadri inHaa International
Retreat Center Reading Room.2008.

Dancers prepare for opening scene. Yemi Alade in the centre




Image source
"Video Teaser: Yemi Alade Johnny [+ Behind The Scenes Phot]" from 360nobs

In dance, all parts of the body


become eloquent. The elegant,
symbolic hand gestures of this
exquisite Shiva Nataraja sculpture
pictured by Jyoti Srivastara
recall the particularly mesmerizing
hand movements Yemi Alade
executes in the Johnny video, one
version of which occurs at 1:14-17,
2 :15, 2 : 40-41, 4 :19-20, 4 : 23, 4
:42-44, and another kind at 4 :35-
6. These movements accentuate
the rhythm of the entire body,
their sinuous plasticity amplifying
the manner in which all major
physical units contort in delightful
forms in the dance. Image
: "Shiva as Lord of the Dance
(Nataraja), Chola period, c.
10th/11th century Bronze". Art
Institute, Chicago.

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Image on Previous Page
Marble Ardhanari by Balan Arimuvani at Lotus Sculpture
The totality of Shiva is inconceivable without the perception of the
masculine/feminine
unity,
the
Shiva/Shakti
matrix
embodied
as Ardhanarishvara, both voluptuous and dynamic in dance. Yemi Alade's
choreography combines the masculine force suggested by the downward
thrusting clenched fists, synchronizing with the face strained in concentration,
visible in Johnnyat 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 synchronized with legs positioned wide and
steady as if to control the earth or with flashing thighs, evoking stoked up fires
as the erotic is transmuted into art.
Description of Marble Ardhanari by Balan Arimuvani at Lotus Sculpture. "This
encaptivating Adhanari sculpture won the prestigious Poombuhar Handicraft
award for best sculpture in the state of Tamil Nadu 2004-2005. It has both
power and feminine aspects associated with Ardhanari, the synthesis of Shiva
and Parvati. 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 side and Parvati on the left. Shiva is holding a noose and
a trident while Parvati holds a lotus flower. Over Ardhanari's head is a
cobra. To the right of Ardhanari is a female attendant. Carved into the base is
half the face of a Nandi, Shiva's bull, and a lion which is the vehicle of Parvati.

The entire sculpture is carved from one piece of black marble. The entire piece
of marble is affixed to a block of wood. The statue is carved from one piece of
marble. The marble is very unique with large veins of orange towards the top
of the sculpture. The natural colors of the marble actually add to the power of
the overall sculpture. This stunning Ardhanari sculpture is a one of kind
marble statue, hand-carved by the artists of southIndia. 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.

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"Only if conjoint with Shakti (Thyself),would Shiva earn the privilege
to become overlord; otherwise the God is not even able to stir. While
so, how dares one, who has acquired no merit, either salute or praise
You ( O Goddess! ) who are worthy of being adored even by Hari,
Hara, Virinca and others?" - Soundarya-lahari : Ocean of Beauty [ by]
Sri Samkara- Bhagavat- Pada, translation 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 within it like a lightning
flash in a sky covered with storm clouds" - Tantraloka, Light on the
Tantras by Abhinavagupta. Translated by Mark Dyzkowski. Book 1.
Stanza
3.

Image source

"Yemi Alade and Her African Prints in Music Videos"

by Marija@Afrodable, July 3, 2015

in Afrodable : Around and About Fashion.

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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.

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.

The supporting dancers, actors and actresses, are superb, even in the
briefest appearances of less than a minute within the electric

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Ardhanarishvara dancing
Image source

ExoticIndia Art

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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

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aspects of creativity that can facilitate the continent's greater


contribution to the collective achievement of humanity?



I offer You the ceremony of the lighted lamp, no more than reflecting
the light of the sun back to the sun,

I offer You the ceremony of moonstone drops, no more than
returning the nectar which was given by the moon,

I offer You the ceremony of water, no more than returning the water
that was gifted by the ocean,

I offer You, Source of all Sound, this hymn of praise, no more than
returning the words that were gifted by You.

from the Saundaryalahari : An Interpretation by Jim Danisch

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