Funmi Tijani, has been deeply involved in the arts in the last three decades, given the fact that she has part of her roots in Oshogbo, the Osun State capital widely reputed as the land of arts, and her paternal background is also neck-deep in the arts. A young grandmother who has been on the dance stage with the likes of South African music impresario, Miriam Makeba, and has worked in productions handled by the best in the theatre and movie industry in Nigeria, she has been involved in virtually every aspect of entertainment, particularly as she has also been informed in stage performances as well as radio and television jobs at one time or the other.
One of the few actresses to have had enjoyed a long marital life in the country, Funmi Tijani separated from her husband of many years, but you can tell that her heart did not totally leave the marriage. She shares with PAUL UKPABIO her desire to become an evangelist and lead a wholly Christian life. She also relives some of her glorious moments and her hope of marital fulfillment.
What are you working on at present?
I am involved in hosting seminars and art-related businesses. I am an executive officer at a film village where we are working on a major film called Osun. It is going to be an international film which will also feature some Nigerian artistes. But it is a foreign production.
Which play was the last you acted in?
I have done so many works on stage, television and radio. But I remember my last television appearance was in a sitcom called Delicate Matters. Although I have just been contacted for a production that will also come up soon, Delicate Matters, which was shown on NTA, particularly brings back memories. I acted in it with the likes of the late Justus Esiri. But there have been several others, even on different television stations.
You were known more as a dancer, but you later crossed into the movie industry…
I used to be a backup singer at a time. Later, I moved into the radio through the FRCN (Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria) where I was doing radio drama and so on. But somehow again, television beckoned and I also moved there. Again, the stage had an appeal and soon I was given roles there too. But I really wasn’t selective about any of these acting mediums. So, what happened was that I didn’t stop one for another at any given time. I was more or less doing all together as the roles came along, even till date. It is just that after a long while, the dancing aspect gave more way to acting.
What has been the difference between acting on radio, television and stage?
Well, to start with, acting came naturally for me. But even then, there is a big difference between just acting and acting professionally. On stage, as an actress, there could be that initial phobia; the thought that people are watching you directly. But it could just be momentary and a good actress quickly overcomes that. That is different from the television. Radio has its own bit of nervousness because you have it at the back of your mind and you say to yourself, ‘Oh my God, people are listening to my voice. How I’m I sounding?’
How did you get into professional acting?
We had an acting group then at the National Museum, where we used to put up plays and producers used to go there to watch. On the side, I was in Eddie Ugbomah cinematography and acting productions. It was from there that the producers would just pick you, call you or just tell you to come around for audition or take part in a production. So, I went for such audition and got casted for a role.
The same thing happened to me before I got into radio productions. You know, the producers used to come around and watch our performances, and you would not even know that they were there. They would ask about your background, especially if Eddie Ugbomah was there. That was how I was picked.
Still, which one do you like most between the three?
(She hesitates and laughs) Maybe the television. And that is because the television gives you an opportunity to watch yourself later and then critique or applaud your performance. The stage, the radio, (laughs again) I like all. With the radio, you can listen later too, if recorded, to know how you delivered your lines, even though you cannot watch.
Can you compare acting in those days with acting of today?
It’s difficult to compare. They shouldn’t be compared. At that time, the impression and focus was on what you could deliver professionally. But now it is different. Even if you are not trained, you can be put on set once the marketers want you there. It is who the marketers want that features; it is not about what can be delivered.
In the past, the producers sat down to watch and even queried your performance. It was more about professional details. Now, doing productions when fatigue has set in, they just lump things together and it is ready! I have done one with them like that and I was thoroughly pissed off. Now there is the problem of ‘inner caucus syndrome.’ It is not much about performance at auditions; it is about belonging. You get to hear such phrases like ‘she doesn’t belong to us,’ or ‘he doesn’t belong to us.’ And because of that, no role!
That is why you would not see particular faces in particular films in some parts of the industry. It is rare these days to find cross-over actors in the different genre. They won’t call you. And it happens even to the big names in the industry.
Can you recall some of the names you have worked with?
I remember taking part in Don Pedro Obaseki’s production, working with Joke Jacobs, Taiwo and Kehinde, Keppy Ekpeyong and Sam Loco. There was a production in Yoruba language, it was about corruption, an ill in our society, by Mamoud Alli Balogun, Ola Tubowale, Sola Fosudo… so many names that I’m struggling to recall now.
Tell us about your most embarrassing moment in your acting career.
Yes, I have had such an experience. It happened to me during a production. I cannot understand exactly what happened to me that day. I could not remember my lines. I just went totally blank. Then I was on set with Sam Loco and he was like ‘I will have to let you go today.’ He told me to go and find somewhere to cool down my brain. So I left and returned the next day and did it, and it was great.
Was it that you were thinking of somebody?
Only God knows. Till today, I cannot say exactly what it was. But it happened again that I forgot my lines. This time, I was sick. I went on set and I was blank on my lines. Though I still had a good delivery on that day, I left the set and went straight to the hospital. I was terribly sick. The only person that knew was the one who took me to the set on that day. When I got to the hospital, I was told that I had acute malaria and typhoid. No wonder I was drawling while delivering my lines.
It is said that actresses do not get married. But you did…
(Laughs) But we do get married. The thing called marriage is like that. In our industry, people fall in love, even go on dates, and even get married to each other despite being in the same profession. But marriage goes beyond that, because it also depends on how they handle their relationship. Most often, they soon start accusing each other of infidelity and adultery. I think that if you are married to an actor or an actress, it is even better. But when you are married to someone who is not in the industry, it becomes tougher because he will not understand.
How long did your own marriage last?
Mrs Funmi Tijani (right) with Mrs Nike Okundaye
I’ve been married for decades, though I hardly discuss my marriage. If you ask me about my husband, I usually say that he is fine. He is a retired Commander in the Nigerian Navy.
What lessons have you learnt from marriage?
I have my children. The naval officer (estranged husband) is fine and I am fine. Tolerance is important in marriage. It is important that couples accept one another for who they are. Although right now I am on my own and he is on his own, living together as married couple lasted for many, many years. And it was perseverance and tolerance that made it to last that long. For now, we are living apart.
That means you are only separated, not divorced?
I am living on my own and he is living on his own.
How about your children and grandchildren?
They are fine and God has been with us and God is still with us. We do get together with the children and the grandchildren.
What is your dress sense like?
I wear whatever suits my mood. I love to sit down with my designer and tailor to choose what will fit me and suit me. I do not just wear any kind of dress or cloth. I love African prints. I design most of them by myself. You know I also have this sister and friend of mine, Nike Davies Okundaye, who owns Nike Art Gallery. She is one of my mentors. We started from the early 80s. My mother comes from Oshogbo. I used to follow her on most of her businesses trips.
I have maternal relationship with Oshogbo. My grandmother and the late Oyin Adejobi are sisters. Duro Ladipo is related and Antar Laniyan is my cousin. My mother was a popular dancer and singer. And on my father side, though they were not as famed in art, they are equally known traditional singers and drummers,
What is your style like?
I love big earrings! I have been wearing them for quite a long time. I am used to my big earrings. I also keep a low haircut.
What led you into the arts?
I want to say that I had a natural background in the arts. At a time, I was writing for Lagos Weekend and did articles for them. Also I did some work for Daily Times even as a dancer. I really was going around with Daily Times for their beauty pageant event, The Miss Nigeria Beauty Pageant.
Which came first, dancing or acting?
Everything came up all about the same time. I recall that I was acting while also dancing. I was a backup dancer for the Jazz 38 Club with The Extended Family Band led by Tunde and Fran Kuboye. It was about jazz. The National Museum was bubbling then. There was the Peter King band. I did performances with Eddie Okonta. Ben Tomoloju was there too. Then there was Grace B of Mother Africa and then later with Victor Owaifo and King Sunny Ade.
Did any of them fall in love with you then?
(Laughs) Of course, yes. But as a lady, you have to be disciplined. I simply told them that I was married. Sometimes, my husband used to follow me to production sets and all that.
You said earlier that the organisation you are working with, will be putting out a foreign production stitled Osun. What is holding it back?
Funding, as usual. We will soon be starting up. We have even outlined some other new productions that we will also be working on.
We hear that you are into religion now…
I have actually been running away from it for quite a while. If you know some of my longtime friends, they will tell you that I am spiritual in a way. I am an evangelist, though I have not explored it. But now it is different. If you were to meet Tunde Kuboye, he will tell you he was perhaps the last to mention it to me. Many people of God have told me the same thing. It is a calling for me now. God has sent so many men of God to pass the message to me. It has come every year. They tell me that I am an evangelist. At a point I started realising it, because I would say something and it would come to pass. I would see it in dreams before it happens and I would say it.
Are you saying that you are now a practising evangelist in addition to your acting profession?
Not exactly that I went to a bible college or that I am planning to do that. What I’m saying is that God has already called me and ministered to men of God to pass the message to me, and I know within me that it is true. God even caused some of His servants to lay their hands on me to work for Him and I have now started doing so. I now go on evangelism with different churches. Sometimes I attend a church and the pastor receives a message to call me out for an evangelical assignment. So that is what has been happening to me. I do not run away from it anymore. I have decided to listen to God.
Was your husband happy about your acting career?
Yes, he was. I even recall that when we were in Calabar and I was working at NTA Calabar then, I got him involved somehow in the production.
Yours must have been a happy marriage…
We were happily married, but we had our ups and our downs like any other loving couple in marriage.
But are you considering returning to that marriage or going into a new one?
Really, I do not know what God wants to do in my life. I have surrendered to Him. If God says I should return to my husband, I will go. But if God says no, I will stay. I am already on my own. Everything is in God’s hands. Even the possibility of another husband is in God’s hands. I will not go against the commandment of God, more so now that I am working for Him. You cannot be going about fornicating, committing sexual sin and having sexual affairs when God has not assigned anybody to you. Since I am focused on God, it is better I wait on God.
But how will you know when God instructs you to return to your husband or take a new one?
Of course I will know. And why not? Let me tell you, when God decides, He will send a man to me. I have a pastor friend, he is a divorcee, but recently he went to South Africa for a Christian programme and then to USA. He said that immediately he entered the venue of the programme, God told him his wife was there. And about the same time, God told a woman at the programme that her husband to be was there. She walked over to him and gave him the message. So it happens.
There is a popular pastor in Ikeja too. When his ex-wife was alive, she used to tell us that it was when she went to a convention that she met her husband, the pastor. God told her that he was her husband; that she should go and meet him, and she did. She gave him the message and the man could not say no because he too must have been waiting. So when I meet him, if that is what God wants, I will know. Right now, I leave everything in God’s hands.
Do you still dance?
Oh yes, I still do. I even dance now more than before. You can see my figure. Except for the little grey hair that I have, you won’t even notice that I am a grandmother. In 1978 when I went with Daily Times to perform at the Miss Nigeria zonal pre-final competition in Jos, I met Miriam Makeba who was highly impressed with my dancing skills. She actually stood up to dance with me. With my costume and my usual large earrings, I blended with her songs and the dance steps.
She was excited. She was there holidaying with a friend and the organisers seized the opportunity to invite her to the event. That was a person that I had longed to meet because I liked her and I had been admiring her from a distance before we finally met. She even requested that I joined her, but at that time I couldn’t.
What do you miss about your childhood?
I do not miss much about my childhood except that my parents’ eyes were always on me. But when I became grown up, I was on my own, and you know I miss the pampering that I used to get.
If you were not in the arts, where else would you have loved to be?
I would have loved to be in the military. I love the military. I love the way they dress, their uniforms, I love a lot of things about them. I guess that is why I married someone in the navy, an officer. I love the legal profession too.
Why did you choose wear low hair cut?
As a child, my mother used to have my hair cut very low. When it was kept long, I used to feel feverish, with headache. So, she told me not to be cutting my hair again. That was how I maintained my hair cut from childhood. It is spiritual.
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