Nigerian Culture in New York City

Nigerian New York City

Nigerian New York City is centered in Crown Heights and East New York, Brooklyn; Concord-Fox Hills, Staten Island; and Unionburg-Newark Heights, New Jersey.

Nigerian Art in NYC

• Metropolitan Museum of Art has some beautiful Benin Bronzes.

Nigerian Fashion in NYC

• Yoruba head wraps are very beautiful and elegant.
• You can find Nigerian products in the West African section of 115th St in Harlem, in and around the Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market.
• Tia Adeola is a Nigerian fashion designer who sometimes shows during New York Fashion Week. tiaadeola.com

Nigerian Festivals in NYC

• Nigerian Independence Day Parade is a celebration of Nigerian culture.

Nigerian Film in NYC

• African Diaspora International Film Festival often screens some Nigerian films.
• New York African Film Festival usually screens some Nigerian films.

Nigerian Food in NYC

• Brooklyn Suya is a Nigerian restaurant in Crown Heights. brooklynsuya.com
• Festac NYC is a Nigerian restaurant in East New York, Brooklyn. @festacnycinc
• Lagos TSQ is a Nigerian restaurant in Midtown, Manhattan. lagosnyc.com

Nigerian Government in NYC

The Nigerian Consulate is in Midtown East, Manhattan. nigeriahouse.com

Nigerian Music in NYC

• Michael Olatuja is a Nigerian bass player and leader known for his work with major Pop artists, Broadway musicals.

Nigerian Parades in NYC

• Nigerian Independence Day Parade is a celebration of Nigerian culture.

Nigerian Culture

Nigeria is a big diverse land. The most populous country in Africa has more than 300 ethnic groups and 500 languages. The largest communities are Hausa-Fulani in the north, Yoruba in the southwest, and Igbo in the southeast.

English is the official language, but over 500 languages are spoken. Most people speak Nigerian Pidgin, a Creole language.

Religions are traditional, Muslim, and Christian. But regardless of their stated faith, most people still practice some of the Indigenous traditions.

Nigerians call themselves “Naija.”

Yoruba

The Yoruba people are famous for their diplomatic and storytelling skills. Yoruba stories are beautifully drawn. They have the soft teaching quality of “Aesop’s Fables” or Zen stories.

Yoruba traditions dominate African Diaspora culture in the Americas, but Yoruba in the Americas is a little different from Yoruba in Africa. In the Americas, Yoruba traditions mixed with Catholicism and European traditions such as the Gregorian calendar.

In Cuba, Yoruba absorbed the Dahomey and Kongo traditions that also rooted in the Americas. We just call it all Yoruba.

Yoruba traditions such as B’rer Rabbit and the Crossroads (Eleguá), have entered American pop culture. Where do you think Bugs Bunny comes from? ¡Ashé!

Nigerian Art

The Ife Bronzes or Benin Bronzes (from Benin City in what is now Nigeria) are beautiful works of art from the 1200s-1500s that have no peers in any culture or time. They are so lifelike and expressive. Colonizers stole most of them, but they are being returned now.

Nigerian Film

Nigeria has a film industry called “Nollywood.”

Nigerian Food

Caribbean food is derived from Nigerian and other West African food.

Nigerian Literature

Wole Soyinka was the first Black African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

Amos Tutuola’s “The Palm-Wine Drinkard” (1952) was the first African novel published in English outside of Africa. It’s a wonderful story.

Nigerian Sports

Nigerians love football (soccer). The national team, the Super Eagles, reached FIFA World Cup finals in 1994, 1998, and 2002. Nigerian won gold at the 1996 Olympics.

The Nigerian women’s national team is also very good.

Nigerian Artists

Burna Boy is a famous Afrobeats singer.

Davido has a great style and groove.

Fela Kuti (1938-1997) created Afrobeat, a blend of West African and American funk, jazz, and political traditions. It evolved into Afrobeats or African pop.

King Sunny Adé (1946) was one of the first Nigerian musicians to gain international fame with his jùjú music. He earned the first Nigerian Grammy nomination with “Synchro System” in 1983.

Yemi Alade is a Nigerian afrobeats singer-songwriter who is on🇳🇬e of the leading female voices of Mother Afrika.

Nigeria

Nigeria is the eastern end of West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea. Its name comes from the Niger River, the great river of West Africa.

The north is the Sahel transition zone from desert to forest.

Abuja is the political capital. Lagos is the business capital. Ile-Ife is the Yoruba spiritual capital, where tradition says God or God’s helpers first came to Earth.

Cross River National Park and Yankari National Park are known for their waterfalls. Zuma Rock is a famous geographical feature in the center of the country.

The Cross River Region is called Carabalí in the Diaspora. You hear references to Carabalí in Cuban Son and Puerto Rican Salsa. The Afro-Cuban men’s fraternity Abakúa (like freemasons) is from Carabalí.

The country has lots of oil and natural gas.

Nigeria was colonized by the English from 1914. Nigeria got free on October 1, 1960.

Festivals in Nigeria

Nigerian national holidays are a blend of Nigerian, Muslim, and Christian traditions.

• New Year’s Day on January 1.
• Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Christ.
• Easter Monday commemorates the traditional resurrection of Christ.
• Eid al-Fitr is the feast the ends Ramadan, the Muslim holy period of family, faith, community, and charity.
• Labour Day on May 1 celebrates the international worker’s movement.
• Democracy Day celebrates the restoration of democracy on June 12, 1999.
• Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrific is the most sacred Muslim day. It celebrates Abraham’s faith in God.
• Mawlid celebrates the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s traditional birthday.
• Nigerian Independence Day is October 1, 1960.
• Christmas celebrates the traditional birthday of Christ.
• Boxing Day is an English tradition of charity on the day after Christmas.

Yoruba New Year is June 3.