Oris Aigbokhaevbolo Interview (Freelance writer)
Oris Aigbokhaevbolo is a freelance writer based in Lagos, Nigeria. He was previously the West African editor for Music in Africa, and is currently putting the finishing touches on a book that “gives an account of the evolution of Nigerian music and film over the past decade.”
How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
It started with a love of books and writing. For some reason, I liked words: the sound of them, the meaning of them, even the look of them. So I was one of those kids who would read a dictionary. But it never occurred to me that it was possible to write until I got into the university. I was studying pharmacy, but buying way too many literary books at a second-hand bookstore whose owner would bring cartons and cartons of books to my school. It was from that store I bought I bought the second volume of Writers at Work, the series published by The Paris Review. One of the interviews was with Hemingway. I read it and it changed my life. It is a cliché these days but it is true. It ruined my life as a pharmacy student and remade it into the person responding to your questions.
Around the same time, I started buying old issues of Time magazine. Mostly bootlegged copies because the front page would be ripped off or the part with the words TIME torn off. The culture pages were fascinating. I had always been into learning lyrics of songs but now I was thinking about them. I was also thinking about films. One evening I saw a Kanye West video and I think it was that moment I said I was going to have to write about Nigerian songs. American songs had their critics. I should try to do the same with my own culture.