CHAPTER 1

RIGHT IN THE CENTER OF LAGOS

I was born Tony Oladipo Allen in Lagos on July 20, 1940,and I grew up in the area called Lafiaji, right in the center ofLagos Island. My family lived at number 15, Okusuna Street.Lafiaji was a good area. It was very near to what we calledthe Race Course in those days. Today they call it Tafewa BalewaSquare. King's College is in that area, too. Later on, my familymoved to Ebute-Metta, on the mainland.

My father's name was James Alabi Allen. He was a Nigerian,a Yoruba from Abeokuta. We don't exactly know how the name"Allen" came into my father's family, but it's probably a slaver'sname. It must have come either from my great-grandfather orfrom his own father, because one of them was among thosepeople rescued by the British slave patrols in Sierra Leone.Many of the slaves that were taken from Nigeria and rescuedby the slave patrols—especially the Egbas that were taken fromAbeokuta—they would drop them in Sierra Leone. That's whytoday my father's family still has a place in Sierra Leone. I rememberthat once when I was arriving in Britain, the immigrationofficer looked at me suspiciously and asked where I got thename "Allen." I just looked at him and laughed and told him, "Iwish I could know my real name. Because the name 'Allen' iscoming from you guys. You gave me my name, historically, sowhy are you asking me where I got this name from?" He kept hismouth shut after that.

My father's father, Adolphus Allen, was a prominent man in Lagos.Allen Avenue in Ikeja is named after him. I don't know too much abouthim because I was only two years old when he died. What I do know isthat he was a clergyman who founded a church called Bethel Cathedral,which is on Broad Street on Lagos Island. Before that he was a policeman,and he must have passed through some hard things working withthe white guys back then, because it was his will that none of his childrenwould become policemen, and none of them did. My grandfather alsoowned a big piece of farmland in Ikeja, on the outskirts of Lagos. Thatland was later sold by my father and his brothers to the Lagos State government,and the government built the Airport Hotel on it. It was alsopart of that land, but on the other side of Obafemi Awolowo Way, thatmy father sold to Fela years later. In the old times, that was the smallerpart of the farm.

My mother's name was Prudentia Anna Mettle. She was born in Lagosas one of the daughters of the Ghanaian settlers in those days. Her parentsand grandparents had settled in Nigeria way back, probably in the1800s. My mother's mother was from Keta, Ghana. So my mother spokeGa and Ewe, and believe it or not, she could even speak Yoruba betterthan my father! As for me, I grew up in Lagos speaking Ga, Ewe, andYoruba. In those times, most of the Ghanaian settlers were fishermen,and they lived on Victoria Island. Back in the old days, Victoria Island wasa real fishermen's village. Think about environments like Hawaii with allthe beaches and fishermen's huts—that is what Victoria Island was likebefore they developed it into what it is today.

There were six of us children in all, and I am the oldest one. The oneright under me is my brother Adebisi. He's an aeronautics engineer,working for British Airways in London and Lagos. The next one afterhim is my brother Olatunji, who is a civil servant in London. After himis my brother Olukunmi, who is a doctor in London. After Olukunmi ismy sister Jumoke, who is a head nurse in Boston, in the United States.And the baby of us all is my sister Enitan, who is a trader in Lagos, inthe market. I also have a half-brother from my father. He's called Tundeand he's a mechanic in Germany. Since I myself have been in Paris fortwenty-five years, you can see that we have all spread out from Nigeria,across the world.

We all have Yoruba names, but since our mother was from Ghana, weeach have a Ghanaian name too. For example, my brother Adebisi is alsocalled Kofi, and my sister Enitan is also called Afi. As for me, there arepeople in Lagos today who still know me as Kwame, because I was bornon a Saturday and that's the customary name in Ghana if you were bornon that day. My family on my mother's side all call me Kwame.

Maybe being a "dual breed" like that is why I've always done my ownthing. I've always been independent. Like when it comes to clothes, I'msomebody that always liked dressing casually, ever since I was young. Isimply like casual dressing. But it was the pride of all my colleagues I wasgrowing up with to have these fancy Yoruba attires, these big agbadas andall that stuff. If you want to talk about our own traditional Yoruba clothing,you have to have about three layers to put on, maybe four. First youput on the normal singlet (sleeveless undershirt) underneath, for the perspiration.Then you put on the one called buba. That's the one with shortsleeves. After that you put dansiki on top, which is the third layer. Andstill, you must put agbada on top of that. Then it's complete. And somepeople can even put some lighter materials on top of that! That's the tradition.Even all of my brothers love it. But for me, I prefer to pick what Ilike, dress casually, and go by my own style. I mean, dressing is not reallypart of what I think about. I can dress elegantly if I want to. But I'm notreally putting a lot of energy into styles and all that. I just want to be comfortable,that's all.

But the Yorubas are really into conformity. For example, every timewhen there is any occasion, like a funeral or whatever, they have to celebrateand throw a big party. And every group at the party has to have veryspecific garments. Like maybe this side is the mother's side of family.The family will tell them that they should dress in a certain style. Andthen on the father's side, they will tell them to choose another style. Thefamily will bring the sample cloth out to the family and tell you,...