Immanuel Afolabi is a Nigerian film producer, teacher, freelance journalist, writer and musician. He has a passion for communicating developmental issues through text, sound, still and moving images. With funding from the French Research Institute (IFRA-Nigeria), Immanuel made a documentary – Osun Groove: Lost but Found? The Oshogbo Sacred Groove is a UNESCO designated cultural heritage centre that sprawls a magnificent 74 hectares of land. Ironically, this historical site is the fruit of Susan Wenger's labor. Susan Wenger is the Austrian priestess, Iya Adunni (Mother Adunni), who first visited the groove in the 1950s and fell in love with the place. Wenger has come to personify “the spirit of the forest” an English translation of Oshogbo. Nwachukwu Egbunike spoke to Immanuel Afolabi about his journey to the Osogbo Sacred Groove and the role of social media in reviving dying or invisible African religious practices. Immanuel Afolabi Nwachukwu Egbunike (NE): You just did a documentary of the Oshogbo Groove. What is it is all about? Immanuel Afolabi (IA): Let me start with the genesis of the documentary. I was in the French Research Institute sometime last year and the director mentioned to me that there was an International conference on patrimony identity, culture, etc. He said would want me to explore an aspect of those concepts through a documentary film and he specifically suggested the Osun Sacred Groove. Its revolves around patrimony because it has been in existence for hundreds of years and some of the things in that sacred groove have not been distorted by westernisation and modernisation, in spite of the heavy influence of late Susan Wenger, an Austrian. What I did was to explore how Nigerians specifically the people of Oshogbo respond either positively or negatively, and even the neutral aspects of their responses to what has been bequeathed to them by their great ancestors. Because of the sacred nature of that groove and the influence of Christianity and Islam, I found out that most people of Oshogbo shy away from fraternizing with their sacred groove. There are different dimensions and intricacies to the groove which I explored in the documentary. NE: Nigeria seems to be a religious fault line between Christianity and Islam. How then does one then situate the place of the Oshogbo Groove within this equation? IA: Studies claim that 50% of Nigerians are Muslims, 40% Christians, 10% of us are traditionalists, if you permit me to use that word. That’s the big challenge to the survival of the Osun groove. But one of my interviewees who is an adherent of the Osun religion told me that most Nigerians may profess not to fraternise with the groove publicly but privately are their frequent guests. The problem is hypocrisy, that’s what I can deduce from the responses of that particular interviewee of mine. However, when we get to our closets, we do one or two things that celebrate traditional religion. But the challenge is still there; either we look at it from that openness, or the covert way with which people fraternise with traditional religion. The challenge is that what is obviously known to us is that Christianity and Islam are the two dominating religions in this country and they do not subscribe to traditional religion and most Nigerians who ‘profess’ to be either Christians or Muslims do not fraternise with our traditional religions, due to the tenets of these two religions: Christianity and Islam. Goddess of Fertility, Oshogbo Groove, Nigeria (Photo Credit: Feathersproject.wordpress.com) NE: What was your perception of the Osun Groove? IA: I went to the groove as an observer-participant not as a participant-observer. For instance, when that priestess asked me to do one or two things, so as to become a participant in the Osun worship, I objected to that because I do not believe in the Osun deity. But that did not truncate my assignment because I went there with the eye of an artist: let me see what other people cannot see, let me be the eyes of the society. But when it came that point of my identifying as a worshiper of the deity, I had to excuse myself from doing so. It my interest you also that I worked in the midst of Muslims when making this documentary. I was even in one of their religious services, but they never forced me or even asked me to participate in any of their religious rites. I went there to observe what they did and to give reportage of what they did and I don’t see a conflict actually, between what I do and my religious affiliation. NE: Apart from the documentary that you have already done, what do you think about the potential of social media to be able to amplify these voices to other places about the cultural patrimony of Nigeria.