BIAFRA ON THE ROCK CHURCH

One major water-shade in the history of my country Nigeria, is 'The Nigerian Civil War', what became known as 'The Biafra War'.
The now defunct Republic of Biafra was declared on the 30th of May 1967, after the gruesome pogrom carried out against the people of the then Eastern Nigeria, I have given this piece a seemingly strange title 'Biafra On The Rock Church'. Well, you will soon find out why, as in the Nigerian parlance we say, "Do not worry about the inscription on a bus, just hop in' So just do exactly that, hop in with me and find out more.
                                                 
                                                                  The Rock

The rock is a very strong symbol in Christianity. Jesus walked the wilderness with his disciples a lot during his lifetime, and the wilderness of the Middle East is littered with rocky mountains, hills, and deserts with outcrops of rocks which Jesus and his followers sat on when they rested. Many paintings describing the life and times of Jesus depicted him sitting on the rock. Also Jesus spoke many parables using the rock as a symbol, and doesn't Saint Peter’s name mean the rock?

Why am I drawing these analyses one may ask. The reason is not far fetched, and here it goes.

In 1968, The Finnish Lutheran Church embarked on a project of building an over a million dollar valued church that was to be carved out from a huge outcrop on granite rock. By the way, talking about granite rock, it is found in large amount in Finland. Indeed, everywhere you turn, every inch of ground you dig, there is granite. Sounds kind of mysterious doesn’t it, that a land within the cold region of the Nordic should have such a geographical feature. The land on which Finland is presently sited was supposed to have formed under a tropical environment thousands of years ago, at least based on geological information. Well, that is just by the way, as Finnish geography is not our topic of the day, so let’s rock on.

                                                                   Nigeria 1966

Thousands of kilometers away in tropical Africa, a political unrest was set in 1966 after a brutal military takeover in Nigeria. The Nigeria Nation was in turmoil. A counter coup and pogrom followed, leading to secession and declaration of the Biafra nation, and then civil war ensued. By 1967, Biafra had turned into an enclave due to economic blockade initiated by the Nigerian government, the war degenerated to immense human suffering in Biafra and the outside world was shocked by the level of sufferings and death especially of children, due to starvation. All over Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, shocking images of starving and dying children were seen on television, and in news magazines. 

                                                               Finland 1967

Back in Finland, A huge outcrop of granite rock somewhere in the Töölö district of Helsinki was being dynamited and excavated for the purpose of building a modern piece of architecture in the form of a church. Millions of dollars is being sunk into the project.

While this was going on, some concerned students led by a Marxist priest were very upset and unhappy that the Lutheran Church should be wasting such huge amount of money to build such a church which they believe was more for aesthetic reasons, and at such a time thousands of children were dying of starvation in Biafra. They argued that the money used for the project should rather be sent to alleviate the sufferings of the children of Biafra.  For this reason they rallied around other students and carried out a protest against the building of the church which was later to be known as the Rock Church.

As usual, it is often hard to win such fights, but the students made their point. The echoes of their protest were heard all over Europe and beyond as it made headlines. It also still stayed relevant today as one cannot tell the history of the Rock Church of Finland which turned out to be a major tourist attraction in the country, without mentioning Biafra and the students protest.

To bear witness to the protest, the inscription BIAFRA written with white paint on top of the rock by the protesting students still exists. I remembered my first visit to the Rock Church some twenty years ago. 
My Finnish host took me up to the top of the rock overlooking the roof of the Rock Church and pointed to a white inscription that said BIAFRA. That was when I was told the story behind it. It almost brought tears in my eyes as I imagined that while the struggle lasted many people genuinely cared, even though the few with the power to stop all the killings were rather fuelling it up, as their objectives were totally different, the drive for wealth, yes, oil wealth.

                                    MORE ON FINLAND AND BIAFRA

Do you know that the music of the Biafra national anthem was adapted from the composition by renowned Finnish composer Jean Sibelius? The piece called Finlandia.

Apart from being an acclaimed piece of musical composition, Finlandia is also seen as a good example of how music can be used effectively to convey the moods of a nation. This was what Jean Sibelius succeeded in doing with Finlandia which is often referred to as a Symphonic Poem.

The Finnish nation went through a very rough and tough terrain in their quest for independence, first in the hands of Sweden and then Russia. Jean Sibelius captured this entire struggle in the piece Finlandia.

Here is what is written on Wikipedia regarding the composition

“Most of the piece is taken up with rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people. But towards the end, calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic Finlandia Hymn is heard. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the Hymn section is of Sibelius's own creation.^[1]

Although initially composed for orchestra, in 1900 Sibelius arranged the entire work for solo piano.^[2][3]

Sibelius later reworked the Finlandia Hymn into a stand-alone piece. This hymn, with words written in 1941 by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi, is one of the most important national songs of Finland (though Maamme is the national anthem). With different words, it is also sung as a Christian hymn (Be Still, My Soul), and was the national anthem of the short-lived African state of Biafra (Land of the Rising Sun)”.

Whether the adaptation of Finlandia as the national anthem of Biafra was done with the composition's historical background in mind I do not know, but all I can say is that it was a most suitable coincidence.
Click here to listen to Finlandia full classic version       Finlandia hymn, instrumental rock version ft Nightwish
 Ikechukwu Ude-Chime is a media expert based in Finland