By Allison Swank
One of the first of its kind out of West Africa, the new animated series, Bino and Fino, promises a refreshing look at a contemporary urban African family. The brother and sister duo live in a middle class home with their grandparents, who in the first episode (view below), explain what the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence means to the children. Combined, the family and setting serve as a good reminder that not all African children are adopted by Hollywood celebrities, and that it doesn’t take Sesame Street’s mega budget to produce quality educational television.

The following is a transcript of the interview I conducted via email with the creator of the series, Adamu Waziri, from his creative design studio, EVCL, in Abuja, Nigeria:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f7RfJQHilo]

1. What goals do you hope to achieve with your new animated series, “Bino and Fino”?

I hope we will be able to:

Create a cartoon that will be broadcast globally and be watched and loved by African children, children of African descent living in the Diaspora and their peers from different cultures.

To have the cartoon be a sustainable vehicle that helps provide employment in whatever small way to talented Nigerian animators and related workers.

To have a cartoon that shows another side of Africa for what it’s worth.

And lastly, to have some fun while doing this.

2. What is the significance of producing a series for children? Why not an older audience?

As a child I was heavily influenced by the cartoons and children’s TV I watched in Nigeria. The cartoons were all foreign. For example, most Nigerians between the ages of 30 and 35 who were able to watch it can remember the Voltron cartoon theme tune. Take a look at the Voltron Facebook site and you’ll see a lot of Nigerians on there. There was also Speed Racer, the Looney Tunes collection (Bugs Bunny and the rest), Hannah Barbera (Flintstones), etc. We can all remember them as adults and are passing the love of those cartoons on to our children.

The point is that children form many views based on what they watch. Without even knowing it I was picking up ideas such as Japanese are technologically advanced because of Voltron and Speed Racer. Or that Americans were really smart because they were teaching me my alphabet through Sesame Street. It’s a very subtle thing. There was nothing coming from our side. As a child you don’t notice the lack of kids shows that reflect something from your culture. I didn’t sit there as a child wondering, “where are the Nigerian cartoons?” You just watch what you are fed and choose the ones you like. But later on as we get older the foundations are set and it does have an impact on society. That’s what I feel. But what I have noticed though is that when kids see something that reflects them and is well done, they love it even more.

3. What is your approach to producing African-themed content for children within Africa and the Diaspora? Do you draw from personal experience? contemporary issues?

I think the approach is similar to many other cartoon producers out there. We are drawing from personal experience plus that of my team and peers.

I wouldn’t say we’re directly using contemporary issues. At least not when it comes to driving the subject matter of episodes. Not yet anyway. But I’m sure in a subconscious way we might be. A big contemporary issue at the moment is that there are very few decent cartoons originating from Africa made for young children. So you could say in that way, the cartoon is driven by issues around us.

However, a company like Sesame Street is approaching its content for Africa differently. In Nigeria they are producing something called Sesame Square. They’ll use that vehicle to talk to kids about Aids, malaria and other issues. I think they have funding to the tune of 3 million dollars from USAID to do so. Bino and Fino will not be like that or at least not to that extent. We wouldn’t mind the 3 million dollars though!

4. Considering the negative representations of Africa in popular medias, what concerns surrounding images and plots do you address during the production of “Bino and Fino”?

Even though this is a children’s cartoon, what we’re doing is political. I’ve always known that. Some of our fans have already pointed it out to us. ‘You are not just doing a cartoon!’ one said. We’ve only done one test episode and people are already passionate about what we’re doing. It’s taken us by surprise.

I’ve always wanted Bino and Fino to be about an African family that lives in a city and about normal everyday things but from an African perspective that’s rarely shown. For example, I could have decided we should do a cartoon about African folk tales or set the cartoon in a village. To be honest, we might still do cartoons like that. But I felt that would reinforce certain stereotypes to children that we’ve had for decades. That is, the whole of Africa is poor and technologically backward but full of lovely ancient culture (dancing, singing). Where’s the representation of modern, urban, global, multicultural, smart, technologically driven Africa? I’m not denying the obvious issues on the continent as we are victims of it and we all want the situation to change for the better. But there’s more to Africa. I just want a proper balance of representation in the media. It’s too unbalanced at the moment. But that’s changing now as we get access to various digital technologies. It’s easier, faster, and cheaper to tell your own story. By the way I also don’t think it’s the responsibility of foreign media to tell a balanced story of Africa. That should be our job.

The funny thing is that since there’s such a lack of African cartoons, parents who’ve spoken to us have wanted us to go in so many different directions, topic-wise, with Bino and Fino.  Some want it to be heavily educational, some want us to really show African culture, and some want us to be overtly political. But it’s a wonderful thing to see because it shows there’s a real demand for this. Bino and Fino is just a tiny part of that. We might not even succeed but sooner or later a company will.

5. Describe a few of the pros and cons of the creative media industry in Nigeria.

Well we’re new to the creative media industry here. So I’m not sure I can really comment extensively on that. There’s a lot of talent here. Whether it’s music, acting, design etc. I know it’s a cliché to say so but it’s the truth. We just have to make sure it grows and gets better. There’s a lot of work to be done. But we can’t forget those who have put in the hard work before us. I think the creative industry was used and abused for a while but is now getting smart and asking to be respected and paid for the value it brings to people’s lives.