{"id":16192,"date":"2024-02-28T13:46:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/iwaju-nigeria-based-first-of-its-kind-animated-series-premieres-on-disney\/"},"modified":"2024-02-28T13:46:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T13:46:56","slug":"iwaju-nigeria-based-first-of-its-kind-animated-series-premieres-on-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/28\/iwaju-nigeria-based-first-of-its-kind-animated-series-premieres-on-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Iw\u00e1j\u00fa\u2019: Nigeria-based \u2018first-of-its-kind\u2019 animated series premieres on Disney+"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

After nearly five years of tireless work, the animation team at Kugali Media is finally seeing its comic book series \u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa\u201d come to life in a big way \u2013 and now <\/strong>audiences around the world can join in. <\/p>\n

The animated series is a coming-of-age story set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. The show was picked up by Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2020, which called it a \u201cfirst-of-its-kind collaboration\u201d with the pan-African entertainment company. All six episodes are now available to stream on Disney+. <\/p>\n

Hamid Ibrahim, CEO of Kugali, co-founded the company in 2017 with two friends, Tolu Olowofoyeku and Olufikayo \u201cZiki\u201d Adeola. He says the team began working on \u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa\u201d two years later as part of the company\u2019s mission to share \u201chigh quality African stories with the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

Embracing the \u201csoul of Lagos\u201d<\/h2>\n

Ibrahim says Africa is at the heart of every story Kugali tells. But with so many countries and cultures, they strive be intentional with their storytelling. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re telling an African story, but a lot of viewers do not understand African culture,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully (by watching) they get to understand it better.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa\u201d is brought to life through Nigerian voice actors Simisola Gbadamosi and Siji Soetan, who play Tola and her best friend Kole. Other characters from the show include voice acting by Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch and Weruche Opia. <\/p>\n

To accurately depict the \u201csoul of Lagos,\u201d Ibrahim says they relied on Olowofoyeku to be the team\u2019s cultural consultant since he is the only Kugali Media executive based in Lagos full-time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was there to make sure that everything felt authentic and grounded,\u201d Olowofoyeku said. \u201cThe fact that the language, the way the characters talk is 100% Nigerian \u2026 I\u2019m very happy about that because there is no scene where you will feel it doesn\u2019t really feel Nigerian.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not about showing the good side or the bad side, it\u2019s about showing the real thing about it,\u201d Ibrahim said, adding they tried to capture \u201call the little details\u201d of the city to help audiences better understand the nuances. \u201cIt also allows us to teach people about the culture. And the more we teach about the culture, the more some things become normal.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pushing the African story forward<\/h2>\n

While the show premiered on February 28 on Disney+, the streaming service is not yet available in Africa. Instead, \u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa\u201d will be airing on the Disney Channel across the continent at specific times, beginning on April 22, according to the company. <\/p>\n

As audiences tune in to watch \u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa,\u201d Ibrahim says he hopes the family show will speak to viewers of all ages. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want (the kids) to pick up the heart. To approach something which seems impossibly difficult and be able to persevere through it and know that there\u2019s going to be setbacks, ups and downs \u2026 but to keep pushing through, and you\u2019ll hopefully discover something better,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor us at Disney, great storytelling is at the heart of everything that we do \u2026 It\u2019s telling authentic stories where our audiences can see themselves and their worlds reflected,\u201d she said at the Lagos premiere, adding Disney felt the Kugali team shared that same philosophy. <\/p>\n

\n

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Along with the six-episode series, the soundtrack featuring music by Nigerian composer R\u00e9 Olunuga and a game called \u201cDisney Iw\u00e1j\u00fa: Rising Chef\u201d are also being released. The game will allow players to \u201cexplore authentic African delicacies through (a) fast-paced and accessible cooking game,\u201d according to Disney, \u201cthat celebrates the culture and cuisine of Nigeria.\u201d <\/p>\n

With \u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa\u201d on air, Ibrahim says the Kugali Media <\/strong>team is ready start working on showcasing the next African story. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a first step to creating more and more things,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to see one of our stories told and funded completely (within) Africa and then we bring that to the West.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After nearly five years of tireless work, the animation team at Kugali Media is finally seeing its comic book series \u201cIw\u00e1j\u00fa\u201d come to life in a big way \u2013 and now audiences around the world can join in. The animated series is a coming-of-age story set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. The show was picked <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}