Are Some African Parents Culturally Failing Their Children?

There’s seems to be a worrying trend a significant number of you Bino and Fino Fans who are parents are telling me about. In fact I’ve had a discussion about this issue about 6 times in 2 days. It’s a bit controversial but I wanted to get to know more about it because it is important and also informs how we produce future episodes of the cartoon.

Some of you are saying that there is a rapidly growing group of Nigerian parents in the country actively choosing not to pass on aspects of their culture to their children.

The Making of a Nigerian Cartoon Show Pt 3

It’s been a while since my last proper behind the scenes post. Things have been so hectic which prevented me from doing so.

Well, despite ups and downs, the Bino and Fino cartoon project is going from strength to strength. The show has been in South Africa on Cape Town TV which is a great community television channel. It is also being shown on the Sky TV platform in the U.K. Thanks to these screenings plus the You Tube channel and DVD sales; the cartoon is rapidly picking up a fan base of children and parents.

Nigerian Cartoon For Children Comes to Sky TV

Well guys, Bino and Fino are finally going to make it to UK TV screens. It’ll be for a limited time only though so make sure you catch it! The cartoon will be shown on Showcase TV which is channel 201 on Sky TV. It is also channel 403 of Freesat for those of you who have that.

It will be the first time kids in the UK will get to watch an African educational cartoon from Nigeria on their screens. That is, a cartoon for children produced in Africa by Nigerians designed to show a positive, modern side to the continent.

It’s going to be interesting to see how African children in Diaspora based in the UK and their non – African peers react to the cartoon being on television. We’re excited to have this opportunity to bring genuine African educational entertainment to them.

Our partners for this little historic event will be Colourful radio. The Uk’s foremost multicultural radio station. One of their presenters Rosemary Laryae is a big Bino and Fino fan. I thank her and Colourful Radio for getting on board.

Showcase TV have to be mentioned as well. Without them and their programming ethos we wouldn’t have had this opportunity.

Bino and Fino are coming to check out London and Big Ben! Spread the word guys.

Happy 51st Independence Day Nigeria!

Nickleodeon Africa?…I don’t think so!

I came across the Nickleodeon AFRICA website and well…I just wasn’t happy with what I saw. I looked at their character/show list for the continent. There wasn’t one bit of African representation in the shows. Not one! I knew things were bad but not this bad! When I saw this I went to Cartoon Network Africa to see if they were any different but unfortunately not. The networks aren’t even the problem in my opinion. It’s wider and more complex. All the stakeholders in this are all responsible to a degree in my opinion. That’s we the viewers, broadcasting networks, content producers, series commissioners and the list goes on. What do you think?

Bino and Fino TV

 

 

Are you looking for more African themed educational TV for your kids? Well we’re going to do our best to help you. We will be making more Bino & Fino educational clips and uploading them directly to the Bino and Fino Youtube channel. The long term goal is to build a library of videos for families of young children who want to watch more African children’s educational content. Like most of the other content on Youtube, it will be available 24 hrs a day whenever you want to watch it.Internet speeds are slower and download limits exist in many African countries so we intend to make the clips short and bite sized. We all hope this resource will be of value to many families out there.

 

The Bino and Fino Youtube channel.

To Pidgin or not to Pidgin ?

To Pidgin or not to Pidgin? That is the question. I’ve been having this debate with the guys in the studio, Bino and Fino fans and others for over a year now. Do we do a pidgin English version of the show? I know for some, the immediate answer is ‘NO!’. I understand that response and I also felt the same way to be honest. However some of the arguments for the ’YES’ camp have been really compelling and have made me think.

Count to 10 in Yoruba

Yoruba is one of the most popular languages in West Africa, not just Nigeria. It is also spoken in parts of the Americas and Europe. In West Africa it is spoken by at least 20 million people.  

So go ahead and count along with Fino as she learns Yoruba!

Learn to count from 1 to 10 in Igbo

Get your kids to join Fino as she learns to count from 1 to 10 in Igbo, a prominent Nigerian language.

Video of Nigerian Kids Cartoon Launch in Abuja

Here’s video of the recent Abuja launch of the Bino and Fino cartoon. Thanks to all those who came down and made the day a success.