Ebenezer Obey sang the track " E sa ma Millki"(Continue rocking/enjoying) during the transformative years of the oil boom of the 1970s. This period broadly sparked the vibrant efflorescence of nightlife, clubs, artists, and expressive culture. This song, in particular, is a bricolage of Obey dissing his denigrators, quelling a rumor about smuggling musical equipment, and comparing his fame across the Black Diaspora to James Brown's. As you may know, my research sits at the crossroads of multiple disciplines and overlapping fields in gender, history, sexuality, music, art, and cultural studies in Africa and the Diaspora. The artist or the song's historical context is not my interest, but what it asks us to do. To enjoy, circulate, and rotate.

For many people, an academic conference is not something they look forward to because of all the academic "palavers" that go on there. Personally, I only attended two conferences in my first 6 years (2012-2017) in academia. But that changed in 2017 when I came into contact with the Lagos Studies Association (LSA)

When people tell me academics have no joy, I ask them if they have attended an LSA conference. LSA conference is where panelists bring practitioners to illuminate all the theories and fieldwork they have been doing. It's where scholars talk about the big names of their fields with the same passion you talk about characters in your bible and your favorite television series all day. Then, they return to award nights in the evening, filled with excitement and joy, eating Asun while discussing possible areas of collaboration. It is where scholars across generations and genders have constructive exchanges that trump the toxic gerontocratic hubris and irrational genuflection expected from younger people, which is typical of such exchange before the LSA "revolution." It is where the wealth and depth of scholarly research, as well as innovative and pathbreaking methods that defy disciplinary policing that others are conducting, make you realize how much you are "sleeping" and may need to wake up. It is where you see gracefully older scholars encourage you, share resources, and challenge your thinking without denigrating you. Simply, the LSA conference is an academic milliki.

This year, I invite you to the LSA annual academic Milliki.

The call for papers has been out, and many interesting panels have been proposed; better still, you can propose your own panel.

Personally, I am inviting scholars across fields to the academic Milliki to celebrate Professor Christopher Waterman, one of the doyens and scholars who has shaped and continues to influence scholarship on music in Africa and the expressive culture of the Diaspora.

Maybe you know someone, or you are interested. I encourage you, in the words of Obey, to let this CFP/post " ko ma roteeti were were, ko ma sakulateeti lo were were, leso leso ko ma yi lo." In other words, let this post rotate, circulate, and widely, gently, and .......

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