The Tongue, the Gong and the Song:
Olu Obafemi At 70, By Toyin Falola
Premium Times April 7, 2020 The
Tongue, the Gong and the Song: Olu Obafemi At 70, By Toyin Falola2020-04-07T03:36:51+00:00
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His
ways are the gentle strides of a giant king that loves teaching many of us to
submerge might and adopt suuru baba iwa (patience, the ultimate
character). The efforts of oloye iwe are indeed gigantic and we can
learn from the wisdom of such a great man. It is an honour for me to write this
tribute to honour an araba. The gods have smiled on him.
Now
that the bird of songs
dazzles
us as it flies in the
sky,
let us clap our hands and
pay
homage to the carrier
of
our country’s light. In the
tribe
of words, the calabash
of
wisdom never misses.
From
the streets of this land
to
the world across, those who
know
the music of hope know
the
words weaved by you, Olú.
You
are the song, you are the
gong.
You are the dance that
lifts
our feet to the drumbeats
of
Àyángalú. Today we pay
homage
to the Anigilaje
that
entertains us with fecund
lyrics
from the home of music.
Ìbà
We
pay homage to the
seer
who cast his spell
of
light to map the future
of
our land.
B’omode
o babá’tàn, a baroba.
Olufemi,
admired by the supreme deity; Obafemi, adorned by the king; Nifemi, loved in
the purest way; Femidenu, deeply admired by his friends. Who is that mortal
that does not cherish such brilliance and treasure as Olufemi Obafemi? Having
distinguished himself over the years as a remarkable, talented and ingenious
playwright, poet, scholar and mentor, his praise of greatness chants itself.
Many are gifted, true, but ojogbon Obafemi is truly gifted and in many ways
too. At the crossroad to entering this world, some chose to be seer, and some
maestroes. Yet some others chose to be troubadours or reformers. Olu Obafemi,
however, understood there was no single pathway to the market, so he strode all
the pathways to become the tongue, the gong, and the song.
A
conscientious playwright, his artistry in works such Pestle on The Mortar,
Nights of a Mystical Beast and The New Dawn, Scapegoats and Sacred Cows, New
and Distant Cries to Running Dreams: Tales from Many Nations, reflects
and refracts the post-colonial Nigerian predicaments and sociological matters.
In Dark Times Are Over?, for example, he satirised the decadence in
Nigerian universities. The portrayal of happenings in Nigerian universities
highlighted ills such as religious tension, prostitution, social injustice, and
cultism. In Naira Has No Gender, he satirised the philosophy of
possessive individualism of Nigerian politicians from a womanist point-of-view.
This does not only border on gender and gendering, but also on the social
formation of Nigeria, with full recognition of the tension between tradition
and modernity. While in Suicide Syndrome, he employs radical poetics to
confront the socio-political organisation and power relations of the Nigerian
society, thereby highlighting the deprivation and afflictions imposed on the
masses. These three plays capture the man himself as an eniyan atata, who
is concerned with our Nigerian situations.
From
Ulli Beier, Herbert Ogunde to Moses Olaiya, ogbontarigi Olu Obafemi has
done extensively well to properly position the significance of theatre in the
socio-historical development of Nigeria, while also advancing the frontiers of
Theatre Criticism in Africa. More than just a renowned scholar, he is a man of
service. There is no surprise that anywhere oga Olu served, as president of the
Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), president of the Nigerian Academy of
Letters, director of Research at the National Institute of Policy and Strategic
Studies and so on, he leaves a trail of accomplishments. After all, eni mo
oju ogun ni pa obi n’ire. His service is not limited to just the scholarly
arenas but to the generality of humanity. In 2018, when Prof. was conferred the
Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), the first Nigerian theatre critic to
be ever awarded so, many of us believed that it was an award long overdue for a
man of many merits.
Whilst
the nation was cowering at the chaos and tumult of the military regime, this
illustrious son of Akutukpa Bunu and his gallant peers were busy counting the
tiger’s teeth. His repertoire of works includes 18 creative works, 14 single
and co-authored books, and over a hundred scholarly articles published in local
and international outlets. He truly stands out as an unforgettable legend. Who
dares to ask, but a man who sings of hope and assures us that hope persists,
“Why should the society be organised in such a way that so many people can be
suffering while a few have so much to waste?” Indeed, the phrase, “History
will be kind to you,” is derogatorily used these days. In the case of ekun Olu,
it is a phrase that is already justified by his contributions to scholarship
and humanity.
His
ways are the gentle strides of a giant king that loves teaching many of us to
submerge might and adopt suuru baba iwa (patience, the ultimate
character). The efforts of oloye iwe are indeed gigantic and we can
learn from the wisdom of such a great man. It is an honour for me to write this
tribute to honour an araba. The gods have smiled on him. It is a blessing
to live long and be celebrated.
Ìwó
is the home of Odídẹrẹ́.
Obafemi,
the scion of the land,
the
veil of your kindness spreads
across
the world. You–the skilful
hunter
who kills the bloated dreams
of
power-drunken leaders. You–
the
flute that produces tunes
that
gather our ears. Since today
is
the birthday of the wordsmith
whose
name cuddles our tongues,
may
your sea of songs never dry.
Every
year, kolanut visits the market
of
the world. Every year, bitter kola
graces
the market of the world.
Bàbá,
may your feet never slip
on
the eye of the earth. May you
grow
old to witness many seasons
of
festiveness.
Koko
lara ọta le.
I
wish you the brightness of the
moon,
the colorfulness of the
rainbow,
the endless flow of the
sea.
Àṣèyí
sàmọ́dún.
Toyin
Falola is University Distinguished Professor of the University of
Texas at Austin.
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