FIRST VILLAGE-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA COMPOSED BY BAYO ADEBOWALE

FIRST VILLAGE-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA COMPOSED BY BAYO ADEBOWALE
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FIRST VILLAGE -COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA

IGBO-ELERIN ANTHEM

YORUBA

Igbo- Elerin wa
Ile wa olokiki
K’Oluwa ko bukun wa
K’ani alafia

Osi o ni ta ‘wa
Awa l’ayo a sope
Idunnu ati ‘lera



Ko je ipin ti wa

K’a ni ‘losiwaju
Ife ati ‘sokan
K’a ni ‘tesiwaju
L’okunrin l’obinrin
Imole wa si ma tan
Gege bi ‘rawo sanmo

Igbo-Elerin wa
Ile wa olokiki
K’Oluwa ko bukun wa
K’ani alafia

FIRST VILLAGE-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA
IGBO-ELERIN ANTHEM

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Igbo-Elerin land
Our land of mark and fame
Blessing of good Lord with us
May we all be at peace

We ‘ ll rise above penury
We are thankful, we praise thee
Happiness, abundant health
Shall become our portion

Let’s have steady progress
Unity and regard
Let’s have advancement
For all men and women
Our fame is going to spread
Like bright stars in the sky

Igbo-Elerin land
Our land of mark and fame
Blessing of good Lord with us
May we all be at peace

Press Release: BAYO ADEBOWALE COMPOSES THE FIRST RURAL-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA

History was made in an Ibadan District in Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria on Saturday 3rd March 2018, when the community people’s anthem ( Igbo-Elerin Wa- Ile Wa Olokiki) was launched, with thousands of enthusiastic rural community people, from about 300 villages and hamlets in attendance. The anthem, which was composed at African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, Adeyipo and rendered into song by poet and novelist Bayo Adebowale, turned out to be the First Official Village Community Anthem in Nigeria.

The anthem highlights the fame and popularity of this Ibadan District, and admonishes the community people of the area to always strive to attain peace, unity and advancement for their beloved fatherland, praying that happiness and sound health would be their portion as they continue to shine like bright stars in the sky.

The anthem was presented by the students of Igbo-Elerin Grammar School, and the pupils of Unity School, Adeyipo, with Abraham Olukunmi Agboola conducting it before the audience (of eminent personalities, including His Eminence, DrSunday Ola Makinde, Prelate Emeritus Methodist Church of Nigeria; Professor (Chief) Ezekiel Olukayode Idowu; Professor Harry Taiwo Ladapo; and all 21 Baale’s of Igbo-Elerin land) at Igbo-Elerin Grammar School Ground on 3rd March 2018.

Bayo Adebowale (PhD) (Associate Professor of Creative Writing in English) who composed the anthem, is

a poet, novelist, short story writer,critic, literary scholar, librarian, community leader, and the Director/Founder, African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, (AHRLC) Adeyipo Village, Ibadan, Nigeria.

(From: Gbemisola Edun, Secretary, AHRLC)

FIRST RURAL-COMMUNITY VILLAGE ANTHEM COMPOSED BY BAYO ADEBOWALE

THE FIRST RURAL-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA COMPOSED BY BAYO ADEBOWALE

IGBO-ELERIN ANTHEM

YORUBA

Igbo- Elerin wa
Ile wa olokiki
K’Oluwa ko bukun wa
K’ani alafia

Osi o ni ta ‘wa
Awa l’ayo a sope
Idunnu ati ‘lera



Ko je ipin ti wa

K’a ni ‘losiwaju
Ife ati ‘sokan
K’a ni ‘tesiwaju
L’okunrin l’obinrin
Imole wa si ma tan
Gege bi ‘rawo sanmo

Igbo-Elerin wa
Ile wa olokiki
K’Oluwa ko bukun wa
K’ani alafia

FIRST VILLAGE-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA
IGBO-ELERIN ANTHEM

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Igbo-Elerin land
Our land of mark and fame
Blessing of good Lord with us
May we all be at peace

We ‘ ll rise above penury
We are thankful, we praise thee
Happiness, abundant health
Shall become our portion

Let’s have steady progress
Unity and regard
Let’s have advancement
For all men and women
Our fame is going to spread
Like bright stars in the sky

Igbo-Elerin land
Our land of mark and fame
Blessing of good Lord with us
May we all be at peace

Press Release: BAYO ADEBOWALE COMPOSES THE FIRST RURAL-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA

History was made in an Ibadan District in Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria on Saturday 3rd March 2018, when the community people’s anthem ( Igbo-Elerin Wa- Ile Wa Olokiki) was launched, with thousands of enthusiastic rural community people, from about 300 villages and hamlets in attendance. The anthem, which was composed at African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, Adeyipo and rendered into song by poet and novelist Bayo Adebowale, turned out to be the First Official Village Community Anthem in Nigeria.

The anthem highlights the fame and popularity of this Ibadan District, and admonishes the community people of the area to always strive to attain peace, unity and advancement for their beloved fatherland, praying that happiness and sound health would be their portion as they continue to shine like bright stars in the sky.

The anthem was presented by the students of Igbo-Elerin Grammar School, and the pupils of Unity School, Adeyipo, with Abraham Olukunmi Agboola conducting it before the audience (of eminent personalities, including His Eminence, DrSunday Ola Makinde, Prelate Emeritus Methodist Church of Nigeria; Professor (Chief) Ezekiel Olukayode Idowu; Professor Harry Taiwo Ladapo; and all 21 Baale’s of Igbo-Elerin land) at Igbo-Elerin Grammar School Ground on 3rd March 2018.

Bayo Adebowale (PhD) (Associate Professor of Creative Writing in English) who composed the anthem, is

a poet, novelist, short story writer,critic, literary scholar, librarian, community leader, and the Director/Founder, African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, (AHRLC) Adeyipo Village, Ibadan, Nigeria.

(From: Gbemisola Edun, Secretary, AHRLC)

Posted by YEYE AKILIMALI FUNUA OLADE at 6:45 AM

AFRICAN WRITER WOLE SOYINKA'S 3RD WIFE TELLS THEIR LOVE STORY!-FROM CITY PEOPLE MAGAZINE,NIGERIA

FROM CITY PEOPLE MAGAZINE

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Home  ⁄  Interview  ⁄  “How I Met & Fell In Love With Wole Soyinka” – Wife, Folake Reveals

“How I Met & Fell In Love With Wole Soyinka” – Wife, Folake Reveals

Jul 27, 2014 Posted by In Interview, News Tagged Folake Doherty-Soyinka Interview, Folake Soyinka Interview, Wole Soyinka Love Story, Wole Soyinka Marriage, Wole Soyinka Wife Comments 0

Not many people know who Prof. Wole Soyinka’s wife is. Not many know their love story. A few weeks ago, Folake Soyinka opened up to The News magazine on her love story, revealing how they first met at University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) whilst she was a student. Excerpts:

How would you describe Prof Wole Soyinka as a husband, father and a husband being?
He is the best human being you can think of. He is very concerned about other people and their suffering even to his own detriment sometimes. H e is just a warm person. Looking at him, you may not know this, but that is who he is. He is someone you would want as a friend. He is very loyal. He is the best friend you can ask for. On National Public Radio –NPR – I listen every morning to a popular programme called Story Corp. One day, they featured a couple that had been married for 70 years, being interviewed by their great grandchildren. They asked the couple why their marriage had lasted so long and both replied that they never fell out of love at the same time.

When one was tired the other was still holding on and I said to myself, “that just describes my marriage.” When he was tired I held on and when I was tired he held on. And now, none of us is tired. We’re still holding on.As a father, I think his children can answer that better but I can tell you that it is difficult to be his child because of his nature. He is not home very often. For a wife, you pretty much have an inkling into what you are getting when you marry someone like him, but a child does not. It’s something you’re into. He recognizes it and alludes to it in is dedication in his book, You Must Set Forth at Dawn” where he wrote. “To my stoically resigned children. “No one likes to share those they love, but they have to share their father with the world. It is difficult for them all.

With my own boys, right from the beginning, I shared with them an advice my sister-in-law, Dr. Folabo Soyinka-Ajayi, gave me when I was newly married. She said her brother “loved their mother a lot but she was never able to own him, not that she didn’t try. She said no one can own him, not is siblings, his wife or his children, he is a world citizen.” I explained that to my boys as soon as they began to notice their father’s absence when other kids had theirs. It is something you understand more as you grow older, even then, it is difficult to accept. I think they grew to understand this, and they feel loved and they got used to him, so that helps. I also think that he relates better with older children. Now, I watch him sit and talk with some of his children who are all now older, and marvel at how the relationships have transformed. It is nice to see. That is him as a father. Professor Soyinka is a great provider as well; you are not going to get the Lamborghini or Bentley Continental GT, but you will get your school fees and it won’t be late. He is very responsible.

Do you sometimes feel that you are in competition with quite a number of other women who want is attention?
No, right from the beginning, I knew he liked me as a person. I am not talking about love now, even though, I knew he loved me. We are great friends and we laugh together a lot. I knew that he wouldn’t deliberately hurt or humiliate me. I also know that there is nothing you can do to stop two consenting adults. Women are always around under all kinds of guises but I have never felt in competition with anyone. Sometimes it intrudes on our lives, but no competition.

How did your love affair start?
As I said, I knew he always liked me from when I was in the University of Ife but I was young and he was so accomplished, so I was kind of worried. After I left Ife and went to do my National Service –NYSC in Kaduna, Dr. Biodun Jeyifo came to visit me and said Kongi had been looking for me. After the service year, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi who was at The Guardian got me a job there and one day, he stopped by. The rest of the story is in the public domain with all kinds of unbelievable variations. You also know it. Everybody was part of that story.

What was the period of courtship like?
It was interesting. I was working at The Guardian at that time, he was slowly moving out of Ife. He was exploring where to build a house between Ibadan and Abeokuta. In the end, he chose Abeokuta. Prior to building our house, he lived in Idi-Aba area of Abeokuta. So, for most of our courtship, we lived there and we continued living there after we were married. I worked Monday through Friday and most weekends when I wasn’t working I was in Abeokuta. He would sometimes visit me in Lagos and we spent time together there. Oftentimes, he was busy as I was. Mr. Lade Bonuola, the editor of The Guardian then kept all of us, his reporters, one our toes. We saw each other often but we couldn’t do everyday things that people do because of who he is, but it was nice, very nice. I look back fondly to those days.

When he eventually proposed that he wanted to marry you, was there any objection from anywhere?
I think there were objections from everywhere except from my sisters and brother who were happy if I was. I also had the support of his siblings here. My parents along with most of my relatives objected, not because of anything, they just felt he was too famous and too accomplished. They worried about that. But within a few months after we were married, my parents had changed their minds and they loved him until they both passed away. His close friends didn’t have a problem with it but almost everyone had an opinion. Then came the Nobel Prize in 1986 and that derailed everything for a couple of years. More than a quarter of a century later, those opinions didn’t count, we’re still trudging along. I have enjoyed tremendous love because of him.

Apart from wines which we all know he loves drinking, what re his favourite foods?
He is not a big eater. Even when he eats, it is always in small quantities. The boys always want to go out to each with him because they usually end up eating his food. He likes salami, pasta, moin-moin cooked in leaves especially the stray part that hides between the folded leaves. He doesn’t eat much and I guess that is why he is so slim.

I understand he is a good cook.
He cooks and he is quite good at it. He even cooked about two days ago. When the boys were really little, one day in California, he called us all to the kitchen and said he wanted to have a family meeting. They were so young I don’t even think they had any concept of what a family meeting was. He lined all three according to their heights and asked me to sit. He said he has something to tell us and he was only going to say it once. He whipped out some cooking utensils, moved them around noisily inside the pot, threw some up, caught them, performed a few tricks and then told us to listen up. He said there were only three people in the world that can cook pasta like he does: one is dead, the other lives in Sicily, Italy, and he is the third one and he is going to cook something the likes of which we had never eaten. He cooked pasta that day and we truly enjoyed it. True dramatist! Now when all else fails, he cooks pasta.

What are the things you notice when he is writing or reading seriously?
We leave him alone. We don’t intrude. I don’t know of many people who love what they do for a living like he does. He doesn’t like the administrative part of it like replying endless emails, but he loves writing. I say to my kids how lucky he is to have found something he loves and then do it for a living. He doesn’t bring in as much money as most people think, but then, that is not his motivation for writing. Even when he arrives home from a different time zone, he would wake up in the morning, go into his study, probably at about seven in the morning and if he can’t sleep, he would go in at 3am and work until mid-day non-stop. So, when the kids are going to school in the morning, they don’t even bother to go into the study too say good morning, they just leave him alone.

When he comes out, does he sometimes share the joy and pleasure of his creation with you?
No, he doesn’t discuss what he is working on with anybody. Sometimes, when he is done with a manuscript and he is sending it to the publishers, that’s when I find out what he’s been working on.

Do you sometimes help him edit?
No, I do not interfere. When he brings cover designs for the book, he may ask me which I prefer and he may or may not accept my choice. That’s the extent of my involvement in his creative work.

When you turned 50 two years ago, he danced with you. Does he love to dance? Between both of you who is a better dancer?
Of course, I am a better dancer and I dance more often. I am sure if you ask him, he would say he is a better dancer and that would not be true. He doesn’t dance often. Sometimes, when we are with Uncle Tunji Oyelana of the Benders, he would go on the microphone and they would start signing and a few hours later, they would be arguing about how a song should go and its interpretation. He sings more than he dances. Recently both of us went to see a play and when we got home he started to mimic the dancers, it was hilarious because it was break dancing.

The late Chief Bola Ige once told me that Wole Soyinka may look stone-faced in public, but he can be incredible moved to tears by the pain of others. How true is that?
It is true what Chief Bola Ige said. He is moved by the sufferings of others even to the extent that it affects us at home. You know for sure when something is bothering him and it bothers him more when he cannot do anything about it. You have no idea how the kidnap of the Chibok girls has affected our lives. It is constantly on his mind. Death also bothers him. Recently, when one of is daughters, Yetade, passed away, he wept. The boys had never seen him cry but this time he was weeping uncontrollably. It was shortly after Christmas, so we were all home when the news came. I think that incident rocked him. They say time heals, but I don’t know how time heals the death of a beloved child.

You both have three sons together, how are they doing?
They are all doing very well. It’s just the two of us at home now that the children have all gone in different directions. The first two have been away for a while. One graduated from Stanford University and is now in medical school, the other went to Colgate University and would like to go to Law School and my last is headed to Harvard University where he will be studying Computer Science and Engineering. Fortunately for us, each of them got a scholarship, so we’ve been truly blessed.

BAYO ADEBOWALE'S LATEST BOOK IS OUT!-IT PUTS AFRICAN POETRY IN A NEW CATAGORY WITH ITS BRILLIANT AFRICAN IMAGERY! - GET YOUR COPY NOW!

BAYO  ADEBOWALE’S  AFRICAN MELODY

SINGS FULL-THROATED POETIC SONGS FOR AFRICA

Bayo Adebowale’s newly- published book, AFRICAN MELODY, (A Poetic Exposition of the African Essence) combines sweet melody with harsh melody, melody of expectation with melody of hope, for the African Continent. The 144 page book, containing a total of 61 poems, takes readers on a poetic excursion through the socio-cultural history of a Continent at the focus of global attention.

 

Nature and landscape in the book receive close scrutiny, as much as a number of selected political and historical events in the life of Africans on the Continent, and Africans in the Diaspora. (e.g slave trade, colonialism, coup d’etat, poverty, class distinction famine, racism, genocide, etc.)The poet adulates the achievements of the heroes and heroines of the land, while despots who smear the Continent’s beautiful garment with mud, receive castigation and several knocks on the head.

 

Sweet melody reverberates right from the beginning of the book, as readers encounter ‘motionless crocodiles basking under the blazing afternoon sun, at the magnificent swimming pool of Limpopo’ (p.12); ‘termites milling protectively round their Queen in the palatial fortress, inside the kingdom of the giant anthill’ (p.86); ‘photographs of brown-grass savannah teeming with spotted long-necked giraffes  journeying on the express road of the mind in the open horizon of Pategi’(p.19) ; ’ the receding evening sun sitting down on the busy bay of Lake Chad, immobile like a fat market woman transacting business.’(p.6)

 

Harsh melody, in one other section of the book, exposes Africa as ‘an ailing giant walking with the limbs of a stegomyia and nursing a pulsating numbness in the region of his left leg’(p.53). The ancestral land here has become ‘an elephant crippled by a snare; an antelope caught in a trap; an impala extricating from a tightening noose; a puff adder with his stomach swollen by an undigested rodent; and an earthworm dancing the dance of death in a lake of salt.’(p.59-60)

 

Melody of hope resounds in the book with the arrival of notable icons – African role models like Shaka –‘ the black pugilist of the unconquered land of the rugged Zulu nation’(p.14); Kwegyir –‘ the amiable Goldcoast whiz kid who at school chanted multiplication table with ease and acted Daniel in the Lion’s Den with dexterity’(p.21); Makeba – ‘the cool evening nightingale perching on the African bamboo, dishing out symphonies of pleasant solo tunes in mezzo-soprano octave to a listening universe’(p.84); Luthuli – ‘the blooming banana rhizome on the bank of the roaring River Orange’ (p.10); Ali –‘ the buzzing bee with a deadly sting, the graceful butterfly floating in the openness of the blue sky’(p.110); and Mandela, ‘who trod, unscathed, the narrow freedom road, strewn with pricks and pains, thistles and bristles.’(p.98) and Barrack Obama – ‘the long African broom, sweeping the New World horizon incredibly clean and penny – bright… the arrow head of mighty Luo spear shooting staright to target’ (p.124).

 

In Bayo Adebowale’s AFRICAN MELODY, it is music all the way; Music ‘touching the incore of our heart; jerking us to alertness; and stimulating in us, wonder and incredulity’… Music,’ soft as the murmur of the dove at dawn, pervading our days with delight, in cadences of joyful bubbles; and music, harsh as the monotonous tap on the blacksmith’s anvil permeating our nights with grief, in sequences of sad gurgles.’ (p.23)

 

The inclusion of a Classified Index in this brand new book is unique, so also is the full-colour display of imaginative photographs {nine of them}, supplied with highly creative captions by the poet, for readers delight. Adebowale’s AFRICAN MELODY indeed is a ‘deeply-researched and competently – crafted work of art.’

                                            PROFESSOR ISAAC ADEBAYO ADEYEMI

                                            VICE CHANCELLOR

                                            BELLS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OTA.

 

Cover Price of the Book: N600; $5 {+ $2 Postage Cost}; £4 {+ £1 Postage Cost}

Page: 145

Year of Publication: 2012

Contacts for Purchase:

-          African Heritage Publishers (AHP); P.O.Box 36330, Agodi Post Office, Ibadan, Oyo State, NIGERIA.

-          Email     :               africanheritagelibrary@yahoo.com

-          Phone:                 +2348034495485

+2348072871715

                Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade:      +2348160176922

                Gbemisola Edun:                             +2347063413233

 

"WE HAVE GREAT WORK TO DO. WE HAVE BEEN CALLED UPON TO BUILD A NEW AFRICA AND A NEW BLACK WORLD!"
DR. BAYO ADEBOWALE,DIRECTOR/FOUNDER
AFRICAN HERITAGE RESEARCH LIBRARY AND CULTURAL CENTRE
nigeria-arts.net/literature/institutions/african_heritage_research_library/

book review AFRICAN MELODY red.doc 31K View as HTML Scan and download

OLOYE(MRS) CHRISTIE ADE-AJAYI - GREAT AFRICAN CHILDRENS BOOK WRITER!

Ajayi, Christie Ade. 1930 -(WITH ALSO FAMOUS HUSBAND OJOGBON J.F. AJAYI,HISTORIAN)

Christine Ajayi's professional teaching experience is reflected in her interest in developing Nigerian pre-children's reading and learning skills. Her many children's stories are designed to meet that objective.
Gender: Female
Country Information: Nigeria

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Children's BOOKS WRITTEN BY HER

• Ade, Our Naughty Little Brother Onibonoje, 1974
• The Old Story Teller Onibonoje, 1975
• Allie's Bicycle Macmillan, 1982
• Emeka and His Dog Macmillan, 1982
• The Book of Animal Riddles Macmillan, 1982
• Tinu's Doll Macmillan, 1982

Web Sites

• Contemporary Africa Database

TONY MARINHO-AFRICAN WRITER/ACTIVIST!-HIS POEM-"THE NEW AFRICAN TALKING DRUM"

from africanwriter.com

The New African Talking Drum - A Poem by Tony Marinho



By Tony Marinho Published July 11, 2010 





The dreaded new African talking drum

Drums damaging every eardrum

Day, night, its message, a bush fire,

Consuming village to presidential villa



It talks in all 340 tribal tongues

Drumming into dreams, destroying sleep and lungs.

But no one dances in the noisy polluting heat

Of the new African talking drum beat



President to prostitute

Restaurant to research institute

Police to petrol station

Right across the darkened nation



It drums a dirge, mourning

From dusk to dawning,

www - the world wide waking,

As power dies again, again, and again.



Nigeria requires a 100,000Mw revolution in energy

Making every city an electri-City.

To be truly ‘I fine pass my neighbour’

Silence the new African talking drum - the generator.



– Tony Marinho

‘I fine pass my neighbour’ is colloquial for a small family size generator



Engraved

Objection!

The many sided coin and other stories

Bobo learns to fly

Deadly cargo!

The Epidemic

Introducing: The Manopause Man Aka Mr Man O. Pause and the Manopause (Strategies for Communication in Southern Afr)

The victim

 WEBSITE- tonymarinho.com

BAYO ADEBOWALE-"THE WRITINGS OF A VILLAGE MAN" BY AKINTAYO ABODURIN IN NEXT ON SUNDAY NEWSPAPER,JUNE 2010

from 234next.com

                             

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One of the author’s works was adapted into a Tunde Kelani Film, ‘The Narrow Path ’ Photo: AKINTAYO

The writings of a village man

By Akintayo Abodunrin June 20, 2010 01:16AM

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Novelist Bayo Adebowale dabbled into poetry some years ago with ‘Village Harvest’, a collection of poems. He has since published ‘A Night of Incantations and Other Poems’ and ‘African Melody’.

“There is no strict demarcation between prose and poetry,” he states while explaining why he took up poetry. “If you are writing prose and poetry, you are virtually writing on the same plane; using almost the same diction. So, poetry can be prosaic and prose can be poetic. If I want to express my ideas in a compact form, I dabble into poetry but if I want to expand what I’m writing, I dabble into prose.”

An interesting feature of ‘A Nights of Incantations’ is its exposition on incantations, an aspect of Yoruba tradition. The poet highlights malevolent, benevolent and propitiatory incantations in the work and explains his action.

“All the three are aspects of our culture and tradition. When you are angry and you think you have an enemy, you can recite incantation that will bring down God’s anger on him.

“In the same token, if you find yourself in a difficult situation and you want to escape, you can recite incantations that will save you. When you burn roots and leaves of trees to cure yourself, you propitiate with them and you recite special incantations for that.”

He adds that the collection has sections on curses, desperation, voting and protest because, “It’s part of the culture of the people to curse. If you feel wronged by your detractor or your foe, you can curse him. When you curse, it’s a general phenomenon, not just in Africa but in other parts of the world. When you say may the devil take you, may you go into perdition or things like that in anger, it’s part of the culture. It is common to find people cursing their enemies. Those who have caused harm or brought unhappiness into their life.”

But is it Christ-like to curse?

“Don’t you think that even in the holy Bible we have things like that? Why is Jerusalem cursed? ‘If I forget Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning.’ Have you forgotten ‘woe unto you that betray the son of man? All these woe are curses in the Bible, they are reflected in Christian liturgy so you cannot say these things are not evident in the Holy Bible. Even in churches you curse the enemy. You bring fire down upon your enemy. May the enemy be consumed by the fire of the Holy Ghost. I have gone to services in churches where they devoted a large part of their prayer to cursing the enemy. ”

The Virgin

‘The Virgin’ published in 1985 is Adebowale’s first novel and arguably his most popular. Two villages go to war over Awero, the major character who loses her virginity contrary to tradition. Though virginity appears somewhat trifle for villages to war over, the former Deputy Rector, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, insists that “The cause of the matrimonial problems of nowadays can be traced to virginity. The lack of trust in your wife, the suspicion the wife has of the husband can be traced to virginity. If your wife did not come to your house as a virgin, it will continue to haunt you throughout your matrimonial life. But if you met your wife a virgin, you will have implicit trust and confidence in her that if she can keep herself like that, I should trust her to a large extent. Mistrust and suspicion can be traced to virginity so it is relevant even nowadays.”

He also discloses how the novel was first adapted into the short film, ‘The White Handkerchief’, and later the feature film, ‘The Narrow Path’, by Tunde Kelani’s Mainframe Productions.

“It was Tunde Kelani who came to tell me that they are interested in the story. He told me what will change and what will remain. He told me the title will change and that the ending would also change because in the novel, Awero did not commit suicide but she did in the film. He said the impact will not be felt by viewers if she walks away. If she commits suicide, they will know that there is a good reason for war.”

The self-confessed writing addict who took up the art in 1963 also reveals what made him adopt the tack he did in ‘Out of His Mind’, his second novel. “It’s not everything that you tell your wife in real life. It’s not that you want to harm her but out of consideration for her flexible mind. You say instead of disturbing my wife, let me get over it. I can always tell her later. It’s the same with Alamu. They were newly married and he didn’t want anything that will upset the lady, hoping that sooner or later he would sort the problem. In any case, if he divulged the secret to the wife, there would be no story to tell again. The suspense will not be there again.”

Starting out

“I started with short stories and I have over 100 published short stories. It might interest you to note that my novels are adapted from my short stories. ‘The Virgin’ is from a short story ‘The Wedding Day’. I expanded another short story, ‘Burden of a Secret’ into ‘Out Of His Mind’. It’s the same with the short story ‘Lonely Days’ and the novel also so titled. I have been expanding on my short stories.

“Right now, I’m on another one, ‘Beyond Control’ and it is also adapted from one of my short stories titled ‘Tanko’s Exit’. There is not much difference in the technique of writing short stories and novels because they are all prose so I find it convenient. It is only that you have to be more compact, straight to the point in short stories whereas in the novel you have the liberty to expand and to explain certain process.”

Inspiration and influences

Adebowale was inspired to write by reading literary works. “I started telling myself this is something I could do too. I began by criticising the works of writers I read, and then I started writing.” Though the works of authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, Alex Dumas, Charles Dickens, Chinua Achebe and Cyprian Ekwensi among others influenced him, his primary influence, “is my background as a village man.”

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Posted by Olajide on Jun 25 2010

Having been taught by Dr Adebowale while I was at The Polytechnic, Ibadan I believe he has the prowess as exemplified in his novel. He is a man to celebrated always.

The virgin (Egret romance & thrillers)

Out of His Mind

A TRIBUTE TO A GREAT NIGERIAN/AFRICAN-CHIEF N.O. IDOWU BY BAYO ADEBOWALE,AFRICAN WRITER-FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER,APRIL 28,2010

BAYO ADEBOWALE (CENTER) WITH CHIEF AFE BABALOLA

FROM THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

This is Google's cache of http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/letters/article01/190310?pdate=190310&ptitle=The%20N.O.%20Idowu%20that%20I%20know&cpdate=200310. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 28 Apr 2010 01:42:40 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. Learn more

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The N.O. Idowu that I know The beauty of Africa
Is slain upon the high places.
How are the mighty fallen!
SIR: The Erin-wo epitaph clearly sums up people's general opinion of the eventful life and times of Chief (Dr) Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu (OFR), the Mayeloye and the Okanlomo of Ibadan land. Chief Idowu led a crowded life of progress and specular achievements in virtually all fields of human endeavour Ð as a community leader, philanthropist, pillar of sports, business tycoon, devout Christian, committed family man and a complete Omoluwabi.
Steadfast, diligent, disciplined, intelligent, honest, firm and forthright, N.O. all though, kept his head while others were losing theirs, in the face of challenges and vicissitudes of life. He was adored by his admirers and venerated even by his detractors, over whom he perched mightily like an eagle bird on the giant Baobab tree. He was in perfect accord with friends and at peace and harmony with all who dug holes round him.
Chief Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu had no space in his tender heart to harbour malice, rancour and recriminations. His heart was a level-ground for positive thinking and record-breaking tendencies. No nooks, no crannies. Several times he had summoned us in African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre (AHRLC) to Lagos, to discuss confidential matters which touched his heart intimately, and these were matters concerning the progress and development of Eniosa, Adeyipo, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and Africa. At such meetings, N. O. would bubble with hope, optimism and the commitment of a true messiah, on a rescue mission to improve the lot of his people. A great lover of the rural communityÉ When we took the news to him about Chief Afe Babalola's unprecedented act of philantropism to AHRLC at Adeyipo village, he grabbed his phone and poured encomiums on the legal luminary telling him, "You have done what Napoleon would not do, Afe, turning back the Duke of Wellington. May Almighty God continue to enrich your purse and bless you abundantly as you put smiles on the faces of my people. Congratulations."
On Saturday, September 24, 2005, during the official commissioning of AHRLC, Chief N. O. Idowu risked his health to grace the occasion. That day, he met with seven thousand jubilating community people of Olorunda Abaa, Igbo-Elerin and Igbo-Oloyin waiting impatiently to welcome their mentor and leader with traditional dundun and sekere music. Fortified by a sudden gift of good health and strength from above, N.O came that day to Adeyipo smiling, singing and dancing (in company of late Archdeacon Emmanuel Alayande and Chief Mrs. C.A. Idowu, his amiable wife, in front of a vociferous community audience who bestowed on him honour and recognition, never before witnessed in Lagelu Local Government Council of Ibadan, Oyo State. Together with Chief N. O. Idowu (our beloved Grand Patron) we formulated a universal caption for the task ahead of us in AHRLC, it is that: We have great works to do,
We have been called upon to build a new Africa
And a new Black World.
The N.O. Idowu that I know was a patriotic and worthy son of Africa. A man who stretched himself to ensure relief and comfort for the poor and the needy. A man who put others first and himself last; who kept sleepless nights to secure solutions to the problems of the society. A great man who left his footmarks boldly in the sands of time.
Chief (Dr.) Nathaniel Olabiyi Idowu (OFR) can never die, in the hearts of all of us who love him at home and abroad. He will forever be aliveÉ so, Death be not proud! Because those whom thou thinketh thou slayest, Dieth not, Poor Death!
Bayo Adebowale.
Adeyipo Village, Ibadan

BAYO ADEBOWALE-A GREAT AFRICAN WRITER-A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

from africanliterature.wordpress.com BAYO ADEBOWALE,EXTREME RIGHT,WITH OLOYE AFE BABALOLA ATI IYAAFIN YEYE AKILIMALI FUNUA OLADE (ABOVE)

BAYO ADEBOWALE:BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
By Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade

Bayo Adebowale, poet,novelist,short story writer,critic, teacher and librarian,was born in Adeyipo Village, Lagelu Local Government Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, on 6th June, 1944,to a peasant farmer and traditional drummer, Alagba Ayanlade Oladipupo Akangbe Adebowale. His mother, Madam Abigael Ayannihun Atunwa Adebowale is a traditional rara chanter and dancer,who hails from the neighbouring Apon Onilu Village,Ibadan, Oyo State.

Bayo Adebowale attended St. Andrew’s Kindergarten School at Kufi I Village, and St. Andrew’s Senior Primary School, Bamgbola, Igbo-Elerin District of Ibadan, where he obtained his Grade A Primary School Leaving Certificate in December, 1955. Thereafter, he was admitted to the Local Authjority Secondary Modern School, Aperin, Ibadan, between 1956 and 1958. In 1959,he became a pupil teacher at St. Mathias Primary School, Busogboro,Oluyole Local Government Area, Ibadan. The need to be trained as a teacher took him to Ilesa where he was admitted to St Peter’s Grade III Teacher College between 1960 and 1961. He was headmaster of St. Michael’s Primary School,Eko-Ajala,near Ikirun, Osun State, from January 1962 to December 1964. He was transferred to head another school in 1965-St. Andrew’s Primary School, Ilawe,three miles from Ifon, Osun State.

In 1966, the year of Nigeria’s military coup,Bayo Adebowale gained admission to Baptist College, Ede for his Higher Elementary Grade II Teacher Training Programme, which he finished in 1967 with Merit in ten subjects, including English Language, English Literature and Music. At Baptist College, Ede, Adebowale’s creativity boomed. He was a College House Prefect, the Secretary Literary and Debating Society,and the Editor of the College magazine,The Echo . He was a voracious reader of English and African novels;an ardent reader of the works of great writers like Gerald Durrel,Rider H.Haggard,Jane Austen, Daniel Defoe,John Buchan,R.L. Stevenson,Alexandre Dumas, Charles Dickens,Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Alan Paton, Peter Abrahams and Amos Tutuola. Bayo Adebowale’s creative ebullience was kept alive as a Higher Elementary (H.E.) teacher at Baptist School, Afolabi Apasan (near Araomi Akanran)Ibadan,between d1968 and 1970 and also at Ibadan City Council Primary School, Agugu, between 1970 and 1971.

In October,1971,he was admitted to read English at the Universtiy of Ibadan, having passed his General Certificate of Education(GCE) at both the Ordinary and the Advanced levels, between 1968 and 1971. He graduated Bachelor of Arts (Hon.) English in 1974 and had his National Youth Service Corps at St. Augustine’s Teachers’ College, Lafia, Benue-Plateau State, Northern Nigeria, from July 1974 to July 1975.

Bayo Adebowale was employed as an Education Officer (English) by the Western State Public Service Commission Between August, 1975 and August 1979 when he was posted to the Government Trade Centre at Oyo as an English Instructor. But in-between, Adebowale was given admission to the University of Ibadan for his Post Graduate Diploma in Applied English Linguistics (1976) and his Master of Arts Degree in English, which he successfully completed idn December 1978. His higher educational status qualified him for employment at the Oyo State College of Education,Ilesa,where he was appointed a Lecturer I in English in September 1979. He was posted back to St. Anderew’s College(then a Campus of OYSCE Ilesa) to head the School of Arts as the Deputy Dean,in 1981. He became athe Acting Dean of the School of Arts in Oyo State College of Education,Ila-Orangun in 1987. After the creation of Osun State(out of Oyo State) in 1991,Bayo Adebowale returned to his State of origin, with other officers of Oyo State indigenes working at OYSCE Ila-Orangun and was redeployed to The Polytechnic,Ibadan where he,at various times, as a Senior Principal Lecturer,was a Head of Department, and Acting Dean, and the Deputy Rector of the Institution between 1999 and 2003. Bayo Adebowale completed his Doctor of Philosophy Programmed in Literature in English at the University of Ilorin in May,1997.

To date, Bayo Adebowale has published over one hundred short stories in magazines, journals and papers in Nigeria and abroad.He admires a lot the works of distinguished writers, in the short story genre, like Edgar Allan Poe, Guy de Maupassant, Ernest Hemingway, Somerset Maugham, Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, O. Henry,Jack London, Stephen Crane, Judith Wright, Agnus Wilson, Chinua Achebe,Eyprian Ekwensi, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o,Ben Okri, A.G.S. Momodu, Rasheed Gbadamosi,Lekan Oyejide, Nadine Gordimer, Lekan Oyegoke and Danbudzo Marechera.

In 1972,Adebowale’s short story,”The River Goddess” won the Western State Festival of Arts Literary Competition, in Ibadan, Nigeria and in 2002,he edited a collection of new Nigerian short stories-Talent-involving the words of fifteen Nigerian writers,including those of Femi Osofisan, Wale Okediran, Akeem Lasisi,Lekan Oyegode, Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade,and Amos Tutuola. Adebowale’s short stories had appeared in important Anthologies like Frontiers:Nigerian Short Stories (1992)d;A Passage to Modern Cicero (2003) and Horizon Journal,University of Ibadan (1975). Adebowale’s short stories are collected in book form in Iron Hand,Girl About Town; and Book Me Down. His collection A New Life was published in 2006 by Bounty Press,Ibadan.

Over ninety per cent of Bayo Adebowale’s short stories have rural setting, and deal with local community people in Nigerian villages and hamlets. A common trend of culture runs through them, stretching into his poetry and his three full-length novels.

For Adebowale the so-called modern society has nothing to offer to communal African village life “except chaos, corruption and other manifestations of of western narcissim”. Africa,for Adebowale,is a passion. “The contemorarisation of the mystic of the African essence is an addiction”.

Bayo Adebowale exhaustively examines the theme of culture in his poetry. Village Harvest,his first book of poetry,bears testimony to this. All the fifty-eight poems in the collection discuss sceneries,seasons,people,places, experiences,events and beliefs of the rural community people. This same trend is discernible in his second book of poetry,A Night of Incantations; where Yoruba traditional incantations are broken into three broad categories, viz: Malevolent Incantations;Benevolent Incantations and Propitiatory Incantations. In 1992,Bayo Adebowale’s poem, “Perdition” won the Africa Prize in the Index on Censorship International Poetry Competition in London. Quite a good number of his poems have been anthologized in Poetry for Africa 2(United Kingdom),Index on Censorship Journal (United Kingdom),African Literature Association Bulletin(Canada);Poetry Drum (Nigeria) and Crab Orchard Review(United States of America).Adebowale’s latest collection of poems, African Melody (2008) gives a realistic literary repositioning of the African Continent and has been acknowledged as”deeply reseached and a compotently crafted work of art”.

Today, Bayo Adebowale is most well-known as a novelist. His first novel,The Virgin, has been adapted into two home videos under the titles of “The White Hankerchief” and later as a thirteen week National Television Serial under yet another tile- “The Narrow Path” -all by the Main Frame Film Organization of Lagos under the directorate of the ace Nigerian cinematographer-Tunde Kelani. Adebowale’s second novel,Out of His Mind has several tiimes also been adapted for the stage. Both novels have been used by researchers as final-year Long Essay Projects in Colleges of Education, and for the Bachelor of Artrs degree final-year research and for Master of Arts dissertations in Nigerian Universities. His third novel, Lonely Days is probably his most ambitious literary endeavour to date. The novel predictably deals with an important aspect of the African culture-widowhood- and has its setting, predictably also, in African rural environment. Adebowale has two other yet to be published novels:Sweetheart and Lone Voice Bayo Adebowale has been described variously as “an advocate of the grassroots people”,”a village novelist” and “a protagonist of the African culture and tradition”and “Africa’s Charles Dickens”.

His pet project, The African Heritage Research Library (at Adeyipo Village, Lagelu Local Government Area,Ibadan,Oyo State,Nigeria) is the first rural community-based African studies research library on the Continent. The objectives of the Centre are (i) to serve the educational needs of students, researchers, scholars, documentalists, and archivists in Africa and all over the world;and (ii) to serve the socio-cultural needs of the local community people:peasant farmers,local artisans, craftsmen and women in African villages and hamlets. Adebowale’s Centre at Adeyipo Village, now incorporates the cultural aspect of the life of the people with the introduction of a Music of Africa Auditorium,a Medicinal Herbs Garden and a Talking Drum Museum.
The establishment of the African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre (AHRLC) has helped a lot to enhance the quantity and quality of Bayo Adebowale’s literary output.The African Heritage Research Library has a formidable Board of Advisors which include eminent scholars and writers all over the world like Ngugi Wa Thiong’o,Elechi Amadi, Niyi Osundare,Bernth Lindfors,Akinwumi Isola;Femi Osofisan;Sam. A. Adewoye,Lekan Oyegoke, Tony Marinho and Niara Sudarkasa.
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Tags: BAYO ADEBOWALE:A GREAT AFRICAN WRITER, BLACK NOVELISTS, BLACK WRITERS

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