Who was Àyìnlá Ọmọwúrà?
The second half of the twentieth century in the Nigerian entertainment industry witnessed tremendous changes and a revelation of pleasurable musicians who sang for the entertainment of lovers, societal ills, the importance of education, governments, and any themes that pique the interest of that time ambience. However, it was amid this period, which could also be called the “Nigerian Music Age” that an Apala (a Nigerian musical genre described according to Festus Adedayo as songs circumscribed around the Islamic social stratum of the Yoruba society) musician emerged. The musicians who sang it engaged a mixture of traditional African music, accentuated with Islamic renditions, thus achieving a blend that was neither totally Islamic nor wholly traditional but nevertheless assumed to have achieved a successful "Islamisation of traditional music) crooner, in Abeokuta will rose to fame—one of its kind just a few years before his death.
Àyìnlá Waidi Yusuf was born in Itoko in 1933 to the family of gbogbolowo, a blacksmith in Abeokuta. However, the etymology of the tagline “Ọmọwúrà'' can be traced to his mother’s name—Wuramotu. In a conversation with Alhaji Adewole Alao (Oniluola), the founder and lead drummer of Àyìnlá Ọmọwúrà, he revealed that the appellation—Ọmọwúrà, came from Àyìnlá's incessant raucous and to identify the doer, witnesses will chorus “it is Àyìnlá Ọmọwúrà'' which can be translated to “Son of Wura.”
Àyìnlá’s Music Life
What distinguishes Àyìnlá is not just the Egba tone with which he sings but the descriptive messages, danceable mellifluous incantations, metaphorical lyrics, adages, and feud lines. Adewole Alao described him as a multi-talented person whose electrifying dancing steps are as worthy of sight as listening to his voice.
Àyìnlá’s musical journey began in the 1950s; however, before the second phase of his offshoot into the limelight, he was a member of the Olalomi band which catapulted his musical dexterity right into the heart of Abeokuta. However in the 1970s, after a few performances, he had made with Adewole Alao Oniluola while he was still in the Olalomi Group, he decided to join Adewole band and that birthed the Alhaji Àyìnlá and His Apala Group under the EMI Record Label Nigeria and with him, being the lead singer.
It should be noted that before Àyìnlá's music expeditions, there were a series of Àpàlà singers, and most notable of them all was Haruna Oshola, whom Àyìnlá ascribed as his senior.
Àyìnlá explores various themes in his songs, including love, loss, death, struggles, etc. Alongside these themes, he sang musical feuds. It should be noted that even though there were a few notable musicians; yet, the fight for superiority was common. It was in this light that Àyìnlá and his contemporaries also engaged in diss tracks and out of the numerous diss tracks of the time was Fatai Olowonyo's Ẹléwúrẹ́ wọlé. Where he indirectly calls Àyìnlá a goat thief who uses the proceeds from his theft to buy Toyota.
Ẹléwúrẹ́ wọlé o
Ẹlágùntàn wọlé
(...)
Alákọrí gun Toyota, ewúrẹ ló fi kó
À ṣé ó tin jalè tẹ́lẹ̀, kó tó ra Toyo
Translated
Get the goats inside
Get the sheep inside
…
A proud man rides Toyota, and he pack goats inside
So he has been stealing before he rides Toyota
— Fatia Olowonyo, Elewure Wole.
Impact of Àyìnlá Ọmọwúrà's Music on various Themes in the society
Just like every other musician in this period, Àyìnlá's music also battled societal ills in Nigeria. Some of these impacts can be felt in the political and economic sphere, philosophy, education, and the common theme—women. These impacts will further be explained in subsequent paragraphs.
Impact on Education
Even though Àyìnlá did not have any form of western education, he exalted the importance of education and this he passed as a message in his discography 25 x 40 under Ọmọ afi ẹ̀kọ́ ṣ'ọ̀fọ̀:
Ìyà nbẹ fún ọmọ tí ò gbọ́ràn
ẹkùn nbẹ fún ọmọ tó n’ṣá kiri
afòwúrò ṣòfò rántí ọjọ́ ọ̀la o
ìyá lè r'odò kí bàbá r'oko
kóo rántí pé
yíò ku ẹ pẹ̀lú ìwà e…
Translated
There's suffering for a disobedient child
Tears are waiting for the child that wastes away his early days
One who wastes the early days remembers tomorrow
Your mother may go to the river
Your father may go to the farm
Remember that
You'll be alone with your behaviour
Àyìnlá in the song above enjoined children who refuse to go to school to desist from such habit, and also, he told them the likely outcome of their disobedient act.
Àyìnlá Song on Women
Àyìnlá was fond of incessant proverbs or jibes aimed at women. According to Fadipe Israel in his work, Understanding Standpoints on Women Through a Patriarchal Voice: a Study of Àyìnlá Ọmọwúrà’s Music, he noted that 'Àyìnlá is a chip of the old block himself who gave orchestration to his people‟s cultural practices…identified four distinct issues-polygamy, prostitution, skin bleaching, and women’s submission.'
Àyìnlá on prostitution
The idea of prostitution is not a contemporary topic. It has been a major thematic area of discussion in the 1970s as much as it is now. Àyìnlá's music cut across this discussion in his discography titled Panṣágà rántí ọjọ́ ọ̀la, he noted:
Panṣágà rántí ọjọ́ ọ̀la
Panṣágà rántí ọjọ́ ọ̀la
Kí o ronú ẹwò
Kóo tún bọ́
…
Àwọn tó ngùn ẹ́ bí ẹṣin
Tí o bá pè wọ́n
Wọn á mó e lójú
Translated
Adulteress remember tomorrow
Adulteress remember tomorrow
You had better have a rethink
And change.
…
Those who ride you like Horse
When you call them
They derogate you.
In this song, He classified the sexual adventures of the adulteress to that of a woman with no thought of the future and derisively reduces her to the Horse they ride. However, he ended the note with a warning towards such women.
Polemics on women that bleach their skin
It should be noted that one of the post-colonialism sociological effects in Nigeria was skin bleaching. According to Franklin I. in his research titled Living in a Barbie World: Skin Bleaching and the Preference for Fair Skin in India, Nigeria, and Thailand, he noted that: 'colonisation was attributed for this behaviour in Nigeria, and that association of whiteness with materialism and social privilege led people to skin bleaching in developing countries.'
However, in addressing this ill, Àyìnlá sang that:
Ọmọge ìwòyí,
O fẹ́ bayé jẹ́
Dúró bí Ọlọ́run bá ṣe dá e
Má ba àwọ̀ jẹ́ fún ẹni bíẹ
Kán má bàá ṣì ẹ́ mà torí afẹ́ ayé
O b'óra tán o di òyìnbó
Translated
Young ladies of these days
You want to corrupt the world
Stay put on how God created your
Don't spoil your skin for your parents
So that you won't be mistaken for someone else
You bleached and now you have turned into a white person.
Àyìnlá on Political Topics
It is important to note that the history of Nigeria in the 1970s cannot be mentioned without its sociological impacts, especially in the context of music. Various musicians treated the subject of civilian and military government in their music. Àyìnlá on Ẹ̀yin Òṣèlú Wa, he noted that:
K’okùnrin rí ejò, kí Obìnrin pá
Kí ni àwa n'fẹ́?
Kí ejò má ṣe lọ là wá n’fẹ́
K’álágbádá kó k’agbádá
Ká jo má ṣe Ìjọba kò l'èèwọ̀
Ki Nàìjíríà ṣà ti r’ójú
Translated
If a man sees a snake and a woman kills it
What do we want?
The snake must not go, that's what we want
Whether civilian or not
Let us rule together
In as much Nigeria is at peace.
Àyìnlá infuses a metaphorical analysis by comparing the government tussle between civilians and the military to citing a snake and noting safety first as the only thing that matters and not who kills the snake.
In Ẹ fara mọ́'mobọ́lájí, Àyìnlá beseeches the people to accommodate Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson’s tenement rate policy in Lagos state. He enjoined Lagosians not to kick against his government policy but they should give support to Johnson and he lectured his listeners on the process of the payment of the tenement rate.
Àyìnlá's Death
Various sources have written about Àyìnlá's sudden death. However, on May 6, 1980, Àyìnlá who had been at loggerhead with his manager and friend, Bayewu went to a bar where Bayewu was and their discussion escalated into a brawl which ended with Bayewu stabbing Àyìnlá in the head with a beer mug.
Conclusion
Àyìnlá did not only serve entertainment purposes, it also discussed major themes in Nigerian society. He recorded 22 albums in total and his record label, EMI, recorded at least 50,000 sales on the album. Àyìnlá's costly appearances earned him the alias, Alhaji Costly. He lived a flamboyant life yet values moral ethics in society.
References
“☕️.” 2022. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GO60-4AKd0&t=106s.
Adedayo, Festus. 2017. “Ayinla Omowura: 37 years after the sybarite.” TheCable. https://www.thecable.ng/ayinla-omowura-37-years-sybarite.
Adedayo, Festus. 2020. Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend. N.p.: Noirledge Publishing.
Adedayo, Festus. 2020. “Egbaland, May 6 and Ayinla Omowura - The NEWS.” The NEWS Nigeria. https://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2020/03/22/egbaland-may-6-and-ayinla-omowura/.
“Ayinla Ọmọwura kò kàwé, àmọ́ ó kópa sí àgbéga orin àti èdè Yorùbá.” 2019. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/yoruba/afrika-48694333.
“Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend on #BooksSplash #Part1.” 2020. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Ylg4U3VkE.
Fadipe, Isreal. n.d. “Understanding Standpoints on Women Through a Patriarchal Voice: a Study of Ayinla Omowura's music.”
Labisi, Sekinat A. 2012. “Traditional Music in Nigeria: Example of Ayinla Omowura's Music.” Developing Countries Studies 2 (10): 108-118.
