On May 6, 1980, the sun set for the leader of the Yoruba genre of music called Apala. He was stabbed on the head with a broken beer glass cup in a barroom brawl at Ago’ka, Abeokuta, Ogun State. Ayinla Waidi Omowura, son of Yusuff Gbogbolowo, the blacksmith, and Wuramotu Morenike, was finally killed by the scary black club of death.
Those were the opening words of the fifth chapter of the book which spotlights the life of Ayinla Omowura.
And 40 years later, the book: “Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend,” written by Dr. Festus Adedayo (2020, Noirledge) was published to tell the story. The author opens the book by expressing his intention: to present the totality of the life of Ayinla Omowura – the good, the bad and the ugly; to present the character fault lines of Ayinla Omowura and to use his life as a lesson for upcoming celebrities, musicians, and those aiming for the top in life generally.
In the first chapter of the book, Dr. Adedayo travels on the wings of history to dig out the early days of music in Africa. As a cerebral journalist with a keen sense of research, he calls to witness the many scholars and writers who have written copiously on African music, and avers that music has always been the lifeblood of the typical African person.
He writes here: “It can be said that his life is totally subsumed in music. He deploys music to help explain his current mood, his feelings and excitement. When he is sorrowful, music tends his sorrow and when he is happy, he deploys music to project his exhilaration. While at the moment of joy, the African deploys music as a weapon to explain his excitement, he uses music at the point of his lowness in spirit to lift himself up.” (P20)
Then he gives the historical, cultural and social origin of music in Africa, exploring literature on the power of music in Africa as an avenue to spread values and belief systems of society, and a dense object of stinging the flesh of political opponents.
In this book, Dr. Adedayo discusses the controversies and debates about the nature of Apala music and its origins. He states that Apala music is a product of socio-religious context, infused with a vocal accompaniment which is deeply rooted in Yoruba philosophy and poetry. He then discusses in detail the uniqueness of the Apala brand, its religio-cultural, and socio-political elements, as well as related genres prevalent in Africa and Yorubaland, including Were, waka, Etike, Fuji, Sakara, and so on.
Adedayo tells the story of the beginnings of Ayinla Omowura in Egbaland, reporting that Ayinla was born in the 1930s in Itoko, the Abeokuta province. In the chapter ‘Ayinla’s Rough Beginning: Sitting on the Cusp of two Hundred Needles’, we are introduced to the family into which Ayinla was born. Relying on both primary and secondary sources, the author digs up the personality of Ayinla Omowura and what his formative years looked like. We read that, like many children born during his time, he lived his life like the flotsam and jetsam of society. He is reported to have been apprenticed at his father’s blacksmith business, had helped to hawk for his father on the streets of Ake. He had also acted as a political thug at some point and had also once been a driver of big trucks and articulated lorries.
In this book, we read that after some years of musical apprenticeship with some musicians, Waidi Ayinla’s star literally sprang up like a volcano, and some contemporary Apala musicians had to abandon the stage for him. Quoting a certain Ajao, the author reports that Ayinla became a toast of the music scene because of his velveteen voice and electrifying dance steps, with heavy doses of fetishism. This fuelled speculations about his membership of cult groups, and he brazenly and copiously deployed incantations, abuses and curses in all his songs, and the inexplicable confidence with which he challenged any competing musician who had the gumption to belittle him on the bandstand to prepare to take his hands-off life’s menu as such a defiant musician was done with the meals of the world, were sufficient premises for his fans to suppose that he belonged to cults.
In this book, the author is convinced, and states that the periods from 1970 to 1980 signalled Ayinla Omowura’s iconic years as an Apala maestro. In the book’s third chapter, titled: “Ayinla’s Iconic Years (1970-1980),” the author submits that the Apala brand of music gained significant popularity among entertainers and social buffs of the period, especially in Yorubaland. “Omowura held society spellbound by his songs, bountifully and without any care on whose ox he gored by so doing, infusing his Egba dialect as a musical motif. These he delivered in a rich voice that was undoubtedly without comparison among musicians of his time. He was blessed with a mellifluous voice that he could bend according to the tempos and temperament of the band stand, like a plasticine. … He was authoritative as he was assertive, verging even on the arrogant, declaring that he was a superstar who controlled the vibes of the musical scene and no one else.” (Pp110-111)
The book: “Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala legend,” is a montage of the big players in the entertainment and musical circle in Yoruba land. Thus, we read about the arts of Ayinde Barrister, and his relationship with Omowura; we read about Barrister and Kollington and their battle for supremacy. We read about how Barrister got his break while playing in Lagos at places where Sunny Ade and Obey had made waves. We learn about Kollington’s commitment to Ayinla Omowura, to the extent that he was ready to inherit Ayinla’s enemies, even after Ayinla’s death. We read about the feud between Barrister and Ayinla Omowura much later in their careers and how this feud fertilized the enmity between Ayinde Barrister and Kollington Ayinla.
In this book, Ayinla Omowura is described as a soft-hearted family man, contrary to the image of him that some people had about him. One of his wives was reported to have said in an interview that Ayinla was hyper-generous, and that he was a lover of women, and a polygamist, for that matter. He was said to have fathered 18 children with eight wives, some of whom are still alive today.
In the fifth chapter of the book, we read that Ayinla Omowura’s second-to-the-last album was heavily laced with the imagery of death, in what looked like he had a premonition of his imminent death. He was reported to have spoken about death’s morbidly dark complexion, and his songs reminded one of the existential philosopher’s treatments of death, especially the void of life, the certainty of death, and the final hour of man. Thus the stage was set for a flurry of events leading to his death from his feud with his former manager, Fatai Bayewumi while he tried to retrieve a motorcycle from Bayewumi. Being described as a fearless fighter has its downsides sometimes, especially because unbridled fearlessness can be blinding to obvious ominous signs.
In the sixth chapter of the book, and its 149 pages, Dr. Adedayo embarks on a highly researched construction, deconstruction, and style-analysis of Ayinla Omowura’s songs and albums, right from first volume to the last. The author here demonstrates his deep knowledge and understanding of the nuances of the Yoruba language to appreciate with daring dexterity, the entire arts, and lyrics that the great Apala legend deployed to the captivation of the entertainment world while he practised his art. The chapter is therefore, a fitting addition, whose utilitarian factor is the fact that it opens this generation of music enthusiasts to the philosophical and wise sayings that Ayinla Omowura espoused.
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Finally, the author dedicates a whole chapter, the seventh, to expose the events that transpired after Ayinla Omowura’s death both within his family and his band, and concludes that Ayinla’s failure to arrange his “behind” grossly affected what became of the Ayinla family today, and why there are no cogent survivors of that genre of music from his household.
Ultimately, this is an excellently written book. The perceptive reader will note immediately, the imprint of the author’s over two decades of premium journalism career and eclectic roundedness etched on each of the 537 pages of the book.
. Michael Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via molatunbosun@splashfm1055.com; on X @miketunbosun.
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