Browsing: Kollington Ayinla

“Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend,” written by Festus Adedayo, is one of the most authoritative texts on the life of the Apala crooner whose posthumous profile I recently published. In my research, I came across this important and timely book, which is a necessary read for those interested in traditional Yoruba music and a snapshot of the post-colonial working class of Abeokuta. Read my review here. Dr, Adedayo, lawyer and veteran journalist, kindly responded to a few of my questions in the most exhaustive manner, in excess of what I needed for my piece. So here my full interview with him, a rare treat for lovers of Yoruba music:

By freewill, Sikiru was a motor-boy, bus conductor, soldier and musician. He could’ve chosen to be a butcher like his father or be the face behind his family’s ancestral masquerade called Adakeja or be a hoodlum in the Ayeye area of Ibadan, a city renowned for robust oratory and notorious free-for-all, ija igboro laarun Ibadan.

The third in the series, the end-of-year event is the biggest free show of culture and arts of the people of Lagos, the commercial nerve center of Nigeria, and has continued to impact positively on the socio-economic life of the residents and State