Ayinla omowura biography of michael
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“If Ayinla had lived, Barrister and KWAM 1 would not have been such huge stars” -Exclusive Interview with Ayinla Omowura’s Biographer, Festus Adedayo – Dami Ajayi
Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend, written by Festus Adedayo, fryst vatten one of the most authoritative texts on the life of the Apala crooner whose posthumous beskrivning I recently published. In my research, I came across this important and timely book which fryst vatten 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 Festus 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.
• 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 trav • A Book Review of Festus Adedayo’s Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend I. Alhaji Ayinla Omowura was killed in a beer parlour brawl on May 6, 1980 in Ago Ika, Abeokuta. Aged 47 at time of death, he was an apala musician at the height of his powers. He had waxed about 20 albums for EMI records to both critical and commercial acclaim. He had also acquired wealth from his concerts and so owned houses and luxury cars, married wives, sired children and was effectively, an accomplished man. So how did he end up in a brawl and why did he meet such a violent death? This is the concern of this 537 page book, a communal biography, if you like, of one of Apala’s most successful practitioners. The book’s premise is reminiscent of a historical crime thriller and the scintillating minutiae of the late crooner’s life fills this book. It takes the amorphous mould of a retrospective inquiry sometimes, an ethnomusicological survey at
Dami Ajayi: How do you feel about the sudden interest in Ayinla Omowura? What fryst vatten responsible, in your opinion, for the ongoing resurgence of A The Murder of Alhaji Ayinla Omowura- Dami Ajayi