And behold a generation, going, going, going right before our very eyes. What can we do? We can't stop death from taking them one after the other. Ọlábímtan... Babalọlá... Ọlábọ̀dé.... and now Olóyè Olúdare Ọlájubù.
Ìbá ṣe pá ì kú ooo
Aráàgbàun dà o
Arááàgbàun dà ooo
Arááàgbàun dààà.
Kò màmà sẹ́ni tí ò níí kú o
Kò sẹ́ni tóko baba rẹ̀ ò ní dìgbòròò
Ó di gbérééé lónìí oooo
Ó dàrìnnàkò
Ó wá dójú àlá fìrí
Ó doko aláwo.
Sùnunre o
Ọ̀gá mi
Baba mi
Ojú ló yẹjú ooo
Lágbara Èdùwà
Ohùn ò ní yẹhùn
Dọ̀tun
From: Ibigbolade Aderibigbe <gbolaade.aderibigbe@gmail.com>
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 6:07 PM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obituary: Professor Oludate Olajubu
This is indeed a BIG loss. I met Prof. Olajubu when he came for his
sabatical in LASU. He represented a rear gem of humanity as described
by Prof. Awoyale. May his great soul rest in perfect peace!
On 10/29/12, Segun Dosumu <jubadosu@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Condolences on the departure of this big Elephant. Odun a jin si ara won.
>
>
>
> Jubril Adesegun Dosumu
> Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC)
> 36/38, Broad Street,
> Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
> 01-7744489, +2348083950755, +2348055404320
>
>
>>________________________________
>> From: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>
>>To: dialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
>>Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 8:09 AM
>>Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Obituary: Professor Oludate Olajubu
>>
>>
>>
>>PROFESSOR OLÙDÁRE ỌLÁJUBÙ (d. 2012)
>>Yiwola Awoyale,
>>Linguistic Data Consortium,
>>University of Pennsylvania,
>>Philadelphia. USA
>>
>>
> Almost at dawn last Monday morning (10/22/2012), my cell phone rang. The
>>voice on the line said, "Hey, your old friend that you frequently spoke
>> of,
>>is dead. Professor John Ayọade just told me." I had to struggle to my feet
>>to ask who this might be. "Professor Ọlájubù", he said. It was pointless
>> to
>>ask how he got the news, given that he had already indicated the source.
>> It
>>could not be a prank because I know Professor John Ayọade. I mumbled out a
>>question about when this happened, and he said that it must have been very
>>recent. And we hung up.
>>
>>A sudden calmness came upon me. Whenever something like this happens, one
>>is reminded of one's own vulnerability. With his exit, the Yoruba academy
>>in Nigeria has now lost four of its illustrious members – Professor
>> Afolabi
>>Ọlabimtan, Professor Adeboye Babalọla, Professor Afọlabi Ọlabọde, and now
>>Professor Olúdáre Ọlájubù. "Ilẹ̀ ń jẹ ènìyàn!" (the mother earth consumes
>>people)
>>
>>Professor Ọlájubù was from Ìlàrè in Ijẹ̀ṣà land where he was the Olóyè
>>Sòkòtí of Ìlàrè. I had thought that I could recall exactly when he was
>>born. However, that was when I was heading the department and had access
>> to
>>personal files of fellow staff. Now, after more than sixteen years, my
>>memory would no longer serve me on such details. He would be in his mid-
>> or
>>late 70s. Suffice it now to say that he took his final bow in October
>> 2012.
>>
>>
>>I first met Professor Olúdáre Ọlájubù, popularly known for many years on
>>Unilọrin campus as "Chief Olúdáre Ọlájubù", in late 1977, when I joined
>> the
>>Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, University of Ilọrin,
>>Ilọrin, Nigeria. We worked tirelessly together for many years, under the
>>leadership of Professor Ọladele Awobuluyi, to elevate the academic status
>>of the department from the scratch to an enviable world standard.
>> Professor
>>Ọlájubù, until his retirement in 1994, headed the literature and culture
>>components of the Yoruba studies program, while those of us who were
>>linguists, serviced its language component, on top of our regular
>>linguistics courses. This type of arrangement provided a rich meeting
>> point
>>of methodologies and ideas as we explored and navigated the intricate
>>interface of language, linguistics and literature.
>>
>>Professor Ọlájubù loved and reveled in Yoruba oral literature, most
>>especially the performance of a chant, and his extensive publications
>>backed this up. He specialized generally in 'oríkì' (praise poetry). He
>>always emphasized that the 'orature' represented the livingness of a
>>particular literary culture. In fact he once said that no two performances
>>or recitation of a chant could or should be taken as identical. Each
>> should
>>stand by itself, and the transcription should indicate the difference, no
>>matter how subtle. In a more restricted and technical sense, Professor
>>Ọlájubù specialized in 'Iwì Egúngún' – the special chants performed by
>>Yoruba masquerades. I once asked him why he was so fascinated by the
>>Egúngún poetry. He said that the voice of the Egúngún represented the
>>sacred voice of the Yoruba divinities, the sacred voice of the ancestors,
>>the sacred voice of the heavenly beings. He said that it was not just the
>>language per se that was so fascinating to him, it was the actual chanting
>>that mattered – the modulation of the voice, the manipulation of the
>>pitches, the drama in the voice, the musical effect of the chant on the
>>ears. And he could spend hours chanting the poetry of the Yoruba Egúngún
>> in
>>his Ijẹ̀ṣà tongue. There once was a discussion on why he would choose
>> 'iwi'
>>instead of 'ewì' to characterize this type of poetry, given that all
>> Yoruba
>>scholars use the term 'ewì' for 'poetry'. He said that, because the
>>chanting of the poetry of the Egúngún was unique and different from the
>>regular chanting of Yoruba poetry, therefore, the term 'iwì' should be
>>reserved for the chanting of the poetry of the Egúngún.
>>
>>It fell on the shoulders of Professor Ọlájubù to guide our students
>>through the methodology pioneered by Professor Adeboye Babalọla, of oral
>>field recording, transcription, Yoruba-to-English translation,
>>(versification, if poetry), and literary as well as language analysis of
>>the resultant texts. That was how the department became a very rich
>>resource center for Yoruba oral and written literature, Yoruba traditional
>>and contemporary literature, and by extension, Yoruba oral history. For
>>example, there was a time when we became curious about the possible
>>connection between several distantly-located Yoruba communities that
>> shared
>>the name 'ọbà', as in Ọ̀bà Iṣin (Kwara State), Ọbà-ile (Ondo State), Ọbà
>>Ọ̀ṣun (Ọ̀ṣun State), Odò-Ọbà (Ọ̀yọ́ State). We had to send out students to
>>go into these different communities to ask for and record the praise
>> poetry
>>of each of these communities, hoping that, if at some point in Yoruba
>>history, they were related, there would be certain common themes, totems,
>>divinities, festivals, heroes/heroines, etc., that would recur in their
>>oriki, or narratives, which a purely factual account of contemporary
>>history might not reveal. We were amazed at how much subtle facts of
>>historical connection lay hidden in the praise poetry of these
>> communities.
>>
>>Unfortunately given what we now know about the technology of scanning and
>>digitization, we should have looked for a way to archive the very rich
>> data
>>on Yoruba oral poetry and history that is currently sitting on the shelves
>>of many departments of Yoruba studies in many Nigerian universities.
>> Nobody
>>can say what will be the fate of these mimeographed valuable research
>>reports.
>>
>>Professor Olúdáre Ọlájubù was a true Yoruba man. He loved the Yoruba
>>culture. Throughout our stay together, he never wore any other thing but a
>>Yoruba attire. You would either see him in a complete Yoruba dress –
>>ṣòkòtò, bùbá, agbádá and a cap – or, sometimes without the agbádá. His
>> tall
>>stature and rich ebony skin added an air of nobility to his Yoruba dress.
>>He relished his domineering presence and his Yorubaness. He was a man of
>>extra-ordinary courage who would speak out his mind anywhere. In life and
>>politics, he always saw himself as a 'hard tackler'. You cannot miss his
>>strong personality. He walked in energetic strides as if he would pounce.
>>His deep and commanding voice would reverberate both inside the classrooms
>>and on corridors. Above all, his rich and extensive life experiences
>> always
>>enabled him to see and go straight for the practical solutions to complex
>>challenges. Both as a former head of department and a former dean of arts,
>>we could always count on him to give the practical advice and guidance in
>>moments of administrative crisis.
>>
>>Professor Ọlájubù was not only a huge loss to his family, but to all his
>>former students, to all his former colleagues at the University of Ilọrin,
>>and to all colleagues in the Yoruba academia. He will always be missed.
>> May
>>his soul rest in peace!
>>
>>Professor Olúdáre Ọlájubù, the Sòkòtí of Ìlàrè, adieu!
>>
>>Olúdáre Ọmọ Ọlájubù,
>>Dijú, kí o ṣe bí ẹni tí ó kú,
>>Kí o wo àwọn ẹni tí ó ń ṣèdárò rẹ!
>>Rìn gọ̀lọ̀gọ̀lọ̀,
>>Kí o fi ẹsẹ̀ kọ gbàù,
>>Kí o wo àwọn ẹni tí ó ń ṣe ọ ní pẹ̀lẹ́!
>>Bí o bá délé, kí o kílé o!
>>Bí o bá dọ́nà, kí o bèèrè ọ̀nà!
>>Bí o bá dọ́run,
>>Kí o ṣe ọ̀run, k'ó lárinrin!
>>Má ṣe jọ̀kùn,
>>Má ṣe jekòló.
>>Ohun tí wọ́n bá n jẹ lájùlé ọ̀run,
>>Ni kí o máa bá wọn jẹ!
>>Ǹlẹ́ o, Ọmọ Ọwá,
>>Ǹlẹ́ o, Ọmọ Obòkun,
>>Ọmọ Ìjẹ̀sà-òṣèré,
>>Ọmọ onílẹ̀-obì.
>>Ọmọ ẹlẹ́ní-àtẹ́ẹ̀ká,
>>Ọmọ ẹlẹ́ní-ẹwẹlẹ,
>>Ọmọ Ìjẹ̀ṣà-kò-rídìí-ìṣáná,
>>Ile lọmọ Ọwá tí ń múná re oko.
>>Ó dìgbà ó ṣe o!
>>
>>Àréè! Ẹ̀rù gàlè, k'ó dìde o!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Yiwola Awoyale,
>>Linguistic Data Consortium,
>>University of Pennsylvania,
>>Philadelphia. USA
>>
>>
>>
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