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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