Adieu, Akinwumi Isola, our Father and Icon!
By
Abdul-Rasheed Na'Allah, Kwara State University, Malete
I first met him in passing very long ago in 1990 when I brought to University of Ibadan the manuscript of Introduction to African Oral Literature, authored by Bayo Ogunjimi and I, and for the few minutes that we discussed I knew I met a genuine and passionate scholar, and unfortunately about three years later I was gone from Nigeria without consolidating this initial contact with the gem. Again, long ago in the year 2000, luck came towards me a second time when I met him in Asmara, Eritrea, at the Ngugi wa Thiong'O' led "Literature in African Languages Conference," and I seized that opportunity and had the best of time with him. He was humorous, sharp, musical (if one can say that), and passionate about Yoruba and at that time, a die-hard enthusiast of Yoruba film developing into Nollywood. He spoke glowingly about why every writer must join this queue that the film has come to bail out the African writer who hitherto could not cause a needed change in the postcolonial African community. He felt that the African language film would take the writer's message home, to the grassroots, and that he for one was all for film activism as a writer! Throughout the several days we spent together, I never stopped appreciating this man of language and music and humor. I sat very close to him during most panels; his magic had completely absorbed me into this alertness to what I might call cultural forcefulness. I had left Nigeria for Canada in early 1990s and by that time had not returned home on a visit for even one time. He Yorubanized almost every word of English or Giguyu and Amharic and Tigrinya and Arabic and French and German spoken around him, and even sang Yoruba lines from such words or sentences. For every lecture we attended together, he gave his oration to my ears and to the hearing of many who sat around us, converting their terms and slogans and adages into Yoruba even if just to create transliteration fun! I had a chance to interview him as actor and film producer (to appear in my forthcoming book, "Writers and Critics of African Literature"). As a mark of honor to this great man, I like to share with all some of his very moving thoughts and ideas on literature and culture. When asked to review the past, pre-21st Century past, here was what he said to me,
The boom years, I think, were in the sixties. Actually, let's say the boom years started with Fagunwa. Before then there had been publishers and authors, but Fagunwa actually started the real deep, serious or important publishing in Yoruba. It began with Ogboju Ode ninu gbo Irunmole in 1939 and was followed by the four others, making five in total. Then of course others followed in his stead: Odunjo, Delana, Olabintan, Babalola, Okediji, Adebayo Faleti, Olu Owolabi, Akinlade, Akinwumi Isola and so on and so forth.
He was an Encyclopedia of Yoruba cultural history. About how he became a writer, here is what he said:
I just started writing, not because of any particular inspiration. I enjoyed reading Yoruba works, Fagunwa, the Bible…especially Fagunwa. Then I read 'Iwe Itan Ibadan' written in Yoruba by Abi Akinyele. It was from there I took the subject of my first play, Efunsetan Aniwura. … As time went on, when I became more politically aware, I started writing plays about politics and corruption, 'Ko se gbe' for example. About religion in, 'Abe Abo'. About politics in plays like, 'Aye ye won tan'. I must mention that I had admired and loved very strong, powerful women. Maybe because my own mother was a very powerful woman, a woman you couldn't ignore. That is why today I have written not less than four plays about women. Efunsetan Aniwura is from a woman's perspective. I wrote two plays on Madam Tinubu alone, one in English now published by Heinemann and the other in Yoruba, Olu Omo published by Onibonoje.
When asked to comment about the film, staged drama and plays, his eyes lightened up even more. That gave the answer I was expecting, that his passion for film, for acting, for the stage, and not only for writing, was from his personal experience and the impact his work had made on people once it was performed. Efunsetan Aniwura, when performed in Ibadan, drew a historical crowd, perhaps never again witnessed of any play or staged drama in Ibadan or anywhere in Nigeria. Even the then Governor of Oyo State could not enter the venue, not because of security concerns, but because the crowd was just too much and he couldn't secure the chance of going inside. Here is the ignited Akinwumi Isola:
Then there was the significant occasion when Efunsetan Aniwura was performed at the Liberty Stadium when forty thousand people watched that single play. It was sponsored by BCOS, Radio O-Y-O during the time of Bola Ige and they were to perform it later at a hall. However, they sold too many tickets and the hall couldn't contain the audience. There was chaos and they had to cancel that performance and beg people to go away retaining their tickets. As a result they announced the premises of the BCOS. They fixed another date. On that particular day again too many people came in, so many in fact that even the governor could not enter the premises. …. Bola Ige could not enter because there were too many people. The road was jam-packed and they had to beg people, asking them to go away again. Then they sought a new solution. People had bought tickets, too many tickets. Finally they decided to perform the play by the Isola Ogunsola group at the Liberty Stadium. I was not there, I was at Ife. But they said forty thousand people turned up. I was so happy, I said, "well, this medium is a powerful one and you could do more with it than we are doing now.
I just wanted to add my voice to celebrating the legend, Baba Akinwumi Isola, and to give free to others from some of the great words I had with him. He was very fashionable: always neat and smartly dressed as a cultural man. Of course I met him again many times later and he knew I was going to publish the short interview I had with him in a book some day. With Zulu Sofola very long gone, Ibrahim Yaro Yahaya long gone, Abubakar Gimba gone, Adebayo Faleti gone, Akinwumi Isola gone, I think we must make important efforts to get our remaining legends' historical accounts on record, to tell their stories for posterity.
Adieu, our father and cultural icon, Isola!
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