Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
AFRICAN LITERARY AGENTS FOR AFRICAN WRITERS
August 27, 2018SAVE BBC YORUBA OOOO!-IT IS DYING DUE TO LACK OF SUPPORT OOO!
August 26, 2018Dear Omo Yorùbà,
Please endeavour to click on BBC Yorùbà and stay on the site for at least 5 mins daily, either through Facebook on the web browser.
Why? They are collecting statistics and the current results are not pleasant. Whilst many on BBC Hausa for 15 mins on the average, we spend seconds on BBC Yorùbà.
If it persists, they’ll close it down. That will be a huge loss for us – culturally, language wise and politically as global players.
*Please watch BBC Yorùbà and encourage at least 5 people. Even if it is to just leave it on, for 5 mins a day.*
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Save Yoruba BBC oooo! Add to your Home Screen, then click to it when u are not using your phone and let it stay on that dial. Then when u sleep keep it on that dial all night! BBC Yoruba is dying oooo! Support it like Hausa’s are supporting theirs!
FIRST VILLAGE-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA COMPOSED BY BAYO ADEBOWALE
July 20, 2018
FIRST VILLAGE -COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA
IGBO-ELERIN ANTHEM
YORUBA
Igbo- Elerin wa
Ile wa olokiki
K’Oluwa ko bukun wa
K’ani alafia
Osi o ni ta ‘wa
Awa l’ayo a sope
Idunnu ati ‘lera
Ko je ipin ti wa
K’a ni ‘losiwaju
Ife ati ‘sokan
K’a ni ‘tesiwaju
L’okunrin l’obinrin
Imole wa si ma tan
Gege bi ‘rawo sanmo
Igbo-Elerin wa
Ile wa olokiki
K’Oluwa ko bukun wa
K’ani alafia
FIRST VILLAGE-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA
IGBO-ELERIN ANTHEM
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Igbo-Elerin land
Our land of mark and fame
Blessing of good Lord with us
May we all be at peace
We ‘ ll rise above penury
We are thankful, we praise thee
Happiness, abundant health
Shall become our portion
Let’s have steady progress
Unity and regard
Let’s have advancement
For all men and women
Our fame is going to spread
Like bright stars in the sky
Igbo-Elerin land
Our land of mark and fame
Blessing of good Lord with us
May we all be at peace
Press Release: BAYO ADEBOWALE COMPOSES THE FIRST RURAL-COMMUNITY ANTHEM IN NIGERIA
History was made in an Ibadan District in Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria on Saturday 3rd March 2018, when the community people’s anthem ( Igbo-Elerin Wa- Ile Wa Olokiki) was launched, with thousands of enthusiastic rural community people, from about 300 villages and hamlets in attendance. The anthem, which was composed at African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, Adeyipo and rendered into song by poet and novelist Bayo Adebowale, turned out to be the First Official Village Community Anthem in Nigeria.
The anthem highlights the fame and popularity of this Ibadan District, and admonishes the community people of the area to always strive to attain peace, unity and advancement for their beloved fatherland, praying that happiness and sound health would be their portion as they continue to shine like bright stars in the sky.
The anthem was presented by the students of Igbo-Elerin Grammar School, and the pupils of Unity School, Adeyipo, with Abraham Olukunmi Agboola conducting it before the audience (of eminent personalities, including His Eminence, DrSunday Ola Makinde, Prelate Emeritus Methodist Church of Nigeria; Professor (Chief) Ezekiel Olukayode Idowu; Professor Harry Taiwo Ladapo; and all 21 Baale’s of Igbo-Elerin land) at Igbo-Elerin Grammar School Ground on 3rd March 2018.
Bayo Adebowale (PhD) (Associate Professor of Creative Writing in English) who composed the anthem, is a poet, novelist, short story writer,critic, literary scholar, librarian, community leader, and the Director/Founder, African Heritage Research Library and Cultural Centre, (AHRLC) Adeyipo Village, Ibadan, Nigeria.
(From: Gbemisola Edun, Secretary, AHRLC)
AFRICAN WRITERS!! BAYO ADEBOWALE IS BEING HONOURED AGAIN AS A CHIEF IN HIS OWN LAND!!!!
February 25, 2017DR. BAYO ADEBOWALE
HONOUR FOR A PROPHET
IN HIS HOMELAND!
Bayo Adebowale,the accomplished African Novelist and Poet will on Saturday,4th March 2017 be honoured with the prestigeous Chieftaincy title of ONIGEGE ARA OF IGBO-ELERIN by the Igbo-Elerin Council of Baales. This is a well-deserved honour coming from the Literary Icon’s kith and kin….
What a feat!
Congratulations, author of The Virgin, Out Of His Mind,Lonely Days, A New Life, Talent, African Melody, Oriki,Village Harvest, and A Night of Incantations!
YEYE OLADE IS 71 YEARS!-BLACK PEOPLE!-OJO IBI MI IN ADEYIPO VILLAGE IN YORUBALAND! -NIGERIA OOOOO!
October 14, 2015
from yeyeolade.blogspot.com
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
OJO IBI MI 71th (MY 71th BIRTHDAY!) IN THE VILLAGE OF YORUBALAND,NIGERIA OOOO!
YORUBA CULTURAL CELEBRATION FOR THE VILLAGERS TO SHOW THEM THAT
BIRTHDAY IS NO WHITE boys’ cake,drinks-WE WILL HAVE YORUBA TRADITIONAL
SNACKS/FOOD,LECTURES ON HOW YORUBA LANGUAGE GOT KILLED,HOW IT CAN NOW
BE SAVED ATI DEADLY EFFECTS OF BLEACHING KILLING YOU SLOWLY!THEN A
BEST YORUBA SPEAKERS CONTESTS FOR CHILDREN,WOMEN,THEN THE FINAL FOR
WHO EVER WINS! OFCOURSE YORUBA TRADITIONAL MUSIC-OMOWURA,BATA
MUSIC,ATI….! Alaroye will be given out as Ebun from its Display
table to choose from many back copies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i_otGuA-k
MO ATI MI!
BAYO ADEBOWALE’S LATEST HOT POETRY BOOK PUTS AFRICAN IMAGERY ON THE WORLD MAP! -GET YOUR COPY NOW!
August 14, 2012
BAYO ADEBOWALE’S AFRICAN MELODY
SINGS FULL-THROATED POETIC SONGS FOR AFRICA
Bayo Adebowale’s newly- published book, AFRICAN MELODY, (A Poetic Exposition of the African Essence) combines sweet melody with harsh melody, melody of expectation with melody of hope, for the African Continent. The 144 page book, containing a total of 61 poems, takes readers on a poetic excursion through the socio-cultural history of a Continent at the focus of global attention.
Nature and landscape in the book receive close scrutiny, as much as a number of selected political and historical events in the life of Africans on the Continent, and Africans in the Diaspora. (e.g slave trade, colonialism, coup d’etat, poverty, class distinction famine, racism, genocide, etc.)The poet adulates the achievements of the heroes and heroines of the land, while despots who smear the Continent’s beautiful garment with mud, receive castigation and several knocks on the head.
Sweet melody reverberates right from the beginning of the book, as readers encounter ‘motionless crocodiles basking under the blazing afternoon sun, at the magnificent swimming pool of Limpopo’ (p.12); ‘termites milling protectively round their Queen in the palatial fortress, inside the kingdom of the giant anthill’ (p.86); ‘photographs of brown-grass savannah teeming with spotted long-necked giraffes journeying on the express road of the mind in the open horizon of Pategi’(p.19) ; ’ the receding evening sun sitting down on the busy bay of Lake Chad, immobile like a fat market woman transacting business.’(p.6)
Harsh melody, in one other section of the book, exposes Africa as ‘an ailing giant walking with the limbs of a stegomyia and nursing a pulsating numbness in the region of his left leg’(p.53). The ancestral land here has become ‘an elephant crippled by a snare; an antelope caught in a trap; an impala extricating from a tightening noose; a puff adder with his stomach swollen by an undigested rodent; and an earthworm dancing the dance of death in a lake of salt.’(p.59-60)
Melody of hope resounds in the book with the arrival of notable icons – African role models like Shaka –‘ the black pugilist of the unconquered land of the rugged Zulu nation’(p.14); Kwegyir –‘ the amiable Goldcoast whiz kid who at school chanted multiplication table with ease and acted Daniel in the Lion’s Den with dexterity’(p.21); Makeba – ‘the cool evening nightingale perching on the African bamboo, dishing out symphonies of pleasant solo tunes in mezzo-soprano octave to a listening universe’(p.84); Luthuli – ‘the blooming banana rhizome on the bank of the roaring River Orange’ (p.10); Ali –‘ the buzzing bee with a deadly sting, the graceful butterfly floating in the openness of the blue sky’(p.110); and Mandela, ‘who trod, unscathed, the narrow freedom road, strewn with pricks and pains, thistles and bristles.’(p.98) and Barrack Obama – ‘the long African broom, sweeping the New World horizon incredibly clean and penny – bright… the arrow head of mighty Luo spear shooting staright to target’ (p.124).
In Bayo Adebowale’s AFRICAN MELODY, it is music all the way; Music ‘touching the incore of our heart; jerking us to alertness; and stimulating in us, wonder and incredulity’… Music,’ soft as the murmur of the dove at dawn, pervading our days with delight, in cadences of joyful bubbles; and music, harsh as the monotonous tap on the blacksmith’s anvil permeating our nights with grief, in sequences of sad gurgles.’ (p.23)
The inclusion of a Classified Index in this brand new book is unique, so also is the full-colour display of imaginative photographs {nine of them}, supplied with highly creative captions by the poet, for readers delight. Adebowale’s AFRICAN MELODY indeed is a ‘deeply-researched and competently – crafted work of art.’
PROFESSOR ISAAC ADEBAYO ADEYEMI
VICE CHANCELLOR
BELLS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, OTA.
Cover Price of the Book: N600; $5 {+ $2 Postage Cost}; £4 {+ £1 Postage Cost}
Page: 145
Year of Publication: 2012
Contacts for Purchase:
– African Heritage Publishers (AHP); P.O.Box 36330, Agodi Post Office, Ibadan, Oyo State, NIGERIA.
– Email : africanheritagelibrary@yahoo.com
– Phone: +2348034495485
+2348072871715
Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade: +2348160176922
Gbemisola Edun: +2347063413233
“WE HAVE GREAT WORK TO DO. WE HAVE BEEN CALLED UPON TO BUILD A NEW AFRICA AND A NEW BLACK WORLD!”
DR. BAYO ADEBOWALE,DIRECTOR/FOUNDER
AFRICAN HERITAGE RESEARCH LIBRARY AND CULTURAL CENTRE
nigeria-arts.net/literature/institutions/african_heritage_research_library/
book review AFRICAN MELODY red.doc
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AMIRI BARAKA CALLING ALL BLACK PEOPLE IN “SOS” – A GREAT BLACK POEM IS ANALYSED HERE!
February 26, 2012
On “SOS”
Jay R. Berry
Baraka pays careful attention to rhythm, even in poems that do not employ or experiment with traditional forms. “SOS,” the opening poem on Black Art, contains short, terse, telegraphic phrases that are reminiscent of a radio transmission:
Calling black people
Calling all black people, man woman child
Wherever you are, calling you, urgent, come in
Black People, come in, wherever you are, urgent, calling
You, calling all black people
Calling all black people, come in, black people, come
on in.
Content and form blend effectively in this poem. The radio transmission asks blacks to “come / on in.” The final line break calls attention to the word change, thereby emphasizing the message. This word change has at least two connotations. On one level, the phrase invites readers into the book of poetry. In this sense it is a fitting opening poem. On another level, it cajoles blacks into claiming their share of the American political, social, and cultural systems on their own terms.
From “Poetic Style in Amiri Baraka’s Black Art,” in CLA Journal, December, 1988. Copyright © 1988 by the College Language Association.
Phillip Brian Harper
Dudley Randall’s anthology, The Black Poets, published in 1971, is significant not so much for the texts it provides of folk verse and literary poetry from the mid-eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries as for its canonization of poetry from the contemporaneous Black Arts movement. The concluding (and by far the longest} section of Randall’s anthology is titled “The Nineteen Sixties,” and it is prefaced by the short poem “SOS” by Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), which is printed not in the main text but on the title page for the section: . . .
Given the epigraphic function that Randall confers on it, we can reasonably conclude that Baraka’s “SOS” is somehow emblematic of the poetic project of many young black writers of the late 1960s, and it is not particularly difficult to identify exactly in what this emblematic quality might consist. We know, after all, that radical black intellectual activism of the late 1960s was characterized by a drive for nationalistic unity among people of African descent. As Larry Neal put it in his defining essay of 1968, “The Black Arts Movement”:
Black Art is the aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept. …The Black Arts and the Black Power concept both relate broadly to the Afro-American’s desire for self-determination and nationhood. Both concepts are nationalistic. One is concerned with the relationship between art and politics; the other with the art of politics. (P. 272)
Addison Gayle also embraced the nationalist impulse in his conception of the movement, outlined in his 1971 introduction to The Black Aesthetic. According to Gayle, “The Black Aesthetic…is a corrective—a means of helping black people out of the polluted mainstream of Americanism” (p. xxiii}. And in 1973, Stephen Henderson elaborated the development of this impulse through the late 1960s: “The poetry of the sixties is informed and unified by the new consciousness of Blackness …[, which has] shifted from Civil Rights to Black Power to Black Nationalism to Revolutionary Pan-Africanism …” (p. 183}. Thus did three of the Black Aesthetic’s most prominent theorists conceive the importance of nationalist unity to the Black Arts movement. It probably goes without saying that such a nationalist impulse, having once been manifested, can develop in any number of different directions. For the sake of the present analysis, however, we can suspend consideration of this important point while we confirm the existence of that impulse, in however rudimentary a form, in Baraka’s poem.
In the introduction to their authoritative anthology, Black Nationalism in America (1970), John Bracey, Jr., August Meier, arid Elliott Rudwick identify as the basis of black nationalist thought “[t]he concept of racial solidarity” which, they assert,”is essential to all forms of black nationalism” (p. xxvi). It is precisely this fundamental impulse to racial solidarity that is manifested in Baraka’s “SOS.” Considered with respect to nationalism, the political import of the poem inheres not in the stridency and exigency of its appeal, but rather in its breadth, in the fact that Baraka’s call apparently embraces all members of the African diaspora, as it is directed explicitly and repeatedly to “all black people,” thereby invoking a political Pan-Africanism posited as characteristic of the Black Arts project. Moreover, the enjambment of the last two lines and their modification of the injunction definitively transform the SOS from a mere distress signal into a general summons for assembly. What is striking about Baraka’s poem, however, is not that it “calls” black people in this nationalistic way but that this is all it does; the objective for which it assembles the black populace is not specified in the piece itself, a fact I take to indicate fundamental difficulties in the nationalist agenda of the Black Arts poets, as will soon become clear.
In the meantime, I think it is useful to consider Baraka’s “S0S” as a synecdoche for all of his poetic output of the 1960s, which constituted a challenge to other African-American poets to take up the nationalist ethic he espoused. As the source of this influential call, Baraka can certainly be seen as the founder of the Black Aesthetic of the 1960s, and “SOS” as representative of the standard to which his fellow poets rallied. “S0S” is part of Baraka’s collection Black Art, comprising poems written in 1965 and 1966, and published, along with two other collections, in the volume Black Magic Poetry, 1961-1967 (1969). Its message was subsequently engaged by other black writers from different generations and disparate backgrounds. For instance, in her 1972 autobiography, Report from Part One, Gwendolyn Brooks, who built her reputation on her expertly crafted lyrics of the 1940s and 1950s, made Baraka’s enterprise her own as she described her new poetic mission in the early 1970s:
My aim, in my next future, is to write poems that will somehow successfully “call” (see Imamu Baraka’s “SOS”) all black people: black people in taverns, black people in alleys, black people in gutters, schools, offices, factories, prisons, the consulate; I wish to reach black people in pulpits, black people in mines, on farms, on thrones(.) (P. 183)
Sonia Sanchez, on the other hand, in her 1969 poem, “blk/rhetoric,” invoked Baraka’s language to question what might happen after the calling had been done:
who’s gonna make all
that beautiful blk/rhetoric
mean something.
like
I mean
who’s gonna take
words
blk/beautiful
and make more of it
than blk/capitalism.
u dig?
i mean
like who’s gonna
take all the young/long/haired/
natural/brothers and sisters
and let them
grow till
all that is
imp’t is them
selves
moving in straight/
revolutionary/lines/toward the enemy
(and we know who that is)
like. man.
who’s gonna give our young
blk people new heros
[. . . .]
( instead of quick/fucks
in the hall/way of
white/america’s
mind)
like. this. is an S.0.S.
me. calling. . . .
calling. . . .
some/one.
pleasereplysoon.
Sanchez’s call—prefaced as it is by her urgent question, and attended by the entreaty to her listeners in the final line—is more pleading than Baraka’s, which is unabashedly imperative. I would suggest that the uncertainty that characterizes Sanchez’s poem is the inevitable affective result of writing beyond the ending of Baraka’s “SOS,” which it seems to me is what “blk/rhetoric” does. By calling into question what will ensue among the black collectivity after it has heeded the general call–succumbed to the rhetoric, as it were—Sanchez points to the problematic nature of the black nationalist project that characterizes Black Arts poetry.
What remains certain, in Sanchez’s rendering—so certain that it need not be stated explicitly—is the identity of the “enemy” against whom the assembled black troops must struggle. While Sanchez’s elliptical reference might appear as somewhat ambiguous at this point, especially after the emergence in the early and mid-1970s of a strong black feminist movement that arrayed itself against racism and sexism, it seems clear enough that in the context of the 1969 Black Arts movement the enemy was most certainly the white “establishment.” But this is the only thing that is “known” in Sanchez’s poem, and while the identification of a generalized white foe is a central strategy in the Black Arts movement’s effort to galvanize the black populace, here it provides a hedge against the overall uncertainty that characterizes the rest of the poem—a definitive core on which the crucial questions about the efficacy of nationalist rhetoric can center and thus themselves still be recognizable as nationalist discourse.
from “Nationalism and Social Division in Black Arts Poetry of the 1960s,” in Harper, Are We Not Men? (Oxford UP, 1996.)
BAYO ADEBOWALE’S AFRICAN MELODY SINGS FULL-THROATED POETIC SONGS FOR AFRICA! -GET YOUR COPY NOW!A
February 26, 2012BAYO ADEBOWALE’S LATEST GREAT POETRY BOOK IS OUT ! -“AFRICAN MELODY: A POETIC EXPOSITION OF THE AFRICAN ESSENCE” ! – GET YOUR COPY NOW ! -IT’S HISTORIC AND THERE HAS NEVER HAS BEEN ANY POETRY BOOK LIKE THIS BEFORE ON AFRICA!
AFRICAN LITERATURE:IN HONOUR OF AFRICAN WRITERS: 1. BAYO ADEBOWALE 