OF DRUMS AND DRAMA IN MOREMI OFFA HISTORIC LINK. Moremi is not a common name by which a child is named amongst Offa people of Ibolo Kingdom Offa-Headquarter but like a colossus,Moremi remains a popular name in the class of other Heroines worldwide. History,myth and tradition of the entire Yoruba revere this personage as a unifying force of Yoruba family fabric, in this case as Yoruba pride in paternity of their origin encapsulated in Oduduwa so, Moremi provided a watershed, a feminine personality that assuaged the entire race with soothing and succulent heart in time of war and its miseries. When Ife and the Yoruba mythical cradle of civilisation was under pillage and pounding of Ugbo people of the riverine areas of present Ondo State, Moremi, a princess of Offa and married to an Ife prince, volunteered in an Oath to Esinmirin river to unravel the secret of their power and by so doing helped the Ife people and the entire Yoruba race to restore pride and power from wreckage of war. She was mindful of her covenant and she eventually had to offer as sacrifice, the only begotten son Omolarere popularly called Oluorogbo as a price for winning the murderous war in which the Yoruba race was engulfed. Son of Man had gotten immersed in the spirit and love for Moremi since our childhood days when with or without pant, shoes or shoeless and a mouth brush with Orin , chewing sticks or grounded panpashile we used to hop around her Ile Onmoka , a shrine so,rt of, webbed in between Offa Central Mosque, Olofas Market and directly opposite Olofas palace. My old step mother Marian Fariyike Olaniyi once told me that the site became a unique location when a powerful land squall settled there mysteriously as last place of abode for our own and only Moremi a princess and heroine of Offa heritage. Whether or not her remains were interned there no one has told me till date. I also remembered as if it were yesterday, that many of us youths and later members of Offa Students Union were engrossed in Cultural plays and dances under the tutelage of brothersAustin Joe and Femi Olafimihan when in tantalising and scintillating dance steps we used to sing around, E bami ki Moremi Aajansoro, soro, soro Aajansoro.. Similarly we used to sing Mosunwon te o no re o, Mosunwon won lo gbeyele. The popularity of Moremi had a momentous renaissance as a result of stage performances by the late Yoruba playwright Duro Ladipo who helped to make Moremi a household song on radio and television. Moremi Ajansoro Olopo a yemo, Omo a boje Popo and Moremi Ajansoro, Omo o fun mi ma mo pa o, Moremi Ajansoro. For so long a time, nothing serious or of importance came the way of Moremi until in early 90s your one and only Son of Man strayed into Moremi Hall at the University of Lagos to encourage one Otitoloju, that year Hall Chair to at least pay a visit to Offa and see where the site of Moremi shrine after whom their hall was named. To my dismay and heart wreckage a lady who came to visit informed all that Offa was engulfed in wahala and that trouble had engulfed the community in battle with the Polythecnic students. The Shrine also had been destroyed by a few fundamentalists and till date remains an Eyesore of Offa anything Pride. At the installation of Asiwaju of Offa Chief Emanuel Olatunji Adesoye Son of Man along with a few Offa patriots ensured a stage performance of Moremi play at the Olofas palace and surely and goodness as I intended it, the late Olofa of Offa Oba Mustapha Olawore Olanipekun, Anilellerin ¡¡ along with a number of others shed tears that the most popular heroine of Yorubaland has No Where to lay her head, no final place of abode. Thank God that beyond the stage performance of this Moremi play at Offa, Lekan Balogun the playwright and literary figure of this age again brought Moremi to limelight as he again staged the play at MOCUN Centre in Lagos after the NANTAP Award and now a literature book read in a few Universities and schools. Hmmm the question then is Would Moremi remain a Drum for Dance of Pride or Drama of Eyesore in Offa Yoruba HISTORY?. Only Time Will Tell.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 08:26:55 +0000
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