My first close encounter with Alagba Adebayo Faleti was in the first week of June, 2008 some twenty one days to my valedictory event organized by Friends of the Arts; a collection of some Ibadan varsity students. Baba was to be the father of the day, I volunteered to take his invitation letter to him personally, my visit to his home under the red evening skies of that day remains refresh in my memory not only because he agreed to chair the event, but also for the interaction and discussion that concluded my visit.
I was taken and held bound by his words of admonitions and encouragement, the discussion was thought provoking, Baba spoke his heart out on issues of cultural preservation, and survival of the spoken indigenous language with a particular emphasis on the Yoruba language.
To everyone in the cultural constituency of humanity in the Nigerian realm, Alagba Adebayo Faleti is in no doubt a pillar and strength, upon which the threshold of Yoruba culture regeneration and preservation rests. He told me on his efforts at documenting and cataloguing of cultural material like songs and records, he had championed this cause while he was still in the services of the then WNTV and Radio OYO. For my valedictory event, we had needed some oldies and gramophones, Baba said he knew that a time would come that some of these materials would be needed by the younger generations, when he made efforts to preserve some of them.
No thanks to a fire accident that razed a section of the Radio OYO library and achieves, Alagba Adebayo Faleti had done a digitalization project for storing most of this extinct materials.
With his involvement in the translation of both the national anthem and pledge, Baba deserves a national honor, and also deserves streets and major roads being named after him, rather than this kind of honor to be bestowed on proud citizens of immense contributions lie Alagba Adebayo Faleti, what we have is a show of frivolities and vain glorification of the political class and their cronies.
Baba’s writings have really inspired many other Yoruba writers, in the 80s, but now, many writers have jettisoned writing in Yoruba language, even the Yoruba scholars are guilty of this, apart from their academic publications, how many new stories, novels, poetry volumes are being published in Yoruba Language.
In a personal attempt to make some Yoruba writings assessable to many younger mind like mine, I undertook an independent translation project of some Yoruba poetry, with an initial interest in Adebayo Faleti’s Ijamba Odo Oba, a demon later entered my laptop and stole the work away, a loss that I am still trying to recover. If just like Professor Wole Soyinka did to D.O Fagunwa’s Ogboju Ode, many other translations were done, the doldrums that hold the literature bound today would have been checked.
To prevent further loss of these materials etymology establishment of a foundation or council, to be charged with a chief responsibility of translating and storing of these cultural materials, and for the oral literature, accurate translation and documentation must be done.
I had a drama done after a Sunday service in church, a friend saw me with a copy of Yoruba translation of the holy bible, he was almost cursing hell, the fellow had been long alienated from his roots, many more dramatic or tragedy if I should put it straight have happened on the language scene.
Where are the Yoruba tabloids and newspapers again, most of them had disappeared into the care of history. Each time I consider how the effects and efforts pulled together as a synergy and cursor in the fight against military regime of Abacha and how the cause of the Yorubas were championed in the media, a press like ALAROYE really had a good lead, in mobilization and sensitization of the Yorubas towards the struggle, and a recovery of political power as it was a central position in the power shift struggle.
Other ethnic groups in the country have their own share of the language extinction and endangering, though some have suffered this surge more. This is the time that the Nigerian government needs to sit up and face this challenge.
For the sake of mentioning, the contribution of Mainframe productions and Remdels are of immense value, as many seemingly lost values and fibers of the Yoruba language and indeed culture are not only being recovered, but are also stored in a more permanent mode.
Ibukun Babarinde.
This introduction has appeared on my facebook notes....
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