Shakespeare says if music is the food of life, plays on. The same way a writer uses his words to paint pictures of life. We may not be able to identify the way a writer deploys other genres in his writing but we can trace the pattern of use. This is manifested in the way Adelakun uses music and songs in her writing. Under the Brown Rusted Roofs is a book set in the ancient city of Ibadan. It documents the travails and pains of women in a polygamous family. It details the sojourn of a man and his family through the web of socio-political struggles in the 80’s.
To any discerning reader, the subject of discourse in the novel is as interesting as the manner of its narration. The writer makes use of indigenous communication resources to drive home her point. One of such indigenous resources employed is songs. The people in Adelakun’s narration sing in various situations they find themselves. We shall examine a few examples here. Her first attempt at her sonorous voice is done with one of her characters appealing to familiar buyers to patronise her:
E ra eja, e sebe
Eja de obe de
Buy fish, cook soup
Fish has come, soup has come (p 10)
This scenario is not strange to those who are familiar with life in the compounds (agboole).
The book features another people’s rhythm in praise poetry. A new born has just come. To show her happiness, Iya Agaba (granny) chants her grandfather’s oriki because she believes he has come back to his family in the new boy:
Omo abikan
Omo asowo ni wura leru
Omo atori aje re ida
M’erin ni Moja
Ki o fi asiki ranmi
Omo ite gbongbo ona se omi suru
Baba mi o si n’ile
Nijo erin la de ile baba re
Iba be nile o ba pa eni
Iba be nile o ba pa eji
Iba be nile o ba pa erindinlogun
Child of Abikan
One who trades and has gold and goods
One who because of trade goes to Ida
One who captured an elephant in Moja
If only I see Moro to partner trade with
That he might bring good luck to me
One who steps on the root on the way and
Water splutters out
My father is not at home
The day an elephant came charging to his father’s house
Had he been at home he would have killed one
Had he been at home he would have killed two
Had he been at home he would have killed nineteen (p 14)
The song on page 53 is for a celebration of life well-lived. The Arigbabuwo’s grandmother has just passed away. As it is customary among the Yorubas, the death of the woman must be celebrated. Thus, various songs are on the lips of the people. The first is here rendered:
Iya wa lo , ororun idera(2ce)
Ko kuku moto, owo omo lo ku si
Iya wa lo, or rorun idera
Our mother has gone, gone to a place of comfort (2ce)
She didn’t die in a car crash; she died in her child’s hands
Our mother has gone to a place of comfort
It does not stop there, they have the second one:
E wo gele genge , lori aji gbo t’oko
E wo gele genge lori aji gbo t’oko
Aye ni n o jen o ni jiya
E wo gele genge lori aji gbo t’oko
See the head gear delicately balanced
On the head of the woman who rises early
To do her husband’s bidding
My life will be sweet and never otherwise
And another
Sibi onide ikoko onide lawa fi n sebe o
Sibi onide , ikoko onide lawa fi n sebe o
Awa, awa anile yii o, aya oloa la je (2ce)
Sibi onide, ikoko onide lawa n fi sebe.
Spoons of brass, pots of brass,
That is what we use in cooking
We in this land, we are wives to wealthy men
And then another
Ile la baso, ke e salejo ara(2ce)
Aso ti a wo, olowo f’aramo olowo
Bata ti a wo, olowo jogun idera
Gele ti a we, sukusuku bam bam
Eni o ba wu ko be
Ile la ba so, ki salejo ara.
We met clothes at home,
It is no visitor to our body
The clothes we are wearing
A rich man moves with his kind
The shoes we have on,
The rich inherited comfort
Our head gear, properly in place
Anybody that is swollen
Is free to burst
We met clothes at home,
It is no visitor to the body (p 53-54)
The people’s voice comes up again. They intend to assert themselves in the political scene of the 80’s and they change their song from the usual one to another to reflect their thinking:
Ni Ibadan ni won bi wa si o (2ce)
Baba wa pelu won loni ile (2ce)
To
N’Ibadan ni won bi wa si o (2ce)
Baba sebi awon ni o nile (2ce)
It is in ibabdan that we were born
Our fathers plus them own the land
To
It is in Ibadan that we were born
It is our own fathers that own the land
The use of song here is funny. It is a quarrel between Baba n’sale and his wife, Alake. He slots in an old Kollington album which goes thus:
Onigbese aya, ma gbe ko mi o
Onigbese aya,ma gbe ko mi o
T’o ba ti ri ounje
Ko niitiju mo rara
Onigbese aya ma gbe ko mi o
Wife that will bring one into debt,
Don’t bring her to me (2ce)
Once she sees food,
She loses all sense of shame
Wife that brings one into debt,
Don’t bring her to me. (p 78)
What a ridiculous way to respond to one’s wife tantrums!
The animals sing too in Adelakun’s work. They feature in a popular folktale where they want to become human beings. In their frenzy they sing:
A o d’eniyan leni o!
D’eniyan
A o d’eniyan leni o!
D’eniyan!
D’eniyan, deniyan, deniyan!
D’eniyan…
We will become human beings today!
Become human beings!
We will become human beings today!
Become human beings!
Become human beings! Become human beings!….
What a story! The animals end up thwarting their own attempt to become human beings.
Children are not left out. They also sing. In their innocent playful moments they burst out in play songs:
Ekun meran
Mee
O tori bo’gbo
O torun bo ‘gba
Mee
O fe mu
Mee
Ko maa lemu o
Mee
Oju ekun yi pon!
Iru ekun yi le!
The wolf should catch the goat
Bleat
It dipped his head in the bush
Bleat
It stuck its neck in the fold
Bleat
It wants to catch it
Bleat
It can’t catch it
Bleat
The wolf’s eyes are red!
The wolf’s tail is hard
Alhaji Arigbabuwo wants to show his esteem for his favoured wife, Afusat, when he gets up to dance to a rendition:
Afusa n soyaya soko
Afusa n te oko lorun
Ki ri oko re fin rara…
Oluwa oba….
Afusa is making her husband
Afusa makes her husband happy
She does not disrespect her husband at all
God the king … (p 159)
Children come up again in their childish bickering:
Esu ta epo si ki n ri iran wo!
Ta epo si!
Devil, put oil in this fire
That I may get something to watch!
Put more oil! (p 176)
They get beaten at the end of it all.
The children are at it again. They document a serious national and historical event – the death of Dele Giwa in:
Babangida lo Mecca,
O de, o ko leta
Dele Giwa gba leta,
O ku
Omoleewe , e da sile meji
Ka fi s’oku re
Agba e kose, e da sile mefa….
Babangida went to Mecca,
Came back, wrote a letter.
Dele Giwa collected the leter.
And died.
School children, contribute two kobo
To use for his burial.
Adults at apprenticeship,
Contribute six kobo.
So, in Under the Brown Rusted Roofs, the songs and music continues to emanate from different quarters and segments. They document people’s social, marital and political experiences ranging from personal to national issues and so the narration goes on being extended by the songs emanating from the people on whom the story is centred.
This is just confusing…
@Seun, Please place the review within the context of the use of the songs.It is an extraction of the songs witihn the book.
It’s like this becos its a contemporary work. I like the song insertions in the story.
You get the thrust of the review. Thank you.
This is one book I won’t be reading.
Please go and read it. Highly interesting. Take it from me.
What manner of book is this?
Do I blame the reviewer or the writer?
Please place the review within the context of the use of the songs.It is an extraction of the songs within the book.So blame neither the writer nor the reviewer.
Wld want to read this book and see the contextual usage of the songs.
@Lawal. Please read the book. You will discover it is a good read.
Thank you all for the comments.
I definitely understand this review. It is a good review of the songs in Abimbola’s book.