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| Adebayo Faleti |
THE MAN AND HIS
BACKGROUND
The
first chapter of Olatunji’s work is concerned with the influences on Adebayo
Faleti’s work. Olatunji explains that the greatest influence on Adebayo Faleti is
his family; his father; childless aunt and also his first cousin, Jimoh
Oladejo. Faleti’s father, Akanbi Faleti, being a court poet must
have been acquainted with many chronicles
and royal praise which Faleti benefitted from. Olatunji (1982:1) identifies
this in Faleti’s opening of “Ewì Iwòyìí”:
Àkànbí
Fálétí
ni Baba mi.
Ó mọ ìtàn púpọ̀,
Ó fẹ́ràn ewì, ó ọ̀rẹ́ ọ̀pọ̀lọpọ̀
Àwọn akéwì ni orisirisi, pàápàá jùlọ
àwọn
Ti nwọn wa ni eku Ọ̀yọ́ ati eku Ilorin.
However, the influence of his aunt birthed his novel, Ọmọ Olókùn Ẹṣin.
She exposed Faleti to the wealth of Yoruba oriki
as she recited their family and lineage oriki
to him. The evocating way in which elders address their younger relatives in
praise poetry shows in the way Faleti address or apostrophizes Adébímpé Ọ̀jẹ́dòkun
and Adélabú in the dirge-like
poem. His cousin who died while he was
in his poetic formative year also contributed to his poetic excellence,
especially in the area of Yoruba proverbs. There is also the impact of family
circumstances (such as death and misfortune), his immediate environment,
interactions with various custodians of language and culture, and other societal happenings had impact on Faleti’s philosophical dispositions “Ìjàmbá odò ọbà”,
“Ẹni ọmọ́ sin” and “Adébímpé Ọ̀jẹ́dòkun”.
Living in some rural areas exposed him to all the experiences of village life.
The Yorùbá and English Literatures he read, his work experiences,
especially his connection with the mass media,
contributed to his uniqueness.
THE POET AND POETRY
Olatunji discusses’s
view
about the poet and his poetry as expressed in two of his
poems, “Didake Akewi” and “Onibode Lalupon” and interviews held with him from 1975 to 1978.
To Faleti, a Poet is an artist endowed with unique sensibilities.
What appears insignificant to the members of the society may evoke deep
responses in the poet while what he considers less important may be important
to some people. In “Didake Akewi”, Faleti says:
Omi tí kò j’agbè l’ójú
Ó
lè dé’nú Akéwì k’ó d’òkun
O
le de’nu Akewi k’o d’osa
Ẹ̀fúùfù tó sì nm’òkun m’ọ̀sà
He goes further to give instances of sensibility which
shocks the ordinary man out of his mental and spiritual unconsciousness
Ohun tèèyàn bá ṣe nílé ayé
Ẹ jẹ́ a fàṣejù kun
Won so
pe aseju o
da
Ẹ jẹ́ a fàṣejù kun
Kó le tóni i jẹ́.
.
In the above excerpt, the poet challenges the universal
moral injunction against excess. He asserts that a student can only attain
academic excellence through persistence, almost excessive reading and thinking.
Faleti
also sees the mind of a Poet as a storehouse
for desperate, fragmentary and almost contradictory impression which is fused
into something whole and strange by the Poet’s creative imagination. This view is clearly stated in “Didake Akewi”:
Inú akéwì gb’ọ̀sẹ́
Inú akéwì gb’èèwú
Inú akéwì gb’omi t’ó mọ́ gara
Olatunji submits that Faleti deposes that a poet must
be able to use variations of the same words, encapsulate thoughts in imagery, and
coin new words, if need be, to express the unique experiences. He also believes
that compactness of expression is important to a poet as seen in Ale-gongo-petu-eba-ona,
a nominalised word from Yoruba oral poetry which tells the story of how a
hunter had killed a duiker by the roadside. However, Faleti insists that anyone
with the intention of writing a poem should be familiar with the
characterisation of Yoruba poetry as shown in the traditional oral poetry. After that, the poet must do his best to work
within that tradition without becoming slavish to its techniques or pattern as
he calls them:
Kò yẹ kí akéwì tẹ̀lé ọ̀nà kan gbuuru
Kò yẹ kí ó kàn máa tẹ̀lé bátànì ewì
Ijosi lai fi kun
un.
O ye ki
akewi le fi
Nnkan bọ̀ ọ́ laarin, kio yapa
die si
Batani ijosi.
THE POETS’S VISION OF LIFE
In
Faleti’s poem, Olatunji emphasises that Faleti presents man in critical
situations; sharp tension or conflict between expectation, man’s esteem and
achievement and loss through death. Olatunji makes it known that one point
which needs to be emphasized is that “loss through death is not necessarily the
height of tragedy; a threat to, or an assault on, a man’s real or imagined
being is potentially tragic” especially as seen in the case of Akande in “Igbeyawo
kan ni ileto wa” who prefers death to exposing
himself to ridicule. Similarly in “Alagbara ile and Alagbara oko”, Adedigba feels there is no one that can
be as strong as he is and out of
conceitedness has given himself the name Alagbara ile (the strong man in the
town) . Olatunji (1982:37) submits that
what matters is the agonising experience, the baptism by anxiety and mental or
spiritual torment that leads to the realisation of a truth by which the
protagonist has to be guided from that moment. All these are well presented
through humour and pathos.
FALETI THE CRAFTSMAN
Olatunji
(1982:63) sees Faleti as a conscious and deliberate craftsman who successfully
practice such rigorous criticism through imagination in his works. The
following are the techniques of his craftsmanship:
Arresting
opening lines is a major device employed by him to catch the attention of his
audience. The utterances used are so fascinating that the audience is teased to read further. In “Eda Ko L’aropin”,
Faleti opens with:
Ẹni tí kòì kú l’áíyé
Kó dákun k’’má ro’ra rẹ̀ l’áròpinEniti koi ti w’aja
Ko dakun k’o
ma ro’ra re l’aropin;
B’enia
’o ku ise
o tan,
N’ijọ
a ba ku l’agbaja
pin.
In
“Ojo Ilayefun”, it is a comment on friendship.
Oniruru
ọ̀rẹ́ l’à ńní:
Oreire, ọ̀rẹ́ ika;
Ọ̀tọ́
l’ ọ̀rẹ́ da’be ng yan ’ko,
Ọ̀tọ́
l’ ọ̀rẹ́ inibaje enia
Ki ṣe
p’ ọ̀rẹ́ totọ kò si laiye
Ibi ti
won wa l’a
‘o mọ̀
Sugbọn nwọn mbẹ
larin kọkan
Bi ọlọmọsikata ti wa
larin agbado
In
“Adebimpe Ojedokun”, the opening lines renounce faith in the herbal and magical object because Ojedokun was
killed by an animal:
Ng ko tun f’owo s’ogun mo
N’ijo t’eranko ti p’Ojedokun, erelu
omo je
Adebimpe, Ojedokun, erelu omo
Edidare inu igbe,
omo iyalagbon
With
these arresting openings, which most times contradict what the readers already
know, readers are lured to read or listen to the other parts of the text to
unravel the mystery the poet has at hand.
Another technique which Faleti
gainfully employed is “addressing an imaginary audience”. This is one of the
features of Yoruba oral poets who use such technique to retain their listeners.
Such is transposed to Faleti’s works as he employs them to make the readers
participate. In “Eda ko laropin”, Faleti
calls on the audience to join him in the calculation, he says:
E jowo, e ba mi si’wo
ohun jare,
Ki a mo’ye t’o
je
Ki a to
tun maa wi tiwa lo
Faleti also urges his audience to be prepared for the
worst in the face of the destructiveness of man’s invention for his
transportation in “Ijamba Odo Oba”.
Omo kekere, e jek’a
tun ‘ra mu
K’araba
o tun ra mu, odo ngb’arere lo
Enyin agba, e tun’ra
yin di l’amure
Araba tun’ra mu, odo
ngb’arere
This technique is used to draw the readers or
listeners close to the poet and narration.
Another
technique is “dramatic presentation: scenes, imagery, dialogue” which Faleti
employs to handle incidents. Faleti’s actions are presented in scenes through
the influence of the English ballad and Yoruba oral tradition. All these scenes
are presented through deliberate imagery and dialogue. For example, Faleti’s
descriptions of Ayinde and Onibode Lalupon; the hunter who shot Adebimpe
Ojedokun; Akande; and Sangodokun in “Onibode Lalupon”, “Adebimpe Ojedokun”,
“Igbeyawo kan ni ileto wa”, “Ojo Ilayefun” respectively. For example,
the shivering hunter is described as an old shaky person or a dithering
chameleon:
Ode ‘o tete mo p’ekun
‘o le ja
Ode ngbon riri
bi arugbo da’mi nu loju ode
Nje,
ode ma gbon mo
Tan’na ran ‘bon
re o je k’a
lo!
Afi
karo! T’ibon dahun lowo ode a-gbon-bi-oga!
Adebimpe
wa ke to!
O pose sara!
Also, this significant imagery is seen in Sangodokun’s
description when it says:
Ibe n’iya iyawo
ti ba Sangodokun
Ti nj’elubo ekuku
bi aguntan
Ti nla’nu moran bi ewure
jewe ata
His dramatic presentations are also achieved through the
use of humour which significantly contributed to his poems and style of
writing.
Another technique is “language,
compactness repetition, traditional poetic structure”. Faleti has a good
mastery of the language as reflected in his background information. As a
result, he puts them to use. The language
used includes semantically correspondent
words, repetitions, euphemism, irony, rhetorical
question among others. The traditional elements used in his work include praise
poetry, proverb, song and incantation. All these uses of language, especially repetition, contribute to Faleti’s
aesthetics.
The poet amongst
poets
Faleti is distinct in his presentational styles and
language use. This is even attested to by Olatubosun Oladapo who eulogises
Faleti thus:
Igunnugun
ni won nri ti won ndasaa gbaguruye
Akalamagbo lawon
nri ti won ndasaa bagebage
Adebayo
Faleti ni won nri ti gbogbo aye ndasa
ewi kike
Omo
Faleti dagbo ijo e forin fun eni to lorin
Agba ninu akewi
tii soro
ijinle
Olatunji also attests to the fact that Faleti has been
an active force in the development and character of contemporary Yoruba poetry.
Many poets see Faleti as their pioneer, hence, reference to him as a ‘master
among poets’. Though Faleti also said he was greatly influenced by other
artists before him, especially Bosun Sowande. Faleti has deliberately diverted
from the styles of many writers before him. As a result, he has selected only
the aesthetic and artistic craftsmanship of his model which is decidedly the
Yoruba oral poet.
Conclusion
It is evident from the discussion above that Faleti
underwent poetic pupillage before embarking on their career. But unlike Sowande
who abandoned his education to follow oro
chanters, Faleti followed his academic career to the tertiary level. His
philosophical disposition is also compared to Sowande and covers a very wide
scope. Olatunji (1982:135) submits that elegiac imagination underlies his
poetry. To Faleti, “man can only attain illumination and peace through agony
and pain”. Olatunji goes further when he explains that “as mortals we may lament and pity the individual
while the torture lasts, but the personality that survives the agony is
redeemed and enlightened because it has attained anagnorisis. All these constitute
the essence of the Faleti’s vision of life.
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