About Forty-Two years after his death, the legacy of Waidi Ayinla Yusuf better known as Ayinla Omowura, a Nigerian Apala Musician born in Itoko, Abeokuta in 1933 was brought back to life as a group of Professionals under the auspices of Ayinla Omowura Legacy and Research Center on Thursday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital floated a research center to promote, preserve and protect Ayinla’s works and savage the Yoruba culture which was going into extinction.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Chairman BoT of the center and a renowned Accountant, Olaniyi Olagoke stated that the group which is a creation of ardent admirers and lovers of music of Ayinla Omowura comprises of various professionals for the enhancement of his songs to the deepening of Yoruba tradition, culture, language, arts and values.
Olagoke stressed that the music of the late Ayinla Omowura stood as one musician who used his songs to propagate Yoruba Culture, tradition and language beyond the Yoruba world.
He said, “The late Ayinla Omowura ably supported by Adewole Alao Oniluola stood and still stands out as the one musician who deployed all the elements of language, culture, tradition and name which are associated with Yoruba race in carrying out his chosen trade that inadvertently tallies within the centers core values.”
“Our objective is to promote, preserve, protect Ayinla Omowura works and to discover young talented musicians of Apala genre and mastery of all traditional musical instruments Indigenous to Yoruba as well as preservation and promotion of the use of dialects within the main body of Yoruba language.”
On his part, the Head of Mass Communication Department, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Dr Kola Adesina, decried the extinction of Yoruba language as it has become ancient to the young generation who he said found it difficult to speak the language.
Adesina who blamed the parents for not teaching their children Yoruba language therefore making it strange and difficult to speak and understand.
He therefore called for the use of Yoruba language to teach courses in schools and called on governments at all levels to reintroduce History in the school curriculum to preserve and protect our agelong culture and traditions.
He said, “Our children do not speak the language anymore, and those that even try to speak it, they don’t speak it fluently.
“Even, in my school, you see children that bear Yoruba names find it difficult to speak the language.”
“I call on parents to always teach their children the Indigenous Yoruba language as the language is presently facing the threat of extinction”, he said.
Meanwhile, the enigma fondly called Egunmogaji or Anigilaje was at the peak of his meteoric rise to stardom when he met his untimely death in a barroom brawl on May 6, 1980 aged 47. He died from a cerebral haemorrhage after being struck on the head with a beer mug by Bayewu, his manager at the time. Bayewu was taken to court and sentenced to death a few years later. On the day he died, EMI Records recorded at least 50,000 copies sale on each of his albums.
