Arts & Life
March 16, 2025 by Olaitan Ganiu
• Adeniyi
Artiste: Biodun Adeniyi
Album: FROM THE MUSICAL ORUNMILA
Genre: Folk/Highlife
Reviewer: Olaitan Ganiy
A thunderous procession of rhythm and wisdom, From the Musical Orunmila, is an odyssey through time, where United Kingdom (UK) based Biodun Adeniyi channels the ethereal essence of Orunmila—the Yoruba deity of wisdom—to produce an album that resonates with poetry and humane musicality. Adeniyi’s work unfolds as a sonic scripture of ancestral warnings for a generation teetering on the precipice of moral erosion.
With masterful instrumentation and searing lyricism, the artiste invokes the Yoruba musical tradition in its rawest and most revelatory form. To listen to this opus is to step into a time machine whose gears are oiled by inherited wisdom. Each note resounds like an incantation, invoking the spirits of Yoruba griots who once told cautionary tales beneath moonlit skies – moralising the innate nature of a people grappling with greed, lost virtues, and identity crisis.
Adeniyi intones the artistry and timeless wisdom of his forebears. Nowhere is this more evident than in ‘Iyaniwura,’ a song as tender as a mother’s embrace. The refrain, “Olope ni mi mo fe ki yeye mi, e se mo’dupe Iya to wo mi dagba”, loops like a threnody and tribute all at once, invoking reflection upon the selflessness often taken for granted.
Yet, Adeniyi is not merely a praise-singer; he is a satirical observer, wielding his lyrics like a scalpel to dissect contemporary ills. ‘Ogun Iwoyi’ is a study in moral recklessness, its Yoruba folk opening—“O digbo Efon, o digbo Erin, Agbamurere”—a haunting eulogy to a generation untethered from ancestral wisdom. In ‘Iriri Abuja,’ he turns his gaze to modern-day mademoiselles who masquerade as paragons of virtue by day while engaging in nocturnal trysts. His words sting with unvarnished truth: “In daylight, they pretend to be housewives, but they are oloshos who parade the streets at night.” The simplicity of the arrangement betrays the gravity of the message, seeping into the consciousness like a slow, unrelenting admonition.
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As one who straddles the worlds of journalism, music, and theatre, Adeniyi’s storytelling is both vivid and unrelenting. A former Energy and Environment Editor for The News magazine, a seasoned satirist, and a laureate of the American Poetry Society’s competition, his pen is as sharp as his voice. His time in the dramatic arts, particularly as the founder of Itu Meje (Seven Wonders), has imbued his music with a theatrical richness. This dramatic flair is evident in ‘Gbadebo Okukenu The 4th,’ where he dons the robes of a praise-poet, eulogizing the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo. The track resonates as poetry with rhythm, its Egba dialect weaving a sonic reverence fit for kings. In ‘Akinolu Oba Eko,’ he channels the grandeur of Lagos, extolling Oba Rilwan Akinolu with the same vigor exuded by the musical greats.
Beneath his artistry, however, subsists a keen moral compass. ‘Afiyen Oo’ is a scathing exposé of sexual predation in Nigerian schools. With brutal honesty, he recounts a teacher’s betrayal of his pupil: “Do you remember when you asked me to come and prepare you a meal? You then locked me inside…” This is not just a song; it is an indictment, a wailing lament for innocence lost and justice perpetually deferred.
Adeniyi’s prowess is “influenced by the greats—Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Herbert Ogunde, and Uncle Tunji Oyelana.” Yet, he remains distinct, refusing to be swallowed by the tide of commercialized debauchery that plagues modern music. “Most of the music we publish these days revolve around love and sex… in fact, I would add, debauchery,” he mused, rejecting the notion of ‘art for art’s sake.’ Instead, he advances art with purpose. “As for me, there’s method in madness,” he said, stressing that artistic “madness” must be didactic – a voice unafraid to both celebrate and condemn.
Adeniyi’s brilliance resonates in his craftsmanship, his ability to weave together the elemental sounds of Africa—the brassy exuberance of the saxophone, the pulsating heartbeat of the talking drum, and the delicate eloquence of Yoruba folklore into a melody that bridges epochs. A peep into the artiste’s roots reveals his early dalliance with music. From the pews of the Trinity Anglican Church in Ilasamaja, Mushin, Lagos, where he once lifted his voice in soprano, to the pop bands of Palmgroove in the late ’70s, his artistry was nurtured quiet early in life. His mother, a Princess of Royal Gbadebo Clan of Egba-Alake, Late Mutiat Asabi Ajibike-Tella, a cousin of the legendary Apala maestro, Ayinla Omowura, was herself a folk singer, and in her, he found his earliest muse. Music, for him, has never been about fame or fortune; it is an unbroken heirloom, a calling that defies material pursuit, he said. Thus From the Musical Orunmila is a moral compass set to melody, a time capsule that preserves and critiques in equal measure. Adeniyi emerges not just as a musician, but as a historian, a philosopher, and a guardian of Yoruba folklore.
Biodun Adeniyi
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