Scholarly Works

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://repository.ui.edu.ng/handle/123456789/327

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From alarinjo to oniduro: stand-up comedy as a neo-cultural expression in Nigeria
(2012) Aguoru, A.
Comedy (Awada), a treasured genre among the itinerant (Alarinjo) theatre of the Yoruba, has come to have dominant influence on diverse performances in Nigeria. Indeed, it could be argued that contemporary Nigerian stand-up comedy has been largely influenced by the indigenous Alarinjotradition of the Yoruba, which harks back to the turn of the 21st century. Building on Alarinjo as a dominant precursor, the Nigerian stand-up comedy platform, in the last two decades has integrated ethnic, linguistic and religious affiliations to become a bastion of recreation and remuneration transcending the boundaries of the nation-state. Phenomenal though it has been, researchers have hardly traced Nigerian stand-up comedy from its Alarinjoantecedents, it being a dominant source and influence, to its eclectic contemporary state. Therefore, this study, through neo-cultural lens, examines the development from Awada/Alarinjo to Stand-up comedy in Nigeria; with a view to providing a credible understanding of the origin, influences, trends, motifs and forms of the fledgling industry. While acknowledging the complexities inherent in empiricism and positivism, the paper charts a genealogical argument for Nigerian stand-upcomedy beginning with the performances of nameless palace satiric entertainers which are traceable to almost every ethnic group in Nigeria, the diverse comic performances inherent in mask dramaturges, through the ‘de-ritualized’ itinerant troupes among the Yoruba. It connects this with the professional travelling theatre of the Ogunde Tradition that brought the traditional theatres of Nigeria into limelight, the art of Moses Olaiya, and Gbenga Adeboye, the precursor of Yoruba and indeed contemporary stand-up comedy in Nigeria. Linking these with aspects of the art of Alii Baba, Gbenga Adeyinka I, Julius Agwu, Basket Mouth, Gandoki, De Don Klint de Drunk and Mohammed Danjuma among others, stand-up comedy-as a contemporary art- is purposively interrogated. Thus, the paper chronicles the sociological, literary and multicultural metamorphosis of this theatrical and comical form.
Mentoring and art: a bio-critical engagement of Ulli Beier and Duro Ladipo's lives
(Journal of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, 2018) Aguoru, A.
Several studies on Ulli Beier and Duro Ladipo have established that they were precursors in the development and preservation of aspects of Nigerian indigenous theatrical arts. There have been polemics arising from the critical opinions about the relationship that existed between these two artists and the implication of the influences they wielded, one on the other. Diverse forms of mentoring, an established system of a co-creative process, is identified as the informal but effective ideology that sustained and reinforced the Beier-Ladipo collaboration. This study bio-critically explores two biographical works, Wole Ogundele's Omoluabi: UlliBeier, Yoruba Society and Culture and Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, Sola Olorunyomi and Abiodun Duro-Ladipo's Duro Ladipo: Thunder God on Stage. The paper engages their subjects beyond their lives to their creative passions that impacted Nigeria as well as the international communities beyond their lifetimes. The unmistakable significance of mentorship as agency in the Beier-Ladipo collaboration culminated in the emergence of two dramatists, the Duro Ladipo School and a historical form of the Nigerian operatic travelling theatrical tradition. Examining these antecedents is with a view to interrogating the contemporary value on mentoring relationships on the preservation of culture in spite of diversity.
Osofisan's thunder-king and the recreation of Ladipo‘s sango
(Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding, Osogbo, Osun State, 2017) Aguoru, A.
Adaptation as a literary art in its entirety has been described as a mimetic art. The enterprise of reshaping and recreating a text, context and co-text from its original form to suit a new context, space, time or culture is the other element of adaptation which could take on the inter or intra cultural regalia. Femi Osofisan's folio includes dynamic inter and intra cultural adaptations; most of which have been studied across theatrical and critical contexts. This study examines his re-creative engagement of the Yoruba Thunder God, Sango, a character magically transformed from Yoruba history and legend into the contemporary theatrical life in Duro Ladipo's Oba Ko So. This study examines the demystification of the Thunder God and his queens, who are also prominent deities among the Yoruba pantheon. It comparatively examines the gaps Osofisan's Many Colours Make a Thunder- King fills along the observable and discernable convergence and divergence in the sinews of adaptation evident in the dynamic adaptation of characterology, thematic centring, plot structure and form in both plays. The triggers of Osofisan's exploration and craft are intriguing as he celebrates and interrogates existing texts and philosophies and, in this case, extending the philosophical, historical as well as gender related arguments in his recreation of the Thunder God and his queens.