Aralola Olamuyiwa, known as Ara queen of talking drum, has had her share of betrayal in life; a world she thought would end as fairy tale. In this interview with DUPE AYINLA-OLASUKANMI, she reveals her plans for her new project through her NGO which has to do with women, children, and others. Enjoy
TELL us about the concert you had recently in Osun.
It went very well. I will describe it as a huge success too.
What about your tour abroad?
We are still working on that, and it will take place next year. It is to promote the movie Osun Funke, as well as Ara in Concert. We will be going to places like Copa, and some states in the US.
Can you explain the reason behind this tour of yours?
It is within my territory as an entertainer. Most artistes that have been able to do it, have the financial capability and the grace to thrill their audience. For me, Ara has been on stage for the past 25 years, and I don’t have a single CD in the market. So it is only those who have the privilege to come to my concert that have the opportunity to see me perform. And I feel that celebrating my silver jubilee with a movie and collection of video is worth the time.
Having been in the industry for 25 years without an album, is this deliberate?
It was not planned that way really, because I have recorded several songs in the studio, hoping to release them. But a lot of factors came in and it had to be put on hold. The most of it, is that Ara is always on the road for one thing or the other. Like my concert, appearances, or my NGO project or family issues. But mainly it is because of my busy schedule. And because of this I somehow find myself sort of different in the box. Because when I am on stage I let loose, but when I am in the cage, I mean studio, I find it difficult to let loose. But I have been able to get over that, and now I have work that I will be releasing, and one is the one I did with Tuface, Olomi remix.
What does your NGO project?
The Ara NGO is a project that has to do with what I am passionate about. I am very much passionate about issues that have to do with women and children. Even before I became a mother, I had this concern to reach out to children which I did through different orphanages before I had my child. So after I had my child, I realised that there is more to just buying gifts for children, that there is more, like taking care of them, which has to do with the time they are in the womb and the time they are born. A mother is more or less like a god to them, so taking care of them has to do with education, basic amenities, creating a positive environment for them. The one I am working on right now is on maternal mortality And the reason I am very passionate about this issue is because I have seen, heard and read about how a lot of mothers die for reason next to nothing, and their babies too. Recently, my youngest brother’s wife lost a five-month-old baby. I was the one who drove her to the hospital and she delivered the baby normally and I had the belief that if there had been enough equipments, the baby would have survived. I was the one who buried the baby and everything was already formed. And I asked myself how he died, and I just realised that it was lack of equipments that are inexpensive. And I have heard of nine months pregnancies too. So I went online and Google to find out how much incubator costs and I was shocked, that most of our maternity hospitals do not have incubators, and then risk the lives of mother and child. So I am doing something that will involve Lagos State and other states too, and see how we can work together to provide these equipments needed to save mother and child. As far as I am concerned, I will do my best and leave the rest. I have a voice and a name and one of the purposes I have that is for a purpose to make people happy. There are some deaths that you know you cannot avert, but there are some that you could avoid. My son at one year had malaria, and slumped and they could not resuscitate him at the hospital we took him to, I had to use mouth to mouth. They have oxygen machine, but the doctor on duty did not even know how to use it. He was gone for about 45 minutes; it was God that brought him back. What we are after is to save as many mothers and babies that we can. Another thing I am working on is thyroid glands, a lot of women have this, but I have seen men who have it too. I know about this, because I had it and I know the test, and treatment is expensive. And I know what it does to the body too. This is my second or third project, but right now we are trying to get incubators and monitoring machines for distributions. That is the Ara Passion Project.
When did you realise that you had passion for acting and writing?
I have always been in the entertainment, but not in movies. Well in secondary school I did a lot of stage plays and did win a lot of prizes for my school then. I had acted in one movie, where I played a nurse. I did act on stage this year at the Black Image event. I wrote the story and was scripted by Tunde Babalola, and hopefully we will be working with uncle Tunde Kelani. Ara is a total entertainer that involves singing, dancing, and acting. We have Ramsey Noauh on board already; he will be playing the lead act in the movie Osun Funke. We are not on set, because the script is still in process. But for the book, we are done with chapter one and we have eight chaptersin all. The book has everything about me.
Why did you decide to write an autobiography?
You see as stars, there is more to us than you see. We are just like every regular human being, but with special talents. We are more or less the chosen ones and our life should be role models to people. Our life is not always perfect, but people see a perfect us on TV. We cry, we curse, we bless, we fight, we yab, we fart, we shit, we make babies, we make love, some of us cook, we make friends, we make enemies, we do everything. But we have the extra responsibility of making your world a better place for living with our talents. So I believe that you should know that part of us that is like you and learn from it. In that regard, I respect two people a lot. Oprah Winphrey went from rape to miscarriage, and still came out successful, and Nelson Mandela, from prison to all sort of things. So I want to share the story of my positivity, my first kiss, my first boyfriend, and all those things.
You used to be a tom boy while in school. Do you still smoke and drink?
No, I have stopped smoking way back. But I still drink occasionally. But I am still a tom boy in a way. An example is the one I mentioned earlier that the dead baby of my brother’s wife was placed in my hands, I removed the baby from the pack, wore a glove and looked at all the parts and I prayed for him and buried him. And my mother was like iwo, omo yi sha. A woman naturally will not do such things. And after doing those things, I sometimes ask myself where I get the strength. Like when I do all those things I do on stage and sit down to replay, I ask myself if I was the one that did all that. And for me I don’t see obstacles because I am a woman. If I want to get something, I go for it.
Has it ever occurred to you that, there might be something unusual about you?
I know a lot is unusual about me, that is the spiritual angle. I know I am not an ordinary person and that is the reason I chose my friends. I cannot even say I have friends, but I have people that I work with. And because I have a very strong spirit I can see with my third eye. So I am not fooled by certain things. But people like me; our weakness is attached to the people that we give our heart to. They are the people that can mess with us. No matter how powerful we are, our weakness is with the people we love, they are the only ones that can break us. Somebody like Samson gave his heart and secret to Delilah and he was captured. Don’t forget that a prophecy had gone ahead of him. So that explains a lot of things about me. I am a very spiritual person and my mother knows, so there are some certain things that she won’t tell about me. Like when she was pregnant with me, the things she saw and after I was born. Over-spiritual people will start terming it to mean different things, so I rather keep that part of me and use it, as long as I don’t over step my boundaries with God, my creator. I don’t runaway or deny it anymore. Even my secondary days, they knew that something was wrong with me.
What is it like to be a single mother?
For me I have come to a conclusion that life is how you take it. If you want it to be hard, it will be. If you want it soft, it will be. I am blessed, so I can take care of my needs, I do not need to wait for any man to do anything for me. To that, I praise God that He is putting food on my table and clothes on my back. Because I was an up and doing person, everybody was surprised that I became submissive to my ex when we got married. I won’t take any decision or step without consulting him. I don’t advise it being a single mother; I still will get married again and have more children. I am not pushing it or rushing it, I am waiting for that time. I know it will happen, because I have suitors. It is just a matter of choosing who I want and a matter of time too. I am not committed to anybody.
How do you create time for your son, being on the road always?
I work my schedule round my son, because I am his mother and father. So I create a balance. But single parent is not the best, because there are times that you will want just a hug, a kiss on the forehead, not forgetting that I am a very sensitive and emotional person. There are times that I just need somebody to hold my hands. I am not the type of person that will just go with any type of person, if I am not into you. Like kissing, because this has to do with my spirituality. I cannot share myself with two people. It will affect me and that is why I have to be extremely careful. But I thank God because he has been faithful.
