The dying culture of oral traditions in most African societies recently formed the thematic thrust of the conference of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) held in Florida, U.S.A. The fear of this disappearance has been haunting most African writers and scholars in recent times. In this report, Edozie Udeze reached out to some writers and more so, Professor Niyi Osundare, one of the most noted progenitors of oral narratives in Africa for clearer explanation.
And the word became flesh. The scriptures captured the whole essence of it more clearly. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God… And through him all things were made. In the African setting before time, the place of oral tradition was incontrovertible. Through the oral tradition rendered from generation to generation, people of historical prominence were able to discover their origin. Today, however, the situation has somewhat changed as fear looms.
The question then is where is oral tradition in African affairs today? Recently, there was a conference of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA). Held in Florida, USA and put in place by Akintunde Akinyemi of Nigeria, the high point was to revisit this traditional aspect of literature to see how it can be revalidated for the sake of humanity. This position is indeed in consonance with the fears often expressed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) about the sudden disappearance of many traditiosn and languages, from the surface of the earth.
But it is pertinent that ISOLA was able to observe this fear. Speaker after speaker hinted on it. Akinyemi reminded the delegates of the need to resuscitate this old tradition that had often formed the pivot point of literary and historical narratives. Even European and American delegates were haunted by the same fear of the loss of this great aspect of literary recollection. Their primary concern is that UNESCO’s prescription of the resort to the master pieces of the oral tradition has to be upheld. These include intangible heritage of humanity, practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills as well as instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated with orature. All these have their relevance in the course of time and space.
In defence of this, Professor Niyi Osundare, a literary guru and one of Africa’s most renowned creative apostles, reminded mankind about some noted African writers who have depended heavily on oral tradition to achieve stardom. These included Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Christopher Okigbo, Niyi Osundare, Femi Osofisan, JP Clark, Tanure Ojaide and lots more.
In this regard, he said “Of course the source of our literature stems from oral source. For a long time oral literature, just like oral history, was dismissed as non-literature, non-literary source and as a pagan way of life and so on and so forth. But the only source of literature the colonial people paid attention to was the written word. But they forgot that the word was spoken before it was written”,.
Professor Osundare therefore believes that time has come to revalidate the oral source as one of the greatest sources of history, literature and literary preservation. He said, “so all sources of literature are extremely important. And African writers in the 1960s had to rise to the occasion insisting that oral source was very crucial to literature. They tried to give it the pride of place that it deserved. This revolution began in East Africa”.
Osundare, one of the foremost poets of African descent took a swipe at the development of modern literature in East Africa and then gave kudos to this revolution. “This revolution was led by Ngugi Wa’ Thiongo’o and other East African literary giants. This also led to the great work called Songs of Lawino. If you read Songs of Lawino you’ll know that this is a work written based on Oral Literature. It has strong oral stunt and it sticks.”
Therefore this revalidation of oral literature kickstarted by East African writers later found its way to West Africa. It spread like a wild fire in the 1960s and got to the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and later to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. “It took quite sometime to get to the UNN. What really introduced orature or sources of orature to the UNN was the book, The Decolonisation of African Literature by Chinweizu and Madubuike who took it upon themselves to revisit the issue. In that book they made it clear that orature is one of the greatest sources of African Literature.”
The argument still remains that Africans and African scholars neglected the sources of their literature for too long. It is now imperative that writers go back to it in order to ensure that their literary endeavours are made heavier and more relevant to the needs of the people. For Osundare who has been in the academic system for over forty years and who also derived his sources from orature, it is true to look on ahead. He said, “We should go back there. People like me owe a lot to oral tradition. And the same goes for people like Tanure Ojaide, J.P. Clark, Wole Soyinka, Christopher Okigbo and the younger generation of writers which includes Akeem Lasisi, Da Silver and more. These people have been giving revalidation to oral literature.”
So if this has been the case, why have Nigerians and most other African writers kept this source of tradition in the dustbin of history? History or literature can never again be complete or sweet without the incorporation of oral sources. “Just like oral sources of literature were put down, so also were those of history,” Osundare lamented. To him then, the whole essence of mankind is to get this back forthwith. He said, “In the colonial imagination, history is something that is written; that is documented. So for a long time Africa was dismissed as a continent without history. Can you believe that, a continent that is the source of humanity? History wouldn’t just agree with that. No. So it took sometime for people like Adiele Afigbo, the great historian and J.F.A Ade-Ajayi and the rest to debunk this and set the record straight. They said that oral sources are valuable sources of history. They won the battle and I think literature has won the battle too.”
The problem in the contemporary times, however, is that younger writers do not seem to grasp the potency of local languages and the depth of orature. In this regard, Osundare has a word for them. “They seem to know less and less of our culture and less and less of our languages. They know less of the treasury of oral sources which should give more vibes to their stories.”
Essentially, most writers have lost touch with their original sources; those days when grandmothers told folkloric stories or moonlight stories of victories and conquests and exploits of ancestors. “Oh, well that is part of it. Even though we are not saying that history should be stereotype. No, far from it. The point is: what has happened to our religion? What has happened to our languages, the main sources of the conveyance of our history? With our religion, with Pentecostalism, our religion is no longer there. This has truly displaced indigenous faith and beliefs, those religious and ancestral sources of history. So, it is very unfashionable today to talk about Ifa, about Sango and the indigenous religious system. And you know this constitutes a very important aspect of our oral tradition and history.”
Osundare is so piqued about this unfortunate development that he had to enter into a caveat to sum up his over all feelings about the situation. “Some new writers are trying to get the oral literature back through the back door. They use rap, hip hop and other forms to revisit this source. The poetry slam, the work of people like Paul Azino Efe and his group have their poetry all over the place. This is giving orality its former pride of place in the society. It is good and they have to be encouraged. My own take is that this is what has given me my own creativity for over forty years. It is therefore best when a writer combines oral and modern literature to produce the best work ever. Chinua Achebe achieved that feat tremendously in Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God where he relied heavily on oral tradition to produce those body of works. Those two books, will forever stand out in the literary circle. Femi Osofisan too, has done a lot based on oral tradition. His body of works speak volumes on this. His use of folktales, and oral narratives, help to depict forms of dramaturgy and so on,” he disclosed.
For Denja Abdullahi, a poet known for his oral narratives his body of works, orature can never be dismissed from African literature. Their relevance remain the binding factors to give distinguishable features to most narratives coming out of the continent. He said, “oralture is the critical source of our literary heritage which our first generation writers exploited to the full to give their writings the aesthetic vibrancy associated with their arts.”
As the president of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Abdullahi should know better when he noted that “now, a departure from this rich literary heritage by our later day writers denied their craft the expected depth both in content and technique. Even then oral literature in its form such as proverbs, folktales, myths, legend, songs, praise poetry, panegyrics, drum language etc, should be reintroduced in our schools. This will help to inform our children and the youth and redirect them towards positive transnational ethos.”
And to cap it up, it will also add more value to the preservation of dying indigenous languages. Parents have to take interest in this culture and keep the interest of children aglow to keep traditions on front burner in homes, in schools and in the entire society.
