Many are in agreement that the Nigerian culture, with its rich art, religion, music, folklore, and a host of others, is fast going into extinction. This has been attributed to the inability of the older generations to pass it on to the younger ones, which would help them shape their values, beliefs and attitudes.
However, while a lot of people cannot distinguish the old culture from the trending one made possible by constant exposure to the media, Mrs. Rhoda Omosunlola Johnston-Smith is weighing in to ensure the rich Nigerian culture lives on. One way she is doing this is by publishing a compilation of old Yoruba children rhymes to teach good behaviour, inter-personal relationship and hygiene, among others.
Odu Orin was launched recently at a public presentation graced by a professor of African Literature, University of Ohio, United States of America, Leke Adeeko, who also served as the reviewer.
Chairman of the Yoruba Tennis Club, Seyi Joseph, was chairman for the event with the theme ‘Better Societal Values through Culture Reawakening’.
Odu Orin is a compilation of some Yoruba folk songs, which, for decades, formed part of instructions for moral education. It is also an embodiment of teachings through folktales, proverbs and folk songs combined with knowledge and wisdom.
The launch was to raise funds for writing the tunes of the songs in Odu Orin in music notes as permanent documentation, thereby putting them on the same pedestal as other English nursery rhymes and lullabies that children have had to learn for decades. It is also, to provide resources to enable the capturing of other forms of indigenous Yoruba music for the purpose of documentation, providing resources for its availability and affordability and producing the video in cartoon form.
The executive producer, Mrs. Folake Ademiluyi, said the importance of these old songs lies in the fact that they provide instructions which would reverberate all through the child’s life.
She explained that the “songs would help the child live an honest life via the lessons embedded in the song”.
Others present are Oba Gbenga Sonuga (Fadesewa of Simawa), Olori Odunola Sijuade (Olori Ooni Ile Ife) and Prince Ade Adefioye.