Artistes and culturists of Ori Olokun era celebrated one of its own actor, storyteller and singer, Jimi Solanke who marked his eightieth birthday this July.
The week-long celebration opened with a webinar Ori Olokun Confab which convened artistes and culture advocates of the now defunct theatre group, a launch of the celebrant’s biography by Oluwatoyin Sutton, and a 51 minutes documentary on Solanke titled The Jimi Show directed by Ayo Adewunmi.
Speaking of his relationship with Solanke, founder and convener of the Ori Olokun Alumni Confab Theatre, Niyi Coker reminisced on his early contact with the actor as a child of six or seven years watching him take on the role of Oba Ovamweren Nogbaisi, and his later encounters with the legendary figure as a theatre student.
Coker, whose uncle Ola Rotimi founded the Ori Olokun Theatre had the opportunity to watch the actor ply his craft time and again, such that Solanke became his yardstick to judge the protagonists’ role of the plays Kurumi and Oba Nogbaisi, and impressed upon him the beauty and importance of his career path.
Solanke’s role as Oba Nogbaisi, Coker said, proved so powerful and so moving that it brought then Oba of Benin and his people such pain and shame as to what they had lost.
“You felt the intensity of not just his performance but of his gaze. It is not until the production is done, that he divests himself of the character. He makes you understand how to keep your performance fresh and make it better every time. He peels the character to find deeper meaning to it. With his every performance he was not only entertaining the audience but educating us the students. He improved the confidence in me to be a better actor. We are blessed that he is with us.”
“Solanke was already a legend when I started at University of Ibadan in 1982, that’s how long he’s been a part of life,” said Culture Advocates Caucus and Culture Advocate, Jahman Anikulapo. The former Arts Editor of Guardian Newspaper, expressed his joy that the legend is being celebrated during his lifetime, particularly via his ten parts biography Jimi Solanke: The Indestructible and the screening of The Jimi Show.
Recounting his experience with Solanke, Ayo Adewunmi described his documentary The Jimi Show as a tribute to the man who taught him the rudiments of directing before his filming career. Although not a member of the Ori Olokun extract, Adewunmi met the man post undergraduate studies in UNIBADAN. Idle as a result of academic bureaucracies, Adewunmi at the directive of Solanke worked as his personal assistant and apprentice.
“For the seven years that the university held onto my certificate after graduation was when he greatest impact in my life. Everything I know when it comes to theatre; everything I know about film, I learnt from him.”
Of the Ori Olokun legacy, the estimable actress, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett who met Solanke in the states and played his wife in Wole Ogumyemi’s The Divorce couldn’t sing his praises enough.
She said, “Like a good wine you’ve aged well. Like the true artiste you are, you are several things to many people. You have enthralled me; you have thrilled me. Congratulations. I know this is not over until it’s over.”
Joining his voice to Lycett’s, Solanke’s son Tai Solanke to congratulate his father whom he admits rather than slowly down has so much ambition and plans to accomplish.
“The older he gets the more he wants to do. He is building stuff. He wants to grow things. I want to tell him to stop but everyone says the minute he stops that’s when it ends. So, prayerfully this will be the beginning of 8o more years to come.
“I commend everyone involved in this, for the honour you brought with your presence, your words, your memories and reminisces of my father.
For the woman beside the man, Toyin Solanke, the alumni particularly, the female artistes Ajai-Lycett and Nike Okundaye of Nike Arts Gallery commended for care and support of the multi-talented and stubborn man.
“I sometimes call him a naughty man,” said Toyin of her much older husband. “I am glad he is loved by many. Jimmy is a good man, a very loving husband and caring father. A good and kindhearted person. He showed me so many things. So, he is like a father to me as well.”
Baba Aba @80 is the initiative of the Culture Advocates Caucus (CAC) in partnership with the School of Arts and Media, San Diego State University (SDSU), US. Other organizations contributing to the 8-day initiative include Osesua Stephen-Imobhio’s the New Highlife Masters’ Voice; Jazz Conference by the Lagos Jazz Society’s Jazz Conference; a Playreading session of Jimi Solanke’s play organized by the National Theatre, Lagos; a Storytelling Mentorship Session by Segun Adefila’s the Bariga Art Collective; a Mentorship programme by the Department of Theatre and Music, LASU; a Music Concert supported by CAC and Freedom Park, Lagos; Methodist Cathedral of Peace’s Festival of Praise, which saw the unveiling of Jimi Solanke album Oba Awan Oba; and Olu Ajayi Studios and Living Icons Foundation Living Icons Life Drawing show scheduled for June 8, 2022.
