Durodola Durosomo Duroorike Timothy Adisa Ladipo (18 December 1926 – 11 March 1978), more commonly known as Duro Ladipo, was one of the best known and critically acclaimed Yoruba dramatists who emerged from postcolonial Africa. Writing solely in the Yoruba language, he captivated the symbolic sp!rit of Yoruba mythologies in his plays, which were later adapted to other media such as photography, television and cinema. His most famous play, Ọba kò so (The King did not Hang), a dramatization of the traditional Yoruba story of how Ṣango became the Orisha of Thunder, received international acclaim at the first Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965 and on a Europe an tour, where a Berlin critic, Ulli Beier, compared Ladipọ to Karajan. Ladipo usually acted in his own plays.

Despite his Christian background, Ladipo was a p0lygamist and had three wil!ves and about fifteen children. In 1964, he married Abiodun Duro-Ladipo, his third w!fe, and she became a permanent member of the troupe. She gained fame as an actress, taking main roles in all the plays performed by the company. He di£d on March 11, 1978, at the age of 51 after a short illn£ss. It is said that when he d¡ed the heavens opened, and there was sudden rain with l¡ghtning and thûnder. This was interpreted as a sign that Shango, the god of thûnder and the main character of his most famous work, welcomed him into the heavens.

Ladipọ tried ha*rd and succeeded in exp0sing himself to traditional and Yoruba cultural elements, especially when living under the veil of a Christian home. At a young age, he would sn£ak out of the vicarage to watch Yoruba festivals. This fascination with his culture g0aded him into researching and experimenting with theatrical drama and writing. After leaving Oṣogbo, he went to Ibadan, where he became a teacher. While in Ibadan he became one of the founding members of an artist club called Mbari Mbayo and became influenced by a German scholar named Ulli Beier. He later replicated the club in Oṣogbo, and it became the premier group for promoting budding artists and dramatists in Oṣogbo. Throughout his career, Duro Ladipọ wrote 10 Yoruba folk operas combining dance, music, mime, proverbs, drumming and praise songs.

Ladipo started his personal theatre group in 1961, but he became fully established with the founding of the Mbari Mbayo Club in Oṣogbo. His popularity as the leader of a folk opera group rests on his three plays: Ọbamoro in 1962, Ọba ko so and Ọba Waja in 1964. Ọba Waja – “The King is D£ad” – is based on the same historical event that inspired fellow Nigerian playwright Wọle Ṣoyinka’s D£ath and the King’s Horseman.) He also promoted Mọremi, a play about the Yoruba ancestress of the same name. He later transformed Mbari Mbayo into a cultural center, an arts gallery and a meeting point for young artists seeking to develop their talents.Ladipọ wrote quite a number of plays, including Suru Baba Iwa and Tanimowo Iku. Some of his plays were also produced for television. In fact, he created Bode Wasinimi for the Nigerian Television Authority, Ibadan.In 1977, Ladipo participated in FESTAC ’77, the Second World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture, in Lagos, Nigeria.

Durodola Durosomo (or Durosinmi) Duroorike Timothy Adisa Ladipo was born on December 18, 1926 to Joseph Oni Ladipo and Dorcas Towobola Ajike Ladipo. Many sources claim he was born in 1931, but this was most likely err0neously stated. Because Ladipo was born after nine of his parents’ ch!|dren di£d before the age of one, Ladipo was believed to be an abiku. Abiku, meaning born to d¡e, is a Yoruba concept in which there are sp!rits that p0ssess the bodies of several chi|dren of a parent and exist to cause pa¡n and s@dness for him or her. The only way this could be solved was by engaging in intense sprit¡ual r!tuals made to tie the ch!|d down to this world or convince the ev!l spirit that its d£ath would not bring sâdness. This was why some ch!ldren can be seen with unaffecti0nate names. Ladipo being believed to be an abiku can be seen by his many names beginning with dúró, a Yoruba word meaning to stay, wait, or remain. His name Dúródọlá means “wait for wealth,” trying to c0nvince him to stay and enjoy life, Dúróṣọmọ́ means “stay to be our chi|d,” another variation, Dúrósinmí means “stay to bur¥ me,” and Dúróoríkẹ́ means “stay to see how much we will care for you.”

Despite the fact that both Joseph and Dorcas Ladipo were devout Anglican Christians who rej£cted the beliefs of their parents, they were so tr0ubled by the apparent abiku possession that for Ladipo, they went to a traditional Ifa priest, or Babalawo. After Duro sûrvived infancy, his parents had five more children, including a set of twins, who all sûrvived infancy. Ladipo’s great-grandfather was a drummer of the gangan and worshipper of the god Shango who escaped the Jalumi W*ar with the help of Oderinlo, one of the w*ar generals, because it was believed to be f0rb¡dden to k¡ll a drummer in w*ar. The tradition of drumming and drummaking continued with his s0n, Ladipo’s grandfather. However, Ladipo’s father, Joseph Oni, refused to follow his ancestor’s footsteps and instead converted to Christianity around 1912. He became a minister at an Anglican church in Oṣogbo thereafter. Joseph wanted Ladipo to follow in his footsteps to be a preacher, but Ladipo was influenced by his grandfather, who was also a devout worshipper of Shango and Oya, and was well versed in Yoruba mythology, especially those emanating from Old Ọyọ. Ladipo also observed Ifa and Egungun festivals at Ila Orangun and Otan Ayegbaju, towns near Osogbo.

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