DURO LADIPO'S OBA KOSO: A MUSICO-TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

Duro Ladipo was born in Oderinlo in Osogbo in the then Western Region, now Osun State, in Nigeria. He was born into a Christian family of Joseph Oni Ladipo and Towobola Ajike Ladipo. His great grandfather was a skilful dundun master drummer who also worshipped Sango and Oya. Following his footsteps, Duro Ladipo developed early interest in the traditional lore and norms of his Yoruba community, and participated in religious festivals and other traditional social gatherings. These elements of traditional lore feature prominently in his theatrical productions.

Duro Ladipo belonged to the first corps of contemporary theatre practitioners to explore oral tradition for creativity, although there are other critics, such as Ebun Clark, who attribute this to Hubert Ogunde. Quoting J. A. Adedeji, Ebun Clark (1990) states as follows:

Duro Ladipo was not the first dramatist of Yoruba theatre to whom oral tradition mattered very much; nor was he the first to explore the wealth of Yoruba myths, legends and history and other prolific poetry, music and dance (9).

Nevertheless, it can be argued that, of all the contemporary theatre practitioners, Duro Ladipo has explored this much more extensively than any other dramatist has done. He was able to make his audience come in contact with their rich cultural heritage through the use of indigenous folklore and local instruments. He also made use of Yoruba folk melodies. This is evident not only in some of his plays.

but virtually in all his operas, confirming his theatrical ingenuity. Ladipo explains why many of his operas are based on indigenous and historical facts.