Clement Adeyi, Osogbo
Two iconic Yoruba culture and tradition enthusiasts whose lifestyles have tremendously impacted on the cultural landscape of Nigeria and Yoruba land, Ulli Beier and his wife, Susanne Wenger, came into reckoning recently. That was when scores of Yoruba indigenes congregated in Osogbo, Osun State, to reminisce on the legacies the duo set in the development and promotion of African and Yoruba cultural values and heritage.
The couple came into limelight in the firmament of African cultural values when they showcased themselves as ambassadors of Yoruba cultural heritage. They instantly became celebrities among the custodians of the cultural values as well as the advocates of the Yoruba tradition and culture.
Beier, a German, arrived Nigeria on October 1, 1950, and stormed the Yoruba land when he secured an academic position to teach Phonetics at the then University College, Ibadan. After a stint in the Department of Phonetics, he moved to Extra Mural Studies where he became interested in Yoruba Philosophy, Arts and Culture.
He journeyed through the hinterlands of Yoruba land, including Ede, Ilobu and Osogbo where he was indoctrinated into the thoughts, worship and rituals of Yoruba. In Ede, Beier became a very close friend of the then Timi of Ede, Oba Adetoyese Laoye, who initiated him into the Sango cult. He was able to relate with priests and priestesses of other Yoruba communities in different religious and cultural ceremonies.
He also contributed to Yoruba literature, especially when he cofounded Mbari-Mbayo Osogbo with the late legendary Yoruba dramatist, Duro Ladipo. Mbari-Mbayo Osogbo was a festering ground for all kinds of cultural and artistic activities by poets and musicians.
Beier was reputed for his translation of Nigerian traditional literary works into English. He introduced the greater part of Yoruba culture, epistemology, religion, spirituality, metaphysics and philosophy to an international audience.
His collections included photographs of cultural symbols, traditional rulers, traditional architecture, artistes, hairstyles, drums and dresses of Yoruba people. He provided an understanding of Yoruba history, culture and anthropology, especially in the 1950s and 1960s.
Determined to retain the records of the legacies he set in the development of African and Yoruba culture and tradition for posterity, Bier handed all of his collections to the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), Osogbo, before he died in 2011.
Wenger, an Austrian, who was popularly known as Adunni Olorisa, due to her passion for Yoruba culture and tradition, was Yoruba priestess in the sacred Osun Osogbo Grove.
Her relationship with the Ajagemo, an Obatala priest in Ede, paved way for her introduction to Yoruba epistemology, language, religion and philosophy. Though her marriage with Bieir later ended in divorce, she later got married to a Yoruba man, Lasisi Alarape, and continued to promote Yoruba culture and tradition in Osogbo.
Owing to her dedication to the worship of Yoruba Orisa, she was accepted as a cult priestess. Wenger developed the Osun Osogbo Shrine through her artistic and pottery techniques to portray the ideas of gods and spirituality. She tried to interpret the mysteries and truth of Yoruba traditional religion through her arts.
Also to her credit, she built and dotted the forests of the Sacred Grove of Osun with works of arts and created a new art movement known as New Sacred Art. It was a branch of Osogbo School of Arts that guards the Sacred Grove of Osun goddess on the banks of the Osun River in Osogbo.
Through Wenger, the Osun River Grove has been preserved for posterity and has become a global attraction to different nationals across the world.
It was in the light of these that the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), in collaboration with CBCIU, recently organised lecture and workshop for Beier and a memorial lecture for Wenger to celebrate and immortalise them. It was also to draw lessons from their commitments to and values for the African and Yoruba cultural heritage.
The events were held simultaneously at the premises of CBCIU, focusing on the promotion of African and Yoruba cultural values and forging linkages and interactions with Black cultures in Europe, America and the Caribbean Islands.
Scores of custodians of Yoruba culture and tradition including traditional rulers, movies and entertainment artistes as well as academics, youths and tourists participated in the event. The event coincided with the Osun Osogbo Festival which grand finale was held in the second week of August to reconnect Beier and Wenger’s penchants for the Yoruba cultural heritage that the festival portrays.
The Head of Department of History, University of Ibadan, Professor Olutayo Adesina, the guest lecturer, made case for promotion of African and Yoruba cultures and traditions.
He stressed that part of the reasons Africa and Nigeria had remained underdeveloped was due to repudiation of their cultural values: “Our consciousness should be our cultural values and heritage. They should be our pride. If Beier, a German, did, why can’t we Africans? His embrace of African cultures and tradition is a testament that all that we need are all here. He saw something better in ‘Africanity.’”
He said History was a tool for understanding a total man and not just a study of a man’s past but the totality of human experience, cultural values and tradition. He tasked the university system on the need to help the society understand itself by raising a generation of youths that would cherish their culture and tradition to be able to apply the perspectives in engendering growth and development of the country.
Professor Oyeronke Olademo of the Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, projected Nigeria’s image at the global level. She called on Nigerians, especially the youth populace, to show more interest in their cultural heritage, which she stressed, would go a long way in inspiring further understanding of the society and relative progress.
Chairman, Board of Trustees, CBCIU and former Osun State governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said: “I urge every one to learn from Ulli Beier and Wenger’s selfless contributions to the revival of the Yoruba culture and tradition for posterity.”
Professor Siyan Oyeweso of the Department of History, Osun State University, Osogbo, and Executive Director, CBCIU, said the centre would continue to provide cultural movies and entertainment that would focus on portraying and developing the Yoruba cultural heritage with a view to enlivening Beier and Wenger’s legacies.