By Odolaye Aremu
…so the story was told, of a little boy whose mom left him in the care of her husband and a jealous stepmother, to go do business at one Ojeje Market- a mythical market faraway from home. A venture which caused an unusual, but temporary separation between a loving mother and her precious child- same child she was severely tasked to be blessed with.
It was said that the jealous stepmother, ultimately killed the boy in the short absence of his mom, thus releasing the tormented ghost of the boy into a perpetual state of unimaginable sorrow. His sorry soul wandered all around. He climbed the usual “seven hills,” swam through the “seven rivers” and navigated the “seven enchanted forests”- all natural props and mainstay in Yoruba folklore- in the quest to be reunited with his mother- once and for all- at least before his soul was forever damned into a purgatory for lost or wandering souls. And more so to intimate her with everything that occurred while she was away…
it’s with the same- or close to the same emotional release and close to the “boy-ghost’s” melancholy, I dare ask in a mournful song:
Orin: “Ta lo ba mi ri Buruji mi, Ibara ati Ele?!
Egbe: “O de ko de, Ibara ati Ele!”
Song: “Has anyone seen my Buruji either at Ibara or Ele?!”
Chorus: “He’s neither here nor there, at Ibara or Ele”.
***There are multiple versions of the story or its accompanied song. But Orlando Owoh’s version of the song in his “Kosemani” album, dedicated to the memory of his late father is the premise of this lampoon.***
