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Simeon Mpamugoh
Pleasant memories are always hard to fade. Loulou Dedola, a French-Nigerian storyteller, poet, anthologist and musician, once lived in Nigeria. Recently, he returned to Nigeria to preview his comic book, Fela Back to Lagos, at Alliance Franchaise de Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre, Osborn Road, Lagos. His gushing praises for Fela Anikulapo Kuti could set nostalgia kindling again.
“Fela crusades against corruption, and that is what I’m canvassing,” he recalled. “I love Yoruba culture, maybe because I bear Yoruba name, but the point remains that the culture is in my blood.”
Fela Back to Lagos chronicles the anthology of Yoruba deities, but it wasn’t a book he set out to write initially. Dedola revealed how it all started, “Something very intriguing happened. My publisher in France asked me whether I could write a book about Fela. I told him no. He asked if I could write his biography, I replied, ‘No, I’m not Fela’s manager who knows everything about him.’
“I told my publisher that what I wanted was Fela in the new Nigeria –rebirth of the legendary Afrobeat maestro. He mythically exclaimed, ‘Fela! Born again? It is not possible, because he is not a Christian’.”
A mysterious encounter by the author was to change his perception of Fela. He said, “While I was asleep, Olodumare spoke to me in a dream, telling me of the story of a Yoruba god. He told me, ‘I’m Olodumare; this is me; and I’m in everybody and everything. The technology is Olodumare, and the sun is Olodumare.’
“So I asked Oludumare in a trance, ‘Why are there so many problem if you are so strong? Why are people starving? Why disease, sickness and poverty ravaging the people?’
“Olodumare responded, ‘I don’t interfere in human business. I created Orisa to do it, the Greece and Roman gods, Shango, god of thunder; Ogun, god of war; Oya which is for energy; Esun, the trouble maker’.”
The Frenchman was further directed by Olodumare on what to tell the musician, “You have to let Fela inform everybody he is no more a dying man but an Orisa who would take care of the oppressed people.”
That, hence, gave birth to the book, Fela Back to Lagos. The book, however, is not a biographical but historical account on Fela featuring Yoruba deities as characters –Orisa, Oya, Shango, Ogun, Obatala, Esun; and Olodumare, the Supreme Being in the Yoruba pantheon and the light that christened Fela the Orisa of entertainment and protector of the oppressed people, Dedola hinted.
Dedola revealed that Fela, in the book, was the Orisa, while Oduduwa was the first ruler of Ife, reiterating that Abami Eda becaming Orisa was a decision by Olodumare. “In this book, it was the Olodumare that decided that Fela should be god. In my shows, I do what Olodumare asks me to do, and, in Back to Lagos part 2, I will tell people that Yoruba culture is not dead, just like Fela, who no fit quench,” said the author.
The cover of the book, revealed Dedola, was designed by Luga Ferrara, while the author created the story and characters himself. But the “book is about a young area boy, a troublemaker in Ogba, who disturbs the neighborhoods. The pastor tries to eliminate him, but Fela sees it as barbaric and asks some Orisas, Shangos and Oguns to assist him back to Lagos, which is where the title was derived. Fela escapes from the spirit world and goes back to Lagos to save the life of the young boy,” he narrated.
Dedola said the task in the book was to give one-day life to the boy killed by the pastor and his allies. Seeing the evil done by the pastor, Fela decided to come back. Said he, “The heart of the story is that the boy is not completely saved; he needs to find Fela’s saxophone where Shango hid it for him, and he has only one day to do that, so he ran all over Lagos. It was like a rude movie. In the context of the book, the boy epitomises evil.
“In fact, he is a rebel facing judgment, and doesn’t know who to answer for him. The only answer he gets is violence, because he is not thinking enough, yet within him and his father is a heart of a good man. Unfortunately, they killed him and threw him into thrash, but Fela comes to give life back to him. “The book should not be seen from Christian or Muslim perspective,” he cautions.
Esun protects some people. Same with Ogun, Shango, or Oduduwa. Devil exists in both Christian and Muslim and no one is perfect. Everyone has two sides –good and bad. You have to remove primordial sentiment to be able to understand Fela and his African ideologies, which make him an intellectual character,” he echoed.
“His story intrigues many who listened to it. He never knew his
maternal and paternal ancestry, yet he loves the story his uncle told him of his Nigerian descent.”
The author has been travelling all over the world, but, currently, lives in New York. While in Lagos, he lived at Thomas Salako Street, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, with friends and musicians until they parted ways. Some left for America, but he returned to France to take care of his kids’ music education. “I’m not only a musician; I also tell stories with my music, write novel, and produce movies and comic books,” he added.
On his paternity, he said, “My uncle told me the story, but the truth is that we are white people, and I have a Yoruba name, maybe because of Dedola, the pirate who was a Yoruba slave. The story spans centuries ago. My father is a Whiteman, while my mother is also a white woman who came from Greece Island. Dedola is a fairy tale; nobody knows his true-life story. My uncle said he was a courageous and black man.”
He revealed, “Dedola’s legend was tied to the family from birth, according to my uncle who lived 90 years. In the mythological account of Heroes and Kings, Dedolas are essentially legends in the art. The most critical part is not that we have Yoruba name; we love Nigeria; it is the interesting part of my story.
“I’m not saying that I love traffic gridlock, corruption or erratic supply of electricity; no, I love Nigerian culture. My mother taught me many virtues of Greece, but I find in Yoruba a legend, my collection of stories, the same gods.
“We are one people, humanity and race who are influenced by one another, and that is the reason my older kid who plays keyboard has the name Alexander the Emperor, while my second kid is named Adedola, a Yoruba name. We are all human beings, not minding whether you are black or white. We should strive to live in peace for the development of the country.”
