Jimi Solanke

Jimi Solanke (4 July 1942 – 5 February 2024) was a Nigerian film actor, dramatist, folk singer, poet and playwright. Quotes Since the 60s, Ibadan has been a very culturally, artistically-oriented city. Where the Lekan Salami Stadium is now was a location where we (artists) all ended up in the evenings, coming from all over the town to enjoy ourselves. When you are tired of that place, you can walk down and get to Keru’s hotel. Baba Keru on Ife road. Reverse, and you are at Ekotedo Iya Olobe, there is a bubbling spot there. Reverse again and you would touch West end where Mbari Club from which all of us grew up to know what the depth of cultural involvement is. Go up, you will see the Obisesan Hall, Radio Nigeria, Cocoa Dome and Kingsway Paradise Club. In a corner of Ososami Road, there was a lady who had a nightclub where Rex Williams… no, not Rex Lawson, Rex Williams, another trumpeter, used to play. The Action Group hall was there. Young people were being trained how to play musical instruments, you know, in front of the Odeon Cinema. So, as I sneaked into town today, got here and saw it brimming as usual with people, people and people, after what I can call a somewhat culturally sterile interregnum. I saw that (Tunde) Odunlade is trying to bring back the good old days, doing that which was part of what developed people like me into what we have become…a kind of cultural and artistic renaissance. The difference is clear: a majority of the people have been deculturised. They have become interested a lot more in western ways. In my culture, when you request medicine to relieve your leg pain, they will recommend a herb which may not be worth more than 50 kobos or at most N400. And when people like us, who go to consult these Babas, give them N5,000 instead of the N400, they go berserk, telling us they need no more than the N400 charged and wondering if we are stupid? You have to be explaining to them to keep the change because you know the medication will cure whatever ailment you may have and the Baba is not going to request from you any other thing after that. But the majority of the regular medicine, capsules… you use now have harmful side effects. Let’s be realistic. I am a Christian but I cannot because of that fact jettison the ways, religion and customs of my ancestors. To God be the glory. God is the secret. Again, when people have money, they spoil themselves. They just eat and eat rather carelessly. Once they have money in their pockets, the idea in their mind is ‘let us eat one of those delicious and expensive delicacies, and they will blow about N27, 000 at a go! But the stuff they consume oftentimes may be unhealthy or lack necessary nutrients that can promote their longevity. So, they just pack a lot of dangerous stuff into their systems trying to prove that they have money. That way, the majority of us eat ourselves to death. What’s wrong with eating little or denying ourselves food? That way, we relieve the body of burden. Even our Lord, Jesus Christ, went on 40 days and 40 nights fasting. This body we carry around is a machine. If you love to eat too much and feed it indiscriminately because you have money, the machine soon gets overworked and might just give up. Man does not come to this life because of ponmo and Amala, not just for bread. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m choosy about what goes into my stomach. My diet essentially consists of green vegetables, ewedu especially. I drink ewedu like water and I do not eat any meat but fish. I hate maalu (beef). I don’t eat it at all. Even my wife, who loves ponmo, once in a while puts it on my plate. But when I finish eating, she will still come and pick the ponmo from my plate. I eat fruits, nuts, palm, and epa (groundnuts). Since days back, if two handfuls of epa get inside of me, I will live for the next two days. I never feel hungry. It’s all in the mind. The state of mind is also very important. I live a contented life. Would you believe I buy epa just to soak garri and a piece of sugar to have a meal, and I will be so contented and will sleep fine? I told my wife I didn’t want to be a landlord in my life. Now it happens that we are leaving a whole house in Ife and coming home to Ipara to build a cultural centre and to also live there. Because I believe I have something that I should do that I’ve not done. I can’t even pinpoint it. It’s something between me and my God and I will do it before I leave this earth. I guess that’s why I’m still alive. A pity majority of our children don’t have the eyes or ears to appreciate our culture. They don’t have the patience to learn anything about African traditions. All they do now is give themselves, free of charge, to foreign climes and peoples culturally different from us – US, UK and all of that. I am pained. When, as a Yoruba man, you crave or romance an alien culture for relevance, you are no more than an empty bag, cultureless, with no origin and so you end up pained and you will suffer. That’s because they have nothing original to offer or that can compete with what you have in terms of creativity and uniqueness. What do they want to do there that will be better than yours? Talking of competitiveness, the Yoruba culture is number one in the whole of Africa. It will be good for you to propagate this Yoruba cultural heritage because, in Brazil, people are studying Yoruba, in America, about 56 or 64 universities are teaching Yoruba, in Cuba, all over the world. The Hausa do say: “Serkin Goma, Zamani Goma,” which in Yoruba translates: “Oba mewa, igba mewa”. That’s the way I see the matter. I’ve lived up to nearly eighty, I’ve seen different kinds of music evolve and last for so long and at the end of the day, they fade away or die. These hip-hop musicians you speak of, I clap for them. Whatever lyrics they put into their songs, it’s their time now. I’ve seen it before they too will evolve and realism will dawn that everything follows a pattern. That is: rise and fall. Yes, Ibudo Asa, Ipara, is a centre for creative and performing arts enhancement. Enhancement in the sense that if you’re a graduate and you are still looking for how to step in and stamp your feet on the ground of performances, come, you will get your skills enhanced. We will through a practical approach take you through the rudiments of stage presence, voice mastery, acting and total theatre experience for continuity of live stage performance. Live theatre because live theatre is all I was trained for as a young man who went into thespianism. Maybe that’s why I’m a bit more of a dramatic person even when I sing. I act everything I sing and all that. Live theatre is what I believe in most. We are not building a big academy as such, but we will be having a lot of people coming for workshops on different areas of thespian life. Everything is involved including music because music is part of theatre. Well, we have put up a structure in place with rooms each having its own toilet, the ceiling’s done and the whole place wired by an electrician, Now, I have a very spacious living room about two times the size of this (Tunde Odunlade Arts Connexions Gallery’s lounge where the interview was conducted). My hall contains at least 50-60 people. We have hosted a lot of artists and visitors already. We have done book readings, and that is still testing, testing the microphone (laughs). It is the outside hall, the stage, and the sitting area that we are facing now. Excuse me, sir, when you are a thespian, it means you are an actor, a singer, a dancer, you are everything that equals performance. When I stand before an audience and tell stories, I’m acting. Perhaps, that’s why a lot of people love me telling stories, because I act, innovate and mimic the sound of a chicken, that of a lion, and also give the tortoise a voice. It’s all part of thespianism, it’s all part of acting, it’s all part of playing a role. I tell you, there’s no favourite, no distinction up till now. Music, acting, everything are all under the same umbrella. As far as I am concerned, maybe that’s the reason why God has been keeping me, to live my destiny. I sing for the sake of thespianism and not for money or anybody. It’s like fulfilling a calling or being inspired primarily to delight and add value to humanity, you know, like: “Eleyi o ko sita (Lo, sing this for the world), not like the “Onitemi o, Abiola ti de, o de towotowo, owo lo n na” lyrics of the crowd of commercial musicians. In all the plays I’ve acted in, nobody can fault any movement or any tonal quality of my delivery as an actor. My good Lord has decreed it that this man is an actor. He chose me because He was looking for who would act well. You know, honest acting, true acting, acting for the sake of acting, it’s a spiritual thing, I believe. Acting is not to show off, acting is going there to build a role from the sole of your feet to the tip of the hair on your head to everything on your fingernails. All my songs are very much my favourites. You cannot openly say in front of all your children that this one is your favourite. As I was performing out there tonight and, as you know, my band is not even complete here. Thank God I brought one person along. We couldn’t get to play ‘Osupa’, not even ‘Ojoje’, simply because we didn’t have sequence rehearsed band to accompany it. I’ve been having hits since the days of ‘Eje ka jo’ in the 60s, you have ‘Onile Gogoro’, even right now, I am in the studio. External links 0794786 Category:1942 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Actors from Nigeria