Foundation moves to save ‘vanishing’ Yoruba language through arts
By Oluwatope Lawanson
Sobayo Abolore
An NGO, Sobayo Abolore Art Foundation (SAAF), says it is planning to save the ‘vanishing’ Yoruba Language through creativity and artistic impressions.
The Founder of SAAF, Mr Sobayo Abolore, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, said that this would be achieved through the Jelesimi Art Centre.
NAN reports that Yoruba, a native language estimated to be spoken by more than 50 million people globally, is predominantly used as means of communication in South-Western Nigeria and other smaller tribes in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Abolore said that the art centre would also serve to transform its immediate environment, Oshodi, a suburb of Lagos.
He said the advocacy was aimed at refreshing memories about the creative methods used as avenues for cultural literacy by the older generation.
Abolore noted that the advocacy was informed by highlighting the vanishing knowledge in pure Yoruba language and its intricacies that was engaged in the body work.
According to him, the art will encourage people to speak the Yoruba dialect more fluently.
The art enthusiast added that the NGO hoped to bring back memories of how children, not yet of school age, learned via traditional Yoruba music various poems, rhymes and folktales.
“The foundation is concerned that the vanishing languages and culture are at higher stakes than before, as cultures continue to fold into one another, alongside the influence of popular culture, westernisation and globalisation.
“For me, building Jelesinmi Art Centre in Oshodi, Lagos, my host community and where I was born, is a way of giving back to the society, for developmental purpose.
“The foundation was born with the focus of engaging children and youths, and luring them away from social vices, while inspiring social change.
“The presence of the foundation will also educate future generations of leaders through arts, and also support young individuals to become active leaders who understand their duties and rights, and ways of developing their own ideas.
“The art centre connects with the Yoruba traditional system of learning the basics of the language, thus taking the people back to their root, hence Jelesimi,” he said.
Abolore said that he had now appreciated better the Yoruba cultural system of learning and tried to integrate his community, especially children and youths, into learning.
“The foundation is also important for the development of my Oshodi community,” he said.
The art enthusiast said that his works had been exhibited in many countries, including United States of America, Finland, Germany, Thailand and Cameroon.
NAN reports that the art centre has various programmes, such as art classes, street college, I’m the future, monthly motivational movies, language classes, cultural enlightenment and special rooms, including the ‘kolo’ room as well as tie and dye.
The ‘kolo’ room showcases the traditional cash saving boxes, which people used to save money in the olden days, which is at variance with today’s modern digital system.
(NAN)
