Reflections Without Mirror: ‘Afefelaye’ Life is A Wind: Part 1: Niyi Aborisade
Afefe laye. Life is a wind , For the sake of clarity, these sayings may have three different applications due to translation and the way they are used. Yoruba language has one word that may actually mean three things and can be used interchangeably. Yoruba can say’ wo aye e bo se nlo’ which means, observe your life as it is going, they can also say ‘E wo bi aye se da’ meaning see how the world is; they can also refer to witch or wizard or wicked people as ‘ ‘Aye’ in a spiritual sense. Yoruba words, like legal interpretation have 3 rules: (1) Literal Rules (2) purposive Rules and (3) Golden Rules. Yoruba simple words may carry deep meaning to the hearer or carry ordinary meaning or there may be hidden reason behind the word that can only be understood by the speaker and the hearer even in the midst of multitude.
I have therefore translate Afefe laye as’ life is a wind or the world is a wind’. I first heard the word “Afefelaye” from my father in the early 70s. He used to sing a song or hummed it to himself in the morning , ‘Gboju re soke nibi t’ olugbala wa , Olugbala nke si e loke o, Afefelaye, Aye ki se tenikan, ko mo seni to feran re laye, ma gbara laye’ aye ki ma se tire , ko ma seni to feran re laye” . Lift up your eyes to the sky where the saviour is, the saviour is calling on you, this life is a wind and it does not belong to you, there is no one that loves you, do not rely on the people of the world, the world does not belong to you, there is no one that loves you in this world. The implications of the song are that you can only trust the Lord the Saviour who loves you unconditionally. It should not be interpreted as in to say that there is no genuine love between husband and wife or parents and children but that the love of God surpasses them all.
On or around 80 or 81, as a young artist, I came in contact with one elderly Creative Artist ‘ Afefelaye was his alias, and in fact, I do not know his real name till date, for we all called him ‘ boda Afefelaye’. A very gentle and humble man, he was one of the bands of the late artist, Twin Seven Seven of Osogbo. He had the habit of not attending practice or train with the band but usually surfaced on the stage on the day of event to beat drum and whenever he was asked where he had been, he always respond that the wind is blowing him here and there and so he was given the name’ Afefelaye’. He later joined our studio in Ibadan to collaborate with another creative artist. The collaboration did not yield profit as envisaged and like a wind, mr Afefelaye vacated our studio and never returned again. I saw him again in 1990 and I entertained him first in my house and later took him to my father’s house, our former studio where we used to work together, I have not seen him since, and like a wind, he has disappeared. I believe he is alive, and some of my colleagues who read this piece will pass it to him.
Recently, I started thinking of the meaning of Afefelaye and the meaning of my father’s song of those days and relate it to what is happening in our individual life, our country, and the world in general
Looking back at ones life, from primary school days to secondary school, the University, the pains and the pleasure; the truth and the lies; the facts and factoids; the love and the hate; the friends and the enemy then, the neigbours and the outsiders then, the appointment and dissapointment; the lack and the abundance; the hunger and starvation; the failures and the successes of the past; the sicknesses and the good health; the best and the worst; all have gone with the winds, it looks like a dream as one has actually detached from them and they only appeared in one’s memory like a mirage. Life is a wind indeed.
In talking about winds, I conclude that there are good and bad winds, some winds are cool breezes that bring relief to hardship and some bad winds are gales that bring sorrow to human lives. There are some winds that can remove the roof of the house or bring even the whole house down and destroy properties. There are some winds that brings succour that refreshes the body and the mind just like showers of blessings. The king that reigns and the forest become a beautiful city, the people will not forget and the one that turns the city into a forest will also be remembered though both are still winds, only one is prefer to the other.
I have therefore, categorised winds into four, and they all come under the winds of life since life is a wind.
1. Winds of time
2. Winds of change
3. Winds of love and hatred
4. Winds of circumstances.
The wind of time and the wind of change are sisters since ‘time is change and change is time’ because the passing of time is not constant and different time brings different changes.
We have had some good winds in Nigeria before, particularly in the Western part of Nigeria, when chief Obafemi Awolowo was the premier of Western region and the region witnessed great development and the standard of living was better, it was a good time, the wind of that time was good and favourable and then another terrible wind blew, the wind of change came. Awolowo and his progressive comrades were arrested on a trump up charge of treasonable felony and they were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. After the darkness….. to be continued
Niyi Aborisade is a lawyer, a Human Rights Activist and a Historian
