O wa o wa ‘le yi/ Ati ojo meta atabo (She was here to see you/ three –and a half– days ago) Ibi o ba lo je a mo (let us know where you’ve been)Īunti ton gbe’le itosi (the lady that lives nearby) In the first verse, the narrator –his aunt, as we soon discover– quizzes Waheed, the protagonist:Īwe, ibo l’olo ka/t’a fi n wa o ka (Hey! where have you been? /we’ve been searching for you!) This is easily the story of quasi rural-urban migration gone sour, where a young man is given a lease of life from the bucolic trappings and socio-economic realities of the village in suburban Lagos, but naively gives in to one of the evils of the much more sophisticated city life. A track from her eponymous debut album, this ballad, sung on the pentatonic scale, unfolds the story of a young man caught up in a romantic affair with a much older woman. In this third installment in a serial analysis of Asa’s songs, mostly those with heavy Yoruba lyrics, I take a swift journey through Bukola Elemide’s “ Awe”. Perhaps, I am well on my way to becoming an Asa scholar of sorts.
0 kommentar(er)
