Kola Oyewo gave audiences performances they could not forget, most memorably in Saworoide, Koseegbe, and The Gods Are Not to Blame. Those roles placed him firmly among the giants of Yoruba theatre, and his name became inseparable from the art form he spent his life serving.
His passing carries a weight that goes beyond one man. Oyewo was considered one of the last true custodians of the Alarinjo tradition, the traveling masquerade theatre that sits at the very root of Yoruba performing arts. When elders of that lineage leave, they take with them a knowledge that no curriculum fully captures.
The question now is what happens to the tradition he leaves behind.
Originally published by Premium Times.