Date Published: 04/01/10

OMO ORANGUN TROUPE

A woman’s voice sings out beautifully over a rich polyrhythmic percussive combination - talking drums, bata drums, shekere, agogo, and akuba.  She is answered by a rich ensemble of voices.  They tell of the town’s history, myths, folk stories, how great and glorious their home town is, about the culture and traditions, food, dancing, the masquerade elwe and the palm wine from the tall palm tree. They dance as they sing. The talking drummer echoes the sentiment of the vocals by emulating the human voice pitches.  He mimics what they are saying while the shekere outlines the main beat. 

The male chanter of esa – oratory singing - calls up all the different family names in a powerfully descriptive and theatrical delivery, praising them and giving a history of each of the families. The backing vocals join in to add weight to the stories.

 Omo Orangun Troupe are singers and dancers from a theatre organization named after the historical town Ila Orangun.  The name means a cultural troupe owned by the children of Orangun (Title of the king of Ila). Ila Orangun is one of the ancient and historical Yoruba towns – Orangun - founded by a direct son of Oduduwa (Founder of Yoruba race). 
The Troupe was founded by Dr. Olusegun Folagboye who hails from Ila Orangun. He started his career as an artist in 1982 when he organized a drama group named Odomode Theatre Group. The group started with very few members.  He tried to increase the numbers but unfortunately the lukewarm attitude of parents towards theatre arts at that time meant that many parents would not allow their children to join the group.  Even those that joined were not supported by their parents.

Dr Segun and his members were greatly interested in theatre arts and were  determined to see this project grow.  As time went on, seeing groups perform at festivals,  parents gradually became enlightened about theatre arts and started allowing their children to join theatre groups. At this juncture Dr. Olusegun Folagboye and other members put heads together and renamed the group Omo Orangun Troupe. Today Omo Orangun Troupe is one of the most famous Yoruba Theatre groups in Igbomina land, the entire Yoruba race and Nigeria in general.

 With the organization of the theatre group the founder Dr. Olusegun Folagboye had the following objectives:  Promotion of our cultural heritage worldwide, discovery & development of local talent, provision of job opportunities and making their mark on the entertainment industry.    

Omo Orangun Troupe comprises about sixty members, both male and female, They include  actors,  actresses, play-writes, poets, directors, make-up artists, dancers,  composers and drummers.                                                                                                                 

 Promotion of cultural heritage being one of the major concerns, the Omo Orangun Troupe makes use of many traditional instruments both on stage and during recordings - Iya Ilu (talking drum), Omele Bata, Akuba, Sekere, Agogo, Omolanko, Gangan, Bata etc. 

The troupe sing traditional songs like: Oriki ile (or simply put esa), composition of ewi, ijala ode. They dance traditional dances like: Ijo ode, gbamu, Aluwasi etc and engage in drama composition, directing and presentation both on stage and in film production. 

To the glory of God, Omo Orangun has travelled far and wide all over Nigeria to entertain people at various gatherings and occasions.  They have taken part in various cultural competitions at local, state and federal levels winning various awards.

Not only that, the Omo Orangun Troupe represented Ila Local Government at a national festival - Abuja Carnival in 2008.

Omo Orangun Troupe have written and performed various plays like: Esin Obinrin, Ajangariwa, Ebi tanni?, Ofin-ni, Agba-Aja, Asoro, Ilu-Aje, Agogo Ibaje and Aye Obinrin etc. 

Omo Orangun will be releasing their debut 2 set cd album, Yoruba Ronu in the summer of 2010.

They will also release 2 stage productions titled Ofin-ni and Agba-Aja. 

Contacts:

The president Dr. Olusegun Folagboye: 2348063185906

The secretary: 2348136839292 . omooranguntroupe@yahoo.com 

Also you can visit www.myspace.com/omoorangun 

UK representative Kayode Samuel:  +442 8653 1715 

awakay@aol.com