I
hear the story and now again, yes, I was a little boy when I heard it and even
though it sounds incredible, a part of me now believes it even though I am very
old. I was not up to 10 years of age when my father told me this folk tale.
Listen as I narrate it as best as I can.
It
was a long time ago in the ancient city of Oyo. Then Oyo was a mighty kingdom
and it ruled and triumphed over many kingdoms in Western Africa. In this city of
Oyo, there was once a man called Adamu. Adamu was a wood carver and farmer at
the same time and he was fairly okay except for a certain problem he had: he
could not get a child. He had visited many herbalists but all to no avail and
people even suggested to him that he should take another wife but then he loved
his wife Yanribo with all his heart and he was patient as he knew Eledumare
(the Yoruba word for almighty God) will answer him. As time went bye and he had
almost given up hope, eledumare suddenly appeared to him in a dream at night
and told him that he will soon give birth to a child. In the dream, he was told
the name of the child will be Ijo (which means dance) and he was also told that
the child will be a special child who will make people happy and at the same
time sad. Eledumare told him many things he did not understand, but then, he
just listened. In the middle of the dream, he woke up with a shout and when his
wife asked him what it was, he narrated the dream to her. His wife was happy
when she heard this and they talked about it until the next morning.
As
time went bye, his wife became pregnant and 9 months later according to the
nature of women, she gave birth to a child and called him Ijo (dance). Ijo grew
up just like any other child but one spectacular thing about this boy was that
true to his name, he was a fantastic dancer and he could dance more than
anybody else. In fact, the first time anybody noticed he could dance was at a
new yam festival his parents took him to. He was just 3 years of age then and
he could barely talk. It was a lively festival and everybody gathered to dance.
As the drummers were still playing their drums, little Ijo went up to them and
tried to play the drum. The bata drummers were amused and allowed him to play
the drum. What happened next surprised everybody, this little 3 year old child
played the drum in such a way that everybody had no choice but to dance and
sing along with him. His voice was like that of an angel and he played like a
real professional musician even though he was only 3 years old. His song went
like this:
Oh people of Oyo
I am the son of Adamu the wood carver
And I sing to you the song of joy and
heart
I announce my steps with my music
I announce to the world with my song
Like heart join in merry heart
Let the ladies dance with glee
In this fresh morning air
The Oba (king) is seated on his throne
The new Yam festival is
here………………………………………………………………………………………….
The
song went on for a long time and everybody could not resist dancing to it. In
fact, he stole the show with his performance. As from this point on, he became
popular in the city of Oyo and everybody knew him. In a short time, he became a
famous musician and he could play the traditional drum better than anybody
else. In fact, he always went to the market and sang and danced in front of
everybody and this made him to be popular. In fact, any time he danced in the
market square, people stopped buying and selling and just stared at him in
admiration. He also had the knowledge of herbs and leaves and so he knew how to
cure all types of diseases. His knowledge was astonishing as the training for
an Onisegun (herbalist) which usually took 2 years in Yoruba land was completed
by him within 6 months. He knew the over 200,000 verses of the Ifa Oracle by
heart. The Ifa Oracle is a system of knowledge of the Yoruba’s that records
their history, philosophy and religious experience all rolled into one. People
came from far and wide in order to be cured of their various diseases and he
always discovered the right herb to cure them. Also, he was very wise and could
solve any problem or riddle and so kings came from as far as Benin to consult
him for wisdom. The years went bye and he grew up from his youth to be a young
man of about 20 years of age. Everybody in the town of Oyo admired him and he
even often danced in the king’s palace.
One
day however, a terrible, strange and mysterious wind blew in Oyo town. This
wind was so strange that at times, it carried women and children away into the
forest and never brought them back. This wind blew once a week and it was as if
it had a mind of it’s own. It always flew in the direction of the women and
children and carried them away while the helpless and confused people of Oyo
town looked on. Nobody knew the mystery of this wind, where it came from or why
it was happening nobody and so as he seemed a very intelligent person,
everybody asked him but even he Ijo did not seem to know. This strange
occurrence went on for a year until one day; an old man came to Oyo town. The
name of the man was Ogbon (wisdom) was everybody thought he was a very wise
man. He always went to the market square and told them all sorts of interesting
stories. He caught the attention of everybody in the market and when people had
finished their transactions, they listened to him. One day, he was in the
market square and as usual, everybody was listening to him. He motioned to the
crowd and said “now, will you people like to know why this wind comes and
carries people away?”, “Yes”, everybody said in anticipation of a reply to a
question nobody had answers to. Ijo was passing bye on that very day and so he
also listened with rapt attention. “Now, the reason for this evil wind that is
blowing and carrying our people away is Ijo, yes, Ijo the man that you so
admire and is standing in front of all of you”. As the man pointed at Ijo, he
became a little scared and shivered. He wanted to talk, but then he decided to
keep things to himself. Later in the day, he traced where the old man lived and
went there himself. When he got there, he confronted him on what he had said
earlier in the day. What the old man told him shocked and intrigued him. “Look,
ijo, the old man began, “you belong to the spirit world, and in fact, you
belong to the future. You have been born before but then you are supposed to
incarnate far into the future and not here in Oyo in the black man’s land.
Because of this, we want you back with the eternal ones, that is why we are so
angry and we keep carrying people away. You see the balance has to be restored,
it is an imbalance in the nature of the Universe for someone so gifted as you
to incarnate or be born into the world before his time”, the old man said.
Ijo
did not agree with him and offered a heated debate; he left the old man’s house
in anger. The mysterious wind kept blowing anyway and the wind kept carrying
people away. In fact, it became so bad that it blew the daughter of the king
(Abeni) away. This caused the king great him and everybody in Oyo town started
to panic. At this point, everybody including the king took the old man more seriously
and even the king himself granted the old man an audience. In the king’s
presence, the old man insisted that Ijo must be carried away. His wish was
finally fulfilled anyway as one day,as he was in front of his house, a
mysterious and wind came and suddenly started carrying him away. He tried to
resist it with all the energy in him but then, the wind blew him high in the
sky and he kept going until suddenly, he landed in a mysterious place he could
not fathom. It was like a big mansion that was ever expanding and there was a
beautiful yet mysterious music going on. The wind gently put him on the floor
and when he looked around; he saw thousands if not millions of people walking
up and down the big mansion. Each person was walking as if they were not surprised
he was there, I mean they just went about their business. As he was still
looking around, a very beautiful lady came to meet him. Her beauty was
heavenly, and he stared at him. “Welcome, Ijo you are welcome to the land of
the eternals, where departed spirits go and where dreams emanate and where the
streams of eternity flow”. He stared at her and when he was still wondering
what to say, the beautiful and mysterious lady said “Well, my name is Imo
(which means knowledge) and I have come to show you some mysterious that you
don’t understand”. At this point, Imo touched him and they flew in the air
until they got to a wall, the wall parted into two and then, they were inside
the room. When they went inside the room, Imo stamped on the floor and the ground
opened up. He and Imo descended down the floor until they got inside a big,
spacious room. In the middle of the room, a being called Iyipada (change) was
sitting on a moving golden chair. The being was very tall and huge but there he
wore a dress that was always changing every minute to the seven colors of the
rainbow. I mean his gown changed from red to orange to yellow to green to blue
to indigo to Violet within a few minutes that Ijo looked at him.
He
shook ijo by the hands and said, "My name is Iyipada; I am the principle
of change in the universe and I make things change from one state to another.
With me, a young man becomes an old man, a poor man becomes a rich man, poverty
becomes riches, sickness becomes health, night becomes day and day becomes
night. Now, ijo, we are going to show you why all these things are happening to
you, but first, you have to see something.”. Imo (Knowledge) pointed to a wall
and the wall opened. What he saw surprised him, he saw a lot of people in a
room, and when he looked closely, he also saw the king’s daughter Abeni. Imo
cleared his throat and began talking, “You see, these are all the people that
the strange wind carried away all because we wanted you here, now, we are going
to release them”. As soon as Imo finished talking, a wind blew inside this
strange chamber and started carrying all of them away. They flew out of the
underground into the large mansion and finally, out of the building itself”.
The wind eventually blew them back into Oyo town.
As
Ijo stood there, he wondered what all this was for and why all this had to
happen to him. As if they could read his mind, Imo and Iyipada sat him down and
gave him a detailed explanation of everything. Before he could start anything,
Iyipada gave him a passionate kiss and then talked to him. “You see, you are an
eternal spirit, the voice of the Universe, the spirit of love, humanity, music
and desire lives within you. You encapsulate the whole human spirit and
everybody that moves near you will feel this warmth, glow, love and wisdom that
cannot be explained”. One thing is that I am Imo, and I love you very much, in
fact, I have been missing you ever since you left the eternal world of us and
you were born into the family of Adigun. In fact, I am the one that gave you all
the wisdom you have, I mean, I imputed it inside you, and it is because I miss
you so much that I clamored for you to come back here”. Ijo looked at her and
felt lost and confused, he did not know what to think, Imo (knowledge) looked
so beautiful that he felt like staying with her, but then, he missed the earth,
Oyo town and his whole family and he wished that he could be back again. He
spent a long time there and Imo showed him many more mysteries. In fact, he
knew how to calculate the number of stars in the sky and even the galaxies and
as expected, Imo thought him music at a level he had not known or seen
previously. Despite all this, Ibo’s heart wanted to go back to Oyo town and
Iyipada seemed to be on his side.
In
fact, Iyipada (change) also taught him many things. He thought him that
everything in the world is always changing, in fact, there is nothing that is
in this world that is permanent, and destiny could be changed with this
principle of Iyipada. He told him that any mortal or being that understands the
principle of constant change can change his destiny even if it is from
Olodumare. He told him that it is part of the reason why the human race is
called Eniyan (A person that can choose or decide for himself). As a result, he
encouraged him to escape as his destiny was neither with Eledumare (almighty
God) or anyone else but his destiny was with himself and he could change it
anyway he liked. In addition to Imo (Wisdom), one of the beings he also met
there was Ife (love). Ife was also as beautiful as Imo and the surprising thing
was that she loved him just as much as Imo. In fact, the two of them did not
mind sharing him among themselves and he spent as much time with Ife as he did
with Imo.
Ife
had a different personality and showered him with a lot of love. In addition,
she thought him many things. Ife (love) thought him that love was the most
powerful thing in the Universe and the mere-mortals and human beings do not
understand the meaning of love. Love, she told him, is a constant force that vibrates
throughout the world. She told him that because she loved him so much, she put
an understanding of love inside him that nobody could comprehend. This she
claimed was why his music touched the heart and soul of everyone that heard it.
She thought him many lessons on love. She even told him he was an eternal thing
and by this, he meant he was a sort of being that was supposed to appear from
one generation to another and use music to bring love and wisdom to the world.
The most memorable time he spent in this strange forest was the day the
mysterious woman (ife or love) made love to him. It had happened after a long
conversation. The two of them were alone together when Ife looked into his eyes
and said “Ijo, I will like you to know that you are a messenger to humanity
with a superior human spirit. Your understanding of love is more powerful than
anyone else and you are to teach humanity about love and wisdom. In fact, there
is so much war, poverty and wickedness in the world today because people do not
understand the essence of love. But love is everywhere, flowing like a stream
from Eledumare himself, from the hands of the ruler of the heavens. You see, I
love you so much and I don’t understand why, maybe that is why I am giving you
my love and passion and I was the one that told Eledumare to call you Ijo, so
come and kiss me”.
At
this point, he kissed her and they made love together. As from then on, he made
love to not only ife but also Imo. The two ladies of light as well as Iyipada
(change) kept him company but then, he kept longing to go back to Oyo town.
While Imo in particular did all she could to make him stay, Iyipada (change)
encouraged him to leave. Iyipada counseled him that he could change since his
destiny was in his hands. After sometime, he showed him a secret passageway and
when the two mysterious ladies were not around, he managed to escape from
there. In addition, Iyipada gave him a strange looking object that will point
his way to Oyo town. The passageway was a strange tunnel Iyipada created for
him and he crawled inside the tunnel until he came out on the other side. When
he crept out, he found himself in the thick of the jungle. He was a little
afraid but the strange object in his hand pointed him to Oyo town and he
followed the direction. Within a few hours, he was back again in Oyo town. The
first place he headed to was the market square. Immediately, he got there,
people noticed him and there was commotion everywhere. Some people welcomed him
back with open arms while some others were apprehensive and felt that the evil
wind will start blowing again.
Some
people in fact, openly campaigned that he should go back but his supporters and
well-wishers won out and he was allowed to stay in Oyo town. On thing that
brought him relief was that he saw all the people that had disappeared again.
The strange wind had blown them back. He was most especially happy when he saw
Abeni, the king’s daughter again. He was back to his usual self after sometime
and he came back with even more wisdom and love than before. He cured more
diseases than before and he was even a more wonderful musician than before. As
he settled down into his normal life again, one strange and unusual thing
happened to him. On this particular day, he was playing his flute beside a
stream near to his house and then suddenly, he saw a very beautiful woman
carrying a pot of water. The water fell from her head and he helped her to
fetch more water. From that day, he started having an affair with the lady. She
was a strange king of lady anyway as he never knew her place. Instead, they
always met by the river and he made love to her there. The strangest thing was
that he always saw her in his dreams. Things got stranger one day when after
meeting her by the side of the river and she was supposed to head home, she
suddenly went inside the water and disappeared. Due to her mysterious
personality, Ijo found it difficult to question her about her unusual ways. After
he came back he settled down to his normal life in Oyo town and all was well
until a few years later when a sever famine started in Oyo town. Nobody knew
what it was and when Ijo was consulted for the solution, he could not find a
solution to it.
Months
went bye and the famine went from being sever to almost unbearable and one day,
like a recurring decimal, the mysterious old man appeared again in the market
square. As usual, he attracted the curiosity of every one and everyone gathered
around him to listen to his stories. After sometime, he started telling
everyone that he knew the solution to the problem and when the news of this
strange old man reached the king, he invited him to his place to hear what he
had to say. By this time, the famine was so severe that anyone who proffered a
solution was given some sort of attention. In fact, the king invited him to his
personal quarters in order to talk to him one on one. During the meeting, the
mysterious old man told that the only solution to the famine was for Ijo to go
back to the mysterious forest where the eternal ones were waiting for him. “But
why?” he queried the old man. “Well, I cannot tell you all these mysteries but
then let us make an arrangement for him to go back”, the old man replied as he
detailed how everything was going to happen. They were supposed to arrange a
festival in praise of eledumare and then he will be carried into the mysterious
forest.
After
thinking about the whole issue for sometime, the king and the old man perfected
plans for him to be heralded back inside the forest. The planned to arrange a
ceremony in which there will be plenty of food and in which Ijo will be the
chief dancer to entertain everybody. The old man told the king to gather the
little food left in the storehouse for the festival as when Ijo started dancing,
then something strange will happen and he will undergo a metamorphosis. The
king carried out the plan to the later. He told everybody in the town that a
festival will be arranged in which there will be food for everybody and Ijo
will be the chief entertainer. The king had to make a lot of effort as he had
to gather together the last amount of food that was left in the storehouse but
then where there is a will, there is a way and so he managed to gather enough
resources for the festival. Ijo on his part was excited about the festival and
he prepared with all his might. On the other hand, he was not told that he was
going to be offered as a sacrifice or anything of that nature. At last, the day
of the festival came and there was much feasting and drumming and as was
promised, food was very plentiful. Ijo (dance) as expected was called out to
dance and behind him were 10 masquerades dressed in all the regalia of
Masquerade or Egun in Yoruba culture and tradition.
As
he stood in front of all of them, he started dancing a new style of dance that
no-one had ever seen before. It is a kind of dance in which a person moves his
feet backwards in symphony to music. To be more precise, it is a backward slide
in which instead of walking forward, the person slides or moves backward. The
name of the dance is the moon-walk. He moved and danced with his feet as the
masquerade danced along with him and he started to sing.
“Oh people of Oyo
I am the one who sings like a bird
Right from my mothers womb
My song will posses you like a spirit
My heart sings out to you today
I went to the river and saw a woman
A woman that became my lover”
As
he danced and sang with the talking drum played along, 100 strange mysterious
beings suddenly appeared in front of him and started dancing. At this point,
everybody became scarred and some people even ran away. In addition, a very
beautiful woman appeared right beside Ijo and the dance went on. If he was
scarred, he did not show it and he danced harder than ever before. As he was
dancing, he suddenly realized it was Ife and he now realized she was the woman
he saw beside the river.
Some
of the beings that suddenly appeared were very strange. Some had the head of a
lion and the body of a man, some had the body of a woman and the head of a goat
while the others were too strange and grotesque to describe. As the dancing
went on, suddenly, right in front of everybody’s eyes, Ijo disappeared into
thing air along with the strange beings that appeared in front of him. Only
Ife, his lover remained. As soon as he disappeared, rain started falling from
the sky in small drizzles and so at last the long famine had ended. Ife (love)
then faced the crowd and said
“I
know all of you are confused but Ijo has disappeared, he will come back to this
world in 1958 as Micheal Jackson, he will not come to Oyo town but will incarnate
into the white man’s land, yes he will be born beyond the seas into the
white-man’s land. I ife will give him love and he will show the love of
Eledumare to mankind”.
At
this point, she also disappeared and then small drizzle of rain became a
torrential downpour. From that point on, the famine ended in Oyo town and
everybody was relieved. Everybody missed Ijo but then as time heals wounds,
they forgot about him with the passage of time.
Anyway,
Ijo did not just disappear into nothingness. He stayed in the spirit world and
as the prophecy said, he was born again in the white man’s land. To be more
precise the prophecy came true when Ijo was born as Michael Jackson in America
in the year 1958 and so……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..Michael
Jackson is the incarnation of Ijo and he lived long ago, my grand-father told
me this and I believed it.
