Foremost Nigerian Poet and Novelist Gabriel Okara Dies at 97
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| Gabriel Okara (April 24, 1921 - March 25, 2019) |
Gabriel Okara, one of Nigeria’s foremost poets and novelists, has died one month to his 98th birthday.
According to a family member who pleaded anonymity, Okara died at the Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, capital of Bayelsa state, on Sunday evening.
The Nigerian poet and novelist whose verse had been translated into several languages by the early 1960s, the source stressed was relaxing at his Yenagoa residence when he slumped around 4pm.
He added that the head of the Okara family has sent a text message out for an emergency meeting, and the family would issue a formal statement afterwards.
Meanwhile, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Bayelsa State Chapter, in a statement by its chairman, Mrs Bina Ilagha, said the association was saddened by the news of the death.
“The Association is ruffled by the news because it came at a time when preparations are in top gear to celebrate his masterpiece, ‘’The Voice’’ at 55.
“We are saddened by the news but are consoled that he left behind lofty legacies. Pa Okara, through his literary exploits put Bayelsa in the map of literary excellence,” he said.
Seriake Dickson, Governor of the state, has described Okara’s death as a great loss to the state and Nigeria.
In a statement on Monday, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, said the Governor has declared a three-day mourning for Okara.
Iworiso-Markson said for the next three days, all flags will fly at half mast.
Similarly, the speech writer to the Governor of Bayelsa, and one time Chairman of ANA, Mr Michael Afenfia, in a statement in Yenagoa expressed sadness about the death.
“It is with great sadness that I received the news of the passing of the renowned poet and novelist, Gabriel Okara. Even in passing, I am sure your poem, “Piano and Drums”, will ‘minister’ to me in many ways.
“Your words are an inspiration! Your concerns about the African culture in the face of Western ‘threat’ as expressed in “Once Upon a Time” are ever before me.
“Thank you for leaving us with so much to remember of your time here with us. Thank you for setting the pace for several generations of writers,” he said.
Reacting to his death, Mr Uzoh Nwamara, the Chairman, Association of Nigerian Author (ANA), Rivers State, told Daily Sun, “It is with great shock that the ANA Rivers family received the news of the passage of our literary icon, Pa Gabriel Imomotimi Okara, today. He was with us at our last Literary Excellence Day held on October 14, 2017, in Port Harcourt as a recipient of our highest literary award that day.
“He was his usual calm and dignified self. I still remember when Chinua Achebe died in 2013, and I interviewed him jointly with our dear father and patron, Dr Elechi Amadi, on Garden City Radio, 89.9 FM. He lived a larger than life image through his works. Meeting him in person was like meeting Elechi Amadi in person. Their unassuming humility and palpable dignity will shock and humble you.
“He was a first class member of the first generation of modern African writers with numerous awards to show for it. This month of March has not been a good one for the Nigerian and African literary community. We have lost too many of our cherished own this month. We pray that the boatman ferries him across the river gently to the pantheon of literary gods for he was a complete literary gentleman.”
For the revolutionary critic, Doc Udenta O. Udenta, “Gabriel Okara’s The Voice is an iconic representation of postcolonial disillusionment. They were disappointed with the post colony, so they took to writing to protest. The novel is unique for its linguistic experimental, almost a direct transliteration of his native Ijaw language. I, also, remember, with nostalgia, of his poem, ‘Fisherman’s Invocation’ as a student.
“His death is a passage of literary, cultural icon. I am glad that his state government has tried to immortalise him while alive by naming a cultural centre in the state capital, Yenagoa. I hope others will do the same. He will be missed by all.”
Also, Soji Cole, the winner of the 2018 Nigeria Prize for Literature, was saddened by his demise. He said, “Okara’s The Voice remains one of my best early Nigerian novels. I cherish it. May your soul find peaceful repose, great one.”
Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian President has equally reacted to the death of the late iconic writer, Pa Okara, through a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, today.
“The President extols the great story-teller whose powerful use of imagery and symbolism in his literary writings helped the world to appreciate and understand the richness, complexities and uniqueness of the African heritage and culture."
Born on April 24, 1921, late Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara is a lifelong Patron of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and touted as the first modernist poet of anglophone Africa as well as an all-encompassing writer whose thoughts and works appear to be greatly influenced by his immediate environment.
Born in Bumoundi in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, he was educated at Government College Umuahia, and later at Yaba Higher College. In 1945, he found work as a printer and bookbinder for colonial Nigeria’s government-owned publishing company, where he remained for nine years, during which he began to write.
At first, he translated poetry from Ijaw into English and wrote scripts for government radio. He studied journalism at Northwestern University in 1949, and before the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70), worked as Information Officer for the Eastern Nigerian Government Service.
Together with late Chinua Achebe, Okara was roving ambassador for Biafra’s cause in 1969. From 1972 to 1980, he was director of the Rivers State Publishing House in Port Harcourt.
His literary talent was spotted in 1953 when his poem, The Call of the River Nun, won an award at the Nigerian Festival of Arts. Some of his poetry was published in the literary magazine Black Orpheus. By 1960, he had won renown as an accomplished literary bard, with his poetry being translated into several languages. Piano and Drums is another popular poem of his featured in several anthologies.
His first novel, The Voice, was published in 1964. Besides his poetry and fiction, Okara has also written plays and features for broadcasting. Sadly, many of his unpublished manuscripts were destroyed during the Nigerian Civil War.
In 2005, his poetry volume, The Redeemer, His Vision, was joint winner of the highest literary prize in Nigeria, NLNG-sponsored the Nigeria Prize for Literature, with Ezenwa Ohaeto. Other awards he won in his lifetime included Commonwealth Poetry Prize, for The Fisherman’s Invocation (1979), and, in 2009, the Pan African Writers’ Association Honorary Membership Award.
The Words Finesse (TWF) can't conclude this post without presenting you with two of late Pa Gabriel Okara's famous poems. Kindly enjoy as reflective pieces.
Piano and Drums
When at break of day at a riverside
I hear the jungle drums telegraphing
the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw
like bleeding flesh, speaking of
primal youth and the beginning
I see the panther ready to pounce
the leopard snarling about to leap
and the hunters crouch with spears poised;
And my blood ripples, turns torrent,
topples the years and at once I’m
in my mother’s laps a suckling;
at once I’m walking simple
paths with no innovations,
rugged, fashioned with the _naked
warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts
in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.
Then I hear a wailing piano
solo speaking of complex ways in
tear-furrowed concerto;
of far away lands
and new horizons with
coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint,
crescendo. But lost in the labyrinth
of its complexities, it ends in the middle
of a phrase at a daggerpoint.
And I lost in the morning mist
of an age at a riverside keep
wandering in the mystic rhythm
of jungle drums and the concerto.
-
Gabriel Okara
The Call of the River Nun
I hear your call!
I hear it far away;
I hear it break the circle of these crouching hills.
I want to view your face again and feel your cold embrace;
or at your brim to set myself and inhale your breath;
or like the trees, to watch my mirrored self unfold and span my days with song from the lips of dawn.
I hear your lapping call!
I hear it coming through; invoking the ghost of a child listening, where river birds hail your silver-surfaced flow.
My river’s calling too!
Its ceaseless flow impels my found’ring canoe down its inevitable course.
And each dying year brings near the sea-bird call, the final call that stills the crested waves and breaks in two the curtain of silence of my upturned canoe.
O incomprehensible God!
Shall my pilot be my inborn stars to that final call to Thee.
O my river’s complex course?
-
Gabriel Okara
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