Tunji Oyelana (born October 4, 1939) is a multi-award-winning Nigerian
musician, actor, folk singer, composer and once a lecturer at the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Tunji Oyelana is of the Yoruba ethnic
group and is a native of Nigeria. Most of Tunji Oyelana's songs are in
Yoruba. In the early 1980s, he teamed up with Nigeria's first and only
winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka, to record a
musical album that satirized the corruption of the Nigerian political
elite. He was the musician for Stéphane Breton's 1994 film Un dieu au
bord de la route. Oyelana is credited with having sold the most albums
by a Nigerian High Life musicians. In 2012 he released A Nigerian
Retrospective 1966-79, an album from Soundway Records. Apart from Fela
Kuti and King Sunny Ade, Oyelana is regarded as one of the most played
Yoruba musician. He and Soyinka composed I Love My Country and, in
1996, were both charged with treason and forced into exile by Sani
Abacha while touring internationally with Soyinka's play The
Beatification of Area Boy. Oyelana, the leader of The Benders
currently lives in the United Kingdom. Tunji oyelanaOrisun MasksIn the
60s, Tunji Oyelana was one of the original members of Wole Soyinka's
1960 Orisun Masks. He calls Soyinka "Ọ̀gá", meaning "boss" in
Yoruba He was one of the original Soyinka actors travelling all over
the world to interpret roles in such plays as Kongi's Harvest, The
Road, Madmen and Specialists and Opera Wonyosi, to the delight of
audiences.The Benders
musician, actor, folk singer, composer and once a lecturer at the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Tunji Oyelana is of the Yoruba ethnic
group and is a native of Nigeria. Most of Tunji Oyelana's songs are in
Yoruba. In the early 1980s, he teamed up with Nigeria's first and only
winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka, to record a
musical album that satirized the corruption of the Nigerian political
elite. He was the musician for Stéphane Breton's 1994 film Un dieu au
bord de la route. Oyelana is credited with having sold the most albums
by a Nigerian High Life musicians. In 2012 he released A Nigerian
Retrospective 1966-79, an album from Soundway Records. Apart from Fela
Kuti and King Sunny Ade, Oyelana is regarded as one of the most played
Yoruba musician. He and Soyinka composed I Love My Country and, in
1996, were both charged with treason and forced into exile by Sani
Abacha while touring internationally with Soyinka's play The
Beatification of Area Boy. Oyelana, the leader of The Benders
currently lives in the United Kingdom. Tunji oyelanaOrisun MasksIn the
60s, Tunji Oyelana was one of the original members of Wole Soyinka's
1960 Orisun Masks. He calls Soyinka "Ọ̀gá", meaning "boss" in
Yoruba He was one of the original Soyinka actors travelling all over
the world to interpret roles in such plays as Kongi's Harvest, The
Road, Madmen and Specialists and Opera Wonyosi, to the delight of
audiences.The Benders
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