Nation
‘Africa has lost her greatest naturalist actor,’ Tola Adeniyi mourns late Jimi Solanke
High Chief Tola Adeniyi, veteran columnist and President, Tola Adeniyi Foundation for Theatre and the Arts (TAFTA), has mourned the death of Jimi Solanke, a legendary Nigerian film actor, dramatist, folk singer, poet and playwright who passed away at 81 on Monday, February 5.
Solanke, a celebrated dramatist whose reputation earned him the lead role in most of Ola Balogun’s films, was part of the team that made the film of Kongi’s Harvest by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.
He died at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Sagamu.
Mourning his passing in a statement on Monday, High Chief Adeniyi noted that the continent of Africa had lost her “greatest naturalist actor in the tradition of legendary Stanislavski.”
The former Managing Director of the Daily Times of Nigeria noted that, “the news of the demise of Africa’s greatest and best stage actor of all time splashed on my face this morning ruined my breakfast.”
He described the late Solanke as the, “Thespian, folk singer, Poet, playwright, dramatist, producer, director, choreographer, theatre teacher, painter, sculptor and guitarist etcetera. Bundle of talents.”
Asking the the family to “accept our shared condolences,” Adeniyi prayed that his “outstandingly creative soul march on in the Continuum.”
A graduate of the University of Ibadan, where he obtained a diploma certificate in drama, Solanke moved to the United States where he created a drama group called The Africa Review, focusing on African culture.
Members of this group usually put on African clothing, specifically Yoruba costume and performed in black African schools.
He established himself in Los Angeles, California, where his storytelling career began. He was described as a “master storyteller” by CNN.
In 1986, he returned to Nigeria with three members of the African Review group to work with the Nigerian Television Authority.
