How I met Orlando’s father
When asked to tell her romance with Orlando’s father that produced the late musician , she laughed and said ” Haaa, you want to know? ”
She stated that she was living with her late brother Omoyinbo who was a friend to Owomoyela, Orlando’s father and that was the beginning of the production of the late musician.
Orlando’s real names
Mama said ”my son’s real names are Oladipupo Olaore Owomoyela Orlando Owoh , his father christened him ‘Olaore’ but I called him ‘ Oladipupo’ ”. Mama gave the reason why Orlando’s father gave him the name ‘Olaore’ , she said “because my late brother, Omoyinbo whom I was living with in Owo was a friend to Orlando’s father , and it was my that brother that betrothed me to Orlando’s father .I later fell in love with him [Owomoyela] because he was from Ifon so also Orlando’s father .So when he was born , Orlando’s father said he benefited from the friendship and called him “Olaore” ( Friend’s wealth). His friends called him ”Orlando” and it stuck on him till death” .
Where are Orlando’s friends?
When one dies most his friends are no longer seen again but this is not so to Orlando. Mama has been very grateful to some of her late son’s friends who did not abandon her , she said ” Some of Orlando’s friends did not desert me. l just came from Die The Matter his childhood’s friend’s house who used to give me food and money .Die The Matter has just dropped me at home now, he gives me money , food ,he used to store tubers of yam an gaarii here for me. Same with Oba Francis Apata, who is the Onipe of Ipe. Oba Apata used to come to me , he drives here , and that is the chair he sits (pointing ) whenever he comes here ,not minding his status as a royal father, we would talk and talk, he would tell me that he would take care of me that i should not die. I want you to pray for me for I am old enough to die. I thank God that Orlando’s friends did not abandon me , I am grateful and I hope and pray they will do same during my burial when I’m gone”.
Though she looks hale and hearty but she denied her look and said ” I can no longer walk as usual , I am not living “, she said sobbing .
Orlando was talented
The late musician was rumoured to have inherited his profession from his parents but according to Mama , the late musician did not inherit the skill from his parents , she said ” I didn’t teach him how to sing , though I was a chorister in a church but his own was natural .And I remember that his father was a member of ‘ ASINKO ‘ cultural music , and it is believed that may be that was where he also got it from, but Orlando’s music is more that of a ordinary because his music is quite different and unique”, she added.
Where are Orlando ‘s wives ?
Mama who lives in Owo , her country home with some of her children spoke about Orlando’s wives and said ” Some have gone to remarry while I am still seeing some of them, and they have been very nice to me while for those who remarried have to move on”, she defended them.But her prayers according to her is for the whole children to rally round and come and bury her when she is gone.
Orlando’s vacuum
Yes, Orlando left a big vacuum behind, his death was a fatal blow on the old woman. When does she feel her son’s absence?, the reporter wanted to know , and her response ”I am always pained each time I remember him.I thought he was the one to bury me but it turned otherwise .It is painful No woman will pray to bury her child”, she said with pains.
Reincarnation
Will Mama pray to have Orlando if she comes to this world again? ! her response ” I wish to give birth to him if the opportunity comes again. I wanted to die when his death was announced .Even ,I still feel like taking poison and die anytime I remember him. I remember how the bad news was broken to me by one of his sisters, I felt like dying , up till now I am not myself”.
The song I love most
From all the albums Orlando waxed the one her mother loved most is the one she sang to honour her , according to her “I used to listen to his music on the radio, yes, he had a good voice and while listening I would be crying .I love the song he waxed for me in one of his records that is “Ero ba mi ki y’emi Morenikeji ye teja …”,( greetings to my mother who is selling fish). I also love the “Ojo” track, which is among his most popular music he sang in praise of “Ojo” , mama added “He sang the song in praise of Ojo who is a member of our family .But I don’t know where he ( Ojo ) is now”.
Orlando’s fame is from God
While many mothers whose children are successful and popular would say it was predicted and and expected but the late Musician’s mother said with humility that it is a blessing for her son to be popular for she never expected such in the beginning .She looked at the ceiling when asked whether she had any premonition that her son would be popular , she swore “nobody told me that Orlando will be a great man when I had his pregnancy and I thank God that I didn’t contemplate to abort it”.
I tried to stop him from smoking hemp
Mama is honest like her son , she said she was aware that her late son smoked Ganja which she did not supported. ”What did she do then to stop him?”, she replied “I used to advise him to stop smoking Igbo, I even went extra mile to prepare agbo (herbs/concotion ) for him to make him stop it but he did not take the concoction” he too used argued that if he didn’t smoke it he would not have the energy to play and sing” .
Bury me at the cemetery
Asked where she would like to be buried after her death, mama said she preferred her church’s cemetery , “I am not happy that my son , Orlando was buried in Lagos but I have told them all that when I am dead I should be buried at the Church’s cemetery .I am the Iya Egbe of St. Andrew’s Cathedral Church, Owo. My father , Jacob ‘slept’ at the cemetery and Mama Julianah who took care of me was also buried there .their tombs are there. When I die I want to be buried at our cemetery in Iselu, Owo but not to be taken to Ifon or anywhere”, she pleaded, adding ”when my son was alive he said he would like me to be buried in Ifon when Im gone but I said no, unfortunately he died before me ,it is painful” , she sobbed.