Orlando Owoh, whose real name is Abiodun Oladipupo Owomoyela hails from Ondo state and was born in the year 1932 and died November 4th, 2008. Orlando is not an accident of Nigerian music but a reality of our time. Creative and dedicated in his chosen profession, Orlando has passed through tempest in his quest for glory. Orlando Owoh’s popularity has been inevitably restricted to the Yoruba speaking area because of the medium of his music. This has however not stopped him from being appreciated even by those who neither speak nor understand his music or its medium. His youth witnessed conflicting choices of career. His father who attached much premium on education wanted his son solely in school without considering the potentialities of this young man. At the formative stage, Orlando used to go about with his father on musical outings until 1954, the year of their conflict over career. A conflict that resulted in Orlando Owoh’s sojourn to Lagos where he got motivation and inspiration from his mother. In 1954, Orlando started with the musical group called Dele Jolly and His Chocolate Dandies. While in the group he found himself playing the tom-tom and the gombe instruments. In 1959, Orlando came out with his first album titled Itan olorogun meji meaning the story of two wives, which was released on Decca Label. In 1959. He released another album titled ‘Bimo Bimo kan ko Dogba’, in which he rhapsodized on the importance of education, also released on Decca label. One of his other compositions “Experience” is an emotionally laden song in which he narrates his sordid experience in Alagbon prison for an alleged criminal offense. In the song, he talks about the immeasurable sufferings associated with prison and urges people not to go there. In the album, he also condemned the taking of hard drugs. While one appreciates the uniqueness and peculiarity of his music, as epitomized in the typology of it, one cannot however fail to point at the importance of the message in the songs. Orlando passed on in the year 2008.
Chief Stephen Olaore Oladipo Owomoyela is indeed one of the greatest music personalities in Nigeria. Many simply know him as Dr. Orlando Owoh one of the most talented and innovative artists Nigeria ever produced.
He was born on the 14th February 1932 in Osogbo, the town of the Living Spring, the present capital of Osun State. He has his ancestral root in Ifon in the Ose Government Area of Ondo State.
He started his primary education at Christ School, Ado Ekiti, and later moved to Methodist Primary School, Osogbo between 1948 and 1952. Shortly after his standard four education, he joined his father’s carpentry business as an apprentice. he was close to his late father than any member of the family, but this however did not make his father overpamper him. he was on the job for eight years and six months when he got the consent of his father to go. His freedom was being granted and certified.
Earlier in life, Dr. Orlando Owoh had developed a very great talent in music. At a tender age, he had started to lead songs. The interest was nurtured at both Christ Church Ado Ekiti and Methodist Church Osogbo. Music indeed was his first love, he craved to be independent for music as his means of livelihood.
His father, Pa Jeremiah Owomoyela never wanted his son Oladipupo to go into music because exposed to some unpalatable experiences as a musician. While working with his father in the construction business, his interest in music did not dwindle. Already he has been exposed to some tricks in music and more than ever before he determined to make a living through music.
Without his father’s knowledge, he gathered a group of boys and they secretly practiced different tunes. Fortunately for Orlando, this was at a time when preparation was on at the University College, Ibadan for All African Games slated for Dakar, Senegal.
Late Kola Ogunmola, the renowned theatre artistes was one of the artists commissioned by the institution to hunt for talents in the Western Region. Kola Ogunmola got wind of Orlando’s activities in Osogbo. He was offered employment by the University as part of a Cultural troupe. It took the intervention of the late Kola Ogunmola who later sent an emissary to meet Pa Jeremiah Owomoyela before he could be convinced on this development.
Having got the consent of His father, Orlando met and performed at one time or the other with great artists like Ulli Beire, Demas, Nwoko, Oyin Adejobi. One of the high points of his stage years was part of the contingent that was privileged to entertain Queen Elizabeth on her historical visit to Nigeria in 1956 at Ibadan.
During this period, All African Games in Dakar