Muraina Oyelami

Chief Muraina Oyelami (born 21 February 1940) is a Nigerian painter and drummer of Yoruba descent. He was among the first generation of artists to come out of the Osogbo School of Art in the 1960s. He was a drummer and actor with the theatre company of Duro Ladipo. He taught traditional music and dance at Obafemi Awolowo University from 1976 to 1987. As a musician, he trained in the dùndún (talking drum) and the Batá drum. He was the chief of his hometown Iragbiji.

Early life Muraina Oyelami was born on 21 February 1940 in Iragbiji, Osun State.

Drumming, theatre and arts From 1963 to 1965, Oyelami undertook training in the dùndún (talking drum) from Oba Laoye, who was Timi of Ede. During the same time, he studied the Batá drum with Ayantunji Amoo of Okinni and Abeyefo of Iseyin. He was a drummer and actor with the Duro Ladipo National Theatre, the theatre company of Yoruba dramatist Duro Ladipo. He was later compared to Georges Rouault

Oyelami attended the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in Ile-Ife, studying technical theatre with a specialisation in theatre design Oyelami taught traditional music and dance at Obafemi Awolowo University from 1976 to 1987. He was the musical director for and composed the score to the 1998 Royal Exchange Theatre production of the Wole Soyinka play Death and the King's Horseman. on 14 February 1993. The institute trains students in visual and performing arts, including drum making, textile design and printmaking.

Painting As a first-generation member of the Osogbo Art School, His works are also in the collections of the National Gallery of Modern Art in Lagos, the Studio Museum in Harlem, at the Lagos State House of Assembly, the private collection of Bola Ige, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Staatlichen Kunsthalle in Berlin. In 2017, his works were shown at an exhibition of Osogbo art in the United States

Publications Oyelami has written books on drumming and Yoruba culture. The 1993 monograph Abefe: An Autobiography of Muraina Oyelami was based on interviews of Oyelami, edited by Ulli Beier. In the text, Oyelami describes his youth, theatre in Ile-Ife, the Mbari-Mbayo workshop, and his residencies at Iwalewa-Haus.