Susanne Wenger Archives open in Austria

As more of the original players die out - Susanne Wenger a.k.a Adunni Olorisa (d. 12 January 2009), Ulli Beier (d. 3 April 2011) and Twins Seven-Seven (d. 16 June 2011) - the curtain closes gradually on the famed Osogbo Art School. But a curtain also rises, because their works live on.

The Susanne Wenger Archives will open today in Krems, Austria. In attendance at the Susanne Wenger Foundation event will be Hugh and Robin Campbell of the Adunni Olorisha Trust. The Campbells are shown in the image below, photographed at the Demas Nwoko Celebration at the Grillo Pavilion in Ikorodu on April 23, 2011.

Wenger's adopted Yoruba children, Doyin Faniyi and Sangodare Ajala, respected traditionalists and artists in their own right (Sangodare won the 2010 National Art Competition), will speak at the opening of the Archives in Krems today. I expect a man by the name of John Adeleke will also be there.

I've linked Wenger's name above to an obituary I wrote on her on the night of her passing. It was published the following morning, on January 13, 2009, the first to appear in the press anywhere in the world.

May Adunni rest well among the Orisa. Ase.

Osun Osogbo Festival, today

Erelu Lola Ayonrinde saying prayers by the river

Like sirens by the water: Osun devotees

Robin Campbell (right) of the Adunni Olorisa Trust.

It's the day of perhaps the most famous and the most successful cultural festival in Nigeria, and let's not forget that for believers of the Osun river deity, it's a religious occasion. Osun State, Osogbo especially, is teeming with hundreds of foreign guests who have come in for two major conferences in this corner of the country, and no doubt some will be heading river way to witness the spectacle of Osun Osogbo for themselves, swelling even more the crowds in the ancient town. It will be hectic, but it will be worth it and Wordsbody will be there.

These pictures can only give a hint, as they were not taken at last year's festival but months before, at a rite of passage for Susanne Wenger in April 2009.

It's the first Osun Osogbo ever to hold without a king on the Osogbo throne. Oba Matanmi joined the ancestors earlier this month. The king is the custodian of the festival and has sacred rites to perform in order to maintain the town's ties to the Osun goddess. It will be interesting to see how it's played out this year, as Osogbo second-in-command, Chief Gabriel Oparanti, fills in the king's role. No doubt continuity is assured, just as it was last year after the passing of Wenger, the most famous person ever associated with the festival.

I was at last August's grand finale. Seeing the Arugba (Osun votary maid) enter the grove was quite something. And what an awesome sight seeing Oba Matanmi in the 'crown with 16 eyes', the Adeosun. Little did one know it would be the last....

Osun Osogbo Festival

Osun Grove World Heritage Site

Isale Osun, Osogbo.

Photos: Molara Wood

Susanne Wenger

Here's Susanne Wenger's room in her house on Ibokun Road, Osogbo, Osun State, photographed by me 3 months after her death, on 12 April 2009

A new book on the late Adunni Olorisa, Susanne Wenger: Artist and Priestess, is significant for many reasons. One of these is the fact that it sheds like on the Osun priestess' marriage to an Osogbo man after her divorce from Ulli Beier. Little had been known about the second marriage. At the time of Wenger's death on 12 January 2009, obituary writers, myself included, had trouble pinning down the shadowy facts of this marriage. Some accounts said the local drummer she married was called Ayansola, others said he was Chief Alarape. It did occur to me that both names might be valid, that the husband was perhaps Ayansola Alarape. But beyond this, we knew nothing. It was generally assumed the drummer must have died and she lived the rest of her long life a widow. Now we know better, thanks to the new book by Paola Caboara Luzzatto, published in Italian and English, the story therein related directly in Wenger's own words. One fascinating chapter sheds light on the marriage to 'Ayonsola'. Tomorrow's Osun Osogbo day, so here goes...

Excerpt
My divorce from Ulli was by now official and I decided to get married to Ayonsola according to the local custom. It looked like the most natural thing to do. I was not discouraged by polygamy: I was aware that in a good traditional Yoruba marriage polygamy meant independence and respect, without jealousy and without possessiveness. Ayonsola had only one wife, she was the mother of the 9-year-old girl who used to come and play and dance with me. Jealousy was not an issue: we spent many afternoons together, myself and his wife, making batiks and cooking and talking about everything.

• Read 'Ayonsola: the Yoruba Marriage' in full.