Songs of Oreke (Paperback)

"His voice," Oreke sings, "was like that sweetly juice that endears butterfly to rose," and "nights with him... were as pleasant as boiled corn eaten with salted coconut." But that was in the beginning, before the marriage was consummated. Now, Jagunlabi, the husband has become "something else" and their home "which in the morning was a spice of butter and honey," has metamorphosed, becoming at sun down, somewhat like a drink of vinegar down the gullet. Yet Oreke, a princess, tried all she could, like the quintessential beautiful woman that she was, to season the sour marriage with love, devotion, faithfulness and hardwork.<br>But unfortunately, her efforts did not pay off and her dream of a blissful married life only turned out to be mere wishful thinking, for Jagunlabi remained on the other side of the marriage coin, a bad specimen of a family man.<br>In this literary work by Segun Adeleke, a journalist, poet and writer, Oreke's songs are songs of despair on the one hand and of hope, on the other, for her children, who escaped from the tyranny of an overbearing father to that of the State, in the city of Lakeji, characterised by chaotic fast lanes and breath-taking rat race.<br>As a journalist, Segun Adeleke has worked in The Punch, Quality, New Era, TELL and Sketch. Until December 1995, he was editor of New Era, an Accra-based weekly newspaper in Ghana. Songs of Oreke is his first attempt at literary work. He has brought his literary experience and cultural background - born in Osogbo, a town in the Western part of Nigeria, known for its rich artistic and cultural heritage - to bear on this piece of literary work.<br>