Nigerian actor Taiwo Hassan Ogogo dies — Premium Times Nigeria
Nigerian Yoruba film actor Taiwo Babatunde Hassan, known by the stage name Ogogo, has died. Premium Times Nigeria reported this in a tribute. The publication states that the artist died on Sunday, August 23. The author of the article describes Hassan as a prominent figure in Yoruba screen art for four decades.
From traditional chants to the screen
Hassan was associated with Ilaro, a city where the Oronna Festival is an important cultural celebration. It features dances, masquerades, poetry recitations and acrobatic performances. In his youth, the future actor performed traditional praise chants and poetry, later gaining popularity in Yoruba cinema.
Before retiring in 1994, Ogogo worked as an auto mechanic at the Lagos State Water Corporation. In May 1990, he performed a praise chant at the funeral ceremonies for Hubert Ogunde at the National Theatre in Lagos.
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Work in Yoruba cinema
The article calls Ogogo a representative of a generation of performers that became a link between the tradition of Alarinjo travelling theatre and Yoruba film actors who gained popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. Among his contemporaries, the publication mentions Yinka Quadri, Muyideen Alade Aromire, Dele Odule and other artists.
Among Hassan's works mentioned in the tribute are the 1996 film Owo Blow, in which he played the leader of a gang of robbers, as well as Irunmulowo, Ibinu Elewon and Omo Olomo. The author notes that Ogogo's characters often combined moral ambiguity with traits that elicited viewers' sympathy.
One of the actor's later works was the Netflix film Seven Doors. According to the tribute's author, the film gave younger audiences an opportunity to see Ogogo's mastery as a performer of traditional chants.
