Ibadan Girls Will Call It “Fargin”

By ‘Joba Ojelabi

In any historical documentation, one major highlight of the social media, especially in Nigeria, must certainly be memes. The art of fusing a picture with witty words in such a fashion that makes it difficult to not smile at its sight has become so sacred that it now forms a major highlight of social media communication. However comparatively, the art does not come with a lot of financial remunerative benefits yet. Hopefully, it would soon enough, who knows? Maybe Odunlade Adekola might finally make that list of the top richest artists in the country. However, apart from the Yoruba actor, another class of people that often suffer the wrath of these memes are the Ibadan people. Due to the peculiarity of their pronunciations of English words, which is of course often an aftermath of some adaptations of the elements of the local dialect. Some of such instances include the pronunciation of the “sh”, “z” and similar sounds as “s” and “v” as “f”.

Indeed, every language does leave its own accent on the English language but somehow, the Ibadan accent just manages to stand out in a way that is quite comical and so when Teniola Apata dares to make her new song on the premise of this peculiar accent, one is tempted to wonder what the fast rising music act is up to.

Fargin as a word can be confusing. I doubt that such a word even exists in English or any major language. It is therefore not totally surprising that for many, only listening to the song can actually reveal the meaning of its title. Yes, “Fargin” is Ibadan for Virgin. Although a number of Nigerian artistes have made good music using local dialects and accents, with Falz and Olamide being some names that readily come to mind, unlike them, Teni’s Fargin comes off with a more innocent feel. Firstly, because unlike most other users, Teni is not a rapper! And secondly, because of the message of the song.

The theme of the song is the age-long one of sexual abstinence. Yes, the type Onyeka Onwenu sang with King Sunny Ade and a fine number of other artistes have also sang about since. Interestingly, one might find this quite ironical upon learning that Teniola is sister to Niniola: Yes, the same Niniola; who don't need no liquor and almost never forgets to tell us of waistlines and philistine lollipops in her songs. Listening closely to the song would reveal to any true fan the influences of Adewale Ayuba on the young Teni as the song at some point almost begins to sound like a response to the 2007 “Omoge Cinderella” track on Ayuba’s “Ijo Fuji” album. On Fargin, Teni also manages to switch to English and Pidgin conveniently, delivering her lyrics on Mystro’s highlife beat, giving the song the absolute Nigerian vibe. Surprisingly, Teni is not from Ibadan, at least not by origin, because after listening to her for almost three minutes, I doubt that even the Ibadan people would deny her a home in the city of brown roofs.