Beginning her career on the theatrical stage, Oyafunmike Ogunlano first graced the stages of Washington, D.C. as a proud member of the D.C. Black Repertory Company under the direction of Robert Hooks in such powerful productions as The Blacks, Imamu, Day of Absence, Changes and more. She has appeared in many stage productions including North Seventeenth Street, Homecookin’ and Oursides as member of the renowned the Negro Ensemble Company. With the Nuyorican Poet’s Café she performed in Shango de Ima, Julius Ceaser Set in Africa and Obatala. She was a member of the Ebony Impromptu Theater Company, under the direction of the late Harry Poe and is also an accomplished African dancer who has danced with the dynamic Olatunji's Drums of Passion, Wo’ se, and Mori Nimba to name just a few.Oyafunmike has numerous television appearances to her credit, the list includes, Charlotte Forten's Mission, A Gathering of Old Men, Mike Hammer, Hill Street Blues and A Man Called Hawk. Her film credits include Disillusioned, Exorcist-Part II, The Preacher’s Wife, The Mirror Has Two Faces, One Fine Day, New Jack City and, of course, her award-winning performance in Sankofa.Since the premier of Sankofa Oyafunmike has hosted the Tortola Jazz Festival in the beautiful British Virgin Islands, has guest lectured the Ken Benne's Scholar's Week in Bethel, Maine. She has guest lectured at Tennessee State, Xavier, Sarah Lawrence, Central State, NKU, Florida International and now enjoys speaking on the college lecture circuit, facilating Women’s Rite’s of Passages Programs and teaching her Ancestor’s 101 workshops throughout the country. She has been honored with many awards including two days named in her honor by the mayor’s of Atlanta and Denver. In 2006 she was presented the Heritage Award by the Denver Starz Pan-African Film Festival and The African Spirit Award presented by the Medger Evers College Student Government Association and Akeem Productions. Of the many awards and gifts Oyafunmike has received since the premier of Sankofa the most precious to her is the love of her people.Oyafunmike is a student and initiated priestess of the Yoruba tradition. She is also a mother of three and a grandmother.OyaFunmike was initiated into the Yoruba Priesthood on June 16, 1981 in Oshgbo, Nigeria by the renowned Babalawo Ifayemi Elebuibon. This year (2007) she will celebrate her 26th year in the Priesthood. OyaFunmike got her first Ifa Reading in 1973 from HRH Adefunmi I in Oyotunji African Village and was told that she would bring millions back to Ancestral worship. "En Masse" was the term used. Today with her work in "Sankofa" she has seen her destiny manifest. Until proven wrong she will claim the honor and blessing of being the first African-American to bring Oya across the Middle Passage. After initiation she lived in the Oyotunji in Sheldon, South Carolina for several years and learned many of the rituals of the Yoruba as practiced here in America. In 1983 she was initiated into the Egungun Society and Egbe Moremi (The Women's Society) in Oyotunji and is still a proud member of both. She was Assistant Priestess for many years at "The Yoruba Temple of Elevation and Enlightenment" in Washington, D. C. under the tutelage of Mother Pamela "Efunyale" Taylor. Here she combined her knowledge of the Yoruba with the Shango-Baptist traditions of Trinidad as she apprenticed Mother Taylor. Later she opened "The Oya Temple of Ancestral Worship" in Washington, DC.She is a member of the Ogunlano - Ajamu alliance. Her brother Olomide Ogunlano, an Osun Priest is married to Omialadora Ajamu. Omi's brother is Chief Adenibi Ajamu and between the two families there are more than 25 Priests, two of them Awo's. Oyafunmike continues to mentor serious students in the practices of our Ancestors as she herself works on walking thr path of Iwa Pele (good character).
Mutabaruka---Dis Poem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5BhhFn0PWk
I have worked with a real KING
Mutabaruka - I Am The Man (Never Get Weary Yet) 1991 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3t4jaC_wto
SANKOFA SCENE ABOUT YOUR BLACK MENTAL POWERS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjDhGVvMMlQ
SANKOFA MOVIE SCENCE ANCESTOR RITUAL PT 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW9X0jq9rhE
SANKOFA MOVIE SCENCE CATHOLIC PRIEST PT 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqM-bKs8E8I
Look Back! African Film as a Call for Sankofa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CSM_vr0Z94
Sankofa Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkCjuq9pdfw
Sankofa Part 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8bksZR6DPo
Sankofa Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfAYqTxD_m8
I call this my shot from God because I was waiting to film and had shit on my foot. I went into the ocean to wash it off and Haile turned the camera around and made me walk out of the water again.
Sankofa Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfAYqTxD_m8
