Tomilola Coco Adeyemo has carved a space for herself in the literary space since her publishing deal with Masobe Books in 2024. The deal crowned her Mariah Carey of Nigerian literature, proven through her two successful Christmas-themed releases: A Very Gidi Christmas and A Nollywood Christmas. For her third book, Efun’s Jazz, she steps away from the holiday feeling and takes dips into Yoruba spirituality. 

The book, which started as a Brittle Paper feature series, follows Nicole Oyetunji, a woman trapped in a marriage that does not feed her soul and with a longing for motherhood. She returns to Osogbo hoping to feel a bit of that sunlight she once felt in her earlier years. During the Osogbo festival she meets Adelaja “Laja” Kolapo, a powerful business man who carries his own grief and struggles with a prophecy and past he is yet to fully confront. Their connection is immediate and undeniable. As they draw closer, they are forced to reckon with the cost of being together. 

For this feature of Sonic Pages by Brittle Paper, Adeyemo takes us through Efun’s Jazz playlist, which moves from Afrobeats and gospel to jazz and R&B and a lot of Yoruba chants. She also discusses Yoruba spirituality and the magnetic pull of Osogbo. 

 

Brittle Paper

Efun’s Jazz is a title that immediately evokes music. Did jazz make its way into your writing process? If so, what’s one jazz song that feels inseparable from this novel?

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

Yes, jazz absolutely was a part of the writing process of this novel. And if I had to choose one jazz song that feels inseparable from Efun’s jazz, it would have to be I Put a Spell on You by Nina Simone. That’s because I think Nic and LJ’s love is destined, and it pulls them together with a magnetism that feels like they’ve been jazzed, as we Nigerians will say when talking about casting spells. And I also think the lyrics of the song apply a lot to their love.

 

Brittle Paper

Nicole returns to Osogbo searching for healing but finds herself instead. If Nicole could leave one song behind at the beginning of the novel and carry a different one by the end, what would those two songs be? What changes between them?

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

This is very Yoruba Nollywood of me, but that would be Tope Alabi’s Opin Irin Ajo at the beginning and Angeli Mi at the end. Here’s why: Opin Arin Ajo, which translates to ‘the end of a journey’, centres a popular Yoruba proverb in its chorus: ‘If a child cuts a tree in the forest, only an adult can see where that tree will fall.’ It simultaneously presents life as a journey, the uncertainties of that journey and prays that we (humans) have a fruitful journey before returning to our creator. I think that encapsulates Nicole’s Osogbo trip. It ends her marriage and a chapter of her life even if she doesn’t come to that realisation immediately. She picks another by the end, and for me that will be Angeli Mi. 

In Angeli Mi, Tope Alabi talks about our guardian/human angels, the ones we’ve been destined to be with in this world who will help us through our life’s journey. I would say, as Nicole begins a new journey at the end, that would be a song she would pick. Now, both songs are evangelical, but it also solidifies the fact that Yoruba people have always been spiritual even in their life journey. Especially while navigating life. Both go together for us. Never one without the other.

 

Brittle Paper

Osogbo feels like more than a setting in Efun’s Jazz; it almost becomes a character. When you think of Osogbo in the novel, what’s the first song that comes to mind? What is it about that track that captures the town’s energy, spirituality and atmosphere?

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

Hmm. This is a tricky one because it’s not just one song. Besides being a spiritual haven for Yoruba spirituality, Osogbo is an important town in Nigeria’s modern art history; so many songs come to mind. But if it has to be one song, I would choose Edaoto’s Osun. It praises Orisa Osun, which is the main Orisa of Osogbo and from whom the state of Osun got its name. It is also a song I listened to an unhealthy number of times while writing Efun’s Jazz.

 

Brittle Paper

Yoruba cosmology and spirituality are woven deeply into Efun’s Jazz. Was there a traditional song, chant, hymn or even a contemporary piece that helped you imagine the novel’s spiritual world? What was it and what did it unlock for you as a writer?

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

Yes. There were many songs. Edaoto’s Osun, Ayo Ewebiyi’s Osun Sengese, Osun’s oriki and praise songs by Mama Oyelola Elebuibon and many other Osun chants and praises. I also listened to chants and praises for other Orisa like Esu and Aje Olokun and for Orunmila/Ifa and egbe orun (astral mates). As a writer and a person, it humbled me and took me to a place of consciousness where I had to unlearn and learn things. I was writing about Yeye Osun and her benevolence and forgiveness. It was no longer about me or my perception or opinion; it was about her manifestation in the world I created. 

It forced me to research the hell out of my work in a way I hadn’t previously done. I now have a rapidly growing library of books, texts and novels in the Yoruba language. And the good thing about it is that it directed me. I want to think Yeye Osun was involved in the process of this story because there were so many drafts before what became this book that, when I look back now, felt devoid of what I believe she wanted the story to manifest. My learning from that is that my stories are beyond me. They serve a purpose bigger than me and because of that, I have to be careful and very disciplined while telling them.

 

Brittle Paper

Laja carries grief, prophecy and years of unspoken emotion. If he had one song that tells his story before readers even meet him, what would it be? Why does that song belong to him?

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

Lifted by Lighthouse Family. I think he already went through years of grief and all of that and had recovered before we met him. He’s accepted the things he cannot change and he’s more hopeful about the future and more open to love, life and all the good things. The lyrics of Lifted kind of capture that, in my opinion. It’s optimistic. It leans towards happiness; it’s very open to profound joy, peace, and hope. And it’s very upbeat.

Listen, I can literally imagine Laja cruising in a convertible, his arm on the rolled-down window, wearing shades and nodding to this song blaring through his speakers as he drives down some neighbourhood in Ikoyi or Magodo on a sunny Saturday morning or something.

 

Brittle Paper

A Tomilola Coco Adeyemo novel is hardly complete without that one spicy scene. Was there a particular song that helped you get into the mood to write those moments in Efun’s Jazz? What was it and why did it fit?

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

As it is with all my intimate scenes, I know my characters first – what they like to eat, what colours they wear, if they vibe with Wizkid or Davido or both, if they would have voted for Tinubu or Peter Obi in the 2023 general elections and why, etc., so that I can tell what type of lover they would be in and out of the bedroom. 

It is how it is in real life. Who we are isn’t far from our sexual desires or who we become when we’re lost in a deep, passionate moment with our partner. So I would say as with all my novels, it wasn’t one song. It was all the many songs that encapsulate Laja and Nicole’s love story that culminated in their intimate moment. Although when the readers read the book, I’d LOVE to know what song they’d pick. Readers have their own minds, you know?

 

Brittle Paper

Finally, if you had to build a three-song playlist for readers who’ve just finished Efun’s Jazz, which tracks would you choose and why? 

 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

I Put a Spell on You – Nina Simone. Unforgettable — Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole. Ayanfe — Teledalase. I have explained the first one. ‘Unforgettable’ is instrumental in a pivotal scene in the book, and when you listen, you can tell why it’s so important to the lovers’ journey. 

Ayanfe, because it tells a beautiful, moving, soulful story about a lover convincing the one they love that they know what they’ve been through and they truly love them; they will carry them through any situation and will go on whatever journey with them. There’s a lot of yearning in that song. 

Brittle Paper

This was such a wholesome conversation. Thank you for speaking to us. 

Tomilola Coco Adeyemo

My pleasure.

Listen to The Efun’s Jazz Playlist here.`