Born in 1940, Muraina Oyelami is a consummate Renaissance man, as well as a musician, stage actor and renowned painter.

Oyelami was discovered in the mid-1960s at Mbari Mbayo, an experimental arts workshop program in Osogbo (Osun State, Nigeria). The Mbari Club received creative direction from German professor Ulli Beier, art instruction from English painter Georgina Beier, and patronage from Nigerian theater luminary Duro Ladipo and traditional ruler Oba Samuel Adenle, the Ataojo of Osogbo. The success of the workshops led to the creation of the Osogbo Arts Movement, whose founding members — Twins Seven Seven, Adebisi Fabunmi, Jimoh Buraimoh, Rufus Ogundele — thematically emphasised the quotidian and the festive in Osun cultural li...