Josiah Ransome-Kuti

Josiah Jesse “J.J.” Ransome-Kuti (1 June 1855 – 4 September 1930) was a Nigerian clergyman and music composer. He was known for setting Christian hymns to indigenous music, and for writing Christian hymns in Yoruba. Early life and career Josiah Jesse Olikoye Ransome-Kuti was born on June 1, 1855, in Igbein, Abeokuta, Ogun State. His family were of Egba origin and his parents, Kuti (c. 1820 – 1863) and Anne Ekidan Efupeyin (c. 1830 – July 1877), were both born in Abeokuta as well. Josiah’s paternal grandparents, Jamo and Orukoluku, were originally from the town of Orile Igbein in the Egba forest, but had nevertheless been two of the earliest inhabitants of Abeokuta when it was founded in 1830. Josiah Ransome-Kuti was baptized in 1859. He had one sister, Eruwe Lousia Kuti. While his mother, Anne, was an early convert to Christianity, his father, Kuti, was a follower of the traditional Yoruba religion, and rejected Christianity and European influence in Abeokuta. He was dismayed by his wife’s conversion and frequently opposed her in her attempts to influence their son. However, in 1863, Kuti died of guineaworm disease, leaving Anne to raise him as a pious Christian. Shortly after comp