Dàdàkúàdá is a form of poetry that originated in Ìlọrin, the capital city of Kwara State in Western Nigeria. There is a great deal of mystery as to its roots.
It shares many similarities to the poetry performed as part of the Egúngún masquerade, the Yorùbá cult that some claim was born in this region. However, all Yorùbá religious practices including Egúngún worship were eliminated in Ìlọrin in 1823 when Islam became the officially institutionalised religion of the city.
Regardless of its ancestry, it is a form of poetry that blends influences from Ìlọrin’s diverse ethnic and cultural identities, with the city being home to Yorùbá, Haúsá, Fúlàní, Núpé, Kànnìké, Kéńbérí, Bàrùbá, Malians and Arabs, among others. Odolayé Àrẹ̀mú was the first Dàdàkúàdá poet to produce a record in the mid-1940s.
Some tasks are not easy to bear
The task of becoming Alaafin is a deadly one…
