Oral Poetry from Africa
In the pantheistic religion of the Yorùbá people there exists a supreme God, Olodumare, who is considered almighty and eternal. However, no prayers or shrines are kept for Olodumare because the nature of such a being is regarded as beyond human comprehension. Olodumare creates various Orisha, who are manifestations of certain aspects of the supreme God and with whom humans can interact.
He is patient.
He is silent.
A Yorùbá praise-poem from Nigeria. According to legend, the first Alaafin or King of the powerful Yorùbá kingdom of Oyo was Ọranyan. He chose a trader whom he named Onikoyi to be one of his generals, holding command over 1469 men who were obliged to fight to the death and never turn their backs to the enemy. Onikoyi, then, is remembered first and foremost as a warrior.
Onikoyi, the warrior who never received an arrow in his back.
Child of the water lily, child of the squirrel.
A Yorùbá poem from the Iwì Egúngún traditional. Iwì Egúngún is the poetry of masqueraders, who personify the ancestors in the Egúngún masks. Through the masks, the ancestors comment wisely or satirically on the living.
The star is trying to outshine the moon,
The frog is preparing a trick to get wings,
A Yorùbá poem from Nigeria. Although the subject matter is serious the tone is light-hearted as the poet uses humour to explore the issue of social obligations in a time of hardship.
The owner of yam peels his yam in the house:
A neighbour knocks at the door.
This is one of the most important poems of Ifá, the divination system of the Yorùbá. In this long and fascinating poem we meet many of the principal Yorùbá Òrìṣà (gods) and each is characteristically described. But the central argument is that each man’s fate is ultimately decided by his own character.
Orunmila said that one always bends down when entering the doorway.
Ifa asked the question,
‘Who among you Gods could follow your devotee
to a distant journey over the seas?’..
A Yorùbá Oríkì (praise-poem) from Nigeria. Ògún is the god of iron and metallurgy. He is pictured as a blacksmith, but presides over every activity in which iron is used — hoes for cultivating, cutlasses for reaping, guns for hunting, cars for travelling, and so on. He therefore becomes a god of creativity and of harvesting, of hunting and of warfare, of invention and exploration and destruction.
Ogun kills on the right and destroys on the right.
Ogun kills on the left and destroys on the left.
