Oral Poetry from Africa
A modern poem in praise of Efunsetan Aniwura, a Yorùbá woman who rose to a position of great wealth and political power in Ibadan, Nigeria, during the mid-19th century.
Elegbe, let us not toy with a raging fire
for if the thumb get burnt,
all fingers shall suffer…
Another in our series of Modern Poetry in the Oral Manner, this one about one of the most prominent Òrìṣà, Ṣàngó also known as Shango (see also In Praise of Shango) or Xango in Latin. The following poem not only addresses his encounter with the Owu people, now concentrated in Abeokuta, but also portrays Ṣàngó’s personality ranging from his birth, life and wives, to his controversial end.
Jakuta, son of Aganju,
Violent ruler, grandson of Oduduwa…
This is a modern poem by Aremu Adams Adebisi on the theme of the legend that surrounds the 12th century Yorùbá princess, Moremi Ajasoro.
In the land of Ife,
A very long time really…
A short poem sent to us by Laju Ereyitomi Oyewoli. Iya ni wura means “Mother is gold” and is a common saying among the Yorùbá people of western Nigeria.
Iya ni wura
Mother is Gold…
A Yorùbá praise poem or Oríkì, commemorating the figure of Balógun Ìbíkúnlé, the great ruler and commander-in-chief of Ibadan forces in the nineteenth-century. Ìbíkúnlé was born in Ogbomoso, a city in Oyo State, south-western Nigeria, during the first decade of the nineteenth century. This was at a time when the Fulani jihads were beginning to make incursions into various territories within Yorùbáland.
Ìbíkúnlé, the Lord of his Quarters,
The proverbial magnificent doer…
