A Yorùbá song, partly satirical, partly pragmatic. Sourced from the Black Orpheus magazine that was founded by Ulli Beier in 1957 and co-edited by Wole Soyinka and Es’kia Mphahlele.
My wife told me
I go to the market…
Election Songs
Three Yorùbá songs, sung by women supporters of the two parties in the Federal elections of 1959 in western Nigeria.
The palm tree grows in the far bush:
Nobody allows the leper to build his house in the town:
The palm tree grows in the far bush…
Ibadan
A Yorùbá Iwi, or masqueradors’, chant from Nigeria. It is a sharp criticism of modern Ibadan as a town of thieves, violence and disease. See also Oriki Ibadan.
The spirit of the rock protects the town.
Ibadan, don’t fight!..
Incantation to Gain Popularity
Incantation
The Yorùbá believe in Atunwa, reincarnation within the family. Yorùbá funeral songs such as Slowly the Muddy Pool Becomes a River and Where are You Now? incorporate the symbolism of loved ones returning in other forms. This poem is a grief-stricken Yorùbá prayer, inviting a dead child to be born again.
Death catches the hunter with pain.
Eshu catches the herbalist in a sack…
At a Thrift-Club Feast
A thrift-club, known in Yorùbá as Esusu, is a voluntary society which helps its members to raise money. Every member pays a fixed sum of money regularly at a fixed time (say every fifth or ninth day).
All you persons of prestige here gathered together,
I greet the woodcock with its characteristic ‘mese’ cry…
