Ìjálá: The Hunters' Chant
The hunters' chant associated with Ògún, its vocal manner, the ìjálá artist and how he is judged, the contest setting, and what the chant does as self-portrait and as praise of animals.
intermediatehigh·
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The hunters' chant associated with Ògún, its vocal manner, the ìjálá artist and how he is judged, the contest setting, and what the chant does as self-portrait and as praise of animals.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Ìjálá na the chant of Yoruba hunters, wey dem dey perform with vibrato voice, wey connect to Ògún, and wey dem dey deliver for Ògún festivals, for hunters gathering, for funeral and now even anywhere people dey ready to pay to hear am. Na the Yoruba oral genre wey dem document pass because of one book: Adeboye Babalola The Content and Form of Yoruba Ijala of 1966, wey combine critical study of the genre with annotated collection of texts in Yoruba and English, and wey win the Amaury Talbot Prize . Anybody wey dey work on Yoruba oral literature dey build on top this work.
Dem dey usually trace the name from the phrase ìjà ni ìlà àwọn ọdẹ, wey roughly mean "the great contest of the hunters", though this one na folk etymology instead of something wey dem actually prove, so make dem treat am like that.
Ògún na the òrìṣà of iron, and therefore of everything wey dem use iron make and everybody wey dey use am: blacksmiths, goldsmiths, hunters, soldiers, surgeons and, as the tradition add am without problem for modern times, drivers and mechanics . Hunters dey carry iron and na iron dem dey take kill, and na dem plenty pass among people wey dey worship Ògún . Ìjálá na one of the ways wey dem dey take pay respect to am.
For structure side, ìjálá na oríkì wey dem deliver inside special vocal style. Dem build the chant from the praise names and descriptions wey dey make up oríkì, and na the way dem take perform am, no be the material itself, dey make am ìjálá . Na the general principle wey dem describe inside yoruba-oral-genre-system be this, and ìjálá na the clearest example: the same passage wey masquerade go chant as ẹ̀sà, hunter go chant am as ìjálá.
Yoruba oral history get four stories about the origin of ìjálá. All the four point to Ògún, and two trace the voice style specifically to Ògún old voice and im drinking . That second point no be by accident. Dem dey chant Ìjálá when dem dey drink plenty palm wine, and the tradition own explanation of why the genre sound like that na say e dey copy the voice of old man wey don drink.
The acoustic evidence agree with that story. The vibrato inside ìjálá dey run at 1.6 to 2 Hz, wey low well well pass the 4 to 7 Hz of trained singing vibrato, and the measurement match vocal tremor instead of musical vibrato as the historical origin of the sound . The genre founding story and the acoustic measurement agree say this na old shaking voice wey dem turn into formal style.
Babalola description of correct ìjálá technique dey specific, and for genre wey men wey dey kill animals to survive dey perform, e soft well well. One kind soft tone dey special to ìjálá, and the sound must near good singing: the voice no suppose be forced, dem no suppose overwork the vocal organ, and the chanter suppose perform with relaxed effort .
This matter for how dem suppose view the genre. Dem no dey shout Ìjálá. The vibrato dey do the work wey high volume for do for other place, and chanter wey dey strain im voice dey perform badly according to the tradition own standard.
Babalola still give the unit of composition. One line of ìjálá na the words wey chanter talk between breath pauses , wey mean say na breathing dey define the line instead of meter, and Ọlátúnjí add say the words between each breath pause dey form complete meaning on their own . Syllable count no dey and rhyme scheme no dey. The breath na the line.
Four main types of material dey show frequently.
Ògún and the other òrìṣà. Greetings and praise, plus the ìbà, which be the homage wey performance no fit properly start without am.
Animals. Ìjálá get plenty praise poetry for different animal species, wey dey describe their character, habit, and danger. Na professional knowledge inside poetic form be this, and na this part people wey no be hunters dey quickly notice pass: elephant, buffalo, different types of duikers, and monkeys each get their own special praise.
Lineages and towns. Oríkì orílẹ̀ material, wey dey praise the family lineages and settlements of people wey dey present.
The chanter himself. Adetayo Alabi study on the autobiographical part argue say na hunters dey the center of ìjálá, wey dey use am record their own life story, and say the genre dey work like autobiography where hunters dey construct and praise theirself, their family, and their community, and dey challenge wetin outsiders dey talk about dem . Babalola don make the same observation before: the chanter dey chant about im own character, im interesting experiences, wetin im consider as im past achievement, and the principles of conduct wey im dey follow, so that ìjálá fit become like self-portrait .
Na that combination dey give the genre im special tone. Single performance fit move from homage to deity, go to anatomy of antelope, go to the chanter own story about im courage, reach lineage history, without any feeling say e no match, because the genre na gathering of praise and descriptions instead of argument.
Ìjálá na the genre wey get pass for book print and the one wey suffer pass online. Babalola anthology print the Yoruba alongside the English translation , but Internet Archive copies get borrowing restriction, so person no fit check the texts here page by page. The ìjálá texts wey spread pass on open web, including the ones on African Poems site, dem print dem in English translation only, without the Yoruba .
This corpus no dey present any Yoruba original wey e never see inside reliable published transcription, and e no dey translate English version back to Yoruba just to satisfy the three-layer rule. Dat one go mean say person dey fabricate primary source. So the position here na:
For solid bilingual ìjálá corpus, make you go check Babalola 1966 . Na the only place where big collection of ìjálá dey with original and translation side-by-side on facing pages, and no open-access alternative dey.
Dem put two text for under here wey person fit present with confidence. The first one short and the Yoruba dey accurate. Dem give the second one for the only way wey dem take publish am, English translation with the source name, and dem mark am like dat.
Ògún ọlọ́mọ nílé, ìrè l'oko. Ògún alákàrà ẹ̀yìn ọ̀nà.
Ògún who has his household at home and Ire as his farm. Ògún of the bean-cake seller at the roadside.
Na the person wey compile this corpus write am from the Yoruba formula wey circulate well well. Medium confidence, because dem no carry am from any named published transcription.
Ire na the town wey connect pass with Ògún, and the line show say e get double residence, e house dey one place and e dey work for another place. Ìrè still be common noun wey mean benefit or gain, so the line carry pun wey translation must drop. The second line put one big divinity beside woman wey dey fry akara for roadside, and readers wey dey expect serious high-level talk fit surprise: this kind direct everyday style na normal feature of the genre, no be say e fall short. Dem still discuss this same formula for yoruba-oriki.
Dem present this text for English only, because na so dem publish am for the sources wey dey available here.
English translation
Ògúnjìnmí, you have caught your father's dog. A needle that falls into a pit is lost forever.
Na Lamidi Abonikaba chant am for Ọ̀yọ́ for 1975, Bade Ajuwon collect and translate am, from Ajuwon "Ogun's Iremoje: A Philosophy of Living and Dying" inside Sandra T. Barnes (ed), Africa's Ogun: Old World and New .
Notes. Dem no reproduce the Yoruba original for the source wey dey accessible, so person no fit provide the first two layers of the corpus translation standard. Wetin person fit talk about the English: "you have caught your father's dog" na idiom for inheritance and succession, where the son take over wetin the father hold, wey dem use here for person wey die; and the needle inside pit na figure for loss wey person no fit recover, the small thing wey person no fit find again once e don enter ground. The two na the kind tight, direct image wey the genre dey use work. This chant na ìrèmọ̀jé instead of proper ìjálá, wey dem treat for file 06, but e share the vocal style of ìjálá and dem put am here make e show wetin that same voice dey do for funeral.
Ìjálá na competition, and the competition dey formal, no be just figure of speech.
Hunters performance dey act like festival where chanters wey sabi dey present their work, people wey participate dey learn from each other, and chanting dey face criticism from older chanters . Na through this way dem dey pass standards down and enforce am. No school and no certificate dey; na gathering where people wey get experience dey listen to people wey get less experience and talk wetin dem think.
No be only memory dem dey judge. Babalola account of ìjálá lay down the standards wey dem take dey judge composition and performance , and the criteria include vocal control, as dem talk above, how the material wey dem select take fit and deep reach, how the chanter fit respond to who dey e front, and the stock of oríkì wey e get. Chanter wey fit salute correctly every lineage wey dey present, for the right order, with material wey the family recognize, dey show the exact competence wey the occasion dey test.
This competition side still explain one structural feature. Because performances dey competitive and continuous, and because audience dey change, ìjálá na malleable genre inside the classification wey dem describe for yoruba-oral-genre-system: the performer dey determine e own text, and wetin e actually deliver dey take shape from the audience wey dey present and wetin e invent by himself . Two performances of the same chanter ìjálá for two different night no be the same text.
The genre no remain inside forest.
Ògúndáre Fóyánmu (1932-2012), from Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, na the ìjálá artist wey dem document pass for the recording era. E produce around twenty albums, na him first start the recorded documentation of ìjálá performance, and people know am pass for how e take bring modern social and political matters enter the chant . E ìjálá on top the Nigerian tax war of 1969 na the standard example . Fóyánmu dey important for analysis as well as history: because wetin e dey talk na modern politics and e audience na people wey dey buy record, e show say no be content or context dey define the genre. Wetin make e performances be ìjálá na the voice.
Àlàbí Ògúndépọ̀ na the other ìjálá artist wey get plenty scholarly literature, wey dem study alongside the Ifá chanter Yẹmí Ẹlẹ́buìbọn for wetin performance dey do for transitional and ceremonial settings .
Religious adoption. Yoruba Christians and Muslims dey join ìjálá chanting enter their own worship, and the genre still dey recognizable as ìjálá when dem do am . One form wey dem build on top homage to Ògún na wetin dem dey hear now inside church and for Islamic ceremonies, wey only e special voice style dey carry.
Beside that, ìjálá chanters don openly complain say people dey neglect dem, and how dem dey pass the genre go meet younger performers no dey secure . Dem treat the situation for file 14.
The dirge chanted through the night at a hunter's funeral, restricted to the hunters' guild, and Bade Ajuwon's argument that it is the mechanism by which the guild's tradition is transmitted.
The chanted poetry of the Egúngún masquerade, its lengthened-vowel vocal signature, the altered voice that marks it as the speech of the dead, and its descent into the Aláàrìnjò travelling theatre.
How Yoruba oral artists are trained, which genres are open to whom, how gender divides the field, how performers are paid, and the named artists the scholarship documents.
What oríkì are, the different kinds, who performs them and why, and how they carry history that written records do not.
How the oral genres feed juju, fuji, ewi and Afrobeats, how film and theatre use them, what is actually being lost, and what archives and projects exist to hear the material.
The secular chanting genre of praise, who the rárà singer is and how the performance is shaped by the audience paying for it, and the accuracy that makes rárà more than flattery.