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 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.
Ìrèmọ̀jé na di funeral poetry of Yoruba hunters, wey dem dey chant through di night for outside di house of hunter wey die till day break, and na only other hunters dey hear am. E belong to di ìsípà ọdẹ, di hunters' funeral rite, wey di tradition take understand say na di final separation of di person wey die from di guild of hunters for dis world . Di main study na Bade Ajuwon own, for one 1980 article for Africa and for inside im 1982 bilingual anthology Funeral Dirges of Yoruba Hunters .
How di genre take explain where e come from dey specific. Yoruba mythology talk say Ifá coined the name ìrèmọ̀jé to mean dis kind lamentation, and say Ògún demands its performance from im followers as rite of passage wey dey carry dead hunter from earth go heaven, since Ògún himself don set di model wey im followers suppose follow .
Di rite dey happen for night. Dem dey do di performance for night, outside di house of di hunter wey die, and e dey continue reach morning . Because Ògún na di òrìṣà wey bring iron work to human beings, other people for di community wey dey use iron tools dey attend too .
Even with dat, dem still restrict di audience, and na dis be di single most important fact about di genre. Ìrèmọ̀jé's audience dey limited to di guild of hunters wey dey witness di funeral rites of fellow hunter, and e dey forbidden for non-initiates make dem eavesdrop, overhear or spy on any part of di rites. For di classification of Yoruba chant genres according to audience, ìrèmọ̀jé dey between di limited and unlimited types, since di funeral na public event but di chanting itself no be public thing .
Two things follow from dis. First, dem put ìrèmọ̀jé among di frozen or context-restricted forms, alongside ọfọ̀, ìyẹ̀rẹ̀ Ifá and okú pípè, instead of di ones wey dem fit easily change . Unlike ìjálá, wey dem fit adapt to any content and any occasion, dem restrict ìrèmọ̀jé to only funeral rites . Second, di published record of di genre thin pass di one of ìjálá, and make di reader keep am for mind say wetin dem publish na wetin hunters choose to give scholars.
Dis na ongoing disagreement among scholars and di corpus no resolve am.
Ìrèmọ̀jé shares its vocal expression with ìjálá . For system wey dem take voice style primarily classify genres, dat one na strong argument to treat ìrèmọ̀jé as ìjálá wey dem perform for funeral. But against dat, dem restrict ìrèmọ̀jé to single ritual occasion and to closed audience, while ìjálá fit adapt to any content, wey be difference in kind instead of just difference in degree. Di debate about whether ìrèmọ̀jé na distinct genre or sub-genre of ìjálá dey run through Babalola, Ajuwon, Olajubu and Idamoyibo without settling .
Di disagreement itself still dey give information. E dey show say di classification-by-voice principle wey dem describe for yoruba-oral-genre-system na strong tendency instead of absolute rule, and say occasion and audience restriction fit pull against am.
How Ajuwon describe di performers na say dem be members of di hunters' guild, artists wey sabi Yoruba history and folklore well, and professional chanters . Wetin dem dey perform no be just ordinary crying without difference. Na assessment.
Di singers of ìrèmọ̀jé dey emphasise di victories and heroic deeds of di person wey die and carefully gloss over his failures, dey praise im character, im good heart, im professional skill and technique, dey praise di memorable things wey e do as hunter, or at least di courage wey e take face di hard times for im life . At di same time, di devotees of Ògún understand di ritual as occasion for proper appraisal of di successes and failures of dead hunters for their professional career on earth .
Dis two statement dey in tension and na Ajuwon talk both of dem. Di resolution na say di appraisal dey real and wetin dem talk for public na edited one: di guild know who di man be, but di chant dey talk wetin dem fit talk. Di clause wey talk say "at least the courage with which he faced ordeals" na di sign, di formula wey dey available when nothing else dey to praise.
Di bigger argument of Ajuwon na say na so di tradition dey pass down. Di dirges dey teach because dem dey put traditional concepts inside performance, and di lineage praise wey dey inside dey carry important historical points about di ancestors of di person wey die, so dat di occasion dey transfer knowledge across generations about customary practice, professions, dressing, dance and social norms . Di rite na emotional outlet for moment of crisis for di guild, act of worship to appease Ògún, way to communicate with hunters wey don pass away, and teaching event all at once .
Ajuwon Funeral Dirges of Yoruba Hunters (1982) present anthology of ìrèmọ̀jé in parallel Yoruba and English , and na di place to go for di corpus. Dis compiler no fit get di volume, so dem no fit verify di Yoruba originals of di texts below and di corpus translation standard no fit dey met for dem. Dem give dem for di only form wey dey available, English translation with full provenance, and dem label am like dat instead of to dress am up.
English translation
Death no dey kill alone, and e no dey fight by imself. E dey go war with plenty warriors. E dey send Disease first. E dey send Paralysis next. E dey send Loss. E dey send Curses. Death go come finally to kill di hunter papa, wey dey drink water of heaven now.
Na Lamidi chant am, for Akeetan, Ọ̀yọ́, for 1976, for Ògúndélé, hunter wey die. Na Bade Ajuwon collect and translate am, inside "Ogun's Iremoje: A Philosophy of Living and Dying," inside Sandra T. Barnes (ed), Africa's Ogun: Old World and New .
Notes. Di person wey compile this work no get di original Yoruba text, so e no fit put di word-for-word translation layer. Wetin di English keep na di main picture for di genre: say Death na war leader wey get army. Di ones wey dem send go front, Disease, Paralysis, Loss and Curses, na di Ajogun, di bad bad forces for Yoruba cosmology wey dem talk about for yoruba-time-causation-and-misfortune, and di passage na short summary of di cosmology, no be say na poetic personification wey dem just invent for di occasion. "Drinks now of heavenly water" na soft way to talk say di person don cross go ọ̀run.
English translation
Ògúnjìnmí, you don catch your papa dog. Needle wey fall enter pit don lost forever.
Lamidi Abonikaba chant am for Ọ̀yọ́ for 1975, Bade Ajuwon collect and translate am, from di same essay .
Notes. Like wetin dey up, na English only dey. "You have caught your father's dog" na proverb for succession, to take over wetin person papa hold, wey dem apply to death. Di needle wey lost for pit na symbol of loss wey person no fit recover: small thing wey person no fit find again once e don enter ground, and for burial, that kind picture mean serious thing.
Di picture wey dem dey quote pass for di genre na di apó, di hunter bag, wey e dey carry e juju and e preparations inside. Di singers wey dey cry for burial dey lament say Death dey kill hunter like person wey no get apó, just as e dey kill sick babaláwo like person wey e room no get tree-back and roots for medicine . Di singers agree completely say no protection strong reach to shield destiny . And di Yoruba proverb wey follow am take di picture go further: wetin go kill hunter dey hide inside e own apó .
Na that one be di philosophy of di genre, and na why Ajuwon give e essay title as philosophy of living and dying. These na men wey their profession na protection through preparation, and di burial chant talk say di preparation no dey work, say di specialist dey die like person wey no get any special power, and say di thing wey go kill am fit dey inside di bag wey e trust.
Ìrèmọ̀jé na di clearest example for this section of a genre wey e published record few because of how dem design am, no be say dem neglect am. Di material dey; hunters hold am; Ajuwon get and publish big collection of am with di help of di hunter guild; and di way dem dey do di rite dey exclude people wey fit write am down. Where this collection small for here, na di finding be that, and dem treat am di same way di collection dey treat material wey only initiates hold for Ifá.
For anybody wey want di texts, di road na Ajuwon 1982 for di bilingual anthology , Ajuwon 1980 for di argument about transmission , and di Barnes volume for di philosophical essay .
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.
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.
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.
What incantation is as a genre, the theory of language it assumes, why naming and etymology carry force in it, and the tonal and word-play devices it depends on. A description and analysis, not a manual.
How Yoruba verbal art is classified into named genres by vocal manner rather than subject, who performs each and on what occasion, and why the European category "oral literature" fits the material imperfectly.
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.