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.
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.
Ẹ̀sà, wey people still dey call ìwì, na di chanted poetry of Egúngún masquerade. Na members of di Egúngún family line dey perform am during ancestral festival dem and funeral, and na di voice part of event wey di other part na di masquerade itself. As ìjálá be di voice of hunters, na so ẹ̀sà be di voice of ara ọ̀run, di people wey dey stay di other world, wey di living community wey call dem back dey talk to and wey dem sef dey talk to.
Make we first clear one point about di word. Ìwì for here na di masquerade genre and make person no mix am up with ewì, wey be di general Yoruba word for poetry and wey come turn di name of one modern recorded genre for twentieth century wey we treat for file 14. Di two word dey different and people dey mix dem up well-well.
Like every Yoruba chanted genre, na how dem dey voice Ẹ̀sà na im dem take dey define am, no be by wetin e dey talk. Di sign wey dey show am na to insert and draw vowel, especially to draw vowel three times long [ooo] for di end of di first poetic line, wey dey repeat no matter wetin di topic be . Na inside Olajubu study dem on di genre and Adedeji work on masque theatre dem take confirm dis feature .
If you compare am with ìjálá, di difference dey clear. Dem dey chant Ìjálá with vibrato but ẹ̀sà no be so; instead, ẹ̀sà dey use di style of to draw vowel . Sound measurement show say ẹ̀sà high pass ìjálá for fundamental frequency across all di three Yoruba tone dem, and di two poetic mode high and loud pass normal speech . So di two genre fit carry di same words and still dey completely different to person wey dey listen, wey be di exact point wey dem argue for yoruba-oral-genre-system.
Person must separate Ẹ̀sà from di voice wey masquerade take dey talk, because dem be different things and people dey mix dem together all di time.
Egúngún dey talk with voice wey dem change deliberately, wey dem produce with device or technique wey dey make am sound like no be human being and e dey hard to know where e come from. Inside di tradition, dis one no be disguise say dem dey play trick: na di voice of ara ọ̀run, and di masquerade no be person wey wear cloth but na being from di other world . Di corpus file yoruba-egungun treat di institution, di costume, and di taboo say person no must touch am.
Two consequence dey for di verbal art.
Di voice wey dem change dey give freedom to talk wetin living person no fit talk. Because di speaker no be person wey dey inside normal society arrangement, Egúngún fit call family members by name, talk about their character, bless dem, and tell person for face wetin nobody else fit talk . Satire and correction wey dey come from outside normal society arrangement na real function of di art, no be just by accident.
To chant and to talk na different register dem inside one performance. Na chant dem take dey do ẹ̀sà, inside di style wey dem dey draw vowel; na talk dem take dey make di pronouncements, inside di voice wey dem change. Di performance dey move between di two.
Di traditional content of ẹ̀sà, just like ìjálá, na eulogy and epithet: oríkì material, wey dem dey direct to di ancestors, to di family line, to di town, and to people wey dey present . Praise singers dey chant di family history of di lineage, dey recite ancestral names inside measured poetry.
For structure side, ìwì egúngún normally dey start with ìwúre, prayer, and e no dey stay too much on oríkì orílẹ̀, di lineage praise material . Dat one na useful contrast: wetin mark ìjálá na ìbà and ìkíni, homage and salutation, with small oríkì, while ẹkún ìyàwó dey join prayer, salutation, and lineage praise together inside one performance . Each genre get im own proportion of di same component dem.
Dem classify Ẹ̀sà among di transitional forms, wey be sacred before but now don turn mostly secular inside plenty of im performance . Na only members of Egúngún society dey chant am, so di rule on who fit perform still dey stand even when di occasion don turn entertainment.
Di most important thing about ẹ̀sà for history side na wetin grow come out from am.
Joel Adedeji study of di Yoruba masque theatre trace di Aláàrìnjò travelling theatre back to di Egúngún masque tradition of Ọ̀yọ́, through two named figures. Ológbìn Ológbojo lead one quasi-professional masque group wey entertain palace. Ẹ̀sà Ògbìn carry am go further, open membership beyond single lineage and carry di theatre commot palace go meet general audience, with group and repertoire wey pass di one of di person before am . People come know di performers as Ọ̀jẹ̀ or Egúngún Apidan, masquerade dem wey people know for acrobatic and magic display .
Adedeji model of di development pass through three stage dem, from ritual to festival to theatre, wey show say na di same Egúngún dem dey use for both ritual and secular occasion . Di name of di genre and di name of di theatre founder na di same word, wey be di clearest sign of where di tradition understand say di theatre come from.
Dat lineage matter for person wey dey read di rest of dis section. Di Aláàrìnjò travelling masque theatre, di twentieth-century Yoruba travelling theatre of Ogunde, Ogunmola and Ladipo, and di Yoruba film industry stand inside documented line of descent from masquerade performance. Di corpus treat di theatre history inside yoruba-dance-and-theatre and di film question inside file 14 here.
Publication work for Ẹ̀sà no reach wetin dem do for ìjálá at all. No ẹ̀sà equivalent of Babalola bilingual anthology dey open circulation, and Olajubu work on di genre, wey be di foundational study, no dey accessible here . Di consequence dey stated clearly: dis compiler no fit verify substantial ẹ̀sà text inside published transcription with di Yoruba original. Readers wey want proper ẹ̀sà suppose go meet Olajubu work.
Wetin follow for here na two masquerade song text from di Adamu Òrìṣà play of Lagos, wey dem publish with Yoruba and English, wey show di verbal register of masquerade festival even though say na song dem be, no be ẹ̀sà chant.
Eyo o, e! eyo o, Eyo baba ń t'awa T'ó ń fi góòlù ṣeré, Àwa ò le san owó onibodè. Ó dilé.
Eyo, hail Eyo, Eyo our father, who plays with gold. We cannot pay the gatekeeper's toll. It has come home.
Translator: Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀ editorial rendering, wey dem never review
Yoruba as Asaolu print am ; na di compiler of dis corpus do di literal gloss and di idiomatic rendering. Confidence medium.
Di source print di Yoruba without complete tone mark, so di diacritic marks wey dey on top na di compiler reconstruct am from text wey di words dey sure but di tone no dey marked for di source. Dem talk am open instead of to hide am, because Yoruba text wey no get tone mark dey get plenty different meaning and to put tone mark na to give one reading. Onibodè na person wey dey guard town gate or toll point, and dat line say dem no fit pay na brag dem dey brag no be say dem dey complain: dis procession dey pass without paying. Ó dilé, wey literally mean "e don reach house", na di standard way to talk say dem don return, wey be wetin masquerade outing be.
Kà á bọ̀ o, kà á bọ̀ (twice) Ọmọ a bílẹ̀ sọ̀rọ̀, Ọmọ a bílẹ̀ sọ̀rọ̀ kílẹ̀ lánu. Kà á bọ̀ o.
Welcome back, welcome back. Child of the one who speaks with the ground, who speaks with the ground and the ground opens its mouth. Welcome back.
Translator: Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀ editorial rendering, wey dem never review
Yoruba as Asaolu print am, wey im own English rendering of di middle line na "She, whose voice the ground obeys" Gloss and di full idiomatic rendering na by di compiler. Confidence medium, with di same warning about tone marking as above.
Di English wey dem publish squeeze two lines enter one and turn di image to obedience. Di Yoruba specific pass dat and e strange pass am: dem talk to di ground, and di ground open im mouth take answer. Dat figure, say di earth dey answer when dem talk to am, na di language of ọfọ̀ and masquerade authority instead of ordinary praise, and as Asaolu smooth am, dat meaning come lost. Dis na small example of di general problem wey dem discuss for yoruba-translation-and-bias: translation wey smooth to read fit quietly replace concrete cosmological claim with abstraction. Dem describe di song as Adimu anthem, wey dem dey sing every time dem dey return from outing .
Di satirical song texts of di masquerade tradition, and above all di Ẹfẹ̀ night songs of di Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ complex, dey treated separately inside file 12, because dia social function dey different and because di best texts for dem dey inside Lawal and di Drewals work. Reader wey want masquerade verbal art plenty suppose read file 12 join dis one.
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 satirical song traditions of the masquerade societies, especially the all-night Ẹfẹ̀ performance in which named individuals are held to account, and the wider Yoruba institution of licensed abuse.
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.
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.
What Egúngún actually is, why it is a lineage institution rather than an orisa cult, how the costume and the taboo on touching it work, and how the tradition has been misrepresented.