The Performers: Who Makes This Art
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.
intermediatemedium·
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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 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.
Na real people dey make Yoruba oral literature, people wey get name, training, work, and bills to pay. Dis file dey talk about dem: how dem dey get competence, who dem allow or expect make dem perform each genre, how gender divide di field, how di money aspect dey work, and which artists di academic record actually mention.
First distinction. Some genres na for everybody: àlọ́, orin, di normal way wey people dey use proverb. Some na membership dey restrict am: ìrèmọ̀jé need di hunters guild, ẹ̀sà need di Egúngún society, ìyẹ̀rẹ̀ Ifá need babaláwo training. Some dey open but e don become professional work: rárà, ìjálá and drumming, where anybody fit learn but na few dey use am make living. And one, ẹkún ìyàwó, na once in a lifetime every woman wey marry traditionally dey perform am.
No institution dey and no certificate dey. Di ways wey dem dey take learn na three, and dem dey mix together.
Heredity. Di clearest example na drumming. Àyàn na di òrìṣà of drumming and drumming belong to Àyàn lineages, wey dia members dey bear names wey get Àyàn inside, and yoruba-drum-language explain dis one well. Di Egúngún lineages dey similar: na only members of di society dey chant ẹ̀sà, so di genre dey pass through bloodline. Where genre belong to lineage, di pikin from dat family dey begin absorb am before any proper teaching start.
Apprenticeship. For di general Yoruba apprenticeship system, di apprentice na ọmọ-ìkọ́ṣé and when training finish na gbà-àyè ìkọ́ṣé, to collect freedom, graduation . People wey wan become musician dey go through serious training wey di scope, how long e go take, syllabus, philosophy and wetin dey inside na di master dey set am . Di three ways to enter music wey dem list na heredity, apprenticeship under master wey people know well, and to observe, imitate and join bodi for musical activity . Drummer training dey involve periods of apprenticeship with reward for doing well and di opposite if person do bad, and scholarly research note say Àyàn leadership development generally dey informal, e no get structure and dem no dey write am down . Dat last point make sense make person hold well: di system dey work, and e no dey write anything down, na why accurate statement about training time and curriculum dey hard to find and dem no put am here.
Immersion and rote. For di genres wey no be professional work, na through exposure and repetition dem dey learn am. Dem dey learn Ẹkún ìyàwó over months and years when di girl never marry by cramming am, sometimes dem dey hire professional wailer make e train di bride and di other girls for di family wey go soon marry . Wetin Isola observe na di widest statement of di principle: from di very first day wey Yoruba children enter dis world, dem dey hear poetry wey people dey perform, usually na grandmother or another woman wey dey welcome di new pikin by chanting di family oríkì, and during childhood, teaching dey go on through literature .
Two extra practices dey show for di records and make we report dem instead of to smooth dem over. First, memory aids: girls wey dey learn ẹkún ìyàwó, sometimes dem dey give dem preparation wey go make dem fit remember things well and get bold face for front of enemies, di same way masquerade chanter dey fortify imself . Second, di counter-claim, say ẹkún ìyàwó no need any formal training or apprenticeship at all, and say to master am na from continuous practice and repetition . Di two points dey inside di literature and we leave di disagreement as e dey.
Say institution no dey no mean say standard no dey.
Di way e dey work na public performance for front of audience wey sabi. Hunters festivals dey serve as occasions where chanters wey get skill dey present, people wey dey there dey learn from each other, and dem dey submit chanting to di criticism of older chanters . Babalola account of ìjálá lay down di standards wey dem dey use judge composition and performance , wey mean say di tradition get well-explained critical terms wey dem dey use.
Wetin dem dey judge, across genres: how voice dey control according to di genre style, like di ìjálá chanter natural relaxed voice ; how plenty and how correct di performer stock of oríkì be; how dem take respond to who dey present; and originality inside corpus wey di audience already know. How Kolawole take put dat last point na say nothing new dey for performance wey people already know di text, so di artist ability to make di old material fresh na wetin dey make di difference for front of audience wey be both respondent and judge . E also note di restriction: if di performer divert anyhow without reason, dem dey see im verbal art as something wey out of place and e go dey at di mercy of di audience .
Di field dey divided by gender according to genre, and di pattern no be wetin reader fit expect.
Women dey hold central genres. Wetin Barber find out for Òkukù na say oríkì, wey be di main discourse for di whole system, na women mostly dey perform am, and say na women dey hold and interpret di corpus . Since oríkì na di raw material for most of di other genres, dis one put large part of di tradition knowledge for women hand. Ẹkún ìyàwó na strictly for women. Di oríkì wey dey welcome newborn pikin na grandmother or another woman dey chant am . Di Oroyeye abuse songs wey Apter document, na women dey perform am, young women for night and elder female cult custodians for day, and di right wey elder women get to call names of people wey do wrong na one form of political authority .
Men dey hold di guild and lineage genres. Ìjálá and ìrèmọ̀jé belong to hunters, wey be men. Ẹ̀sà belong to di Egúngún society. Drumming belong to di Àyàn lineages and na mostly men dey do am. Ifá chanting na predominantly male, even though no be only men, and yoruba-becoming-a-babalawo discuss di ìyánífá matter.
Wetin dey record about Rárà get disagreement. Dem often describe rárà chanting for kings and rich people say na men dey do am, while di genre own branch wey be ẹkún ìyàwó na for women, and wetin Barber find for oríkì cut across dis description. Di honest truth na say how dem dey share performance role by gender dey depend on di occasion and di locality even though dem dey share di same material, and di sources wey we check here no support any general claim wey lean to one side.
Di most important observation wey Barber make about gender dey structural, no be based on number. For Òkukù, na women mostly dey perform oríkì, and ìtàn, wey be di narratives wey dey explain wetin di oríkì dey point to, na elderly men mostly dey recount am, so dat how meaning take dey come out from di text divide between two different genres wey stand on dia own and wey two different groups dey hold . None of di two groups hold di complete text. Dis na division of intellectual labour, no be hierarchy, and e mean say person need di two before dem fit get full account of a lineage past.
Dem always dey pay for praise performance, and di payment dey shape di art.
Di relationship straight: na di person wey dem praise dey reward di performer. Wetin Barber write about oríkì performance show say di performer get tight one-on-one relationship with di person wey dem dey chant for, dey advise dem, dey bless dem, and dey thank dem, and e dey switch go another person when person wey get level pass enter di performance space . Di financial side dey clear inside di performance itself.
Di same ting dey happen for drummers. Di respect wey audience get for talking drummer depend on how e sabi praise names well to take praise people wey dey present, and drummers wey sabi dis one well dey receive material and monetary gifts . Dem dey render Rárà mainly for entertainment and, sometimes, for appreciation and payment among di kindred community .
Two consequences dey.
E dey shape di text. Who dem praise, how long e reach, and di order wey dem take praise dem, dey partly depend on who dey pay and di person rank. Dis no mean say di form don spoil; na so di form itself be. But reader wey dey treat transcribed praise performance like neutral record of lineage history must consider who pay for am.
E no mean say na empty flattery. Di Ẹ̀ṣọ́ Ìkòyí case inside file 04 show say performer wey dem pay still must chant about di lineage war-war behaviour and looting because dose lines belong to di established repertoire, and di audience no dey vex because dem belong to di corpus . Payment dey buy performance, e no dey buy editorial control.
Apart from individual payment, institutional patronage sef dey. Di arọ́kin na palace chroniclers wey attach to royal households, and Crowther 1852 dictionary record say ológbò na royal counsellor wey also act as chronicler and narrator of ancient traditions, with di proverb Ológbò bàbá arọ́kin, Ologbo is the father of the chroniclers . yoruba-oriki treat dis offices.
Di scholarly record no name plenti performers as e suppose do, and dis na real deficiency for di field: for plenti texts wey dem publish, dem no name di chanter, na only di collector dem credit. Dis ones wey follow below dey documented.
Ògúndáre Fóyánmu (Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́, 1932-2012), ìjálá. Di ìjálá artist wey dem document pass for di recording era. E get around twenty albums, e be pioneer for di digital documentation of ìjálá performance, and people know am pass for how e take bring modern social and political matters enter chant, with im ìjálá on di Nigerian tax war of 1969 as di standard example . Scholarly literature dey on im work, including ecocritical and socio-religious-historical readings .
Àlàbí Ògúndépọ̀, ìjálá, wey dem study alongside di Ifá chanter Yẹmí Ẹlẹ́buìbọn for performative agency inside transitional settings . Ẹlẹ́buìbọn na one named Ifá priest wey dem don publish im chanting separately.
Lámídì Abonikaba, ìrèmọ̀jé. Chant di dirge for di late hunter Ògúnjìnmí for Ọ̀yọ́ inside 1975, wey Bade Ajuwon record . One Lámídì also chant for Akeetan, Ọ̀yọ́ inside 1976 for di late hunter Ògúndélé; whether na di same performer, di sources wey dey accessible no state am and we no assume am here.
Láńrewájú Adépọ̀jù (c. 1940-December 2023), ewì. Di central figure for modern Yoruba poetry performance, wey im own summary of wetin e contribute na say e modernise and professionalise ewì . E pioneer ewì on disc and later cassette, using recording technology to produce extended poems, and im Ewi Hit Hot series spread wide across Yoruba-speaking area . Broadcasting give am im platform. Okunoye study inside Africa present am as local intellectual wey im work and ideas shape modern Yoruba poetry, drawing on biography, extensive personal interview and textual illustration, and e treat ewì like open form wey dey exist between oral and written tradition . Ọlátúbọ̀sún Ọládàpọ̀ na di other major ewì figure, and dia collections for early 1970s mark new awakening for di genre .
Musicians wey dey use oral genres for commercial recording, wey Orimoogunje document: Àyìnlá Ọmọwúrà, wey dey use ọfọ̀ inside im records, and Fatai Olowonyo, Sikiru Ayinde, Haruna Isola, Yusuf Olatunji (Baba L'Ẹgbaa), Dauda Epo Akara, Adedara Arounralojaoba, Odolaye Aremu and Kasumu Adio, wey dey use ìbà, ìwúre, epè and oríkì for performance . File 14 treat dis line.
Collectors and transcribers wey suppose dey named because na dia fieldwork preserve di texts: Adeboye Babalola for ìjálá, Bade Ajuwon for ìrèmọ̀jé, Oludare Olajubu for ẹ̀sà, Karin Barber for di Òkukù oríkì, Val Ọlayẹmi for di ìbejì songs, Babatunde Lawal and di Drewals for Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́, Ladele and Faniyi for ẹkún ìyàwó, and Wande Abimbola for Ifá.
Three honest gaps dey, wey make dis file carry mark say confidence: intermediate.
Di training no get record by design. Di apprenticeship system no follow formal way, e no get structure and dem no dey document am , so talk about how long di training dey take, wetin e dey cost and wetin dey inside di curriculum no dey reliably available, and we no make any of such claim here.
Most performers no get name for inside di record. For majority of published Yoruba oral text dem, including plenti inside dis section, na di person wey collect di work we know, no be di chanter. Where name, place and date dey, dis corpus dey report dem, and how often e no fit do dat na finding on its own about how dem take collect di material.
Record about di current generation no plenti. Di ìjálá, rárà and ẹkún ìyàwó performers wey still dey alive and dey work for Nigeria today almost no dey inside accessible scholarship, na mostly for inside journalism and social media dem dey appear. Ìjálá chanters don publicly complain say people dey neglect dem . Anybody wey dey do dis work now, dem no dey write about am reach di level wey dem write about Fóyánmu.
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 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 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.
The chant a Yoruba bride performs in the days before she leaves her father's house, its three-part structure, the social situation that produces it, and what she actually says about the marriage ahead of her.
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 dùndún as a literary instrument rather than a technical curiosity: oríkì and proverbs delivered on the drum, what the drummer composes from, and how drummed, sung and spoken text relate in one performance.