The occasions on which oríkì is actually chanted, the royal awakening and market-day forms, and how payment shapes what a performer says, illustrated with texts the genre files in this section do not carry.
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.
13-oral-literature/13-the-performers.md get full tori for inside dis collection about how dem dey train Yoruba oral performers, how gender dey divide di field, and how patronage and payment dey work, and yoruba-rara and yoruba-ijala cover di genre-level treatment of di two commonest vocal modes wey dem dey use perform oríkì. Dis file no repeat any of dose things. E dey present oríkì-specific performance texts wey research wey dem gather for dis section bring out, texts wey document occasions wey dose other files only mention in passing: how dem dey wake king for morning, di civic succession formula, and how performer take dey scold audience directly for middle of performance.
Yoruba royal palace dey start di day with formal exchange between di ruler household and, for some traditions, di palace drummers, before any oda business begin. Two documented forms show dis pattern from two different towns.
Dìde, dìde, o bọ́ ṣòkòtò, ẹ̀nìkan kì í fi iṣẹ́ ìgbọ̀nsẹ̀ rán ọmọ ẹni.
Dem present am without tone marks for di source primary printing; di source still supply variant wey get full marks, wey dey here as alternative instead of silent correction: Dìde, dìde, o bọ́ ṣòkòtò, ẹ̀nìkan kì í fi iṣẹ́ ìgbọ̀nsẹ̀ rán ọmọ ẹni .
Get up, get up, put on your trousers, no one sends someone else to excrete for him.
Na Karin Barber translate am .
What it says. Di second half wey be like proverb dey claim say person no fit send anoda person go do certain body matters for am. As dem apply am to king for early morning, e dey tell am say to rule, just like to ease himself, na personal duty wey nobody fit do for am on his behalf.
Significance. Na dis be di opening formula for di daily morning wake-up ritual for di Oba, wey dey start di work of palace trumpeters and drummers as dem dey deliver di fuller royal oríkì, incantations and blessings wey follow . Na small text wey get big work: na di first thing wey dem dey tell di king everyday, in every sense di opening line of his oríkì.
Performed. Daily, as day break, for palace door, by royal palace trumpeters and court bards, for Òkukù and di wider Ọ̀yọ́ Yoruba royal courts .
Ọlá o jíire? Timi o jíire?
Did your royal majesty awake in good health? Did the Timi awake well?
Na Ọba John Adétòyèse Laoye I translate am, wey be Timi of Èdè himself and scholar of Yoruba drumming .
What it says. Direct, formulaic inquiry to ask how di ruler health dey, wey dem address two times, once with his praise title and once with his main title Timi.
Significance. As dem dey play am solo for ìyáàlù mother drum before di royal ensemble start ceremonial drumming, na dis dawn protocol dey start di daily routine of di king court, and na documented case of oríkì wey dem deliver as pure drum tone before any human voice talk am, relationship wey di drum file for dis section treat well .
Performed. For early morning for palace gate for Èdè, Osun State, by palace drummers, historically under Ọba John Adétòyèse Laoye I himself, wey write about di secular functions of Yoruba drums with direct royal and musical authority .
Notes. As Laoye hold two positions as both di reigning Timi of Èdè and scholar wey publish work on drumming, e mean say dis text get chain of transmission wey short well well: di man wey receive di salute as ruler na him still write am down and translate am. Dat one no comot di normal care wey person suppose take about translation choices, but e dey worth to mention am as case where performer, subject and scholar na di same person.
No be every performance context be person. Ìbàdàn chieftaincy system produce formula wey dey praise di mechanism of succession itself.
B'Ólúbàdàn bá kú, ta ní ó joyè?
When the Olubadan passes on, who will ascend the throne?
Na Ọba Adétòyèse Laoye I and Siyan Oyeweso translate am .
What it says. For surface e look like question; but functionally, na statement of confidence. Ìbàdàn chieftaincy dey run on promotional line system where everybody already know di answer to di question, and to ask am rhetorically dey celebrate say succession crisis no dey, instead of say person dey genuinely doubt.
Significance. Na Ọba Adétòyèse Laoye compose and drum am for 1956 as di historic broadcast signature tune for Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service, and dis line come turn standard teaching example of how dùndún pitch mapping dey follow Yoruba tone, wey di source cite with di drummed solfa Mí Mí Dò Dò Mí Mí, Rẹ̄ Mí Mí Rẹ̄ Dò . E show how formula wey dey close to oríkì move for twentieth century from palace ritual straight into national broadcasting, route wey different from di fuji and juju route wey 13-oral-literature/14-continuity-into-the-present.md document.
Performed. As broadcast call sign and for civic occasions and Ìbàdàn royal processions, wey dùndún drummers drum .
Variants. Di source still record say dem write di line as T'o ni'badan ba ku, tani o j'oye?, wey be spelling variant instead of different text .
yoruba-rara document say di person wey performer praise na him dey reward di performer, and say dis one dey shape wetin performer dey talk. Di material wey dem gather add case where di performer turn di transaction itself into subject matter, as e dey address no be di patron wey e dey praise, but di audience of lesser petitioners wey dey around am.
Àwọn ti kò gbọ́n, Àwọn ti orí wọn kò pé lati kékeré, Wọ́n ni kí Ògún lé wọn pada l'ọ́nà odo... Ògún, jọ̀wọ́ má lé mi lati ibikíbi... Àwọn àgbàlagbà orí dà bí ẹ̀so igi àkàràgbá...
Those who are not wise, those whose mental development was arrested in childhood, say they want Ògún to drive them back on their way to the river. Whenever some people say this, I comment, drawing attention to them as foolish people... Ògún, please don't drive me from anywhere... Innovations are my stock-in-trade with my Ògún.
Na Adeboye Babalola translate am, from one performance wey dem record from di chanter Raaji Ogundiran Alao for Eripa, Osun State, and dem publish am inside one edited volume on Ògún .
Wetin e talk. Di chanter dey scold pipo wey dey call Ògún carelessly for small small fear, e show say im own dey free from Ògún vexing because im relationship with di òrìṣà na skilled craft no be superstition, and e finish by claiming innovation itself as im offering to di god.
Wetin make am important. Dis na performer wey dey use oríkì-based ìjálá no be only to praise Ògún, but to show professional and moral authority over other pipo wey dey there, including chanters wey no sabi work reach am. 13-oral-literature/13-the-performers.md document say ìjálá performance dey face criticism from older chanters for hunters gathering; dis text na rare example where dat competitive and evaluative part dey show inside di performed text itself instead of just inside di social description wey dey around am.
How dem perform am. For ritual festival performances and hunting guild celebrations, by di chanter wey dem name as Raaji Ogundiran Alao . Dis na one of di few oríkì texts inside dis section material wey get living-tradition performer wey dem name, instead of just named collector, wey 13-oral-literature/13-the-performers.md point out say na general shortage for inside di published record.
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 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 oríkì are, the different kinds, who performs them and why, and how they carry history that written records do not.
Oríkì delivered on the talking drum rather than the voice, with the patron deity of drumming's own praise text and a documented case of drummed praise used to warn a rival.
Karin Barber's finding that oríkì in Okuku is held and performed mainly by women, with texts showing what that custodianship does at a wedding, at a festival, and inside a marriage.
Bolanle Awe's case for oríkì as historical evidence, worked through two towns' founding oríkì, with a plain statement of what a historian can and cannot recover from the form.