The Opening Formula and the Teller
The extended Àlọ́ Ìjàpá opening formula in Yorùbá with interlinear glossing, the praise-name run for the tortoise embedded in it, and what the collectors record about the apàlọ̀ and his drum.
Collector
No collector is named in the source consulted.
The tale in brief
An àlọ́ does not begin without a formula, and `yoruba-alo` documents the short form: the teller cries Ààlọ́ o and the audience answers Ààlọ̀. This file carries the material that file does not, an extended opening formula recorded in Yorùbá with word-by-word glossing, in which the call-and-response is followed by a run of praise-names for Ìjàpá himself. It also collects what the nineteenth-century collectors record about the teller as a professional. The extended formula matters because it shows the genre doing something the short form conceals: the tale is announced by praising its protagonist, in the manner of oríkì, before a word of narrative is spoken.
The tale
Not recorded in the source consulted.
The song
Original
Àlọ́ o! Àlọ̀! Àló mi dá gbàá Àló mi dá gbòó Àló mi dá fììrìgbágbòó Ó dálérí Ìjàpá, Tìrókò, ọkọ Yánníbo Ẹsẹ̀ danindanin bi àran ọ̀pẹ. T'ó kọ́lé, kọ́lé t'ó fi ìrán bà á jẹ́ Tí ń lọ l'áàrin èpà Tí ìpàkó rẹ̀ ń hàn fírífírí Ó ní ọpẹ́lọpẹ́ pé òun ga
Literal gloss
- Àlọ́ o story, with emphatic particle
- Àlọ̀ story (the audience's answer)
- Àló mi dá gbàá story my strikes, ideophone
- Àló mi dá gbòó story my strikes, ideophone
- Àló mi dá fììrìgbágbòó story my strikes, ideophone
- Ó dálérí Ìjàpá it strike-lay-head tortoise
- Tìrókò of-ìrókò (Kambon glosses the tree as bombax ceiba), ọkọ Yánníbo husband of-Yánníbo
- Ẹsẹ̀ danindanin bi àran ọ̀pẹ legs tight like fruit-of palm-tree
- T'ó kọ́lé, kọ́lé who builds-house, builds-house
- t'ó fi ìrán bà á jẹ́ who takes seat, makes-contact, destroys
- Tí ń lọ l'áàrin èpà who is going in-the-middle-of groundnuts
- Tí ìpàkó rẹ̀ ń hàn fírífírí whose occiput is showing indistinctly
- Ó ní ọpẹ́lọpẹ́ pé òun ga he says thanks-to that he is-tall
Idiomatic English
A story! A story! My story strikes like this My story strikes like that My story strikes falling and bouncing like so It strikes the head of the tortoise, of the silk cotton tree, the husband of Yánníbo with legs tight like the fruit of the palm-tree Who builds houses Who destroys them with the seat of his shell who goes among groundnuts for whom the back of his head shows indistinctly who says it is thanks to the fact that he is tall Kambon may be followed by a further call and response to begin the narrative proper: Teller: Ní ìgbà kan ('Once upon a time') Audience: Kan, kan ('Once, once') Teller: Ọba kan wà ('There was a king') Audience: Ó wà bíi ẹwà ('He was there like beauty')
No collector is named in the source consulted.
Variants
Not recorded in the source consulted.