SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Child-naming Song Poetry of South-East Yoruba

Previous studies in Yoruba oral poetry have largely focussed on Oyo, Egba and Egbado in the North-West, giving little attention to other areas of Yorubaland including Ondo, Ikale and Akoko in the South-East; Ijesa, Ife and Ekiti in the Centre. Furthermore, the forms these studies concentrated on, mostly among the chants, are invariably cultic and of a restricted spread. The more general, non-cultic forms, cutting across the vocal patterns of Yoruba poetry, significantly among the songs, are less frequently investigated where they are investigated at all. The consequence is that they are becoming extinct due to social modernity that is driven on the one hand by a combination of new spirituality and westernisation, sometimes misguided and newfangled; and on the other hand by neglect in the academy. This is the point at which this study seeks entry, focussing on the less investigated forms of indigenous songs that are performed at the birth of a child or during child-naming ceremonial rites in South-East Yorubaland. This genre of traditional songs is rooted in Yoruba philosophy and poetry and constitutes the life-spring of popular, neo-traditional music like juju, fuji, waka, dadakuada and highlife.