Thanks Prof. The series is part of the annotated translation of Christopher Okigbo' Labyrinths from a Yoruba ideological perspective in particular the significance of the cross to Yoruba thought.
It elaborates poetically on themes which Henry ( Atandare Onibode) Gates Jr has worked on to demonstrate how deities like Esu-Elagbara accompanied captives on the Middle Passage to help structure strategies of emancipation through rhetorics and songs of freedom.
These songs of freedom persists to this day in the lyrics of musical giants like Bob Marley, the development of Blues and Jazz and of course back home in genres such as Juju music.
The effort is to extrapolate the age long mytho-poetic structuration of music as a method of polemics of deliverance in particular the efficacy of music (psychologically opening the interstices of the soul where bland rhetorics prove insufficient.)
This effort explains why Okigbo was so committed to music in his lifetime that his poetry shows the unmistakable signs that he viewed poetry as modern surrogate to music. His commitment to oracular divination means that he sees (rightly) the oracle as the link between poetry and music since music comprises the beat (the numerical element) and the chord (the verbal element). The Yoruba deity in charge of both is Esu- Elegbara.
This would not have been lost on Okigbo (who came to prominence in Yoruba land) who in his eclectic style included chants of monarchs like the Timi of Ede in his poetry as well as Yoruba idioms like 'owo omode ko to pepe' .
Okigbo apparently thinks ( through the lament of the poet-protagonist)Africans lost their culture to the influences of Christianity (symbolized by the cross). The translation shows how the African pre- Christian notion of the cross (through Elegbara) symbolizes redemption.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
From: Michael Afolayan <mafolayan@yahoo.com>
Date: 22/05/2017 01:37 (GMT+00:00)
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Cc: Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ewi Igbokegbodo Keta
This is beautiful, Alagba, but we are awaiting the interpretation o. E ku ohun . . .
Michael
On Sunday, May 21, 2017 7:00 PM, Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Odùṣọ Ifá
Àwọn ìràwọ ti wá rékọjá,
Àwọ sánmà pẹlú awò ojúkan rẹ
Nwòye ayé abẹ rẹ.
Awon ìràwọ ti rekoja,
Ṣùgbọn o, èmi –nibo ni emi wà?
Múra ki o túnramú, ìwòye mi,
Lati dìrọmó wakati yi,
Ki o si mú ileri ìgbà yi ṣẹ
Pelu orin àti ẹyẹ.
Odùṣọ ifá yọ si mi
Gegebi yemọja òkun
Abara rọgbọdọ
O wipe:
Túraká! Ifá kò robi sẹni kan
Kókó ifa ni lati ta ibi nù
Ati lati kó ire wọlé.
Kọlọfin ibi ilà gbé pàdé
Ni oríta Ẹlẹgbára.
Kọlọfin ibi ilà gbé pàdé
Ni àgbélèbú ti paradà di oríta ọnà
Kọlọfin ibi ti Ila gbe pade
Ni bèbè Náìlì tí ọmọ gbẹnọ gbẹnọ
Gbé sọ ẹnọ àmójúbà Ẹlẹgbára;
Kọlọfin ibi ilà gbé pàdé ni Ojú Ẹlẹgba*
Ni olùdándè ojú inu ti o sọnù,
Ti a ṣe ìràpadà rẹ si ìparadà orin kíkọ;
Ilà èkíní ni ti ohùn òkè
Ati ti ìsàlẹ orin alárinrin ni ipasẹ
Gbédègbeyọ Ẹlẹgbára;
Ilà èkejì ni ti òṣùnwọn
Ìgbà mélǒ ni ìlù lílù pẹlú
Irinṣẹ orin Lákáayé pẹlu atọkùn Ọrúnmìlà;
Ni ibi ti ewì gbé paradà
Di ìmọ orin ayérayé…
Odùṣọ Ifa t'ẹnu b'orin:
Ẹ má s'Èṣù d'èké
Ẹ ma sọ'fá d'ọlẹ
Kos'ésìn kẹsìn ti o bori ifa.
Odùṣọ, oníbodè ibode Òrun
Ệlà, onílànà ọrọ ìrètí ògo.
*Fún ìwòye itumọ Ojú Ẹlẹgba, mo dúpẹ lọwọ ògbóntagí iyèkọn akẹkọ mi, onímọ iṣẹ onà gbólóhùn, Ọjọgbọn Adémọlá Dàsylvà.
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