Below is quoted another powerfully intriguing summation from Olayinka Agbetuyi from the thread "FW: TWO NEW BOOKS IN HONOR OF KWAME NKRUMAH" on this group. It would be wonderful to learn the inspiration and progression of this thinking.
I also wonder if it can be help catalyse a conjunction between Okigbo's Labyrinths and Ifa through the prominence of the female principle in both discursive contexts- the river goddess Idoto for Okigbo and Odu, the wife of Orunmila for Ifa, although the prominence of Odu in traditional Ifa does not seem to equal that of Idoto in Labyrinths.
As practitioners seek, however, to make Ifa spirituality more gender inclusive, by emphasizing its female centred dimensions, Odu's prominence is being developed in Diaspora Ifa by such thinkers as Awo Falokun Fatumnbi, Ayele Kumari, Melba Farell and other feminist contributors on the Facebook group Ifa-Orisa-Egun-Talks where fierce discussions on this subject are evident, such as this .
I also wonder if it can be help catalyse a conjunction between Okigbo's Labyrinths and Ifa through the prominence of the female principle in both discursive contexts- the river goddess Idoto for Okigbo and Odu, the wife of Orunmila for Ifa, although the prominence of Odu in traditional Ifa does not seem to equal that of Idoto in Labyrinths.
As practitioners seek, however, to make Ifa spirituality more gender inclusive, by emphasizing its female centred dimensions, Odu's prominence is being developed in Diaspora Ifa by such thinkers as Awo Falokun Fatumnbi, Ayele Kumari, Melba Farell and other feminist contributors on the Facebook group Ifa-Orisa-Egun-Talks where fierce discussions on this subject are evident, such as this .
'The mathe-magical God/dess greets you!
The Primal Digitizer whose will you project greets you.
Author of the Primal Cogito,
S/he who is affirmed in the very act of denial enkindles you.
The Primal Dialectician greets you,
the protector of Marxists embraces you.
S/he who bade the Golden Mercury of Africa sing:
Nkrumaism will never die
salutes your industry.
She who appeared in Moremi and affirmed: 'the palm that rocks the (civilizational) cradle
greets you.
She on whose supine backbone lay Esinmirin on its snaky winding way across Africa through subterranean streams welcomes you.
Primal Teacher
At whose pendulous breasts
humankind suckles at the fount of knowledge welcomes you into the fold.
Congratulations! '
Olayinka Agbetuyi
Olayinka Agbetuyi
On 23 May 2017 at 09:39, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
Powerful summation on Okigbo in terms of the motif of the cross, particularly in relation to the Yoruba Orisa tradition deity Esu Elegbara in the context of the musical intersections of the beat and the chord, the numerical and the verbal. I wonder where one can learn more about these relationships between Esu and music, this being a new idea to me.Was Okigbo "committed to oracular divination"? I would like references to the sections of his sole poetry collections Labyrinths that demonstrates that.How readily could one develop correlations between Labyrinths and Ifa? Would it be the description of Okigbo's incorporation of chant/s of the Timi of Ede and Yoruba idioms?I would very much like to learn about the specific lines in Okigbo's poetry with their Yoruba correlates. Romanus Egudu and others has done beautiful work on Okigbo's adaptation of Igbo proverb/s, folklore and spirituality.thankstoyinOn 22 May 2017 at 22:25, Olayinka Agbetuyi <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote: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)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 rẹNwòye 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 ṣẹPelu orin àti ẹyẹ.
Odùṣọ ifá yọ si miGegebi yemọja òkunAbara rọgbọdọO wipe:
Túraká! Ifá kò robi sẹni kanKókó ifa ni lati ta ibi nùAti lati kó ire wọlé.Kọlọfin ibi ilà gbé pàdéNi oríta Ẹlẹgbára.Kọlọfin ibi ilà gbé pàdéNi àgbélèbú ti paradà di oríta ọnàKọlọfin ibi ti Ila gbe padeNi bèbè Náìlì tí ọmọ gbẹnọ gbẹnọGbé 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 òkèAti ti ìsàlẹ orin alárinrin ni ipasẹGbédègbeyọ Ẹlẹgbára;Ilà èkejì ni ti òṣùnwọnÌgbà mélǒ ni ìlù lílù pẹlúIrinṣẹ orin Lákáayé pẹlu atọkùn Ọrúnmìlà;Ni ibi ti ewì gbé paradàDi ìmọ orin ayérayé…
Odùṣọ Ifa t'ẹnu b'orin:Ẹ má s'Èṣù d'èkéẸ ma sọ'fá d'ọlẹKos'ésìn kẹsìn ti o bori ifa.Odùṣọ, oníbodè ibode ÒrunỆlà, 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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