The Aesthetics of Ado-ekiti Praise Poetry
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives Of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the utilitarian values and aesthetics of praise poetry as an important artistic expressions within the Ado-Ekiti community. The study hopes to achieve the following specific objectives:
- To illustrate how historical factors contributes to the development of Ado-Ekiti praise
- To show how the functionalists approach could be explicating the richness and awareness of Ekiti praise
- To explore the continued relevance of praise poetry among the Ekiti people and how it is an integral part of the people‟s
- To demonstrate the response of Ekiti praise poetry to changes in the society of Yoruba in particular and Nigeria as a whole.
CHAPTER TWO
THE NATURE OF EKITI PRAISE POETRY
Introduction
Although poetry is often verbalized as “song-singing” (orin kiko) or drum-playing (ilu-lilu), the all-embracing phrase for a musical performance is (Ere sise) entertaining, a generic term which encompasses singing, instrumental playing, dancing, poetry and so on. One of the most important symbols of the association of music with non-musical elements is the musico-dramatic genre of Yoruba story-telling – the (Alo). The aim is of this chapter is to examine the various ways through which praise poetry takes place in Yoruba land particularly in Ekiti, focusing on both vocal and significance aesthetics. As a prelude to this, we shall briefly examine relevant issues.
The Venue for Ado-Ekiti praise poetry
The time and venue for Ekiti praise poetry differs depending context. Apparently the researcher was one of the researchers that benefited from Etado‟s flexibility, since I arrived there on October 1st, 2013 to observe the Alamo, not knowing that the Ado society had performed the ritual festival three months prior to that time. However, it is difficult for the researcher to know the other researchers who were favoured by the divinity, since none of them have published anything on praise songs of Ado Ekiti. Nonetheless, I was assured that if I could pay for all the ceremonial or ritualistic items needed for the Oro (ritual festival for the songs) and following an approval from the Epa divinity, the Ado society members would perform the festival for me.
One interesting thing about this development is that irrespective of how many times the Alamo has been performed over the years, the ritual procedures and phases remain the same. This is as a result of the sanctions imposed by the Ado society, forbidding any individual or group of individuals who belong to the Alamo lineage to perform the Oro as a play (without the accompanied ritual sacrifices) or for the sake of money from researchers or scholars. Besides, the society members strongly adhere to the pact and the accompanying warning that was supposedly given them by Orisa-Alamo that stipulated that whenever the ritual festival is held all the required sacrifices must be offered to Orisa-Alamo.
On October 16, 2013, at around 10:00 p.m. the Ado-Ekiti chief priest (Obaigbo), in the person ofOlusegun Igunnu, who is seventy-five years old left for the Orisa-Alamo grove for the whole night, where he approachedand propitiated the divinity with the ritual sacrifices of mud-fish (Eja-Aro), a large bushsnail (Igbin), and palm oil (Epo-Pupa). The sacrificial items are believed to containcertain spiritual forces that soothe not only the Alamo divinity (Orisa-Alamo), but all of theYoruba spirit beings. Thus, in ritual circles or gatherings, the items are often referred toas Nnkan Ero (items of pacifier or propitiation), as they are used for bridging the gapbetween the divine (in the realm of the spirits) and the earthly (in the realm of the living).
CHAPTER THREE
THE SCOPE AND THEMATIC DIMENSIONS
Introduction
One interesting feature of an oral tradition is that most of the words are packaged in the form of poetry and that is why oral tradition is replete with aesthetics. As we discuss the thematic scope in the Praise poem, let us in the same breathe, discuss the in Ekiti aesthetics, which for the purpose of this research, is an aspect of poetry, an essential component in the study of oral literature.We do not need to understand the language before we appreciate it: the the literary quality does the communication. The research will therefore concentrate on figurative qualities such as imagery, especially the use of figures simile, personification, irony and other literary devices.
Categorization of Praise poetry
Praise poetry for supernatural forces
One of the most widely used poetic forms in Ado Ekiti; a series of laudatory epithets applied to gods, men, animals, plants, and towns that capture the essence of the object being praised. Professional bards, who may be both praise singers to a chief and court historians of their tribe, chant praise songs such as these of the great Ogbogbonioran chieftain in Ado: An excerpt from Chief Elemure Ogunyemi on 27th October 2013.
Oni Ogbogbonioran tiko se se He is Ogbogbonioran the unshakeable,
Alara joko si orun Thunderer-while-sitting, son of Orun.
Eeye tin je eye keye He is the bird that preys on other birds,
Ake tin sa akeke yio ku The battle-axe that excels over other battle-axes.
Eni tin le omo Oba le re He is the long-strided pursuer, son of Oba,
Eni tin le oorun ati osupa Who pursued the sun and the moon.
Eni ti dun bi oke nla He is the great echo like the rocks of Oke nla
Nibo erin gbe eluju Where elephants take shelter
Ni gba ti orun du When the heavens frown. . . . Fig. I
Although, this particular praise song is for the supernatural being (Ogbogbonioron) but the chanter is expected to know all of the traditional phrases handed down by word of mouth in his tribe, the bard is also free to make additions to existing lines of the poems.
CHAPTER FOUR
LITERARINESS OF ADO-EKITI PRAISE POETRY
Introduction
Yoruba oral poetry can conveniently be divided into two broad categories in terms of its geographical spread. The field of traditional praise poetry in Africa has been widened and the scope of communication promoted through literary devices. For example, independent forms of performances are accommodated in the body of core traditional role.
Form and Style
A form of the different praises mentioned so far reveal how similar they are in terms of formal conventions. Invariably, the characteristics and deeds of the subject are clothed in metaphor, the expression that rules supreme in the praise poem. These metaphors range from relatively simple equation (expressed in a single noun) to extensive syntactical and multiple semantic layering. The nature and extensive use of metaphor is the result of praise poetry‟s peculiar reference system, as Barber (1999:29-30) has shown: “the conventions of the genre require or encourage various kinds of oblique, opaque or far-fetched attachment of meaning. It is as if composers and listeners are playing a game of signification, in which meanings are generated, secreted, and withheld or retrieved according to definite and specialised conventions, and where access to these meanings may be highly restricted, filtered or layered.” This way of referring to people, events, and places has strong bearing on how praise poetry deals with history that is vital in the study of the genre.
Forms equivalence (repetition), although less in evidence than metaphor and other figure of speech, rhythmically punctuates the excitement created by the action motifs. Repetitions are found in sounds and syllables, verb and noun stems (commonly called linking), complete words and phrases, grammatical and semantic structure (referred to as parallelism), and the recurrence of popular action motifs, which are shared even across different languages. There are, of course, many other poetic devices, such as the manipulation of grammar, direct address, and so forth. But the fact that Ado-Ekiti praise poetry makes use of similar devices does not mean that different traditions‟ ways of remembering the subject are the same.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
The study is limited and is concerned with Ado-Ekiti Praise poetry and why it is going into extinction. This study is an attempt to contribute to the existing literature in Ado-Ekiti praise poetry. It is also to sensitize the people on how to preserve and see appreciate the continuity of Ado-Ekiti praise poetry. To be able to recommend the existing ones before they die out.
The classical and traditional Ado Ekiti praise poetry probably into extinction and these praise poetry are of high knowledgeable contribution to the continuation of customs, norms and traditions of Ado Ekiti people that should not be allowed to die. The documented praise poetry is a step forward for the preservation of culture of Ado Ekiti people. The elites and academicians are not taking interest in the cultural performance of Ado-Ekiti poetry. The elites who are even interested in the literature of the people in Nigeria, especially that of Ado Ekiti have neglected praise poetry. A study like this is an attempt to see how it can stimulate other researchers to take interest in preserving the Ado-Ekiti praise poetry. The Ado-Ekiti praise poetry is more than just mere ceremonial performance and entertaining guests; it must be documented in archives where people can have access its aesthetics values, linguistics and literay features always.
There are studies on praise poetry even though there is no particularly study in the area of interest of this course. However, this study has benefitted from information in historical documents provided by Professor Oloomola, a historian have been very helpful which paved the ways for gaining more information relevant to this study.
Conclusion
In discussing the oral poetry in Yoruba culture, the researcher have explored the ways in which praise poetry aesthetics function as tools of performance and as objects of religious worship and how performers act as intermediaries between spiritual forces and humans. Praise poetry function as a means of delineating the character of individual gods, of invoking their presence as well as of performing sacred. It also illustrates the ways in which musical performances are organized and mediated. There is need to preserve the beauty in the traditional past of Ado-Ekiti. Apart from the facts that the past generation may not forgive the present as a result of the great damages it has done to its literary past, it should be noted that a quick reactivation of the oral artistic past will be of great benefit to the present generation. An adage in Yoruba language says „Odo to ba gbagbe orisun re, gbigbe lo n gbe‟ (A river that forgets its fountain dries up). It has also been recorded that a society that refuses to learn from its past will not be at the prime of the tower. The opinion of researcher is that research into Ado-Ekiti oral tradition, is a means through which the past historical, cultural and political information of the Ado Ekiti people has been transmitted, has been neglected by current the peopleFinally, an investment into the artistic past of the people is a profitable venture. A further study of Ado-Ekiti poetry will be a great source of inspiration, particularly in the area of transmitting traditional knowledge and values to the people. The sound effect of its production, the tune of its performance and the didactic nature of its expression are great sources of academic, social, religious and political awareness. It should be noted that every aspect of Ado Ekiti praise poetry contains a lot from which we can learn. It is in the opinion of the researcher that more scholarship should be undertaken in the field of oral literature to unravel and discover Ado-Ekiti‟screative potentials.
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