On Rhythm

Rhythm does not erase difference. We could hear, see, and feel the disparate elements--the stresses, the tones, the meters, etc--in the rhythmic phenomenon. Rhythm is a recognition of patterned regularity that need not arise from the internal, disparate elements. Rhythm is its own order, its own phenomenon. Rhythm is the experience of the totality; of, perhaps, totalization.

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One Thought About Textual Beginnings: Ìbà

ÌJÚBÀ or ÌBÀ (noun); JÚBÀ (verb) The initial gestures rendered to acknowledge authority figures, sacral or secular, to which a performance production owes its textual and institutional provenance constitute the ìjúbà (ìbà). The conventional words and motions thus presented demarcate the commencement of an iteration, pay homage to sources of influence and inspiration, praise past patronages, solicit audience support and understanding, wish failure for opposing will and interests, and outline the production’s goals. HISTORY Two paths stand out in the historical understanding of ìjúbà: one follows the older, text based line in translation manuals and dictionaries, and the other issues from scholarly studies of performance traditions. Although they are more recent and offer longer overviews that extend far back into mythical times, scholarly studies of ìjúbà lean heavily on old traditions recounted in explanations of contemporary enactments, mainly of egúngún and gẹ̀lẹ̀de...

Aṣọ Tòun Tènìyàn

Aṣọ Tàbí Ènìyàn? Lẹ́dà kan, mo gbọ́ pé, aṣọ ńlá kọ́ lènìyàn ńlá. Lẹ́dà kejì wọ́n tún fi yé mi pé aṣọ là ńkí, a à kí ‘nìyàn. (Ẹnu kòfẹ́sọ̀ àgbà kan ni mo tí kọ́kọ́ gbọ́ eléyìí ní nńkan bí ogún ọdún sẹ́hìn.) Èwo ni ká wá ṣe o? Èwo ni ká tẹ̀lé? Èwo ni ká gbàgbọ́. Gbólóhùn méjèèjì ha le jẹ́ òótọ́ bí? Àtakò kọ́ rèé! Ó dá mi lójú pé àfiwé ni gbólóhùn méjèèjì. A tilẹ̀ lè pé wọ́n lówe. Gbogbo wa la sì mọ̀ pé àfiwé kìí ṣe òfin. Àfiwé yàtọ̀ sí ìṣẹ̀dálẹ̀. Òwe kìí ṣe orò. Àfiwé le jẹ́ àbàláyé. Ṣùgbọ́n ọgbọ́n tàbí ìmọ̀ tí àfiwé bá gbéró máa ńyí padà lóòrè kóòrè. Òjó yàtọ̀ sí òjò. Mẹ́táfọ̀ yàtọ̀ sí òtítọ́, bí ó tilẹ̀ jẹ́ pé òtítọ́ lè farasin sínú mẹ́táfọ̀. Ẹ̀ràn yàtọ̀ sí irọ́. Kò sí ẹ̀dá alààyè àti olóye kankan tí kò mọ̀ pé aṣọ kìí ṣe ènìyàn, tàbí wí pé ènìyàn yàtọ̀ sí aṣọ. Dídá lènìyàn ńdá aṣọ tàbí ẹ̀wù. A kìi dá ènìyàn bí ẹni ńdáṣọ. Ènìyàn lè wọ aṣọ tàbí ẹ̀wù. Èmi kò rò pé aṣọ lè wọ ènìyàn bí è...

Ebenezer Táíwò Adéẹ̀kọ́: 20 Years After & Notes Towards a Memoir

Ebenezer Táíwò Adéẹ̀kọ́ | 1918-2000 My father, E. Táíwò as he was called by many, left his home town at about the age of eight with something like a second grade education in his pocket. I am talking of Òdoláamẹ́sọ̀ of late 1920s to early 1930s. First, he moved to Ìjẹ̀bú Òde (Metropolitan Ìjẹ̀bú) to live with his uncle (the late S.J.O. Òtúbúṣẹ̀n, alias Bàbá Télọ̀) who realized quickly that schooling was not this boy’s thing and sent him further away to Lagos (!) to learn carpentry, one of the newer (historically speaking) building trades. After finishing his apprenticeship successfully and working for a while in Lagos, he followed the call of other relatives to move further away to Kano, in the “land of the Hausa” as we used to refer to Northern Nigeria generally even in my own childhood of the 1960s in south western Nigeria. At the end of WWII, during which he worked as a rifle carpenter in Kano, he returned south to Ìbàdàn, where he lived the rest of his life....

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On Rhythm

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One Thought About Textual Beginnings: Ìbà

Aṣọ Tòun Tènìyàn

Ebenezer Táíwò Adéẹ̀kọ́: 20 Years After & Notes Towards a Memoir