Orality in Yorùbá films: A study of selected films of Akínwùmí Iṣọ̀lá
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17159/tl.v60i3.14418Keywords:
oral culture, preservation, intertextuality, Akínwùmí Ìṣọ̀lá, filmAbstract
Despite technological innovations, orality still forms one of the aesthetic elements in the new media such as home video films as a result of the unending interface between orality and the literacy tradition. Using intertextuality as an approach, in this article I examine orality in selected films of Akínwùmí Ìṣọ̀lá, with a view to showing how he uses verbal arts as a powerful tool for the transmission of cultural values. The selected films are Saworoidẹ (1999), Agogo Èèwọ̀ (2002) and Ẹfúnṣetán Aníwúrà (2005). The films were selected based on their preponderant featuring of oral narratives. My findings reveal that folktales, legends, songs, Ifá corpus, drumbeats, incantations, and panegyric are the Yorùbá oral genres that Akínwùmí Ìṣọ̀lá incorporates into his films. One can infer from Ìṣọ̀lá’s films that there is an overlap between his oral culture and his creative work because culture is the active force that energises and drives the creative work. I conclude that Ìṣọ̀lá uses his creative ingenuity to re-awake and preserve Yorùbá oral tradition in his films, which points to the fact that oral literature has a continued vitality for contemporary society.
Downloads
References
Abbot, John Lawrence. “A panegyric on Dr. Morin.” Roman Notes vol. 8, no. 1, 1966, pp. 55–7.
Abímbọ́lá, Wande. Ifá: An Exposition of Ifá Literary Corpus. Oxford U P, 1976.
Abímbọ́lá, Wande. “The place of Ifá in Yorùbá Tranditional Religions.” African Notes vol. 2, no. 2, 1965.
Abrams, M. H. & Geoffrey Galt Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 9th ed. Cengage Learning, 2009.
Adélékè, Durotoye A. “Audience Reception of Yorùbá Films: Ìbàdàn as a Case Study.” Diss. U Ìbàdàn, 1995.
Adélékè, Durotoye A. “Culture, Art and Film in an African Society: An Evaluation.” Nordic Journal of African Studies vol. 12, no. 1, 2003, pp. 49–56. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53228/njas.v12i1.339.
Adéọlá, Taye. “Aesthetics in Yorùbá Music: A Case Study of the People of Ìgbòho.” Music and Social Dynamics in Nigeria, edited by Bọ̀dẹ́ Omọ́jọlà. U Ilọrin, 1997, pp. 43–50.
Adesanya, Ahmed. “From Film to Video” Nigeria Video Films, edited by Jonathan Hynes. U Centre for International Studies, 2000, pp. 13–20.
Adéyẹmí, Lere. “Ceremonial Songs.” Encyclopaedia of the Yorùbá, edited by Toyin Falola & Akintunde Akinyemi. Indiana U P, 2017, pp. 58–9.
Ajayi, Bade. “The Talking Drum.” Understanding Yorùbá Life and Culture. Africa World, 2004, pp. 575–98.
Ajayi, Bade. “The Training of Yorùbá Talking Drummers.” ALORE: The Ilọrin Journal of Humanities vol. 3 & 4, 1988, pp. 86–104.
Akínyẹmí, Akintunde. “Oral Literature, Aesthetic Transfer, and Social Vision in Two Yorùbá Video Films in the Preservation and Survival of African Oral Literature.” Research in African Literatures vol. 38, no. 3, 2007, pp. 122–35. https://www.jstor.org/stable/i20109489. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/RAL.2007.38.3.122
Àlàmú, Olagoke. “Documenting the Yorùbá Traditional Religious Festival for Posterity. Issues and Challenges.” Lasu Journal of African Studies, no. 5, 2012, pp. 23–38.
Àlàmú, Olagoke. “Trends in the Development of Yorùbá Film: The First Decade (1976–1986).” MA thesis. U Ìbàdàn, 1991.
Allen, Graham. Intertextuality. Graham Allen, 2000. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203131039
Àmò̩ó, Adùn. Àkójo̩pò̩ Àló̩ Àpagbè. Mabol Trust, 2010.
Awoniyi, Timothy A. “The Yorùbá Language and the Formal School System: A Study of Colonial Language Policy in Nigeria, 1882–1952.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies vol. 8, no. 1, 1975, pp. 63–80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/217486. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/217486
Bacom, William R. “Relationship of Yorùbá Folklore to Divining.” Journal of American Folklore vol. 56, no. 220, 1943, pp. 127–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/535726. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/535726
Bámgbósé, Ayo. Yorùbá Metalanaguage (Èdè Ìperí Yorùbá). Vol 1. Ìbàdàn U P, 1992.
Barthes, Roland. Elements of Semiology, translated by Annette Lavers & Collins Smith. Jonathan Cape, 1957.
Beier, Ulli. Yorùbá Poetry. Government, 1959.
Bolarinwa, Abidemi. “Recreation of Oral Poetic Genres in Selected Yorùbá Home-Video Films.” Afrika Fokus vol. 32, no. 1, 2019, pp. 13–34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/2031356X-03201003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/2031356X-03201003
Dairo, Joseph O. “Yorùbá beliefs in predestination ‘Omi Ìpín’: A Yorùbá film drama as a Case Study.” MA thesis, U Ìbàdàn, 1995.
Dasylva, Ademola. “Folklore, Oral Traditions, and Oral Literature.” Culture and Customs of the Yorùbá, edited by Toyin Falola & Akíntúndé Akínyẹmí. Pan-African U P, 2017, 139–58.
Diawara, Manthia. “Popular Culture and Oral Tradition in African Film.” Film Quarterly vol. 4, no. 3, 1988, pp. 6–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1212516. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.1988.41.3.04a00030
Durey, Jill Felicity. “The State of Play and Interplay in Intertextuality Style.” Bibliographical Essays vol. 25, no. 4, 1991, pp. 616–35.
Ekwuazi, Hyginus. Film in Nigeria. 2nd Jos Nigeria Film Cooperation, 1987.
Euba, Akin. “The inter-relationship of Music and Poetry.” Yorùbá Oral Tradition Poetry, Songs and Dance: Ifẹ̀ African Language and Literature, edited by W. Abímbọ́lá. U Ifẹ̀, 1995, pp. 471–85.
Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge U P, 1970.
Hamzat, Saudat. “Songs.” Culture and Customs of the Yorùbá, edited by Toyin Falola & Akíntúndé Akínyẹmí. Pan-African U P, 2017, 159–68.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Theory of Adaptation. Routledge, 2006. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203957721
Irele, Abiola. “Culture and Arts.” Culture and Civilization, edited by Lloyd Thompson, D. Adetugba & E. Ifie. Ìbàdàn Africa Link, 1991, pp. 52–7.
Johnson, Dul. “Art and Culture in Hausa Video Films.” Video Films, edited by Jonathan Haynes. Ohio U Centre for International Studies, 2002, pp 200–8.
Majasan, James. “Folklore as an Instrument of Education among the Yorùbá.” Folklore vol. 80, no. 1, 1969, p. 4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.1969.9716616
Mgbejume, Onyero. Film in Nigeria, Development, Problem and Promise. Africa Media Monograph, 1989.
Mustapha, Oyebamiji. “Heroism in Ibadan-land.” MA thesis. U Ibadan, 1986.
Nixon, Edward V. Pacatus: Panegyric to the Emperor Theodosius. Liverpool U P, 1987. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/978-0-85323-076-2
Ògunbà, Oyin. “Ritual Drama of the Ìjẹ̀bú People: A Study of Indigenous Festivals.” Diss. U Ìbàdàn, 1967.
Ògúnlé̩ye̩, Folúké̩. Africa Through the Eye of the Video Camera. Academic, 2008.
Olálẹ́yẹ́, Samuel K. “The Role of Ifá in Relation to Yorùbá Myths of Origin.” Yorùbá National Politics in the Nineteenth Century: Essays in Honor of Professor J.A. Atanda, edited by Toyin Falola & Dipo Olubromhin. Pan African U P, 2020. pp. 275–88.
O̩láté̩jú, Adés̩o̩lá. “The Language of Myth: The Yorùbá Example.” African Culture and Mythology, edited by Egbe Ifie & Dapo Adelugba. Endtime, 1998. pp. 84–103.
Olátúnjí, Ọlátúndé O. Features of Yorùbá Oral Poetry. Ìbàdàn U P, 1984.
Oníbon-Òkúta, Ademola. Ìlẹ̀pa Dúdú Aiye. Mbárí Mbáyọ̀, 1965.
Ọ̀pẹ́fèyítìmí, Ayo. “Structural Analysis of Yorùbá Incantation: Ọfọ̀, Ògèdè, Àyájọ́ and Àásán.” Ifẹ̀ Journal of Language and Literatures vol. 5, no. 1, 2019, pp. 213–33.
Sèsan, Azeez Akinwumi. “Afican Aesthetics in Yorùbá Language Video Films: A study of Ṣaworoidẹ and Alápadúpẹ́.” MA thesis. U Ìbàdàn, 2008.
Shakib, Mohammad. “Inevitability of Arts from Intertextuality.” International Journal of English and Literature vol. 4, no. 1, 2016, pp. 183–9.
Smith, Christine. “Christian Rhetoric in Eusebius' Panegyric at Tyre.” Vigiliae Christinae vol. 43, no 3, 1989, pp. 226–47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1584063. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157007289X00119
Sperl, Stefan. “Islamic kingship and Arabic panegyric poetry in the early century.” Journal of Arabic Literature vol. 8, 1977, pp. 20–35. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/157006477X00021
Sweet, Fredrick. “Propertius and Political Panegyric.” Arethusa vol. 5, no. 2, 1972, pp. 169–75.
Taiwo, Adekemi A. “New Media, Old Artistry: The Adaptation of Yoruba Folktale Narrative Strategies in Video Films.” Afrika Focus vol. 32, no. 1, 2019, pp. 35–50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/2031356X-03201004. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/2031356X-03201004
Ureke, Oswelled & Kenyan Tomaselli. “From African Cinema to Film Services Industries: A Cinematic Fact.” Journal of African Cinema vol. 9, no. 1, 2017, pp. 75–92. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jac.9.1.75_1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jac.9.1.75_1
Yamasaki, Rie. “The Films of Mitani Koki: Intertextuality and Comedy in Contemporary Japanese Cinema.” New Voice vol. 4, no. 6, 2016, pp. 123–43. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21159/nv.04.06. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21159/nv.04.06
Yusuf, Adekunle R. “Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí on Screen.” MA thesis. U Ìbàdàn, 2006.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Tydskrif vir Letterkunde
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6465-6584
.png){kind=spacer}