October 29-31, 2004 Niger Delta Cultural Center,
Agbarha-Otor, Nigeria
Being a paper presented
at the Fifth Annual Conference on "Aspects of Urhobo Poetry" by Chief
D. A. Obiomah at Niger Delta
Cultural Centre, Agbarha – Otor, Nigeria.
Aspects of Urhobo Poetry
By Chief
D. A. Obiomah
First
on the Agenda of the preliminary programme of this year’s Conference
was Urhobo
Poetry, I pondered what this could mean. Now I have the signal honour
of
treating aspects of Urhobo Poetry as the last item of the Conference.
It is my
fervent hope that at the end of it all you will rise to go home in a
cheerful,
joyful mood. Urhobo Poetry, what is it? With this reaction I had
forgotten that
some nine years ago I made a collection of poems in three parts. Part
one was
devoted to Urhobo themes. But I had not thought that I was writing
Urhobo
Poetry, rather than just responding to my own whims even when
transliteration
was involved. What is Urhobo poetry?
By
contrast
English poetry has forms – the Ballad, Rondeau, the Ode, the Epic, the
Sonnet
with 14lines. There are the Couplets, Quatrains. There are specific
patterns of
rhyme. aa,bb,abab, blank verse etc. There are meters, which give
particular
rhythms. For instance, there is from Robert Browning the dactylic
‘’I sprang to the stirrup
and Jorris and he
We galloped: Dirk
galloped, we galloped all three
which
is close to the anapestic beat in Lord Byron’s Destruction of
Senacherib.
“The Assyrian came down
like a wolf on the fold
And their cohorts were
gleaming in purple and gold.”
There
are the distinctive iambic pentameters of Shakespeare:
‘’I come to bury Caesar
not to praise him.‘’
‘’This is the noblest
Roman of them all‘’
So,
talking of Urhobo poetry, it is a different world. What do we mean?We learn from R.B. Sheridan however that:
<>‘’Poetry is
the
record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best
minds.’’If Alfred Lord Tennyson could
not attest to such happiness when he wrote In Memoriam or Break, Break,
Break
or Crossing the Bar, he could agree with Sheridan’s.
‘’Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world
and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.’’
<>It
is on this footing that I intend to deal with Urhobo poetry.The language of poetry is picturesque and
captivating.
Western thought developed against the background of the
culture of writing. It is recorded, systematized and developed. So we
are left
with such names as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Cicero,
Bacon,
Spinoza, Butler, Hume, Kant, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Erasmus,
Loyola Tom
Paine, Voltaire Robespeare, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Marx, Hegel,
Rene
Descartes, Jean Paul Satre, Bertrand Russell, the list is endless.By contrast Urhobo thought exists but at
random and orally. It may be gannered from folk tales, songs composed
annually
for festivals, personal names indicating beliefs and values with
elements of
the transcendent.They have their own
tales, beliefs imagery, resonance and elegance.An Urhobo name is poetic.An
Urhobo name encapsulates an episode in the life of the giver of the
name.It is history in a word.So names such as Atayerhinyo, Asamiderhi,
Erhinyoja, Oghenetega Ogheneero, Onorioborunutakerhi.Festivals have patron deities. Songs and
dances to them have their particular drumbeats and rhythm.They may be veiled attacks on unseemly
situations and personal conduct like the press does as the fourth
estate of the
realm.
So
for my pick of poems or what constitutes Urhobo poetry I propose to
deal with,
those that tell Urhobo thought to be found in songs, sayings, folk
tales
etc.Urhobo set store by certain beliefs
and issues. We believe in the supernatural, as well as an Almighty God
as
creator invoked for wellbeing, and as final judge.’’Only God‘’ ‘God’s case, no appeal’ the
Shades of our ancestors, who supervise our lives, punish and reward.We believe in honest labour represented by
Obo, a wood carving representing the man’s right hand acknowledged with
simple
rituals in the morning as a man sets out to work. We believe in
ethereal
beings, Okrobogbowo, in goblins, Okuku. Other issues of daily life are:
Marriage
and birth, and succession as celebrated with circumcision songs the
lsiakene
series.
Togetherness-
captured in the song Kpe Orere, otu re edia obe oko
Festivals
devoted to patron gods.
We
also believe in Rulership and modernity.
<>Only
recently the
fact of our having 22 traditional rulers instead of just one was raised
as a
factor of supposed Urhobo disunity.
Let
us now take four samples: from Urhobo poetry and thereafter cover as
much
ground as possible within the time available.
On
our concept of Time and Creation
Oghwoghwo ghwoghwo, damu
kere
Oghwoghwo ghwoghwo, damu
kere
Urhe ovo re ohe ogo na,
damukere
Oto je maa, damukere
Enu je maa, damukere
Me gbe cha me gbe muo,
damukere
Me gbe ra me gbe muo,
damukere
Oghwoghwo Oghwoghwo,
damukere
Oghwoghwo, damukere
Rendered
thus:
Oghwoghwo Oghwoghwo the
lengendary,
Oghwoghwo Oghwoghwo wonder bird: In the void a lone tree
A magic trapeze,
Earth was not born,
A magic trapeze,
Nor yet the sky,
One
swaying trapeze
I’d soar aloft
And
back to it
I’d roam afar
And
again to it
Oghwoghwo preternatural
Ethereal bird of memory!
<> The equivalent is
the phoenix, “avis saecula saeculorum, the
bird of eternal ages, there before creation of the earth and sky.
This is followed by Kpo – Kpo – Kpo!
Kpo – Kpo – Kpo
Amono she urhe vwe oboyi
Mevwe Eyayughe – o
Die wo vwe irhe ru?
Urhe me vwo kare odo
Die wo vwe odo
ru? Odo
mi vwo duvwu egu
Die wo vwe egu ru? Egu
me vwo ghere emo
Die wo vwe emo ru?
Eme me yere akpo.
Die wo vwe akpo ru?
Akpor me vwo je – ghwu – o
Rendered
thus:
Chop chop chop
Who’s chopping in the forest
I’m Eyayughe
What will you with wood?
To carve a mortar
What with a mortar?
To pound my yam in
Pounded yam for what? To feed my kids with
Kids for what?
To promote my life
Life for what?
To have succession, here and now forever and aye, till the
end of time.
<>
This is followed by MAMAKO – a children’s game
Mamako mamako oweiya
Mamako mamako oweiya
Oghene ‘Ghene djufiefie
manijakpo ere
Ore Mamako
Te ona te ona ko vwa kere koriko
didi
<>
Ovwovwa
The
actual articulation and meaning are lost in time to baby talk but
interpreted
by me from the general tenor and rendered thus to reflect a going cycle
and
innocence:
Mamako mamako who are you?
The Maker has said it you’re
Eternity
So mamako
Be this or this, be that,
anything created,
You and me a ceaseless cycle
So, so mamako.
The
next portrays wrestling and prowess as a game.
Ore udu
gbare
O
se oma gbo
Iye.
The
gauntlet is thrown.Who dares pick it
up?Ekpurekpuke, does
Ekpurekpuke
I’m a stuffed bag of
charms
Who cares to challenge me,
I’ll down him in a trice!
Or
Omokegbe Okegbe
Ogba igho re abo, Onyenye
Ogba igho re awo, Onye-nye
Ke idie
wo rhi ru?
Abo me
rhi mu – o
Mi
sheri mi vre – o
Rendered as:
Young
Okegbe, Okegbe
Cowrie
bangles on his wrists
Cowrie
voodoo on his ankles
“What
is it you would”?
“I’m a wrestler come
I’ll
rise if I fall”.
Kind of defident, eh?Not as confident as Ekpurekpuke.Note that charms are a part of the power game and Ekpurekpuke is
decked
up.
<>We believe also in:
Minor, personal or group
gods, Orha;
Witches and wizards; and
ghosts,
Ethereal beings like
Okrobogbowo, a half man, one leg, one
arm
Reincarnation – Akpome re
edefa, Eda, Ogbanje in Igbo, Abiku
in Youruba.
Predestination –
reflected in URHORO Throne of Providence,
as depicted in Aga vie Urhobo biko, the plaint of the barren woman for
a child.
<> Since our children
speak less and less of Urhobo language
and live largely outside the environment of these beliefs, Urhobo
Thought as
history is dying or fading.Here is a
notion I have tried to express in various ways:
(a) Obaro
obuko
one cha.
(b) Amre
obuko asa
mre obaro – o.
(c) Obaro oye avwo
vavwa asa re ugbo sheri te i.e. being ahead presumes a starting
point
behind.
Today was founded on
yesterday, so yesterday is our
foundation, which makes our appreciation and projection of ourselves
inaccurate
and incomplete if we do not know what yesterday was.Much of Urhobo life was expressed in poetry
and song as tradition.Poetry is the
index of the mind, the inner man.
That culture without poetry must be oppressively barren and
stiff.Poetry is like woman, the grace
and pulp of things.Our thoughts and
ideals are embedded therein with economy.Poetry concerns the subtle and dainty expression of life.In form and comportment, it is refinement and
it is pleasurable.I first heard the
music of Sam Cook in KingstonJamaica.His
sonorous
microphone voice coming from the distance sounded like a typical Urhobo
man in
1950 who had sold his four kerosene tins of palm oil impaled on one
only
bicycle, riding home happily with money in his pocket, singing to the
road.Sam Cook must have been originally
Urhobo to be such a musical embodiment of poetry, a lost poet to
Urhobo-land.
TOGETHERNESS: Let us obtain relief from
togetherness indicated in the old
song mentioned earlier as well as Festivals when guests arrive from far
and
near, neighbours who have confined themselves to farm villages are
teased to
come to town.Guests from neighbouring
towns and villages are welcomed with the banter, ‘Vwana!
Omo oko ye na re wo
ghwarhe na
Ke oye te we re besie we vwo kpo?
and
the atmosphere is captured in my poem on Agbarha, Warri’ “Mothers” Day
Festival.
For
marriage let us take a tease and a serious joke:
Ogomugoro,
ogomugoro odia
Omote
te ose ane oye je re
Ke
ogomugoro odia
<>
We
all know the tall ostrich.The quip is
that a maiden could be an ostrich in height and in the antomy dressed
at
circumcision if she fails to take the plunge and marry when she is due,
hence
suitors will cavil at her:
Tall as an
ostrich, Ogomugoro
A tall old
maiden grow;
If a
maiden
ripens
Will none
of
suitors
She will
an
ostrich grow
Grow an old maiden, grow and old
maiden,
A tall old maiden grow,
If a maiden ripens,
Wooden to wooing,
She will an ostrich grow.
It will an ostrich, it
will an ostrich,
It will an ostrich grow
If a maiden ripens
Wooden wooing
At circumcision
‘T will be an ostrich
long.
Tall as an ostrich, tall
as an ostrich
Will such a maiden grow,
Puberty reaches,
Motherhood passes
A cockerel she will grow.
My title for this poem
is: Go Get Married.
Still for marriage let us
take a serious joke: Imerime!
Gbe roro gbe
roro
Imerime sodje
Gbe roro,
imerime sodje
Mevwe ovo Ibaba
vwie re
Mevwe ovo Inene
vwiere
Baba vwe ovwe
ke owho re Aka
Owho re Aka nyo
Urhobo – o
Mevwe dede mi
nyo Aka – a
Ke mavo erue
obori te ne
Imerime sodje
Rendered
as:
Here’s a tale, here’s a tale,
An intriguing tale
Here’s a tale
An intriguing tale
I’m my father’s only child
I’m my mother’s only child
Father married me to an Edo
Edo man does not speak Urhobo
Neither do I any Edo
I am in for a dumb show!
Here’s a tale, here’s is
a tale
An intriguing tale!
<>In
our peculiar circumstance today in
which fewer and fewer of our children speak Urhobo as already noted,
there is
latent argument here for exogamy.
Next, His Royal Highness, what is the
position of Traditional Rulers?
Ovie me vwaare
E – e – e me vwaare
Ose re omo ghwu je omo vwo
Oni re omo ghwu je omo vwo
Arhove ughwu ehe obo we
Ovie me vware owe
Rendered
as:
O king we venerate
Take our reverence
Father dies and orphans make
Mother dies and orphans make
Life you command we know
Death you command we know
O, King, we venerate
The
King was almighty with power of life
and death whereby orphans might be made.This was the Traditional Ruler, although we agree with Acton power corrupts, and
absolute power tends to corrupt
absolutely.Like Louis XIV of France he could say, “cest moi
le etat”, I am the State But today
he contends with several levels of parallel authorities, Federal, State
and
even Local Government, his home ground.This is modernity.Things have
changed, Still, both the Government and the general public accord him
the
prestine image of the highest and mightiest.Officially, he is His Royal Highness, adulated by linguistic
usage as
His Royal Majesty, making him higher, as it were, than the Governor or
Parliament as a constitutional monarch.
As
style is the man (Buffon) so for the
surrealist thought is the society.It
defines in aggregate the intrinsic quality of the society.The Greeks and the Romans made sports part of
their religious and secular lives and left the world the Latin quote
“mens sana in corpore sano “ a
healthy mind in a healthy body
following which they also left us the Olympic Games.
<>What
much of Urhobo poetry recognises is
that there is order and intimacy, labour and respect for life with
transcendence in divinity. But this order is at present in a
flux.As religion it is sneered at and
despised through prejudice of foreign religions.When
we are in supposedly native attire the
items are imported or products of foreign technology.This Conference on Urhobo History and Culture
has been and is being conducted and recorded in English.Our dances and drumbeats were stigmatised as
fetish or pagan with us consenting.These have now been assimilated into the service of the new
Faiths as
panegerics to the same God said to have abhorred them.The supreme irony is that those same
Faithfuls dance with abandon to these rhythms, with the zeal and frenzy
of King
Solomon whose clothes dropped from him and he went on notwithstanding.All in all the dilemma of Dilibe Oyeama’s
book “Niger from Eton” is with us as elite yet only “developing”, as
superior
yet inferior.
Since
the nationalities including Urhobo
of necessity flow into the National mainstream to be carried along into
citizenship and globalisation the initiative to play the role of the
melting
pot rests with Abuja.How
much
re-orientation is coming from there?It
is the duty of the nationalities to put heat on our active minister
Chikelu, no
less than is importantly done, for instance, concerning Resource
Control.Urhobo have the opportunity to
take the
lead.“Show the light,” as great Zik
urged many years ago “and the people will find the way”.
Such
is the paradox in which we are
trapped and is in nowhere more typified than in the area of identity.
<>Rudyard
Kipling wrote the novel KIM set in
colonial India.Kim,
a boy, was of
mixed race, Irish father and Indian mother.He was able to stall with the British (who were the colonial
masters)
and with Indians/Pakistanis, but was often caught in the race relations
and
complexities existing in the colony.He
was neither here nor there.In the
result he found himself asking, “Kim, Kim, Kim, who is Kim?”Was he British among whom he was sort of
accepted?Still, was he, Kimbal Ohara,
Irish, under British colonial rule, white, or was he Indian, therefore
of lower
class?Such a mixed grill are we.We need to consciously rise above it.Can we?How longmay it take and who
should “show the light” for “the people to find the way?”
In looking backwards, it is useful to realise that we are
swimming against this tide of multiple currents – the conflict of order
and
authority, the conflict of religion, the conflict of manners.
State rule is edging out prestine domestic rule under the
Traditional Ruler.The erstwhile devotee
of traditional religion now shares his trust between the power of the
voodoo
herbalist and all – powerful blood of Jesus loud on the microphone till
the
early hours of the morning.
The BBC discomfits by harping not on female circumcision but
opprobrious genital mutilation.Once
primitive
and idolatrous drumbeats and worship now make enchanting, all –
possessing holy
gospel music for us.Folk tales are
out.Television dominates, where the
world is seen from our sitting rooms without flight tickets.
The cultural Osmosis is weighed against us.Urhobo
are the weaker element in the national
cultural osmosis.Go to any public
function.You will find Urhobo young men
dressed like the Northerner, generally called Hausa, or the
Southwesterner, the
Yoruba.What is more, no non-Urhobo man
will be found in Urhobo attire.Do we
need to do anything to change the trends to cultivate our identity or
let it
slide purely by default?The parts make
the whole.Can we afford to lose
ourselves as a functional part of the whole?Our thanks must go to the Founding Fathers of the Urhobo
Historical
Society for their vision.We must show
through knowledge and wit that we exist, that we are worthy, channeled
into but
not lost in the maze of the Nigerian mainstream referred to cynically
as the
mistake of 1914.In every aspect of our
lives subjected to the norms of the western world there is always an
undercurrent of the conflict, of fusion, of leadership, elitism and
identity.An Uvwie song captures this
mood in:
This is
the Whiteman’s era,
If
family bonds must break,
So may
they, keep away.
Akpo ne
ke akpoyibo
Koro
koro ateren ome ne
Imirien
fane efa o – e – e.
<>
As already noted, in looking backwards, it is imperative to
be conscious that we are swimming against this tide of multiple,
mutually
parasitical currents – the conflict of order and authority, the
conflict of
religion, the conflict of manners.Let
us indicate our dilemma with Royal Exile.
Se
me
dje se me yan (twice)
Se me vwa
Obavwe Usenu
Ane oyibo mue
Oba re Aka
Echabo roye
ivwerhe Oma
Alegbe,
se me dje, se me yan
Se vwa vwe Usenu.
Shall I run, shall I walk
I yet may spy him at
Uselu
Shall I run shall I walk?
Will I glimpse him at
Uselu?
The whiteman’s seized
the Oba
On exile to Calabar
His forlorn court
Bemoan themselves
Shall I run, shall I
walk
A nightmare, noonday
dream of a tale.
<>
It is the unthinkable heralding the new day.
His majesty does not lay down the rule, cannot take the
praise for its success nor justifiable rebuke and flack for its
failure. Indeed
what power or authority does he have other than respect drawn from
primeval
memory? What is his job description carrying requisite authority but a
paradox
of being and non-being, the totem of a dying age. We have changed but
seem to
have refused to accept the fact. Young men of the age range of 40 and
50 are
state Governors, Local Government Council chairmen and corporate chief
executives. What elbowroom is left for the Traditional Ruler to wield
authority
in step with these parallel authorities without coming into conflict
with
officialdom with modernity?How much is
he paid to reflect majesty? His lot is oto udo, leftovers.He is the lone yeoman on the social scene
Will the Traditional Ruler be able to perform his job, whatever that
is,
without losing his halo? Can he go into commerce without disdain? For
the
Traditional Ruler of the day it is as if the play is over; the dressing
rooms
are locked up and the cast cannot leave the stage for want of where to
go.
Should the Royal Fathers contemplate mass action who will be the
arbitrator in
the vexation of the crown of things?It
is as if the Supreme Court should go on strike.
The paradox is that more and more men of competence sign on
to these rulership – with – no – rule positions.Their
only link to acientry is the parody of
their distinctive dress form.The plague
is our unconsciousness of the forces contending for our being to be
faced as a
problem.This plague is the acretion of
incongruous and mutually parasitical cultures in conflict in our day to
day
life.It is a problem of African
societies, Urhobo not excepted.We were
Urhobo, become part Urhobo, part Nigerian, part citizens of
globalisation, and
truly neither of each of these formations at all.We
want to be ourselves as Urhobo.We are
Nigerian citizens enmeshed in
constitutional modalities.Nigeria is globalising, which
means more admixture dictated from
outside.
In the first place, who is a Nigerian?He
is a queer being who is a citizen but not
an indigene.
We are living in a virtual void like Oghwoghwo. Unity in a
void? It is a contradiction in terms. We are faced by a dilemma of
definition
of identity and purpose. For Britain despite the tragedy of
Charles I who was executed the focus
and breath of life of the common weal is Royalty. For America needing to bind together
the disparate nationalities of
religious Pilgrim Fathers and thirteen colonies it was the democratic
Every-man
in the constitutional “All men are created equal.” For France despite Louis XIV
guillotined it was again the democratic
individual in liberte, egalite and fraternite. How do Urhobo answer to
the UPU
motto of Unity is strength?The
composite parts, down to the individual must be healthy.
The big question is if we have in this paper diagnosed a material
ailment what is the cure? What scope exists to turn the tables when
similar
nationalities constituting Nigeria bear the same burden?
What is the core, the essence of our
being to absorb distracting modernity? The problems of Afenifere,
Ohaneze, Arewa,
stem from the truncation of traditional polities.Can
we blend old time tradition with
modernity?Let UHS take the lead on how
to do this hand in glove withAbuja.
Now for some banter with the teetotaler Palm Wine maker and
thence to the festival.
Obregoro, mo ada udi
-o–e-e 2ce
Ota re idono rho no
Obregore mo ada udi –o-e-e
<>
Rendered
thus:
Palmwine tapper, come,
Have a drink
O, wine – tapper, come
Let’s drink
Penury is a bane,
Wine maker will you come have a drink
Palmwine tapper, come
Let’s drink
A teetotaler you?
Come on let’s drink
<>
We shall round off this portion with the festival piece
captured in my own words to the mood at festivals, and captioned
Mother’s Day.
E-yoweyo je efe rhi tevwe
Vwe emo rhe ovworho,
Vwe igho je rhe ovworho
E-yoweyo je efe rhi tevwe
MOTHERS’ DAY
<>Incidentally,
social taboos are usually against women. This is one case in a million
where
the reverse is the case. It is men who must remain indoors on pain of
sanctions
by the Shades. The shades oversee our own world. But it is the women
who invite
them to the feast and dismiss them. Mothers’ Day goes like this:
1. It’s crack of
dawn,
The owl has quit,
The men folk stay within
their doors
But women out
The elderly lot,
<>Unseen and covered
by the
dark of dawn.
2. They place the
rope – bound wraps,
of smouldered plantain
leaf
From door to door in all
the Town
You’ll discover when you
wake
<> 3.
From end of
Town
From street to street
To the other end
They invite the shades to
Town
<>
For the feast
4.. The feast is
ready<>
Now for care in the past
one year
Dutiful thanks and
offerings bring
To guardian dead
To all the gods
And to God the Lord
5.
By noon they’ll sing
They’ll sing to the shades
They’ll sing to the gods
Hear them sing
“So be it, Fate of
fortune upon us all
invoking blessings on the
people
<>
6. Fecund women<>
Harvest rich of men folks
labours
Happy children,
Health to all,
Joy to all the land!!
<>7.
Can you hear them sing?<>
Hear them sing!
Song of abundance
Amen, amen fate of
fortune to all the land
8.
The air is
frisky
Children caper
Guests arriving
Jovial faces
Gay apparel
The breeze is spiced,
Seductive cuisine
Abundant fare
And jars of wine
9.
Kigum,
kigum
Keekoto keekoto
Call the drums
Grone-grone ganigan-digan
Flourish of ringing bells
From the waists of
maidens!
10.
Kigum,
kigum,
Keekoto keekoto ken
Joyful people
Frenzied dancing
Happy people
Amen, amen fate of
fortune upon the land
<>
We of Agbarha, Warri are calling out to the visiting,
international members of U.H.S.
Ovwa
na
Ememu
yena wo ghwa na
Koye
te we re besie wo owo kpo?
Udio
mo ada
Amo
da udi, mo a da udi
Udio
mo ada!
Vwa
na omo oko yena wo ghwa re na
Koye
te we owo dia besie wo owo kpo
Ho-o-o-
udi o mo ada
Udi
– o mo ada
Amo
rhe da udi (2ce)
Udi
– o ovwa da
Udio
mo a daudi
Udi o mo a da
Here are the drinks,come drink
Come on and drink, come on and drink
Here is your booze come drink
O help yourself, help yourself
Here the drinks, come drink
Here the drinks, come drink
Udi o mo a da
Udi o mo a da!
Radio
cassette of Agbarha Idjui drum. You know that; don’t you? The grand
spectacle
known as Agbassa Juju. We have the best Idju in the World.
Your
Excellency, my Lords Spiritual and temporal, your Royal highnesses,
Chiefs,
distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I hope that true to sheridan’s dictum I have
endeavored to show that Urhobo Poet, like
any others, does lift the veil from the hidden beauty of the (Urhobo)
world
making familiar objects be as if they were not familiar. I further hope
that I
have put you in a cheerful mood as you rise to go home, and to think
that the
effort of Urhobo Historical Society is as well worth the trouble you
have taken
to come here.
From
me copious thanks. This is the Fifth Annual Conference of UHS. There
will be
yet another day. Join us, be our guest, support the cause.
