Apart from the common items used in worship across faiths, Yoruba sayings or proverbs are sometimes used in Christian worship and they reflect cultural orientation of the people. Such are often used by Christian religious leaders who neither have formal education nor speak English well. They deploy sayings and proverbs rooted in the culture of the people since their Yoruba listeners understand them. They render passages of the Christian bible in Yoruba cultural songs, sayings, adages or proverbs that best convey the meaning of what they say. Many of these sayings and proverbs are also uttered by traditional worshippers, and in fact, originated from them as part of people’s culture before imported religions arrived.
For instance, a Yoruba Christian preacher may say “Whoever gathers sticks will use their head to carry it” to precede a prayer point. This may sound like an incantation to a Christian listener who doesn’t know something like this is stated in the bible. There are other similar words that Yoruba Christian preachers use which make the prayer points they raise clear to their Yoruba-speaking listeners. A traditional worshiper may also utter something similar. This can happen because both sides have observed such sayings to be a fact in the creation and the human experience. The Christian reader may have noticed that people who don’t know the contents of the bible have as cultural practices things stated in the bible. For instance, abstinence from premarital sex is one virtue many African cultures attach spiritual and social significance to, and Christianity preaches it too. No practice, saying or proverb is exclusive to any religion or culture once they reflect the human condition.
The Yoruba words Tope Alabi used which were reported to be ‘Ifa slangs’ included “Ebo”, “abo’ru”, “abo’ye” etc. Ebo means sacrifice. Abo’ru or “ebo ru” means sacrifice is accepted or “acceptable sacrifice.” Abo’ye or “ebo ye” roughly means sacrifice lives or a “living sacrifice.” The English translations of these Yoruba words are understood by Christian worshipers because they are part of the teachings they receive regarding the death (as a sacrifice) of the founder of the faith as well as what the followers are expected to be to their maker. Each of the words is either directly in the bible or can be inferred from some passages.
In her song, I think Alabi was doing either of two things. One, she was describing the reality of her situation as a Christian worshiper using the deepest Yoruba saying she knew. She has become a sacrifice, living, acceptable to her maker. This rhymes with what Christians teach that members must be dead to the self, and of course, a sacrificial animal must have been slaughtered before it is offered on the altar. If the Yoruba words she uses to describe her personal experience in relation to her maker are also used by traditional worshippers, that can’t render her experience any less Christian.
Also, Alabi used the words she did in a manner that could make the deepest sense to the Yoruba speaker who probably doesn’t speak a word of English. Why? Sacrifice is a common phenomenon in traditional worship and speaking about it in the manner Alabi did would make enormous sense. Saying she is an “acceptable sacrifice,” a “living sacrifice” to the God she serves speaks to the deep transformation needed to be acceptable to the God she serves. Core Yoruba speakers can’t miss that. Incidentally, the founder of the Christian faith also used locally available and familiar illustrations for the people he spoke to. I suppose if a Yoruba preacher suddenly says “Iku ogun ni pa akikanju, iku odo ni pa omuwe…” i.e. “warriors die in war, swimmers die in water…” on the altar, it may be regarded as something out of context. Yet Yoruba gospel singers who use the ewi (poetry) use such words.
For some of the traditional words used by gospel singers who use ewi, the Yoruba music albums of the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye are examples. He deploys words that Yoruba people have traditionally used in describing, praising, thanking, and appealing to the Supreme Being they called Olodumare, adding his own words from the bible to put his message across. Many of these praise words are also used by traditional worshipers. Whoever didn’t know their bible well might erroneously think some of the battle-focused prayer words spread across the bible which Adeboye used in his ewi were “Ifa slangs.”
Aboru Aboye: Pastors weigh in on Tope Alabi’s use of traditional religious greetings in song
Gospel singers who use Ijala ode (hunters’ ode among the Yoruba) and those who use Yoruba drama and other art forms also use sayings that are rooted in the culture, some of which traditional worshipers equally use in praising and thanking Olodumare. Gospel worshippers do because, whether or not traditional worshippers use them, such sayings effectively convey their message to their Yoruba Christian listeners. What they say reflects the human condition, it is rooted in creation. Words, and sayings that come to be because of observation of creation, in general, are in the Christian bible too (in Psalms, Proverbs, Songs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes etc.).
Therefore, sayings based on observation of creation cannot be the monopoly of one faith. What one human experiences is generally what the other experiences, including life and death, trials, temptation, fear of a higher being etc. How the Yoruba traditional worshipers express some of these things may sound true for the Yoruba Christian worshipers as well. As such members of any religion can take the same sayings, since they reflect reality, tweak them to suit the uses they want them for. It is only the context, who the sayings are focused on, that is the difference. A song composed for a deity can be tweaked to focus on the Supreme Being, and in fact, some of the earliest Yoruba choruses used in Christian worship passed through this process, especially lyric and tone.
It seems to me that the use of English in Christian worship has made many Yoruba speakers no longer appreciate the depth and richness of their language. They don’t believe some Yoruba sayings should be used in connection to the Christian God. Once a word in a gospel song doesn’t sound exactly as they know it in English, once a saying has once been heard among traditional worshipers, it is considered a “slang” from other forms of worship. Meanwhile, I think the Supreme Being they serve appreciates all languages. In fact, I imagine the richer and deeper in the traditional sense a Christian message is, the more it is appreciated by the Supreme Being that is the focus of the worship. Why? He created all languages and I believe he wants to hear those languages spoken with the very richness with which humans received insights to speak and use them. Alabi was singing in the richness and depth of the Yoruba language she has demonstrated she has deep understanding of.
I believe the ramifications of the song Alabi sang were deeper than what some heard at that time. To anyone who understands the concept of sacrifice both in the Yoruba traditional religion and Christianity, saying in Yoruba that a person is an “acceptable,” “living” sacrifice is easy to comprehend. Convictions, life, and the lifestyle of the person that worships must be living, alive, acceptable, not just their religious rituals. What Alabi rendered simply in a simple song was a Christian teaching that a preacher might have to sweat to make congregants understand. I imagine Alabi had some deep insight, understanding, and possibly revelation, one so strong that she dared the consequences to sing songs in church using words that she knew would cause controversy.
I think her song is an indication of a gospel singer who’s growing in knowledge, wisdom, with new insights, breaking barriers. Like a senior pastor who mustn’t be overtaken, she is reaching new heights with new insights for the gospel message she spreads. A worshiper can use any saying they believe best expresses their act of worship to the Supreme Being they believe in. If this is what Alabi is doing by using words that have the deepest impression on her in the language she knows so well, she should be appreciated for the uncommon insight she exhibits.
Concluded
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