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Bigger Than Africa,"the Tale Of The Yoruba People" by Cybercop2002: 11:50am On Apr 19, 2021 |
The Yoruba people, one of the largest
ethnic groups in Africa, have survived for
centuries on the African continent.
Evidence points to a powerful Yoruba
kingdom in the eighth century in Ile-Ife.
They lived in well-structured urban centers
organized around powerful city-states
well before the arrival of the British
colonizers.
With the onset of the Atlantic slave trade,
Yoruba people from Nigeria and Benin
were forcibly transported to America as
slaves. Their religion expanded across
many borders — to Trinidad, Cuba, Saint
Lucia, Benin, Togo, Brazil, Guyana, Haiti,
Jamaica, to name a few.
A new film Bigger than Africa captures
how the descendants of one of the largest
empires in West Africa before colonisation
kept their traditions alive.
Toyin Ibrahim Adekeye, the Los Angeles
filmmaker and director of the film Bigger
than Africa traveled to six countries to
examine contemporary practices of
Yoruba culture. He pored over numerous
videos and conducted face-to-face
interviews with Africans and people of
African descent steeped in Yoruba beliefs.
Rallying point
The film shows the Yorubas as among the
last Africans to be captured and sent to
the Americas and other places just before
the slave trade came to an end.
“As a result, they were able to retain their
culture, which became a rallying point for
non-Yoruba freed slaves desperate to
connect with their ancestors,” Mr. Adekeye
told Africa Renewal at the screening of the
documentary at UN Headquarters in New
York. “They all gravitated toward the
Yoruba culture. They became a
community, one people in the diaspora.”
“To date,” he added, “the most
pronounced African culture in the
diaspora is Yoruba.”
Mr. Adekeye’s visit to Oyotunji Village in
South Carolina in the United States
triggered his interest in the production of
Bigger than Africa. “Oyotunji” in Yoruba
translates to “Oyo awakening.” His film,
shot in six different countries (Benin,
Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago
and the United States), and featuring
interviews from around the world, follows
the journey of these Africans from West
Africa to their final destinations.
Many Yoruba monuments dot the six
countries he visited, but the greatest
manifestation of the Yoruba culture is the
language and religious worship of the
deities—Shango, the “Orisha” of thunder
and lightning, Babalu-Aye, orisha of the
Earth, Kokou, a violent worrier orisha,
Obatala, creator of human bodies, orisha
of light, Oko, orisha of agriculture, Ogun,
orisha who presides over iron, fire,
hunting, politics and war, among others.
These were common denominators he
found in all these countries.
Other references to the Yoruba faith can
be seen in Trinidad and Tobago, where a
belief system known as Trinidad Orisha
and its adherents, known as “Shango
Baptists” can be seen. Yoruba Village in
Port of Spain is dedicated to Robert
Antoine, the pioneer of free Africans who
came to Trinidad. In Bahia, Brazil, known
as the Yoruba Capital of the Americas, the
faith in Yoruba deities is over 500 years
old.
Mr. Adekeye even saw evidence of Yoruba
influence in Lemonade, the sixth studio
album by American singer Beyoncé, who
performed the title piece at the 2017
Grammy Awards ceremony with flowing
water around her. She was a depiction of
“Osun, the Yoruba goddess of fertility,
beauty and water,” Mr. Adekeye said.
Beyoncé channeled “Osun, the beloved
Yoruba goddess… known to display
human attributes such as vanity and
jealousy,” corroborates music critic, Jenni
Avins, in a piece for Quartz, a US
publication.
Another Yoruba deity is said to be profiled
in a much-talked about Disney project,
called Sade. It is said to reference the deity
Yemoja, although Disney has pitched it as
a fairy tale princess.
Evolution
Despite its remarkable resilience, some
aspects of the Yoruba language show
signs of foreign influences — both at
home in Western Nigeria, in Benin and in
Yoruba communities in the diaspora, Mr.
Adekeye acknowledged. “The language is
not exactly the same. Due to the influence
of local dialects, pronunciations of certain
words differ country to country.”
Screenings of Bigger than Africa, including
one at the United Nations headquarters in
New York in October, are met with great
interest by the audience. It is also
accomplishing the producer’s objective —
that it should become a conduit for the
African diaspora to connect with Africa.
“African diasporas are making efforts to
visit Africa and participate in local festivals.
We can help each other,” Mr. Adekeye said,
adding: “Growing up in Africa, we knew
about slavery, but I think our knowledge
stops at that point. We do not know what
happened after the slave boats docked in
the Americas, Cuba and the Caribbean. We
need to fill the gaps.”
The UN General Assembly proclaimed
2015-2024 “The International Decade for
People of African Descent” to recognise
and promote the human rights of people
of African descent.
In 2007 the UN declared 25 March of
every year the “International Day of
Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery
and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.”
The screening took place in the context of
those initiatives.
Mr. Adekeye says the message in his
documentary aligns with that of the UN.
“Our goal is to foster unity, promote
human rights and highlight the work of
people of African descent.”
More projects are in the pipeline, he
hinted. “There is a lot to document and
highlight.” |
Re: Bigger Than Africa,"the Tale Of The Yoruba People" by psychalade: 12:16pm On Apr 19, 2021 |
1 Like |
Re: Bigger Than Africa,"the Tale Of The Yoruba People" by StaffofOrayan(m): 12:24pm On Apr 19, 2021 |
Do the young yorubas even know these facts? But they know the stories of flora shaw and lord Luggard and mary slessor, Hehehehe Mumu southhhhhh |
(1) (Reply)
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