A professor of Yoruba folklore, literature and culture at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof Olusola Ajibade, has said Christians and Muslims in Yorubaland have, without realising it, adopted elements of Isese, the Yoruba indigenous religion, into their worship styles and music.
Ajibade, whose research interests include religion in Yoruba drama and traditional practices such as the Sango cult, spoke in an interview with Yoruba Gidi TV which was published last week but gained virality on social media on Friday.
He said the influence of Isese was visible in the musical instruments and dance styles now common in churches, despite the religion’s historical rejection of such practices.
“Muslims and Christians don’t know that whether they like it or not, the elements of traditional Yoruba that is in their life can never go away,” he said.
He asked people to observe the kind of dance steps church congregants performed during praise and worship sessions.
“Go to the church today. Go and check the type of dances they are dancing. All what the Catholics said when they first came that time, that it is for demons, devils…go to churches now.
“If their praise and worship doesn’t have elements of gangan drum and dundun drum and akuba, it’s not interesting yet,” he said.
The professor also noted that singing was not always part of Muslim worship practices in the past, a development he said mirrored changes in church worship.
“Did Muslims used to sing before? No, they didn’t. When I was young, they didn’t use to sing. They only did their supplications. But go and check now. So without realising it, they’re all using elements of traditional religion,” he said.
Ajibade cited an Islamic chant that references “benbe,” an item he linked to Osun, a river deity in Yoruba traditional religion.
“Mo le ki asalatu leti okun. Mo le ki asalatu leti osa. Benbe anobi,” he said. The chant roughly translates as, “I can say my prayer by the sea. I can say my prayer by the ocean. The prophet’s benbe.”
He asked, “Osun is the owner of benbe. Where did they see benbe? Is it in the Quran?”
The don also referenced a popular Yoruba gospel song containing a phrase he said was traditionally an appellation for Oya, the Yoruba goddess of the River Niger and wind.
“‘Oba mi o. Oba nla. Eleti gborogodo,’” he said.
He explained that the phrase “eleti gborogodo” belonged to Oya.
“The god ‘Oya’ is the one that bears ‘eleti gborogodo.’ ‘Eleti gborogodo, eleti gbaroye,’ they’re all for Oya,” he said.