ORÍKÌ ÒRÌṢÀ

CANÇÃO E POESIA ORAL IORUBANA NO BRASIL

Abstract

The Oríkì is one of the most widespread Yoruba-African literary genres in Brazil, especially the oríkì òrìṣà. However, as part of linguistic and epistemic racism, its potential is little explored in language courses, in schools and spaces of cultural promotion. Linguistic, literary, songwriting and translation studies have historically neglected oríkì as key poetic and musical compositions that translate ancestral philosophy and onto-epistemology. Our objective in this essay is to highlight the importance of the written word and orality in the construction of this literary body that weaves transatlantic memories. We focused the analysis on the Oríkì work  by the multi-artist Iara Rennó and, from it, we promoted a discussion about the oríkì genre in Brazil, characterizing it as sung Yoruba oral poetry. Discussions are made based on the concepts of “oralitura” and ancestrality. Throughout the text, notes are made on how the oríkì can contribute to help us think about the tensions between modernity and tradition, building decolonizing relations between university literary-song production (written) and that articulated in “candomble” communities (orality). We hope to contribute with examples of counter-hegemonic cosmologies that have helped us to forge a robust anti-racist education project in Brazil.