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From the West Coast of Africa...

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to North and South America,

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Cuba, and the whole Caribbean,

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the Yorubas came en masse.

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From the 15th to the 18th century,

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enslavement of the Africans
was the most lucrative business

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all over Europe.

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From the Atlantic coast of Badagry,

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Cotonou, Port of No Return,

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to the Gorée Island in Senegal,

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90% of the enslaved Africans
taken out of the continent

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took their last steps
on the west coast of Africa.

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First we have
the Portuguese who were the first ones

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to come to Dahomey in 1580.

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You have to understand
they were sent to America,

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but the majority were sent to Brazil,

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Salvador da Bahia, Haiti and Cuba,
and a small amount to the Caribbean.

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Hundreds of African culture
and ethnic groups left the continent,

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but only one remains visible
till date in the New World.

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The culture of the Yorubas.

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Growing up in Trinidad, the culture
that I identified as African was Yoruba.

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Shango people. And Shango is Yoruba.

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Olodum is a Yoruba-originated word,

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the full word is Olodumare.

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{\an8}It's the biggest black music
cultural festival in Brazil

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{\an8}influenced directly
from the cities of Oyo and Ife.

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If I free my mind and let it go,

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I would say that we are
an extension of the Yorubaland.

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It is all around us
from city to city,

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in music and fashion,

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religion, and arts.

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It was not only the Yorubas
that was taken as slaves.

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You have Angola people,
you have Mozambique people.

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You have from different places.

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Why actually people talk about Yorubas?

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Why they don't talk
about the other African cultures?

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Yorubas were not the only one
taken as slaves.

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There are other tribes
from Ghana, Sierra Leone,

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Gabon, out to Congo,

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but the Yoruba culture are very strong.

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As of 1976,

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over 3,000 literatures
has been written on the Yorubas,

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making it
one of the most researched cultures

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of the world.

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Hundreds of culture and traditions

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landed with the Africans to the New World.

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But this particular West African culture

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might have survived it all.

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With dresses that are different
from the Western style.

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Masquerade carnivals.

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Then the King
and his Council of Chiefs.

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I bet the question on your mind will be,

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"Is this Africa?"

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The correct answer will be no.

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Welcome to Oyotunji,
the African village in South Carolina.

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Oyotunji was developed
by African Americans

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who were seeking something African,

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but did not have a spiritual community
in which to do so.

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The 1960s, this was a very powerful time

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{\an8}in African people's history
in this country.

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{\an8}We, as a people,
were tired of being second-class,

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third-class, fourth-class citizens
in this country.

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Some people say there was two movements.

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There was the Civil Rights Movement

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and there was this cultural movement.

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I think this march will go down

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as one of the greatest demonstrations
for freedom and human dignity

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ever held in the United States.

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The Yoruba Cultural Restoration Movement

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began in Harlem, New York,
back around 1956.

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Baba wanted African culture,

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but he did not know
which culture to practice.

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As you know,
Yoruba culture is all over the world.

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However, the African Americans
never developed a culture

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based on African traditions.

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In North America,
we are descendants primarily

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of Yoruba and Dahomean.

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In this area,
was mostly Sierra Leone and Ghana,

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but the rest of Louisiana
and parts of South Carolina

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were Yoruba and Benin or Dahomey.

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And so Baba met a gentleman from Curaçao,

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his name was Chris Oliana
and he knew people in Cuba.

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So they traveled to Cuba.

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And when he came back, he came back
with the culture of the Yoruba.

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It has always been used
as a source of pride

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by people of African descent
throughout the New World.

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This group of African Americans

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uncovered their Yoruba culture
when the afros began to grow.

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Black pride was on the rise
in the United States.

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It was during the civil right ages

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and we were opening up Yoruba culture.

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We were opening Yoruba culture

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to the black people that had no knowledge
of where they came from,

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had no knowledge of who they were,

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had no knowledge of ancestors.

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They would make clothes and they
would go out and give them the dashikis.

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That's how the dashiki became popular.

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Oba would say, "Just make them up.
Go out and just give them away."

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What was happening in the '60s

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was rather overshadowed
what Oba Ofuntola was doing

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because Martin Luther King
had a massive movement.

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My father, the first king,
he was arrested many times

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for practicing African tradition
in North America.

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Baba didn't even care.

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His biggest care was the re-implementation
and restoration of African culture

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so that children in America
forever and ever, after he's gone,

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will know about the culture
of their ancestors.

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And we filter that culture through Yoruba.

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Research into who we are
before we get here

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dominates the minds and movements
of the African Americans

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in the '50s and the 1960s.

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Lots of African heritage
and history were uncovered.

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Most of the people who came to America

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came from the west coast of Africa.

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Oyotunji means Oyo rises again.

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Between the 14th
to the 18th century,

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one of the largest
and most formidable empire in West Africa

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was the Yoruba Empire of Oyo,

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spreading along the coast
of modern day Nigeria,

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Republic of Benin,

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Togo and some part of Ghana.

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Baba realized

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that Africans in America
did not know their culture.

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Baba started to teach them
through the dress, through the language,

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through an understanding
of the sociology of the Yoruba people.

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Baba built this African village here
on a old plantation land.

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This is a part of a old plantation.

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And so Oyotunji is sitting
in the light of the plantation.

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Oba Ofuntola was the first one,
African born in America

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to return to the indigenous traditions
of the Yoruba people.

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Collectively and individually,

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people stood up against oppression
in various forms in that era.

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The founder of this village took pride
in the culture of the Yorubas

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and stood up against injustice with it.

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I am one of the living founders left
from New York City.

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And we worked very closely
with the Black Panthers.

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And all Serge had to do
was snap his fingers and they were there.

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They were very loyal to Your Highness.

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Baba was a part of a group
called the Republic of New Africa.

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Their idea was they were gonna take over
five southern states

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with guns and military.

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They were gonna take over
Louisiana, Mississippi,

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Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.

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And the reason they wanted to do this was
because they say we built South Carolina,

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we built all of those states.

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As Black people for 300 years,
we built all of that.

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{\an8}At one time, in South Carolina,

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{\an8}the Europeans who would travel
from Massachusetts or New England

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to have a vacation in South Carolina,
they called it a Black country.

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They said, "This is more
like a Black country than a white colony,"

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because... in South Carolina,

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Africans outnumbered
the Europeans 17 to one.

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Because they were bringing
so many Africans

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from West Africa to South Carolina,

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the state legislature had to pass a law.

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They would have concurrent ships
coming in back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

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So they went to Detroit, Michigan,

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at Aretha Franklin's father church.

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Aretha Franklin's father's church

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was the place where
a lot of people would come.

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Historically, it was a place
to talk about the movement

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and what we needed to do
to get from under oppression.

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{\an8}Detroit Police Department showed up
and just unloaded on the church.

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They just came in...
and they started shooting up the church.

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We had women and children with us.

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Our soldiers fired back
until they had no more ammunition.

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Meanwhile, the Black Panthers
got a hold of what was happening to us.

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They came immediately.

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The people who began the village came
from the Black Panthers,

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they came from the Martin Luther King
movements,

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they came from the Civil Rights Movements,

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the Malcolm X movements,
Stokely Carmichael.

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They were fired up.

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From the Odunde Festival
in Philadelphia,

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the largest African-American
festival in the United States,

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to the South,

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traces of Yoruba culture
continue to be seen in the United States.

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What preceded
the civil rights movement, though,

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was the era of slavery.

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Fighting for freedom
and maintaining one's identity

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was an uphill battle
for people of African descent.

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This group, the Yorubas,

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relentlessly left clues of their passage
everywhere they landed.

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The enslaved Africans that came here
at the end of the 18th century,

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belong to a region in Africa
called The Gulf of Benin.

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From this region came diverse individuals,

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presently called Togo, Ghana, Benin

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and from the region
that was Yoruba dominated.

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We are the ones
who have started the slavery

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00:13:25,679 --> 00:13:29,099
and we didn't bring the slaves to Europe.

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We actually bring the slaves
to South America

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for the New World
that we called the new continent

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that was our colony, the Brazil.

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Unfortunately, the Yoruba culture

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arrived in a very heavy, sad way

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because of our history in relation
to the enslaved people of Africa

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The Portuguese came
to Dahomey, Beninese territory in 1580.

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This place
is one of the biggest ports in Africa.

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00:14:03,175 --> 00:14:05,719
Two separate Port of No Returns

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00:14:05,803 --> 00:14:09,682
lies in the heart
of the old Yoruba Empire.

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00:14:10,766 --> 00:14:14,562
Any unfortunate Africans
that made it this far

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00:14:14,645 --> 00:14:17,231
was never coming back home.

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00:14:21,318 --> 00:14:22,820
They came with nothing,

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00:14:23,529 --> 00:14:27,241
but they brought something that was
stronger than any luggage.

205
00:14:27,324 --> 00:14:30,494
They brought their ancestry
in their heads.

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00:14:34,290 --> 00:14:36,959
According to our ancestors,

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00:14:37,042 --> 00:14:39,461
most of them originated from Ile-Ife,

208
00:14:40,546 --> 00:14:45,718
Ile-Ife and other Nigerian cities.

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00:14:45,801 --> 00:14:49,889
All of our stories
were passed down orally,

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00:14:49,972 --> 00:14:52,474
there aren't any official written records.

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00:14:54,310 --> 00:14:57,521
There was no record
of them as a human being,

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00:14:57,605 --> 00:15:00,691
but there is a record
of them as a commodity

213
00:15:00,774 --> 00:15:04,570
to be bought and sold
once landed in the New World.

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00:15:05,696 --> 00:15:11,660
Everything they knew culturally,
traditionally and religiously

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00:15:11,744 --> 00:15:12,786
became prohibited.

216
00:15:19,293 --> 00:15:21,712
Naturally, as a human being,

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00:15:21,795 --> 00:15:24,715
one of the things
we think about at times of difficulties

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00:15:25,507 --> 00:15:28,344
was to seek the help of the higher power.

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00:15:31,847 --> 00:15:34,141
We must always look at culture
as being multifaceted.

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00:15:34,683 --> 00:15:40,481
Uh-- Culture includes
even spiritual practices.

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00:15:40,564 --> 00:15:43,984
Spirituality is embedded in human beings.

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00:15:44,068 --> 00:15:48,906
The superstructure,
what sort of manifests spirituality

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00:15:48,989 --> 00:15:51,784
is what we call religion.

224
00:15:51,867 --> 00:15:57,414
And so when people are deeply immersed
in their own spirituality,

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00:15:57,498 --> 00:16:02,127
it doesn't matter where they go
within the secular world.

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00:16:02,211 --> 00:16:05,965
They preserve
that inner system of beliefs,

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00:16:06,048 --> 00:16:10,010
of relationship with outside phenomena,
with nature.

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00:16:10,094 --> 00:16:15,474
And this, in turn,
manifests itself in cultural production,

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00:16:15,557 --> 00:16:19,770
which these slaves
took across the Atlantic with them.

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00:16:21,230 --> 00:16:23,565
The Yoruba culture and mythology

231
00:16:23,649 --> 00:16:27,069
has been compared to that
of other great cultures of the world...

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00:16:29,321 --> 00:16:32,324
with its own profound religious beliefs,

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00:16:32,408 --> 00:16:37,079
which has Olodumare as God,
the supreme being.

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00:16:40,541 --> 00:16:45,087
What Yoruba believe is different
from what other religion believes.

235
00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:47,172
They believe in Olodumare.

236
00:16:47,256 --> 00:16:52,594
The Yorubas, they don't worship
people that have died.

237
00:16:52,678 --> 00:16:57,141
The Yorubas worship Olodumare.

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00:16:57,224 --> 00:17:02,229
In the mythology of the Yorubas,

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00:17:02,312 --> 00:17:05,941
Olodumare, there's one God,
one supreme being,

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00:17:06,025 --> 00:17:09,236
and there are different divinities.

241
00:17:09,319 --> 00:17:14,033
Yoruba believes
that you cannot contact direct with God.

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00:17:14,116 --> 00:17:17,494
You always have this divinity in between,

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00:17:17,578 --> 00:17:20,789
one Olodumare, different divinities

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00:17:20,873 --> 00:17:25,419
or different prophets
like Jesus in Christianity.

245
00:17:25,502 --> 00:17:28,589
You have to go through Jesus to reach God.

246
00:17:30,591 --> 00:17:33,260
When we brought the slaves to Brazil,

247
00:17:33,343 --> 00:17:38,807
I know that we forced them
to adapt to Christianity.

248
00:17:38,891 --> 00:17:40,142
We baptized them.

249
00:17:40,225 --> 00:17:44,605
We believe the Africans
don't have any religion or any belief.

250
00:17:46,607 --> 00:17:49,651
They were forced to be Catholics.
So they look at the Catholic religion

251
00:17:50,736 --> 00:17:53,489
and look at the Yoruba deities.

252
00:17:54,406 --> 00:17:58,452
So if you can worship Mary,
I can worship Yemoja

253
00:17:59,620 --> 00:18:02,164
in order to be able to resist.

254
00:18:03,540 --> 00:18:07,294
They were maltreated, they were penalized,

255
00:18:07,377 --> 00:18:12,758
and they were prohibited
from believing in their orishas.

256
00:18:14,051 --> 00:18:18,764
Orishas are mini gods
and deities, worshipped by the Yorubas.

257
00:18:20,974 --> 00:18:25,562
They're regarded as an intermediary
between human beings and God.

258
00:18:28,398 --> 00:18:30,818
Like Oshun, the goddess of beauty.

259
00:18:32,069 --> 00:18:34,571
Shango, the god of thunder.

260
00:18:36,281 --> 00:18:38,909
Yemoja, the goddess of the sea.

261
00:18:39,660 --> 00:18:43,789
Ogun the Warrior, the god of iron.

262
00:18:43,872 --> 00:18:47,835
And many other 401 Yoruba orishas.

263
00:18:49,419 --> 00:18:52,005
The way Yoruba culture
had several deities,

264
00:18:52,089 --> 00:18:55,425
the Catholics have more than 365 saints.

265
00:18:56,260 --> 00:18:58,428
To hide the worship of their gods,

266
00:18:58,512 --> 00:19:00,806
they took that advantage

267
00:19:00,889 --> 00:19:05,811
and relate some Catholic saints
to their Yoruba deities.

268
00:19:07,938 --> 00:19:10,065
The Church wasn't able
to conquer the Yorubas

269
00:19:10,149 --> 00:19:14,570
because they managed to be
more resistant and savvy.

270
00:19:14,653 --> 00:19:16,363
They would go to the church

271
00:19:17,614 --> 00:19:21,827
and they would amalgamate
themselves, come together,

272
00:19:21,910 --> 00:19:24,329
and they would put the image of Jesus,

273
00:19:24,413 --> 00:19:27,958
but in the back, they would put Obatala.

274
00:19:32,171 --> 00:19:36,717
So what they did,
they gave to the orisha,

275
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,137
they gave a saint from the Christianity.

276
00:19:40,220 --> 00:19:43,473
And if you go to Brazil,
you can see the candomblés.

277
00:20:10,167 --> 00:20:11,627
This disguised effort

278
00:20:11,710 --> 00:20:15,631
of masking the Yoruba deities
within the Catholic church

279
00:20:15,714 --> 00:20:21,887
marks the origin of what is now known
as the candomblé worship today in Brazil.

280
00:21:09,977 --> 00:21:13,563
The most profound influence
of the Yoruba culture in Brazil

281
00:21:13,647 --> 00:21:14,940
could be the religion.

282
00:21:16,316 --> 00:21:20,779
But inheritance of Yoruba culture
abound every corner,

283
00:21:20,862 --> 00:21:26,118
alley, city, and way of life
of many Brazilians.

284
00:21:29,621 --> 00:21:32,082
The culture of the Yoruba people

285
00:21:32,165 --> 00:21:37,546
was very important
for the emancipation and freedom

286
00:21:37,629 --> 00:21:43,260
of the African slaves that were here.

287
00:21:43,343 --> 00:21:45,721
Especially in the city of Salvador,

288
00:21:45,804 --> 00:21:48,223
which has the highest population
of Blacks outside of Africa.

289
00:21:48,307 --> 00:21:49,808
The Black women

290
00:21:49,891 --> 00:21:53,186
were the first individual entrepreneurs
of Brazil

291
00:21:53,270 --> 00:21:58,775
selling products with African origins.

292
00:21:58,859 --> 00:22:03,488
A classic example
that everybody knows is akaraje

293
00:22:03,572 --> 00:22:07,159
that you can find
in several parts of the city.

294
00:22:07,242 --> 00:22:12,080
Delicacies that were commercialized
by the women

295
00:22:12,164 --> 00:22:13,707
and with this money,

296
00:22:13,790 --> 00:22:19,588
the women were able to buy freedom papers
for a number of slaves.

297
00:22:19,671 --> 00:22:24,343
And mainly the idea of a family hierarchy.

298
00:22:24,426 --> 00:22:29,389
So, from the Yoruba people,
we inherited the respect for elders.

299
00:22:29,473 --> 00:22:33,560
When we talk to our elders,
we give respect,

300
00:22:33,643 --> 00:22:35,270
asking for their blessings.

301
00:22:35,353 --> 00:22:38,190
We also have women in leadership.

302
00:22:38,273 --> 00:22:42,778
So, it's something that we also inherited
from the Yoruba people,

303
00:22:42,861 --> 00:22:44,863
to have women in leadership.

304
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,454
Indeed, that statement
could not be better said.

305
00:22:53,455 --> 00:22:56,208
When many other ethnicity
of the world recluse women

306
00:22:56,291 --> 00:22:58,335
to the kitchen and childbearing,

307
00:22:59,753 --> 00:23:02,339
the Yoruba women were not seen as so.

308
00:23:03,673 --> 00:23:05,342
They were in commerce,

309
00:23:05,926 --> 00:23:08,303
they were the business women
of the family.

310
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,893
More so,
in the Yoruba system of governance,

311
00:23:14,976 --> 00:23:18,271
there is a seat reserved
for a woman representative

312
00:23:18,355 --> 00:23:21,316
as part of the cabinet of Oyo Empire.

313
00:23:22,943 --> 00:23:26,446
No man is allowed
to represent in women's affairs.

314
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,908
In the Yoruba system of beliefs,

315
00:23:29,991 --> 00:23:32,869
some Yoruba gods were even women,

316
00:23:32,953 --> 00:23:36,915
like Oshun, Yemoja and many others.

317
00:23:40,377 --> 00:23:42,462
In Yorubaland they said,
Iyalode Oba Obinrin.

318
00:23:43,255 --> 00:23:46,133
That is the queen of the women.

319
00:23:46,216 --> 00:23:48,593
And being the prime minister of the women,

320
00:23:48,677 --> 00:23:53,849
she's in charge of other lieutenants,
all other title of women.

321
00:23:55,517 --> 00:23:59,896
In the Yoruba culture, in those days,
woman are known to bring the money in

322
00:23:59,980 --> 00:24:01,690
because they are the market woman.

323
00:24:01,773 --> 00:24:05,610
The woman make more money in those days,
more than their husband,

324
00:24:05,694 --> 00:24:07,612
because the man would do the farming,

325
00:24:07,696 --> 00:24:10,615
while the woman
would go to the market to sell.

326
00:24:10,699 --> 00:24:13,201
And when they sell,
they take their own percentage

327
00:24:13,285 --> 00:24:16,872
and they say, "my dear lovely husband,
this is your money."

328
00:24:16,955 --> 00:24:19,791
But woman are always known as traders.

329
00:24:19,875 --> 00:24:21,626
They use their hand to work.

330
00:24:23,879 --> 00:24:26,548
Inspired by the heritage of the Yorubas,

331
00:24:27,174 --> 00:24:31,761
Olodum became the biggest
Black musical festival in Brazil

332
00:24:31,845 --> 00:24:36,266
that has attracted various artists
of African descent from around the world.

333
00:24:39,895 --> 00:24:43,398
{\an8}Olodum, is a Yoruba-originated word.

334
00:24:43,481 --> 00:24:45,859
{\an8}The full word is Olodumare.

335
00:24:45,942 --> 00:24:50,363
It's the biggest Black music
cultural festival in Brazil,

336
00:24:50,447 --> 00:24:53,867
influenced directly
from the cities of Oyo and Ife.

337
00:24:54,659 --> 00:25:00,290
Various African artists have performed
and or combined shows with us,

338
00:25:00,373 --> 00:25:05,462
also with African Americans
like Spike Lee and Michael Jackson.

339
00:25:14,054 --> 00:25:16,640
The Yoruba culture became the powerhouse

340
00:25:16,723 --> 00:25:19,601
for emotional strength
and resistance movement

341
00:25:19,684 --> 00:25:22,604
for all the Africans in Brazil.

342
00:25:24,231 --> 00:25:26,399
Orishas from various parts of Africa

343
00:25:26,483 --> 00:25:32,405
meet up to dance and share
their form of struggles and resistance

344
00:25:32,489 --> 00:25:34,824
through their spiritual meetings.

345
00:25:38,745 --> 00:25:43,416
This Yoruba way of thinking
is empowering to individuals.

346
00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:46,419
Black women were considered ugly,

347
00:25:46,503 --> 00:25:51,424
but in the Yoruba culture,
they're daughters of Oshun

348
00:25:51,508 --> 00:25:54,719
and Oshun is the goddess of beauty.

349
00:25:54,803 --> 00:25:58,265
So, no daughter of Oshun is ugly.

350
00:25:58,348 --> 00:26:01,893
If a man is of Ogun,
he can be 70 years old,

351
00:26:01,977 --> 00:26:05,939
but he is strong because he is
the son of Ogun, he has to be strong.

352
00:26:06,022 --> 00:26:12,112
So, these cultural traces
helped to build up our self-esteem.

353
00:26:12,195 --> 00:26:13,989
It was a re-enforcement.

354
00:26:14,072 --> 00:26:19,244
Because it was very hard
to live through slavery.

355
00:26:19,327 --> 00:26:22,622
There wasn't giving up, there wasn't
moving backwards for the Yoruba people.

356
00:26:22,706 --> 00:26:24,499
They never surrender.

357
00:26:24,582 --> 00:26:27,419
But what remained of the Yoruba

358
00:26:27,502 --> 00:26:33,508
is a very important lesson
of strength, of joy, of love,

359
00:26:33,591 --> 00:26:36,594
of people that manage
to maintain their tradition

360
00:26:36,678 --> 00:26:40,390
though being in a land
where they were enslaved.

361
00:26:40,473 --> 00:26:45,478
We have their music,
their dances, their religion,

362
00:26:46,187 --> 00:26:50,525
their words imprinted
everywhere in the city of Salvador.

363
00:26:55,155 --> 00:27:00,952
We're proud of being descendants
of kings, priests and warriors.

364
00:27:01,036 --> 00:27:03,830
We're not descendants of slaves.

365
00:27:03,913 --> 00:27:09,836
Our ancestors were enslaved,
but we colonized Brazil.

366
00:27:43,912 --> 00:27:46,581
We must always remember that the quality,

367
00:27:46,664 --> 00:27:50,460
the nature of oppression,
of racial oppression,

368
00:27:50,543 --> 00:27:55,465
{\an8}the nature of colonialism
was different from country to country.

369
00:28:07,811 --> 00:28:12,440
Unlike Brazil,
Cuba was a Spanish colony.

370
00:28:30,208 --> 00:28:34,254
Were these West African trying
anything cultural or religious here

371
00:28:34,337 --> 00:28:35,422
under the Spaniards?

372
00:28:42,804 --> 00:28:44,889
In the mid 1800s,

373
00:28:45,724 --> 00:28:51,396
Cuba was refining over 450,000 tons
of sugar crystals.

374
00:28:53,022 --> 00:28:57,485
That's roughly about 30%
of the entire world's consumption.

375
00:28:59,612 --> 00:29:03,700
Majority of these sugar laborers
were Yoruba slaves,

376
00:29:05,243 --> 00:29:08,538
earriving from West Africa.

377
00:29:12,500 --> 00:29:17,130
The first slaves which arrived in Cuba

378
00:29:18,173 --> 00:29:22,427
in their ships came Igbos,

379
00:29:23,470 --> 00:29:27,474
Hausas from the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana,

380
00:29:28,391 --> 00:29:31,186
Kalabaris, many of them,

381
00:29:31,269 --> 00:29:36,232
but the majority of them
who went to Cuba were Yorubas.

382
00:29:37,358 --> 00:29:40,653
That's why the Yoruba
is the largest proportion

383
00:29:41,321 --> 00:29:43,281
of the Africans in Cuba.

384
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,953
You have to get to 19th century
or last of 18th century.

385
00:29:49,037 --> 00:29:52,665
As you should know,
the Regla de Ocha or Santeria

386
00:29:52,749 --> 00:29:57,462
is Cuban way of saying all of this culture

387
00:29:57,545 --> 00:30:02,133
of different tribes or deities of Nigeria.

388
00:30:02,217 --> 00:30:06,596
And Nigeria have 400 deities,
more or less.

389
00:30:06,679 --> 00:30:12,185
And we suppose to Cuba have come
around 300 of these deities.

390
00:30:30,787 --> 00:30:31,788
-Beautiful.

391
00:30:32,872 --> 00:30:38,419
With over 300
of the 401 Yoruba deities landing in Cuba,

392
00:30:38,503 --> 00:30:42,423
it's only imaginable
that what was done in Brazil

393
00:30:42,507 --> 00:30:45,844
will be attempted
under the Spaniards in Cuba.

394
00:30:45,927 --> 00:30:47,554
In Cuba,

395
00:30:47,637 --> 00:30:54,185
the Africans were prohibited
from practicing their own religion.

396
00:30:54,978 --> 00:31:01,234
They were prohibited
from adoring their orishas.

397
00:31:01,317 --> 00:31:05,738
Yoruba religion
synchronization effort with the Europeans

398
00:31:05,822 --> 00:31:07,907
did not end in Brazil.

399
00:31:10,660 --> 00:31:14,163
They adopted the Catholic saints
to protect their orishas.

400
00:31:14,247 --> 00:31:17,792
For example, Santa Barbara is Shango,

401
00:31:17,876 --> 00:31:21,629
Elegua is San Antonio de Padua
or The Infant of Atocha.

402
00:31:21,713 --> 00:31:24,757
Babalu-Aye is Saint Lazarus.

403
00:31:24,841 --> 00:31:27,343
Obatala is Mercedes.

404
00:31:27,969 --> 00:31:31,139
Oshun, the patron of Cuba.

405
00:31:32,098 --> 00:31:34,809
Our Lady of Charity.

406
00:31:34,893 --> 00:31:37,353
That's the way it was merged.

407
00:31:38,187 --> 00:31:40,315
And then that's why we call Santeria

408
00:31:40,398 --> 00:31:43,234
because the Yoruba saints

409
00:31:43,318 --> 00:31:47,780
were related to the Catholic saints.

410
00:31:48,281 --> 00:31:52,619
This synchronization
was not only called Santeria in Cuba,

411
00:31:52,702 --> 00:31:55,163
but the entire Latin America.

412
00:31:57,206 --> 00:32:01,711
Obviously, this group of Africans
were not on a religious crusade.

413
00:32:04,380 --> 00:32:06,299
They seem to have
one common problem

414
00:32:06,382 --> 00:32:07,675
everywhere they've landed...

415
00:32:09,218 --> 00:32:10,345
slavery.

416
00:32:12,013 --> 00:32:16,476
And in search of only one goal, freedom.

417
00:32:18,186 --> 00:32:23,107
Escaping slavery with what they knew
was their number one goal.

418
00:32:25,902 --> 00:32:30,031
Various aspects of human activities,
social activities,

419
00:32:30,114 --> 00:32:33,785
are embedded in the spirituality
of the Yoruba.

420
00:32:33,868 --> 00:32:38,081
The dances, the attires, the music.

421
00:32:38,164 --> 00:32:40,249
In the music, of course.

422
00:32:40,333 --> 00:32:42,251
In the music, of course.

423
00:32:42,335 --> 00:32:45,421
Because all these elements of the music

424
00:32:45,505 --> 00:32:49,300
have to do with the music
of the secret society.

425
00:33:11,864 --> 00:33:14,701
The Yoruba culture and Cuban tradition

426
00:33:14,784 --> 00:33:18,246
is so deeply entangled, it's inseparable.

427
00:33:18,997 --> 00:33:21,958
With hundreds of years of separations,

428
00:33:22,041 --> 00:33:25,336
Yoruba speakers from West Africa till date

429
00:33:25,420 --> 00:33:30,675
could still pick up many words
from the Cuban songs and traditions.

430
00:33:56,617 --> 00:34:00,121
When religious synchronism began,
which also had influence in the music,

431
00:34:01,205 --> 00:34:07,086
they began to make drums
that were like the batá of today,

432
00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:11,758
but they were more rustic,
some were vertical and things like that.

433
00:34:11,841 --> 00:34:15,011
They say batá have another way of play,

434
00:34:15,094 --> 00:34:19,474
but all of them have been used
in all these sectors of all the music,

435
00:34:19,557 --> 00:34:22,435
the Cuban music, the popular Cuban music.

436
00:34:23,936 --> 00:34:25,563
These three drums are the ones
that gives the fundamental

437
00:34:25,646 --> 00:34:29,025
and characteristics to Cuban music,

438
00:34:29,108 --> 00:34:32,695
which are polyrhythmic
and plural-tonality.

439
00:34:33,279 --> 00:34:40,203
And this stems precisely from the drums
that came with the Yoruba slaves to Cuba,

440
00:34:40,286 --> 00:34:43,539
because they are drums
that have six patches

441
00:34:43,623 --> 00:34:46,125
and the six patches
have a different rhythm

442
00:34:46,209 --> 00:34:48,586
and different tonalities.

443
00:34:48,669 --> 00:34:51,547
They say, "But how do you
know so much about music?"

444
00:34:51,631 --> 00:34:54,634
{\an8}Before the revolution,
I used to play guitar.

445
00:34:55,718 --> 00:34:57,804
{\an8}I promised one of the men who was killed

446
00:34:57,887 --> 00:35:02,141
{\an8}in the attack
of the presidential palace in 1957

447
00:35:02,225 --> 00:35:06,521
{\an8}that when--
even if they kill him or kill me,

448
00:35:06,604 --> 00:35:09,232
I will leave the guitar.

449
00:35:09,315 --> 00:35:12,318
When we were in the underground,

450
00:35:12,401 --> 00:35:16,280
in the houses I used to have with them,

451
00:35:16,364 --> 00:35:19,659
I used to play guitar with them-- to them.

452
00:35:19,742 --> 00:35:22,537
And they say,
"Well, if some things happen to me,

453
00:35:22,620 --> 00:35:24,163
don't play no more guitar."

454
00:35:24,247 --> 00:35:27,583
And they killed him
in the attack of the presidential palace.

455
00:35:27,667 --> 00:35:29,502
So I put my two guitar,

456
00:35:29,585 --> 00:35:34,465
which were beautiful guitar
and very good in his tomb.

457
00:35:34,549 --> 00:35:37,218
I gave it there and I never played guitar.

458
00:35:39,846 --> 00:35:45,184
When Fidel Castro
led his rebellion against Batista

459
00:35:45,268 --> 00:35:47,937
in Manzanillo, in the Oriente Province,

460
00:35:48,020 --> 00:35:51,274
he was able to succeed as much as he did,

461
00:35:51,357 --> 00:35:57,071
at least it was aided by the fact
that Yoruba culture was strongest there.

462
00:35:57,155 --> 00:36:00,950
And Yoruba culture
did not teach turn the other cheek.

463
00:36:01,033 --> 00:36:04,495
On the contrary,
Yoruba culture contains the god of war,

464
00:36:04,579 --> 00:36:06,164
celebrates the god of war.

465
00:36:06,247 --> 00:36:12,211
So, you can see that Yoruba played a role
in liberation struggle in Latin America

466
00:36:12,295 --> 00:36:15,339
and in the struggle for human rights.

467
00:36:17,341 --> 00:36:19,594
During the revolution
led by Fidel Castro...

468
00:36:21,888 --> 00:36:27,935
an enormous participation
from the black population

469
00:36:29,687 --> 00:36:34,525
made possible for the revolution to win.

470
00:36:34,609 --> 00:36:37,445
And after that,
to keep the revolution working.

471
00:36:37,528 --> 00:36:39,530
The first task of the revolution

472
00:36:39,614 --> 00:36:43,576
was to eliminate discrimination
and give opportunity to everybody.

473
00:36:43,659 --> 00:36:48,915
It's a history of Cuban history,
by the religions,

474
00:36:48,998 --> 00:36:53,377
not only by the things that happen,
like wars of independence.

475
00:36:53,461 --> 00:36:57,757
By the religion
and their influence in the Cuban history.

476
00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:58,841
We have babalawo.

477
00:36:59,926 --> 00:37:03,429
Many-- we have
plenty of babalawos in Cuba, many.

478
00:37:03,512 --> 00:37:05,473
That many that my neighbor is a babalawo.

479
00:37:08,517 --> 00:37:10,937
In the Yoruba spirituality,

480
00:37:11,020 --> 00:37:14,357
a babalawo is considered the priest.

481
00:37:23,783 --> 00:37:28,746
Evidence of synchronization
can still be seen in Santeria.

482
00:37:33,376 --> 00:37:36,003
Independently from this,
we are here in the church,

483
00:37:36,087 --> 00:37:40,466
we independently believe
in the Yoruba religion, in Bantu,

484
00:37:40,549 --> 00:37:42,677
but we also believe
in the Catholic religion,

485
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,347
we send people to church
to pray and ask for things

486
00:37:46,931 --> 00:37:50,309
and invocate for all things,
so they may have health,

487
00:37:50,393 --> 00:37:54,272
stability, and repose
for all who believe in her.

488
00:38:02,613 --> 00:38:04,282
The study of the orishas

489
00:38:04,365 --> 00:38:08,452
has always influenced many artists
throughout Cuban history.

490
00:38:10,329 --> 00:38:14,542
They had been a point of view
for all the people

491
00:38:14,625 --> 00:38:18,170
who writes, who are poets, who paint,

492
00:38:18,254 --> 00:38:21,674
who dances, who make the music.

493
00:38:24,927 --> 00:38:30,224
Like Titón who was one
of our best director of movies.

494
00:38:30,308 --> 00:38:33,060
He was voted for the Oscar.

495
00:38:33,144 --> 00:38:39,442
And he used to study
every principal person of their movies

496
00:38:39,525 --> 00:38:40,818
with the orishas.

497
00:38:40,901 --> 00:38:43,529
They want to say this man is like Shango,

498
00:38:43,612 --> 00:38:45,281
which is very--

499
00:38:45,364 --> 00:38:50,286
and the music and then
they went to the characteristics.

500
00:38:52,872 --> 00:38:54,915
Tourists from all around the world

501
00:38:54,999 --> 00:38:59,712
gathered every Sunday
at Callejon de Hamel in Havana

502
00:38:59,795 --> 00:39:02,757
to watch the Yoruba folkloric on display.

503
00:39:04,133 --> 00:39:06,927
Even though the pronunciation
might have eroded

504
00:39:07,011 --> 00:39:10,097
due to hundreds of years
of various influences,

505
00:39:11,891 --> 00:39:15,686
many Yoruba words remain very clear.

506
00:39:24,945 --> 00:39:27,114
Many of us are initiated

507
00:39:27,198 --> 00:39:33,412
in this Santeria of the Yoruba religion

508
00:39:33,496 --> 00:39:38,501
of which you give folkloric touches,

509
00:39:38,584 --> 00:39:41,253
some of which you will now soon see.

510
00:40:38,269 --> 00:40:42,314
To say the Yorubas brought
their religion here in Trinidad and Tobago

511
00:40:42,398 --> 00:40:44,233
will no more be surprising.

512
00:40:45,651 --> 00:40:50,364
One thing that might be different here
was the way they came.

513
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:52,825
A lot of people don't recognize it,

514
00:40:52,908 --> 00:40:57,580
but Trinidad was
a very late settlement for sugar.

515
00:40:57,663 --> 00:41:00,499
If we look at Barbados
or we look at Jamaica,

516
00:41:00,583 --> 00:41:05,004
they were settled
by the Europeans in the 17th century,

517
00:41:05,087 --> 00:41:07,882
1620s, 1650s.

518
00:41:07,965 --> 00:41:13,220
Trinidad was not settled
until the late 18th century.

519
00:41:13,304 --> 00:41:17,766
By the time we had begun
to develop a sugar economy,

520
00:41:17,850 --> 00:41:19,810
the slave trade was stopped.

521
00:41:19,894 --> 00:41:22,688
So Trinidad never had the influx of slaves

522
00:41:22,771 --> 00:41:26,692
directly from Africa
that the other countries had had.

523
00:41:27,318 --> 00:41:32,490
When the English put an embargo
on slaves leaving Africa,

524
00:41:32,573 --> 00:41:36,202
those freed slaves,
those slaves that were taken,

525
00:41:36,285 --> 00:41:38,621
uh-- they were called liberated Africans,

526
00:41:38,704 --> 00:41:41,081
many of them were Yoruba.

527
00:41:41,707 --> 00:41:46,337
They came as indentured
or liberated Africans.

528
00:41:46,420 --> 00:41:50,174
While we would've had
Yoruba coming throughout,

529
00:41:50,257 --> 00:41:51,884
but not in large numbers.

530
00:41:51,967 --> 00:41:57,765
We had a large influx of Yoruba
between about 1840 and 1860.

531
00:42:00,768 --> 00:42:03,187
Embargo of the early 1800s

532
00:42:03,270 --> 00:42:06,899
did not stop slave trade
among all Europeans.

533
00:42:06,982 --> 00:42:11,362
Illegal slave trade
continued until the late 1800s,

534
00:42:12,029 --> 00:42:17,451
an action that almost cost
Africa another one of its finest.

535
00:42:27,044 --> 00:42:30,464
My great-great-grandfather was captured

536
00:42:30,548 --> 00:42:34,051
somewhere western part of Nigeria.
I believe, Abeokuta.

537
00:42:34,843 --> 00:42:38,389
And he was transported in the ship.

538
00:42:38,472 --> 00:42:40,683
The slave trade had been abolished.

539
00:42:40,766 --> 00:42:44,311
Governments of Europe
now start to intercept

540
00:42:44,395 --> 00:42:47,815
ships that were coming from Africa
at this point in time.

541
00:42:48,649 --> 00:42:52,194
And his ship
was one of the ships intercepted

542
00:42:52,278 --> 00:42:53,779
and they sent it back.

543
00:42:53,862 --> 00:42:56,532
But they didn't send him back
and dropped them in Badagry.

544
00:42:56,615 --> 00:42:58,576
They dropped them in Sierra Leone.

545
00:42:58,659 --> 00:43:03,080
So most of them that came
from the same region as him

546
00:43:03,664 --> 00:43:07,418
all walked back to Abeokuta
from Sierra Leone.

547
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,174
Heroic feat
must have been in the blood

548
00:43:14,258 --> 00:43:16,802
of the Kuti families for generations.

549
00:43:17,970 --> 00:43:21,473
At the time when there was
no airplane, nor GPS,

550
00:43:22,516 --> 00:43:27,938
imagine walking over 1,500 miles
in the jungles of West Africa

551
00:43:28,022 --> 00:43:30,649
in an effort to locate your homeland.

552
00:43:32,192 --> 00:43:36,530
Despite this heroic act,
we have to count him lucky.

553
00:43:36,614 --> 00:43:39,325
How many did we know
that took the same leap of faith

554
00:43:39,408 --> 00:43:40,492
and never made it?

555
00:43:42,202 --> 00:43:44,079
Perhaps the same could be said

556
00:43:44,163 --> 00:43:47,458
for those that made it
to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

557
00:43:48,751 --> 00:43:53,255
How many did we know that never
made it through the brutal middle passage?

558
00:43:54,548 --> 00:43:59,053
Some Yorubas had made it,
landed here in Trinidad and Tobago.

559
00:44:03,098 --> 00:44:06,852
{\an8}They set up what is known
and still known as Yoruba Village

560
00:44:06,935 --> 00:44:09,063
{\an8}in the heart of Port of Spain.

561
00:44:09,146 --> 00:44:14,735
{\an8}And the spread--
the Yoruba settlement spread

562
00:44:14,818 --> 00:44:19,573
from the East Port of Spain
into Laventille,

563
00:44:19,657 --> 00:44:23,494
into Belmont, into the Laventille Hills.

564
00:44:23,577 --> 00:44:25,162
In fact, there are...

565
00:44:27,498 --> 00:44:30,751
orisha shrines there
that are more than 100 years old.

566
00:44:49,895 --> 00:44:52,022
In Trinidad, based
on the religion they practice,

567
00:44:52,106 --> 00:44:55,734
whatever form, if orisha,
they're always known as Shango people.

568
00:44:55,818 --> 00:44:57,945
That's why they're branded
as Shango people,

569
00:44:58,028 --> 00:45:02,533
which when, in going to Africa
or reading about Yorubaland,

570
00:45:02,616 --> 00:45:07,162
Shango is predominantly practiced heavily

571
00:45:07,246 --> 00:45:10,749
in the Oyo region of Yorubaland.

572
00:45:16,964 --> 00:45:21,009
When the power that be ban
the African drum for worship, remember?

573
00:45:21,093 --> 00:45:25,305
They were saying we were sending message
from one part of the island to the next

574
00:45:25,389 --> 00:45:26,932
because in the still of the night,

575
00:45:27,766 --> 00:45:30,269
up till today when we have
Yoruba worship in the night,

576
00:45:30,352 --> 00:45:33,355
you could hear the drums
far, far, far, far across the land.

577
00:45:37,067 --> 00:45:38,861
We were told
that our ancestors' hands

578
00:45:38,944 --> 00:45:41,113
used to be chopped off for playing a drum,

579
00:45:41,196 --> 00:45:44,491
because off the fear
that the drum was inciting people

580
00:45:44,575 --> 00:45:48,078
to rebel and overthrow things
and that sort of thing.

581
00:45:49,580 --> 00:45:53,876
Neither the Portuguese,
French, Spaniards or the British

582
00:45:53,959 --> 00:45:56,962
was comfortable with the Yorubas
and their drums

583
00:45:57,045 --> 00:46:00,048
simply because of their ability
to utilize it

584
00:46:00,132 --> 00:46:02,426
for more than just entertainment.

585
00:46:14,313 --> 00:46:17,232
As we know in Yorubaland,

586
00:46:17,316 --> 00:46:22,613
that we can curse with the drum
and praise with the drum.

587
00:46:22,696 --> 00:46:25,115
Drums can be used to send coded messages

588
00:46:25,199 --> 00:46:28,952
in times of misunderstanding
in times like that,

589
00:46:29,036 --> 00:46:33,499
drums are played
independently of each other,

590
00:46:33,582 --> 00:46:36,335
which all has meanings.

591
00:46:39,421 --> 00:46:43,842
In the 1880s, the skin drum
was banned in Trinidad

592
00:46:43,926 --> 00:46:50,933
and the Africans used the bamboo,
tamboo bamboo, to get the rhythms.

593
00:46:51,016 --> 00:46:55,687
And along with the tamboo bamboo,
there was always a sort of iron.

594
00:46:55,771 --> 00:46:58,982
There was always the clang of the iron.

595
00:47:05,322 --> 00:47:10,577
There was a very strong Yoruba input

596
00:47:10,661 --> 00:47:12,829
in the development of the steel pan.

597
00:47:12,913 --> 00:47:15,582
The historians always emphasize

598
00:47:15,666 --> 00:47:20,879
that the parlay or the orisha yard
was a sorta community center

599
00:47:20,963 --> 00:47:23,882
where people would hang out
and lime during the day,

600
00:47:23,966 --> 00:47:26,677
during the--
when they're having the feasts

601
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:28,929
or the sarakas and the pleasure songs.

602
00:47:29,012 --> 00:47:32,558
A lot of them evolve
into social commentary and calypso.

603
00:47:32,641 --> 00:47:36,770
Some of the earliest steel pans men
were, in fact, Yoruba.

604
00:47:37,771 --> 00:47:39,022
Many of them were butchers.

605
00:47:39,106 --> 00:47:42,609
Many of them
were committed to the god of iron.

606
00:47:42,693 --> 00:47:46,905
The steel and the rhythm
of steel is very definite

607
00:47:46,989 --> 00:47:49,533
in the Yoruba tradition's teachings.

608
00:47:49,616 --> 00:47:51,159
People come with it in their DNA.

609
00:47:51,243 --> 00:47:53,328
So it wasn't like somebody
dropped from the sky

610
00:47:53,412 --> 00:47:54,621
and decided to invent the steel pan.

611
00:47:54,705 --> 00:47:58,625
They had some kind of ancestral memory
of what music can come out of iron,

612
00:47:58,709 --> 00:48:02,337
what the god of iron, Ogun, creation,

613
00:48:02,421 --> 00:48:05,048
could evolve in that--
that manifest into the steel pan.

614
00:48:05,132 --> 00:48:08,969
The orisha iles were very powerful

615
00:48:09,052 --> 00:48:11,346
in that they were the ones,

616
00:48:11,430 --> 00:48:14,308
both in Port of Spain
and in Tacarigua soon,

617
00:48:14,391 --> 00:48:16,977
that created the birth of the pan.

618
00:48:17,060 --> 00:48:23,567
In fact, it is reputed
that the first recognizable notes

619
00:48:23,650 --> 00:48:27,487
that were played in the steel pan, um--

620
00:48:27,571 --> 00:48:30,449
that was a chant to Ogun.

621
00:48:53,722 --> 00:48:57,059
The pan brought melody,

622
00:48:57,976 --> 00:49:03,315
but the rhythm continued
to be a very strong African rhythm.

623
00:49:03,398 --> 00:49:07,527
Those rhythms, remember,
when they are taken away from us,

624
00:49:07,611 --> 00:49:08,654
we couldn't use them.

625
00:49:09,571 --> 00:49:14,368
And the improvisation
is what became the steel drum.

626
00:49:14,451 --> 00:49:17,996
The pan is one round piece of steel.

627
00:49:20,082 --> 00:49:22,918
The notes are separated by grooves

628
00:49:23,001 --> 00:49:27,255
and have 36 different songs
on one instrument,

629
00:49:29,049 --> 00:49:30,425
but yet is one pan.

630
00:50:22,936 --> 00:50:25,522
The pan is like the blood of Trinidad.

631
00:50:25,605 --> 00:50:29,192
I mean, across all corners.

632
00:50:29,276 --> 00:50:31,445
It's well-loved throughout the world

633
00:50:31,528 --> 00:50:34,239
and its significant
and unique to Trinidad,

634
00:50:34,322 --> 00:50:35,657
it is our gift to the world.

635
00:50:40,746 --> 00:50:43,540
As it is in Cuba and Brazil,

636
00:50:44,291 --> 00:50:50,088
survival of Yoruba culture is pronounced
on this island of Trinidad and Tobago.

637
00:50:52,048 --> 00:50:55,218
There continue to be Yoruba, uh--

638
00:50:57,137 --> 00:51:00,265
survivors in terms of food.

639
00:51:01,308 --> 00:51:05,270
We-we still, the akara.

640
00:51:05,353 --> 00:51:08,064
We still eat akara in Trinidad.

641
00:51:09,274 --> 00:51:11,276
We don't use it with the beans.

642
00:51:12,027 --> 00:51:15,864
We use it with salt fish,
but we call it akara.

643
00:51:15,947 --> 00:51:18,617
And to hear it called akara,
you know it had to come--

644
00:51:18,700 --> 00:51:19,743
And it's the same idea.

645
00:51:19,826 --> 00:51:25,624
It's the same idea of the mush
that is fried and eaten.

646
00:51:25,707 --> 00:51:32,005
In Brazil, the Yoruba
descendants that settled there,

647
00:51:34,007 --> 00:51:35,133
still eat akara.

648
00:51:36,134 --> 00:51:39,930
We in Yorubaland, we call it akara.

649
00:51:41,473 --> 00:51:44,976
In Bahia, they call it akaraje.

650
00:51:46,061 --> 00:51:48,814
Now they don't call it akara
and stop there.

651
00:51:48,897 --> 00:51:51,066
They call akara-that-you-eat.

652
00:51:55,403 --> 00:51:57,489
Apart from the carnival in Trinidad,

653
00:51:58,448 --> 00:52:02,244
Emancipation celebration
is the biggest street parade

654
00:52:02,327 --> 00:52:04,246
in Trinidad and Tobago.

655
00:52:05,622 --> 00:52:07,666
You're gonna have
thousands of people,

656
00:52:07,749 --> 00:52:09,584
thousands and thousands of people

657
00:52:09,668 --> 00:52:12,671
who are going to be wearing
their African clothes.

658
00:52:14,089 --> 00:52:18,552
When I started looking at the Yoruba
all those years ago,

659
00:52:18,635 --> 00:52:22,264
I recognized that it was
because we did not know.

660
00:52:22,347 --> 00:52:25,517
We just-- There was not enough knowledge.

661
00:52:25,600 --> 00:52:28,645
As I said, I knew things, I'm a historian,

662
00:52:28,728 --> 00:52:32,232
I lived in Ife, but I recognize
that a lot of Trinidadians

663
00:52:32,315 --> 00:52:35,777
were not aware of the details.

664
00:52:35,861 --> 00:52:40,657
And around that time,
there was a lot of research being done

665
00:52:40,740 --> 00:52:43,660
and I got a sense,
well, it's gonna happen.

666
00:52:43,743 --> 00:52:47,372
Everybody's going to understand
the connections

667
00:52:47,455 --> 00:52:51,126
and now that I'm looking at it,

668
00:52:51,209 --> 00:52:55,922
I realized that there was
a kind of fall off in that respect,

669
00:52:56,006 --> 00:52:58,008
{\an8}so that while there is information,

670
00:52:58,091 --> 00:53:03,471
{\an8}that information is not as widely known
as it ought to be

671
00:53:03,555 --> 00:53:09,102
{\an8}because in the 1970s, when we had
the Black Power Revolution in Trinidad,

672
00:53:09,185 --> 00:53:12,439
{\an8}there was a lot of awareness
and a lot of searching.

673
00:53:12,522 --> 00:53:16,026
{\an8}But over the last thirty years,

674
00:53:16,109 --> 00:53:19,613
I don't think it has been as prominent.

675
00:53:22,282 --> 00:53:25,243
Struggles of the Yoruba descendants here

676
00:53:25,327 --> 00:53:27,954
has led to some legal provisions
and amendments

677
00:53:28,038 --> 00:53:30,415
in this multicultural society.

678
00:53:32,042 --> 00:53:34,711
Achievements that might
not even be available

679
00:53:34,794 --> 00:53:37,213
in either Brazil or Cuba.

680
00:53:39,341 --> 00:53:41,843
The Hindus are predominant in Trinidad,

681
00:53:41,927 --> 00:53:45,138
they could get married
under their traditional rites.

682
00:53:45,221 --> 00:53:48,558
The Muslims can also be married
under their traditional rights

683
00:53:48,642 --> 00:53:50,060
and, of course, the Christians.

684
00:53:50,143 --> 00:53:52,896
Trinidad and Tobago
has the only marriage act,

685
00:53:52,979 --> 00:53:54,606
the Orisha Marriage Act.

686
00:53:54,689 --> 00:53:56,775
Where we can be married

687
00:53:56,858 --> 00:54:02,155
under traditional Isese rites
of the Ifa Orisha tradition.

688
00:54:02,238 --> 00:54:05,533
I don't even think that in Nigeria
they have it on their books.

689
00:54:14,167 --> 00:54:16,878
In the past,
we have a strong oral tradition

690
00:54:16,962 --> 00:54:21,716
where many of the stories were handed down

691
00:54:23,009 --> 00:54:26,930
through verbal influence.

692
00:54:27,013 --> 00:54:32,519
Gone are the days where a child
would sit and listen evening after evening

693
00:54:32,602 --> 00:54:36,982
to the stories of grandparents
or great-grandparents.

694
00:54:37,065 --> 00:54:40,610
Gone are the days where grandparents
and great-grandparents

695
00:54:40,694 --> 00:54:44,155
have the time to sit with young people

696
00:54:44,239 --> 00:54:48,785
and have the patience to sit with them
and tell the stories

697
00:54:48,868 --> 00:54:52,455
as their great grandparents
would have with them.

698
00:54:52,539 --> 00:54:56,209
We also have to accept that they learn

699
00:54:56,292 --> 00:55:00,797
and they are exposed to information
in a totally different way.

700
00:55:01,756 --> 00:55:07,721
To this day, we still have not caught up
with the documentation required

701
00:55:07,804 --> 00:55:13,810
to ensure that future generations
would understand where we came from,

702
00:55:14,853 --> 00:55:18,148
the struggles
that we would have been through

703
00:55:18,231 --> 00:55:22,652
and therefore, using it
as the light to guide their future.

704
00:55:23,445 --> 00:55:25,989
{\an8}But we cannot undervalue

705
00:55:27,741 --> 00:55:30,827
the strength of oral traditions

706
00:55:30,910 --> 00:55:35,290
to ensure that we utilize
our brains effectively

707
00:55:36,624 --> 00:55:40,420
and to stretch the capacity of our brains

708
00:55:40,503 --> 00:55:45,300
to, uh-- have the level of memory

709
00:55:45,383 --> 00:55:47,844
that our ancestors would have had.

710
00:55:52,891 --> 00:55:56,811
We had a song being sung
in Belmont about Ibadan,

711
00:55:56,895 --> 00:55:59,022
among the elders, an old lady sang it.

712
00:55:59,105 --> 00:56:01,066
And we as young people
have been hearing this song

713
00:56:01,149 --> 00:56:04,527
and we didn't know what it meant,
but we were told that by the elder

714
00:56:04,611 --> 00:56:06,780
that that song in particular

715
00:56:06,863 --> 00:56:09,908
when it was sung years
ago by her ancestors,

716
00:56:09,991 --> 00:56:11,993
they used to actually cry,
they used to well up.

717
00:56:23,046 --> 00:56:25,340
They usually sing this song.

718
00:56:26,216 --> 00:56:28,885
Nobody knew where it came from,

719
00:56:29,969 --> 00:56:35,225
but now when we hear Ibadan,
when we hear Oyo,

720
00:56:36,518 --> 00:56:38,144
we can make the connection.

721
00:56:39,270 --> 00:56:41,731
And we in Trinidad know in Belmont,

722
00:56:41,815 --> 00:56:43,733
singing this of Ibadan,

723
00:56:43,817 --> 00:56:47,946
and an old lady who was
almost 90-something telling us

724
00:56:48,029 --> 00:56:50,406
that her ancestors--

725
00:56:50,490 --> 00:56:52,909
She be in, I guess what--
I think third generation

726
00:56:52,992 --> 00:56:55,370
or fourth generation Yoruba,

727
00:56:55,453 --> 00:56:57,122
used to sing this song,

728
00:56:57,205 --> 00:57:01,167
not knowing that Ibadan
is the largest West African city.

729
00:57:23,690 --> 00:57:26,443
Despite all the hardship and brutality,

730
00:57:28,153 --> 00:57:31,865
this African culture
defined a way to survive it all.

731
00:57:32,824 --> 00:57:36,828
Makes you wonder who are these Yorubas

732
00:57:38,079 --> 00:57:44,252
and what's actually special
about this particular group of Africans.

733
00:57:44,335 --> 00:57:46,337
The Yoruba people...

734
00:57:48,256 --> 00:57:50,758
{\an8}are a people of West Africa.

735
00:57:51,593 --> 00:57:55,013
But the Yoruba believe

736
00:57:55,096 --> 00:57:59,309
that they're the original people
of the world.

737
00:58:00,852 --> 00:58:01,895
They believe...

738
00:58:03,855 --> 00:58:08,568
that they were
the first people to be created.

739
00:58:08,651 --> 00:58:13,323
They were created
by the orisha, their divinities,

740
00:58:14,657 --> 00:58:17,994
who descended from heaven above.

741
00:58:19,996 --> 00:58:24,834
400 plus one orisha.

742
00:58:24,918 --> 00:58:28,087
And they landed in Ile-Ife.

743
00:58:28,171 --> 00:58:30,965
From Togo to Cuba,

744
00:58:31,049 --> 00:58:34,385
Republic of Benin to Brazil,

745
00:58:34,469 --> 00:58:40,642
one consensus of all the Yorubas
was that Ile-Ife is their origin.

746
00:58:40,725 --> 00:58:44,812
{\an8}And their ancestor from Ife is Oduduwa.

747
00:58:44,896 --> 00:58:46,814
You talk about Oduduwa,

748
00:58:46,898 --> 00:58:49,275
you talk about Obatala,
you talk about Ogun, you talk about--

749
00:58:49,359 --> 00:58:52,737
Many of these
are Yoruba gods and goddesses.

750
00:58:52,820 --> 00:58:55,156
And they founded Yoruba civilization

751
00:58:55,240 --> 00:58:57,033
on what would eventually endure.

752
00:58:57,784 --> 00:59:00,370
What is widely
known about the Yorubas

753
00:59:00,453 --> 00:59:03,331
has always been their spirituality.

754
00:59:04,374 --> 00:59:08,795
Little acknowledgement has been given
to their system of governance.

755
00:59:15,635 --> 00:59:17,554
If you look at the history of Yorubaland,

756
00:59:18,221 --> 00:59:23,184
you will see Ile-Ife as the cradle
of Yoruba race and civilization.

757
00:59:23,268 --> 00:59:27,772
Ile-Ife would later become
too small for the other Yoruba groups.

758
00:59:27,855 --> 00:59:29,816
Many of them moved out.

759
00:59:29,899 --> 00:59:32,151
And when they moved out,

760
00:59:32,235 --> 00:59:35,905
they established their own kingdoms,
they established their own states

761
00:59:35,989 --> 00:59:40,118
{\an8}but they fashioned or patterned
the system of government

762
00:59:40,201 --> 00:59:41,536
under the example of Ile-Ife.

763
00:59:59,804 --> 01:00:03,182
Ile-Ife played a very pivotal role

764
01:00:04,434 --> 01:00:10,565
in which all the descendants of Oduduwa
actually left the land

765
01:00:11,524 --> 01:00:15,236
to go and resettle in some other places.

766
01:00:15,320 --> 01:00:18,406
Oyo Empire
further improved on the structure.

767
01:00:20,533 --> 01:00:22,368
From Ife to the formation

768
01:00:22,452 --> 01:00:27,707
of the largest West African state
of the era, the Oyo Empire.

769
01:00:27,790 --> 01:00:31,336
Oyo would be the first empire
in sub-Saharan Africa

770
01:00:31,419 --> 01:00:34,088
to emerge with an elaborate
system of government

771
01:00:34,172 --> 01:00:35,882
with checks and balances

772
01:00:35,965 --> 01:00:38,593
and with what we call
the arms of government,

773
01:00:38,676 --> 01:00:42,847
the executive,
the legislature, the judiciary.

774
01:00:45,058 --> 01:00:47,518
Many things were said
to have been introduced

775
01:00:47,602 --> 01:00:49,687
to the Africans by the Europeans.

776
01:00:51,105 --> 01:00:56,235
To the Yorubas,
democracy was definitely not one of them.

777
01:01:13,586 --> 01:01:19,217
How did the Yorubas view the monarchy?

778
01:01:19,300 --> 01:01:24,847
The monarchical system, in fact,
among the Yoruba, was very democratic.

779
01:01:24,931 --> 01:01:30,353
The Oba's powers
were limited by a Council of Chiefs,

780
01:01:30,436 --> 01:01:34,148
sometimes known as the Ogboni, a conclave.

781
01:01:34,232 --> 01:01:40,822
And the Oba couldn't be
as autocratic as he might've wished

782
01:01:40,905 --> 01:01:44,909
or as autocratic
as many outsiders view the Oba,

783
01:01:44,992 --> 01:01:47,745
because he's a revered figure,

784
01:01:47,829 --> 01:01:53,376
but he's primus inter pares,
first among others,

785
01:01:53,459 --> 01:01:55,586
the chiefs and so on and so forth.

786
01:01:55,670 --> 01:02:00,675
And that evolved
into a kind of democratic setting,

787
01:02:00,758 --> 01:02:02,969
which might seem strange.

788
01:02:03,052 --> 01:02:04,929
The system of government in Yorubaland

789
01:02:05,012 --> 01:02:08,057
is such that it will fit into any age.

790
01:02:08,725 --> 01:02:11,686
They have the Alaafin
as head of the administration.

791
01:02:12,311 --> 01:02:14,439
Below that Alaafin, you have the Oyomesi.

792
01:02:15,022 --> 01:02:18,109
The Oyomesi are regarded as kingmakers

793
01:02:18,192 --> 01:02:22,530
who are regarded in contemporary times
as the prime minister of the state.

794
01:02:22,613 --> 01:02:27,535
You have the Ogboni even to check
the activities of the Oyomesi,

795
01:02:27,618 --> 01:02:29,871
who could be regarded as the judicial arm

796
01:02:29,954 --> 01:02:31,914
and they belong to a cult

797
01:02:31,998 --> 01:02:35,084
to which they have sworn
that they will keep

798
01:02:35,168 --> 01:02:37,462
the sanctity of the state
and they'll not betray

799
01:02:37,545 --> 01:02:39,297
the trust reposed in them.

800
01:02:39,380 --> 01:02:44,969
{\an8}We have the Esho, the class
of accomplished military officers,

801
01:02:45,052 --> 01:02:46,971
{\an8}headed by the Are-Ona-Kakanfo.

802
01:02:47,054 --> 01:02:51,934
They were responsible
for the military activities of the state.

803
01:02:52,018 --> 01:02:53,269
The Alaafin could check them

804
01:02:53,352 --> 01:02:57,273
because the Alaafin
will have to give specific instructions

805
01:02:57,356 --> 01:03:01,319
before the Esho could go out
to lead the army into any direction.

806
01:03:01,402 --> 01:03:04,864
So you now have
a delicate mechanism of control,

807
01:03:04,947 --> 01:03:08,034
one level of power checking the other.

808
01:03:08,117 --> 01:03:09,994
That's what you have in constitutionalism.

809
01:03:16,459 --> 01:03:19,462
This oral constitution is well-structured

810
01:03:19,545 --> 01:03:25,176
that not even the king,
whom they call Oba, is above the law.

811
01:03:27,595 --> 01:03:34,101
You must know, of course,
that when the Oba went beyond his bounds,

812
01:03:34,185 --> 01:03:37,021
when he tried to flout
laid down traditions,

813
01:03:37,104 --> 01:03:38,439
the controlling mechanisms,

814
01:03:38,523 --> 01:03:41,692
to go around
the controlling mechanisms of society,

815
01:03:41,776 --> 01:03:44,987
he was duly invited to go in there

816
01:03:45,071 --> 01:03:47,240
and open the calabash
that he would find there

817
01:03:47,323 --> 01:03:49,534
and this meant commit suicide.

818
01:03:49,617 --> 01:03:52,745
If an Oba commits an abomination,

819
01:03:52,829 --> 01:03:55,790
there's ways of dealing with it.

820
01:03:56,999 --> 01:04:02,421
Either he abdicates or he commits suicide,

821
01:04:02,505 --> 01:04:05,800
depending on the level of abomination.

822
01:04:05,883 --> 01:04:10,513
The least will be exile.

823
01:04:10,596 --> 01:04:14,058
It may be temporary. It may be permanent.

824
01:04:14,934 --> 01:04:19,021
Despite all these
traditional guidelines in place,

825
01:04:19,105 --> 01:04:23,192
the Yorubas still see
their kings as their next

826
01:04:23,276 --> 01:04:25,528
after their gods.

827
01:04:25,611 --> 01:04:28,322
If you look at the way
God structured everybody,

828
01:04:28,406 --> 01:04:31,200
God honors and favor

829
01:04:31,284 --> 01:04:35,621
people that give respect
to him as our creator.

830
01:04:36,372 --> 01:04:40,001
The culture and tradition
of Yoruba has to do with respect.

831
01:04:40,084 --> 01:04:45,256
Yoruba race has strong respect for elders,

832
01:04:45,339 --> 01:04:51,387
not to talk of their kings
in which they hold in high esteem.

833
01:04:52,388 --> 01:04:54,015
The norm in Yoruba culture

834
01:04:54,098 --> 01:04:58,185
is that the younger ones always bow
while greeting their elders.

835
01:04:59,270 --> 01:05:01,480
But the reverse was the case here.

836
01:05:02,481 --> 01:05:05,651
As the older former president of Nigeria

837
01:05:05,735 --> 01:05:09,947
bows to greet the younger king,
the Ooni of Ife.

838
01:05:11,073 --> 01:05:16,746
No matter
your social or political position,

839
01:05:17,663 --> 01:05:21,834
our culture must not be trampled upon.

840
01:05:23,002 --> 01:05:25,880
Our culture is our culture.

841
01:05:26,589 --> 01:05:30,968
In Yorubaland, our culture says...

842
01:05:32,011 --> 01:05:33,888
"You don't greet a king half bent.

843
01:05:34,805 --> 01:05:36,724
You don't greet a King by squatting.

844
01:05:37,975 --> 01:05:39,644
For those that might want
to disrespect the King

845
01:05:40,311 --> 01:05:43,731
You greet a king by prostrating."

846
01:05:44,941 --> 01:05:47,193
In Yoruba understanding of government,

847
01:05:47,276 --> 01:05:53,115
the earthly ruler of the world
is a representative of the gods.

848
01:05:53,199 --> 01:05:55,701
And that's why they call
him Alashe Ekeji Orisha.

849
01:05:56,285 --> 01:05:58,287
So the awe that you give to God,

850
01:05:58,371 --> 01:06:01,040
you eventually extend
to his earthly representative

851
01:06:01,123 --> 01:06:02,667
who is the king.

852
01:06:02,750 --> 01:06:05,920
In reading
the literature in Trinidad,

853
01:06:06,003 --> 01:06:08,547
you got the impression
that when they came here,

854
01:06:08,631 --> 01:06:12,468
whether they were in small groups or not,
there was order,

855
01:06:13,552 --> 01:06:18,557
and there was a sense of what ought
to be done, what should not be done.

856
01:06:18,641 --> 01:06:22,687
And there was a lot more order

857
01:06:22,770 --> 01:06:25,690
than there might have been
in some of the other groups.

858
01:06:37,201 --> 01:06:38,953
With the Yorubas controlling

859
01:06:39,036 --> 01:06:42,415
the most politically stable
empire of West Africa,

860
01:06:43,207 --> 01:06:46,210
European exploration of world politics

861
01:06:46,293 --> 01:06:49,630
will later conflict with their states.

862
01:06:49,714 --> 01:06:52,758
When the Europeans came,

863
01:06:52,842 --> 01:06:56,762
they were two, the English and the French.

864
01:06:56,846 --> 01:07:00,224
When they divided the land

865
01:07:00,307 --> 01:07:04,478
{\an8}Alaketu, Onisabe and Onipopo,

866
01:07:04,562 --> 01:07:09,859
{\an8}three of us who were Oduduwa's sons,
now fell under the French colony.

867
01:07:12,695 --> 01:07:15,114
Our great ancestor is called Oduduwa,

868
01:07:15,197 --> 01:07:18,993
the one that landed
with a mysterious chain in Ife.

869
01:07:19,076 --> 01:07:20,828
We came from Ife,

870
01:07:21,954 --> 01:07:26,751
round at about year 1000 A.D.

871
01:07:27,668 --> 01:07:30,796
Colonization had a lot of impact,

872
01:07:32,339 --> 01:07:37,178
not only on the Yoruba people,
but on all peoples who were colonized.

873
01:07:37,261 --> 01:07:42,641
Colonization is another name for slavery.

874
01:07:42,725 --> 01:07:44,310
It's a kind of slavery.

875
01:07:44,935 --> 01:07:46,145
When the European--

876
01:07:46,228 --> 01:07:49,815
five European power met
in Berlin, in 1885,

877
01:07:49,899 --> 01:07:52,693
they partition different part of Africa

878
01:07:53,277 --> 01:07:55,821
without involving the people.

879
01:07:56,614 --> 01:08:02,745
Togo and Dahomey were carved--
and Cotonou were carved out of Yoruba

880
01:08:04,455 --> 01:08:06,290
{\an8}and was under the French.

881
01:08:07,833 --> 01:08:10,503
In Berlin, they divided us.

882
01:08:10,586 --> 01:08:13,506
They use to call
Republic of Benin here Slave Coast,

883
01:08:13,589 --> 01:08:17,551
{\an8}Niger area, the bank
of river Niger was named Nigeria.

884
01:08:18,511 --> 01:08:23,557
Every African state
has its own tradition and culture

885
01:08:23,641 --> 01:08:26,435
which was destroyed by colonization

886
01:08:26,519 --> 01:08:29,730
in the form of their own
system of government

887
01:08:29,814 --> 01:08:35,027
that was transferred to replace
our own system of governance.

888
01:08:36,153 --> 01:08:39,782
As it did
on the entire continent of Africa,

889
01:08:39,865 --> 01:08:42,785
the Berlin Conference of 1885

890
01:08:42,868 --> 01:08:45,996
created borders between these brothers

891
01:08:46,080 --> 01:08:50,501
and they will begin to answer
to citizens of different countries

892
01:08:50,584 --> 01:08:53,379
under the colony of the Europeans.

893
01:08:54,046 --> 01:08:58,467
The first impact
of colonization was that our kings--

894
01:08:58,551 --> 01:09:01,137
The Yorubas had many kings.

895
01:09:01,220 --> 01:09:04,431
All those kings lost their sovereignty,

896
01:09:04,515 --> 01:09:06,851
even though they still had some authority.

897
01:09:06,934 --> 01:09:12,314
The most telling aspect of colonization

898
01:09:12,398 --> 01:09:18,988
was the strength and the power
that it gave the missionaries.

899
01:09:19,071 --> 01:09:24,702
The missionaries, emboldened by the fact
that their own people were in charge.

900
01:09:24,785 --> 01:09:28,080
By the time we had independence in 1960,

901
01:09:28,706 --> 01:09:31,959
a sizable number of Yorubaland

902
01:09:33,252 --> 01:09:35,796
had already been Christianized.

903
01:09:36,505 --> 01:09:41,010
Our people started to think
that our culture was worthless.

904
01:09:41,093 --> 01:09:44,388
Everything African
was taught to be primitive,

905
01:09:45,806 --> 01:09:51,103
a stigma the entire continent of Africa
still struggles with till date.

906
01:09:54,523 --> 01:09:57,151
I've met few people who have come

907
01:09:57,234 --> 01:09:59,612
from Yorubaland, per se,

908
01:10:00,362 --> 01:10:04,742
and some of them I found
they do not satisfy me,

909
01:10:05,659 --> 01:10:08,787
You know, that they, too,
have been robbed.

910
01:10:08,871 --> 01:10:11,707
Yes, I am Yoruba, but I'm so many others.

911
01:10:11,790 --> 01:10:15,294
Staying in a particular piece of geography
don't make you it.

912
01:10:16,337 --> 01:10:17,963
Geography is geography.

913
01:10:18,047 --> 01:10:21,467
And I want to say this to anybody
and confront you with that

914
01:10:21,550 --> 01:10:24,261
so you would say,
"Who the hell do you think you are?"

915
01:10:24,345 --> 01:10:25,888
So I could repeat it.

916
01:10:25,971 --> 01:10:29,516
Ideas and innovations
of these progressive people

917
01:10:29,600 --> 01:10:32,478
will be suppressed and relegated.

918
01:10:33,646 --> 01:10:35,147
Metal works,

919
01:10:35,231 --> 01:10:39,276
what is referred to as bronze metal works,
has been done by the Yoruba's for ages.

920
01:10:39,360 --> 01:10:41,570
They will dig up the soil,
base on the soil color,

921
01:10:41,654 --> 01:10:44,531
they can tell what kind
of metal it might contain.

922
01:10:44,615 --> 01:10:46,742
They will now park it up, heat it up

923
01:10:47,451 --> 01:10:49,870
and extract the metal

924
01:10:49,954 --> 01:10:52,289
to make hoes, cutlasses and so on.

925
01:10:52,373 --> 01:10:54,208
They extract it from the ground.

926
01:10:54,291 --> 01:10:58,462
Once they found it,
they will pour it into a heated furnace.

927
01:10:58,545 --> 01:11:00,256
It will now solidify, once heated,

928
01:11:01,048 --> 01:11:04,593
then we will shape it to whatever we want.

929
01:11:07,304 --> 01:11:12,059
Unknown to many
and before genealogy and ancestry records,

930
01:11:12,142 --> 01:11:17,231
the Yorubas had their own
identity database called Oriki.

931
01:11:17,314 --> 01:11:21,485
This oral database
traces lineages for generations

932
01:11:21,568 --> 01:11:24,488
and can identify family places of origin,

933
01:11:25,364 --> 01:11:29,410
family occupation, status, physical looks,

934
01:11:29,493 --> 01:11:31,453
character traits and so on.

935
01:11:32,371 --> 01:11:34,707
Each family knows theirs,

936
01:11:34,790 --> 01:11:39,336
but collective database are kept
by the drummers and entertainers.

937
01:11:58,147 --> 01:12:00,357
Everybody have different Oriki.

938
01:12:00,441 --> 01:12:02,568
Every houses
have their own different Oriki.

939
01:12:06,030 --> 01:12:09,199
It was a tool
to evoke emotional pride in people

940
01:12:10,117 --> 01:12:13,287
for which they were abundantly rewarded.

941
01:12:21,670 --> 01:12:24,715
That is my trait. Oriki.

942
01:12:24,798 --> 01:12:25,966
You must look for it.

943
01:12:26,050 --> 01:12:28,677
Knowing people and what they stand for.

944
01:12:32,556 --> 01:12:36,018
Oriki reminds you of where you came from,

945
01:12:36,101 --> 01:12:40,189
gives you a permanent link with origin,

946
01:12:40,272 --> 01:12:42,775
brings clan, family together.

947
01:12:43,484 --> 01:12:47,613
And, ultimately, in fact,
it is pure poetry,

948
01:12:47,696 --> 01:12:50,741
which appeals to the artistic
in those human beings.

949
01:13:23,565 --> 01:13:25,484
You have to consider that the Yoruba,

950
01:13:25,567 --> 01:13:28,946
the Lucumi, as we call them
and the Nagos, they're known in Brazil,

951
01:13:29,029 --> 01:13:32,366
these were people
who came from a thriving empire,

952
01:13:32,449 --> 01:13:34,284
an empire that had subject states,

953
01:13:34,368 --> 01:13:38,914
an empire that was well-organized,
well-structured, well-founded. Right?

954
01:13:38,997 --> 01:13:42,626
This is a culture,
but this is also a historical group,

955
01:13:42,709 --> 01:13:44,962
a traditional group, an established group.

956
01:13:45,045 --> 01:13:46,672
The religion is only part of it.

957
01:13:53,971 --> 01:13:56,598
400 years and counting,

958
01:13:56,682 --> 01:14:02,271
presence of these West Africans
remain a force across the Atlantic.

959
01:14:03,272 --> 01:14:08,193
The fact that they were able
to influence non-Yorubas

960
01:14:08,277 --> 01:14:13,240
to behave in ways
that reflected Yoruba culture,

961
01:14:13,323 --> 01:14:15,492
I have always been trying to figure out

962
01:14:15,576 --> 01:14:19,913
in terms of the elements
of the Yoruba culture

963
01:14:19,997 --> 01:14:24,084
that had a universality
that was able to bring in

964
01:14:24,168 --> 01:14:28,172
whether it was the Congos
or, you know, the others.

965
01:14:28,255 --> 01:14:33,010
So, I get a sense that there was
a strength in the Yoruba culture,

966
01:14:33,093 --> 01:14:36,513
a very deep understanding
of what was being done.

967
01:14:37,431 --> 01:14:40,893
People in the Yoruba religion,

968
01:14:40,976 --> 01:14:46,023
they may be practitioners
or priests of Ifa, of Ogun, of Shango,

969
01:14:46,106 --> 01:14:48,692
any number of the 401 orishas.

970
01:14:48,775 --> 01:14:52,279
And within that system,

971
01:14:53,197 --> 01:14:56,992
people are both the same and different.

972
01:14:57,075 --> 01:15:01,288
The Yoruba thought system allows people

973
01:15:01,371 --> 01:15:05,501
to be united at the same time
that it allows them

974
01:15:05,584 --> 01:15:07,878
to express their individuality

975
01:15:07,961 --> 01:15:12,132
and be in a unique community
of togetherness.

976
01:15:12,925 --> 01:15:17,471
Yoruba culture
is not only a Nigerian heritage.

977
01:15:17,554 --> 01:15:20,265
It is a world heritage

978
01:15:20,349 --> 01:15:25,103
because it has
a universal exceptional value.

979
01:15:26,313 --> 01:15:29,983
You go to Brazil,
you have Yoruba heritage,

980
01:15:30,067 --> 01:15:33,153
which is preserved
by the government already.

981
01:15:33,237 --> 01:15:37,658
You go to Cuba, you have Yoruba heritage.

982
01:15:37,741 --> 01:15:40,118
They're even represented
in the parliament.

983
01:15:40,702 --> 01:15:42,621
The fact that it came in so late,

984
01:15:43,580 --> 01:15:47,167
I think is a major contributor
to its survival in Cuba.

985
01:15:48,961 --> 01:15:52,172
You can go to Chinatown
and see things that are very Chinese.

986
01:15:52,256 --> 01:15:54,967
You can go to Jewish Town
and see things that are very Jewish.

987
01:15:55,050 --> 01:15:57,719
They wear their big hats.
I saw a hat big like this,

988
01:15:57,803 --> 01:15:59,346
and it was about that thick
all the way around.

989
01:15:59,930 --> 01:16:02,474
That is what they have.
Where is that for Black people?

990
01:16:02,558 --> 01:16:04,643
Where is that
for African people in North America?

991
01:16:04,726 --> 01:16:07,437
Where do you go to see
things that are very African?

992
01:16:12,276 --> 01:16:17,573
You can have the shackles
off of your legs and your hands,

993
01:16:17,656 --> 01:16:19,866
but if your mind is still shackled,

994
01:16:19,950 --> 01:16:23,328
if your spirit is still shackled,

995
01:16:23,412 --> 01:16:24,621
then how far can you go?

996
01:16:25,497 --> 01:16:28,792
One of the things that I did
is try to connect.

997
01:16:29,710 --> 01:16:34,381
I took our instrument pan
to the Alaafin of Oyo as a gift,

998
01:16:34,464 --> 01:16:37,342
I'm gonna send another one
for the Ooni of Ife

999
01:16:37,426 --> 01:16:38,927
to make sure that he gets his.

1000
01:16:39,011 --> 01:16:43,932
The Alaafin was amazed
to see something evolve

1001
01:16:44,016 --> 01:16:46,768
from of the loss of the batá,
let's say the batá.

1002
01:16:46,852 --> 01:16:49,021
And we coming up
with this remarkable story

1003
01:16:49,104 --> 01:16:52,107
about something
being invented in Trinidad,

1004
01:16:52,190 --> 01:16:54,735
amongst his own people
and we bringing it to him.

1005
01:16:54,818 --> 01:16:56,862
And he was amazed,
he was mesmerized by it.

1006
01:16:56,945 --> 01:16:59,573
We-- He showcased it,
we gonna take a steel pan

1007
01:16:59,656 --> 01:17:03,827
to the new king in Ile-Ife
which is the spiritual home of the Yorubas

1008
01:17:03,910 --> 01:17:06,204
and to the Ooni as a gift

1009
01:17:06,288 --> 01:17:09,958
with the intention
of also taking back things that we lost

1010
01:17:10,042 --> 01:17:12,669
to add to our stock over here in Trinidad.

1011
01:17:12,753 --> 01:17:15,756
What we need is unity of purpose.

1012
01:17:16,423 --> 01:17:21,219
The Jews that are Jews in France,

1013
01:17:22,012 --> 01:17:24,139
they are Jews in France,

1014
01:17:24,222 --> 01:17:27,059
and they're part and parcel of France,

1015
01:17:27,142 --> 01:17:29,686
but if anything happens,

1016
01:17:29,770 --> 01:17:33,815
that is of importance to Jews, anywhere,

1017
01:17:34,733 --> 01:17:40,739
they are all up to defend,
to protect the interest of Jews.

1018
01:17:41,907 --> 01:17:43,617
I believe we can do the same.

1019
01:17:45,369 --> 01:17:50,415
{\an8}Those Africans in diaspora,

1020
01:17:50,499 --> 01:17:54,670
{\an8}let them be good citizens
of wherever they are.

1021
01:17:56,254 --> 01:18:01,134
But let them know
that your root is in Yorubaland,

1022
01:18:01,802 --> 01:18:04,971
{\an8}either Yorubaland in Nigeria

1023
01:18:05,681 --> 01:18:08,850
or Yorubaland in Republic of Benin,

1024
01:18:09,518 --> 01:18:12,938
or even Yorubaland in Republic of Togo.

1025
01:18:13,021 --> 01:18:17,109
The history of Africa,
the history of the Yorubaland

1026
01:18:17,192 --> 01:18:21,029
has to be written by its people

1027
01:18:21,113 --> 01:18:23,115
because the history which exists now

1028
01:18:24,241 --> 01:18:27,911
was written by the colonial-- colonialism.

1029
01:18:27,994 --> 01:18:31,915
I think the more that we see and travel--

1030
01:18:31,998 --> 01:18:35,252
I know one of the problems
of course, is the distance.

1031
01:18:35,335 --> 01:18:37,838
Encouragement of physical visits

1032
01:18:37,921 --> 01:18:39,840
by leaders of the diaspora,

1033
01:18:39,923 --> 01:18:43,301
I mean, cultural leaders,
community leaders,

1034
01:18:43,885 --> 01:18:48,432
who then return and share
their findings with others.

1035
01:18:48,515 --> 01:18:55,063
Sons, daughters, relations
curious about this origin of theirs.

1036
01:18:55,147 --> 01:18:59,526
There are movements, for instance,
like Return-to-Africa movements.

1037
01:18:59,609 --> 01:19:04,448
It-it arouses curiosity,
people ask questions,

1038
01:19:04,531 --> 01:19:08,243
and then they say, okay,
we're coming to see for ourselves.

1039
01:19:08,326 --> 01:19:12,622
I think there is
a very conscious and vibrant return

1040
01:19:12,706 --> 01:19:16,710
to the acceptance of what we are.

1041
01:19:17,294 --> 01:19:21,923
So, today, you have diaspora,
kinfolk, coming home.

1042
01:19:22,758 --> 01:19:25,844
To them, home is Ile-Ife, is Yorubaland,

1043
01:19:25,927 --> 01:19:27,804
and they proudly return.

1044
01:19:42,694 --> 01:19:43,695
Little snippets.

1045
01:19:43,779 --> 01:19:46,364
We are Yorubas.

1046
01:20:18,980 --> 01:20:20,732
The great-grandfather
teaches the grandfather,

1047
01:20:20,816 --> 01:20:22,400
the grand father teaches the father,

1048
01:20:22,484 --> 01:20:24,027
the father teaches the son,

1049
01:20:24,736 --> 01:20:27,572
and in this way we accurately
maintain this tradition.

1050
01:20:28,323 --> 01:20:29,699
We have this song...

1051
01:20:31,785 --> 01:20:33,829
that has been sung in our parlay...

1052
01:20:35,956 --> 01:20:38,124
since our ancestors came.

1053
01:20:41,878 --> 01:20:45,549
And it was like...

1054
01:21:05,360 --> 01:21:10,407
And it said, "We are are your children.
My God, do not throw us away."

1055
01:21:10,490 --> 01:21:13,535
For me, it's a very sad song
because it reminds me

1056
01:21:13,618 --> 01:21:17,622
of the pain of my ancestors,
but we sing it still.

1057
01:21:18,456 --> 01:21:19,749
We sing it still.