An Oriki For Our Stolen Kin Across The Seas
Listen to the oríkì spoken by Erioluwa in Lagos:
Ẹ kú ìṣẹ́ takuntakun, àwọn bàbá ńlá wa.
Àwọn àgbẹ̀yànsí tí kò fọ́.
Àwọn apáta tí omi ò lè gbé lọ.
↓ translation
We honour your unbreakable work, our great ancestors.
You are roots that cannot be severed.
You are stone the water cannot move.
Ẹ̀yin tí ẹ kojú ìjàmbá, tí ẹ kọjá Òkun Dúdú.
Àwọn tí ìjì líle kò lè tu ká.
Àwọn tí wọ́n dìde láti inú ẹ̀wọ̀n.
↓ translation
You who stared down suffering and crossed the Dark Ocean.
You who no storm could scatter.
You who rose up from chains.
Àwọn tí a fà kúrò ní ilẹ̀ ìyá,
tí a gbé lọ sí ilẹ̀ òkèèrè,
ṣùgbọ́n tí ẹ̀mí wọn kò sọnù.
↓ translation
Those torn from the motherland, carried to foreign shores,
yet your spirits never faltered.
Àwọn tí orúkọ wọn yí padà,
àwọn tí orúkọ wọn dì mọ́ ìran.
Ẹ̀yin ni òkúta ìpìlẹ̀ wa.
Ẹ̀yin ni òkè gíga tí a ń gùn.
↓ translation
Those whose names were stolen, those whose names stayed rooted in lineage.
You are our foundation stones.
You are the mountains we climb.
Jagunjagun inú òkun,
alagbara nínú ìpọnjú,
oníwà rere tí fi ìtẹ́ sílẹ̀.
↓ translation
Warriors of the ocean,
strength born in suffering,
noble souls who left their mark.
Mo pè yín.
Mo bọ̀wọ̀ fún yín.
Mo dúpẹ́.
↓ translation
I call upon you.
I bow before you.
I give thanks.
Àwa tí a wà nílé, a rántí yín.
Àwa tí a wà ní òkèèrè, a rántí yín.
Ẹ̀jẹ̀ kan náà ni ń sàn nínú wa.
A jọ mọ̀ pé a jẹ́ ọ̀kan.
↓ translation
Those who stayed at home remember you.
Those who are far away remember you.
The same blood flows through us.
Together we know we are one.
Ẹ sùn rê, àwọn bàbá ńlá.
Àṣẹ.
↓ translation
Rest well, great Ancestors.
Àṣẹ.