Some topics/poems definitely are harder to find background and context for.

However, I think there's quite a bit out there about “praise poems” as a genre. Maybe that is worth including something about as far as context?

Also, is oriki a special genre? Did you find anything out about that?

— admin 2021/06/16 15:51

The original translator/transcriber is Pierre Verger:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Verger

It looks from this site like Rothenberg probably made his workings from: Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun à Bahia, la Baie de tous les Saints, au Brésil et à l’ancienne Côte des Esclaves en Afrique.

http://www.pierreverger.org/en/pierre-fatumbi-verger-en/his-work/main-works.html

Note that in Rothenberg's vocabulary a “working” is somewhat more provisional than a translation, i.e. it is a freer “version” that may not be authoritative and certainly is not literal or word for word.

— admin 2021/06/25 15:48

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