Yoruba voices in Grenada

Map of Grenada (left) and Yoruba artwork titled The Spirit of the Warrior by Twins Seven Seven.

As the beginning of the commentary within the discography “Grenada: Creole and Yoruba Voices” states, Grenadian affairs have rarely come to global media attention save the Maurice Bishop-led New Jewel Movement era of the late 1970s to the early 1980s which culminated in Bishop's violent overthrow and the invasion of American armed forces in October 1983.

I would add that there were episodes during the tenure of Sir Eric Gairy when Grenada gained some measure wide attention.

Anyway, the commentary refers to the Yoruba influence on Grenadian music, music which is far removed from the cabaret style songs of Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson, the Grenadian-born singer and musician whose global fame was at its peak in the 1920s and 1930s.

This is all very interesting to me because my Mother was born in Grenada and my Father was Yoruba. I have been aware of Yoruba culture in the Atlantic in the southern United States, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Trinidad, but not explicitly in the context of Grenada.

Excerpt from GRENADA: CREOLE AND YORUBA TRADITIONS By Kenneth Bilby and Morton Marks: "What sets Grenada off from the other Franco-English islands, though, is the presence of a third language, the ritual Yoruba of the Shango religion, also called African Work.

Grenadian Shango is probably the least known branch of the Yoruba diaspora in the Americas, and these recordings may be the only documentation in existence of its music. During the slave trade, many thousands of Yoruba from the Ijesha kingdom of Nigeria were sent to Brazil and Cuba, where they became known as ijexá and yesá, respectively.

But the Yoruba in Grenada are part of the history of Africans in the post-emancipation Caribbean. In 1849 (eleven years after full emancipation in the British colonies), about one thousand Ijesha Yoruba workers arrived in Grenada, becoming part of the indentured workforce that replaced former slaves who had migrated. The Grenadian Yoruba formed closely knit communities in particular villages, including Munich, Black Bay, Laura, and Rose Hill, and their influence then spread to other parts of the island."

© Adeyinka Makinde

Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England.