Isiri      (ee-she-ree)               Yoruba

For the purpose of inspiration, the Yoruba people employ the use of praise poetry,  songs and sacred invocations, as well as inspiring names. Even as the name shows, oriki is a name or a praise poetry that “opens up” or “expands” a person’s head.

The etymology of the Yoruba word for inspiration reflects the belief of the people in Ori, i.e., the head, which is discussed in the following section.

In the Yoruba traditional belief, Ori, is one of the most important deities, subject only to  the supreme being. Ori is the abode of each choice of fulfillment as individuals strive to achieve their destiny. It is a person’s guide to success and great achievements in this world and in heaven. A person without a head (not the physical head) is a person without direction. Consequently, isiri (inspiration) is an appeasement of a person’s Ori, so that it would reveal to them a new source of strength or a better course of action.

However, oriki is also a type of Yoruba literary genre that is used for the purpose of inspiration. In the Yoruba customs, people who have distinguished themselves in some way are acknowledged not just by name but also according to a description of their achievements and family lineage, which are expressed their oriki, a poetry of highly personal praise songs.

The praise poetry oriki is more effective than the name form, although it requires specialized skill and learning to learn, memorize, and be able to chant the oriki of individuals and families. In fact, there are people who have this as their profession. Generally, older people and women are more versed in praise poetry. However, the name version of oriki is used more on a daily basis.

Below is an extract  from Yoruba praise poetry on Ori:

Ori, the actor, the stalwart divinity
One who guides one to wealth, guides one to riches.
Ori, the beloved, governor of all the divnities.
Ori, who takes one to the good place.
Ori, behold the good place and take me there.
Feet, behold the good place and accompany me thereto.
There is no divinity like Ori,
One's Ori is one's providence.

The Yorubas believe that a person’s name relates to his or her spiritual essence, and thus go to great trouble in giving names to their children. One special type of name is Oriki, which is best described as affectionate name. The belief is that calling a person by their oriki inspires them, as it appeases their Ori.

I always look forward to visiting my parents just to hear my oriki. My parents, who normally address me by my first name, would use my oriki whenever they gave me a task to do. I get called by my oriki a lot if I do the task very well or if the task is stretching my ability.

I remember when I was about fourteen, and my mom assigned me the task  of cooking lunch for the entire family. I felt overwhelmed and resentful,  given the amount of cooking that had to be done, but my mom would come into the kitchen at about 20 minutes interval and simply say "Good job, Ajani",  Ajani being my oriki. Each time she said this, I had this feeling of just wanting to outdo myself at the cooking task, and I also stopped being  resentful of being assigned the task.

Interview Questions

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What is your first memory of isiri.

I can't point to a specific time as my first time of experiencing isiri.  However, I remember when I was about fourteen, and my mom assigned me the task  of cooking launch for the entire family. I felt overwhelmed and resentful,  given the amount of cooking that had to be done, but my mom would come into the kitchen at about 20 minutes interval and simply say "Kuuse Ajani" (Good job, Ajani), Ajani being my oriki. Each time she said this, I had this feeling of just wanting to outdo myself at the cooking task, and I also stopped being  resentful of being assigned the task.

I'm unclear what the head means in "opening of the head".  It is not the physical head. Does it mean the mind or is it something else?

No, it's not the physical head. I used "opening" for lack of a better word.  Think of the verb "si" as "to kick-start". The best interpretation I can think  of now for "si ori" is "to trigger or kick-start the "spirit of the head" into  action", with the result being the elevation of a person's creativity or capability to a higher level, possibly to the optimum.

You mentioned that isiri may sometimes be accompanied by an emotional outburst. Could you tell me more about  this? Have you ever experienced this?

I have not experienced an emotional outburst as a result of isiri. However, a  typical situation in which this happens is at traditional wedding ceremonies.  Usually, some women will be chanting praise poetry to inspire the bride, and  the bride almost always would cry.

How would you say the word isiri is the same or different from the English meaning of Inspiration?

The main difference between Isiri and the English meaning of Inspiration is that isiri is very much abstract. For instance, something created as a result of inspiration is not isiri, but in English, this could also be called an inspiration. With regard to similarities, Isiri and the English meaning of Inspiration agree on (1) the inspired person experiencing a feeling of emotional energy and enthusiasm and (2) the fact that sources of the feeling could be external.

What do you personally do when you are feeling uninspired (ie. do not have isiri)? How do you try to get isiri?

It all depends on the importance of what I am trying to accomplish. If it is something that must be done (e.g., an assignment that would be graded), two things keep me going: one, the realization that I have been in seemingly impossible situations in the past and came out of it fine; two, if quitting is not an option, then my spirit wouldn't quit. Interestingly too, if I pray about something, I always get this extra conviction that I can do it. Well, I am not sure if my answer falls under isiri.

When you are praying, who do pray to?

Well, I am a Christian, and I pray to God through Jesus Christ. However, the issue of Ori, to me, transcends religion; it is a belief system that is compatible with any faith. In fact, a common prayer among Yoruba Christians is "Jesus/God, do not let my head become my antagonist".

I saw in a Yoruba dictionary that they define ori as "the spirit of consciousness as well as head". Could you say isiri is the act of opening up or activating consciousness?

One of the definitions of "consciousness" in the dictionary is "awareness of
one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc.". Assuming the
correctness of this definition, I would say Ori could be regarded as "the
spirit of consciousness" or ,more appropriately, "the spirit of existence".

 The story of your childhood experience was wonderful. Do you have any more personal stories about when you felt isiri? For example, Do you recall your most intense experience of isiri?

I am not sure if I would qualify any of my experiences of isiri as the most intense, or even as intense at all. One that might count is our annual visit to my late great uncle. Whenever we visited him, he used to call me  "Ejigbomekun", which is an oriki addressing my origin. On being called by this oriki, I remember feeling as if I was on top of the world and that I could take on any task or anybody. I used to look forward to visiting him.

 Is their someone in the Yoruba culture that you feel manifests or embodies a great deal of isiri? This could be from the  past history or the present?

Typically, every family can trace their ancestor line back to someone who accomplished something great in their lives; could be in war, in endurance level, in achieving peace, in sacrificing themselves or something dear to them. Oriki-orile (which are family origin praise songs) is full of names of such people, and the idea is to inspire an individual by reminding them of what great ancestors they have.

 Are there any questions you would ask about inspiration? Here are some sample questions we came up with in our inspiration project group.

 I just have a question concerning one of Joan's questions about what results from someone who rejects inspiration. My question is: Can inspiration be rejected? My view of inspiration is that you are either inspired or not. Rejecting inspiration in my opinion is the same as not being inspired. What are others views on this?

 From: Oludare Akinsanya

Hi Edwin

It was nice meeting you today.
Inspiration in Yoruba can be imisi, iwuri, depending on how you use it
The closest in meaning however is "imisi"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_language
http://www.yorubadictionary.com/i.htm


Hi Edwin

Nice to hear from you again

I looked up the article briefly but I'll go through everything in more detail within the week. I just thought to make a note of this. Isiri is exactly the same as iwuri. As you can see in the wikipedia, the Youba language has about 15 dialects in Nigeria, there are some parts of Brazil that speaks yoruba also. You will notice that the difference in spelling between isiri and iwuri is the 'si' and 'wu'. si means open up, while wu means dig up (dig may also be 'gbe'). They are all synonyms and have a little difference in meaning but share the same concept - Acquisition.

Have a pleasant day