Ìràwọ Yorùbá Ni Mí

Stream OJÚMỌ́ IRE by DJ Irawo

https://unitedmasters.com/m/ojumo-ire-1

Ọ̀TÚNBA GBÉNGA LEO TÁÍWÒ CELEBRATES FORTY-FIVE YEARS ON STAGE

Chief Gbenga Leo Taiwo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Yorùbá Music and Film Awards (YOMAFA), is a force to be reckoned with in the Yorùbá and Nigerian entertainment industry.

Under his leadership, Yomafa Global Awards, has become a prestigious platform for recognising, celebrating outstanding professionals across various fields, including music, film and more.

This award organisation has honoured numerous legends such as his Excellency Governor Babájídé Sanwóolú, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, her Excellency Mrs Rẹ̀mí Tinúbú, the First Lady of Nigeria, etc.

Yours truly, DJ Irawo was nominated as the best DJ in 2024. 💪

Chief Táíwò has a passion for promoting African culture and talents.

He is dedicated to showcasing the best of Nigeria and Africa to the world.

He has produced the music albums of Music Artists like:

📍Chief I.K. Dáiró,
📍Rájí Owónikókó
📍Dauda Epo Àkàrà
📍Ajóbíewé
📍Pasuma
📍King Saheed Òṣùpá
📍King Sule Àlàô Màláíkà,
📍Alhaji Sule Àdìó Atawẹ́wẹ́,
📍Alhaji Muri Thunder
📍Alhaji Táye Currency,
📍Evangelist Láńre Teríba Atóríṣe,
📍Ṣẹ́gun Blessing
📍Ààrẹ̀ Ṣínà Àkànní
📍Alhaji Rasheed Àyìndé
📍Esther Ìgbẹ́kẹ̀lé
📍Eré Àsàlátú in a joint record and more.

Many cheers 🥂 to Chief Gbénga Leo Táíwò, a true legend, icon and inspiration to entertainment professionals globally! 🌟

Ìràwọ Yorùbá Ni Mí wishes you many more successful years in the entertainment industry as you continue to add value to the lives and careers of entertainers. 🙏🙏🙏

Celebration Day is Tuesday, May 5, 2026.

DIVORCE IS NOT A TABOO IN YORÙBÁ CULTURE — 3

Why do some elders now say divorce is taboo?

There are three main reasons for this:

A. Colonial religious influence in Christianity which treats marriage as sacred and indissoluble.

B. Islam allows for divorce but heavily regulates and discourages it.

C. Both religions have altered Yorùbá way of thinking.

D. Patriarchal rewriting of history because overtime over time:

📍Male elders benefited from controlling women

📍Endurance became a weapon

📍Women’s exit options were erased from memory.

So, divorce became labelled ‘taboo’.

From my analysis of this topic in Parts 1 to 3, do you still think that DIVORCE is a taboo in the Yorùbá culture and that our children, especially our daughters, should be left to 'manage' marriages that are physically, financially, emotionally, spiritually, educationally, sexually and in other ways abusive at the expense of satisfying our religious beliefs and makeing society happy while our children are sad in their marriages?

Are my thoughts in line with the Yorùbá way of thinking?

Comment your opinions below.

👇👇👇

© Ìràwọ Yorùbá Ni Mí
💢 Drummer DJ
💢 Cultural Innovator for Music, Career, Yorùbá, Divorce and Mental Health.

DIVORCE IS NOT A TABOO IN YORÙBÁ CULTURE — 2

Many elders today confuse Christian morality and Islamic laws with indigenous Yorùbá customs.

This confusion is common because colonialism and religion rewrote cultural memory.

Below are more insights into old Yorùbá views about divorce that can help shape its current views and help with current solutions before and after introducing the Nigerian divorce laws:

1. Marriage in old Yorùbá society was not permanent or by force.

Traditional Yorùbá marriage was conditional and not absolute. Marriage continued only if:

A. Respect existed.
B. Duties were fulfilled.
C. Peace could be restored.

If these failed, separation was culturally permitted.

There was no sacred vow such as ‘till death do us part.’

That language is Christian and not Yorùbá.

2. In old Yorùbá, marriage was seen as a movement and not as an imprisonment.

It was a movement of a woman to her matrimonial home and not into prison because there was room for her to leave whenever she felt disrespected and the cause of the chaos in her marriage could not be resolved by the elders of both families.

3. Abuse was not glorified as endurance.

Endurance (sùúrù) was balanced with dignity (ìwà). Endurance did not mean:

A. Beatings
B. Public humiliation
C. Sexual violence
D. Starvation
E. Emotional cruelty

4. A husband who beat his wife excessively was seen as:

A. Lacking self-control
B. Dishonouring both families

Such a man could be confronted by elders.

5. A woman was not owned. A wife was:

A. A respected member of another lineage
B. Not property
C. Not trapped

5. Yorùbá women did not bear their husbands' surnames. They bore their first, second or third names which were given to them according to the circumstances of their birth as I have mentioned in my previous post.

6. A woman returning home was culturally protected.

When a woman returned to her father’s house:

A. She was not disgraced
B. Her family investigated the issue
C. Mediation could happen
D. Divorce could be finalised peacefully

Her return did not erase her worth.

Compare this with today, where:

A. Families reject daughters
B. Colonial religion shames women
C. Abuse is spiritualised

That is not Yorùbá culture.

7. Children belonged to lineages and not only marriages.

In Yorùbá, children were never abandoned. They belonged to the father’s lineage but remained emotionally and socially connected to the mother’s people even after a divorce.

A. The child knew both families.
B. The mother still had access to her children.

This is why:

A. Oríkì includes both lineages
B. Children visit maternal relatives freely

8. Divorce did not make children ‘fatherless’ or ‘motherless’

What mattered was:

A. Lineage continuity
B. Moral upbringing
C. Communal care

Not romantic family ideals.

This is how to think in Yorúbá.

© DJ Ìràwọ Yorùbá Ní Mí
💢 Drummer DJ
💢 Cultural Innovator for Music, Career, Divorce, Yorùbá and Mental Health.

DIVORCE IS NOT A TABOO IN YORÙBÁ CULTURE — 1

As a Cultural Innovator for Divorce, I view divorce first from the cultural and societal points of view before viewing it from the legal, financial, spiritual and mental health points of view.

I have not come to attack culture but to restore it to the way it was during the pre-colonial times as a reminder of what used to be and that even if we accept western education, we must learn not to accept everything from our colonial masters hook, line and sinker and forget about the parts of our culture which make us who we are as Yorùbás, Nigerians and Africans.

I believe that the Yorùbá pre-colonial system of divorce can work side-by-side with the current dissolution of marriage via the court system as long as the shaming of divorcees is not involved because the shaming of divorcees is not a Yorùbá culture.

Therefore, culture must come before religion and work hand-in-hand with the law, if divorce is to be reduced in our society.

Let me rephrase it:

💢The Yorùbá (including decent non-Yorùbá cultures) must come before foreign religions, in the treatment of divorce in our society💢

My position on the adaptation of the Yorùbá culture challenges:

A. Religious distortion
B. Patriarchal amnesia
C. Harmful endurance narratives.

Whether you like it or not, this is true cultural preservation!

In traditional Yorùbá culture, divorce was not taboo!!!

What was taboo was irresponsibility, shameful behaviour and failure of the duties of a wife and a husband of a marriage.

This is one of the ways to think in Yorùbá.

© Ìràwọ Yorùbá Ni Mí
06/01/26
💢Drummer DJ
💢Cultural Innovator for Music, Career, Yorùbá, Divorce and Mental Health

Ẹ gbọ orin tuntun láti ọwọ́ọ́ DJ Irawo tí àkọ́lé rè jẹ́ ń OJÚMỌ́ IRE.

https://unitedmasters.com/m/ojumo-ire-1

Ìràwọ Yorùbá Ni Mí ń kíi yín wípé ẹ káàbọ̀ sí ọdúun 2026. 🥳 Ọdún yìí á dára fún wa. 🙏

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