What Are The Yoruba Lyrics And Their Correct English Translation For Olatunji's 1959 New Year's Song "Odun De"?

BabaOlatunjiMusic, Jul 17, 2008

Baba Olatunji & his Drums of Passion perform Odunde, The Harvest Dance celebrating the New Year.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of Babatunde Olatunji and his musicians and dancers performing his 1959 song "Odun de" (pronounced "Aw-DUN-day".) and usually written as "Odunde".

 "Odun de" are Yoruba words that mean "The new year has come" (i.e. "Happy New Year"). 

This pancocojams post includes some information about Babatunde Olatunji and information about Olatunji's now classic 1960 album "Drums of Passion". 

Unfortunately, no Yoruba lyrics and no correct English translations for Olatunji's song "Odunde" are available online.*

I strongly encourage people who understand Yoruba to correct this huge oversight by sharing the Yoruba lyrics to that song in the comment section for this pancocojams post and/or elsewhere online. 

This post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Babatunde Olatunji for his musical and cultural legacy. Thanks to all those that are featured in this embedded video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post 

Happy New Year!
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* A link in the comment section of this post to what I believe is an incorrect English translation of Olatunji' song "Odunde" based on the English translation of the Yoruba word "odun de" and two other Yoruba words that I recognize in that song & based on those English words that are given on that site and repeated elsewhere.

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INFORMATION ABOUT BABATUNDE OLATUNJI
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babatunde_Olatunji
"Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist

Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Ogu people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. His name, Bàbátúndé, means 'father has returned', because he was born two months after his father, Zannu, an Ogu (Egun) man, died. Olatunji was considered to be a reincarnation of him. His father was a local fisherman who was about to rise to the rank of chieftain, and his mother was a potter who was a member of the Ogu people...

Due to his father's premature death, from an early age he was groomed to take the position as chief. When he was 12, he realized that he did not want to become a chieftain. He read in Reader's Digest magazine about the Rotary International Foundation's scholarship program, and applied for it. His application was successful and he went to the United States in 1950 to attend Morehouse College.

Education

Olatunji received a Rotary scholarship in 1950 and was educated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, where he desired to, but never sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club. Olatunji was a good friend of Glee Club director Dr. Wendell P. Whalum and collaborated with him on a staple of the choir's repertoire, "Betelehemu", a Nigerian Christmas carol. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to New York University to study public administration. There, he started a small percussion group to earn money on the side while he continued his studies.[4]

Career

After hearing Olatunji perform with the 66 piece Radio City Music Hall orchestra Columbia Records signed Olatunji to the Columbia label in 1958. One year later he released his first of six records on the Columbia label, called Drums of Passion.[5] Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music. Drums of Passion also served as the band's name.

Olatunji won a following among jazz musicians, by infusing Nigerian rhythms with elements drawn from Ghanaian and Afro-Caribbean traditions. Most notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane, with whose help he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem. This was the site of Coltrane's final recorded performance in 1967. Coltrane wrote the composition "Tunji" on the 1962 album Coltrane in dedication to him. Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians (often credited as "Michael Olatunji"), including Cannonball Adderley (on his 1961 African Waltz album), Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Pee Wee Ellis, Stevie Wonder, Randy Weston, and with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist!, and with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free," recorded for the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.[6] He appeared in the second season episode "Olatunji – An African in New York" of the CBC television show Quest broadcast May 6, 1962, a series which also starred Bob Dylan in an episode from March 10, 1964.

In 1969, Carlos Santana had a major hit with his cover version of "Jin-go-lo-ba" from Olatunji's first album, which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana, as "Jingo". Olatunji's subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira and Carlos Santana), Love Drum Talk (1997), Circle of Drums (2005; originally titled Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations, with Muruga Booker and Sikiru Adepoju), and Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003 – recorded at the 1997 Starwood Festival with guest Halim El-Dabh). He also contributed to Peace Is the World Smiling: A Peace Anthology for Families on the Music for Little People label (1993)."...

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INFORMATION ABOUT OLATUNJI'S 1960s ALBUM "DRUMS OF PASSION"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drums_of_Passion
"Drums of Passion is an album produced by Babatunde Olatunji, a percussionist from Nigeria, in 1960. It was the first recording to popularize African music in the West,[3] becoming immensely successful and selling over five million copies.[4] In 2002, it was released as a single layer stereo and 5.1 SACD by Columbia Records. In 2004 the album was added to the National Recording Registry.[5]

"Jin-go-lo-ba"

This was the most popular song on the album, and it sold millions of copies as a single. This simple exchange between the mother drum (iya ilu) and the baby drum omele became Babatunde's signature song.[6]

"Jin-go-lo-ba" (or "Jingo") has been covered by Serge Gainsbourg, under the title "Marabout" and with no credit given to Olatunji, on his album Gainsbourg percussions (1964); by Santana on their first album Santana, (1969); by James Last on his album Voodoo-Party (1971); by Pierre Moerlen's Gong on the album Downwind (1979); by Candido Camero on his 1979 album Dancin' & Prancin' and by Fatboy Slim on his album Palookaville (2004).

Track listing

"Akiwowo (Chant of the Trainman)" – 4:42

"Oya (Primitive Fire)" – 5:37

"Odun De! Odun De! (Happy New Year!)" – 4:59

"Jin-go-lo-ba (Drums of Passion)" – 3:25

"Kiyakiya (Why Do You Run Away?)" – 4:17

"Baba Jinde (Flirtation Dance)" – 5:33

"Oyin Momo Ado (Sweet as Honey)" – 5:27

"Shango (Chant to the God of Thunder)" – 7:06

The 2002 CD re-release of the album included a bonus track.[7]

"Menu Di Ye Jewe (Who Is This?)" – 3:22

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[8]

Although the album featured songs and rhythms from Africa, all of the musicians, except Olatunji himself, were born and raised in the Americas. The Derby sisters, who formed the core of the group of dancers and drummers, were responsible for recruiting many of the original members of the group and thus played a key role in picking the personnel for this album.[9]"...
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The names of the personnel for this album (including the musicians, vocalists, and dancers are found in that Wikipedia page.

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