Yùngbà Royal Chant: A Yorùbá Women's Poetic Form.

This paper discusses yùngbà royal chant, its nature, performance style, the training of yùngbà artists, and its socio-cultural significance within the traditional context of the palace. Yùngbà was a Yorùbá women's poetic form, performed specifically by royal wives (the Olorìs) and wives of privileged chiefs. Yùngbà functioned as a form of royal entertainment and a repository of the Aláàfin's genealogy. Yùngbà as a vital and essential part of the palace tradition is almost extinct today. Yùngbà may be ultimately saved from an undeserved extinction if it can be performed outside the palace of the chiefs in more socio-cultural domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]