Yoruba Proverbs with Bidemi Ologunde

Check out host Bidemi Ologunde's new show: The Work Ethic Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde traces how Yoruba cosmology understands contact with "sky beings," from Ọ̀run and Ayé, Odùduwà’s chain, Ọ̀ṣun's skyward journey, and Ṣàngó's thunderstones to folk accounts of night-flying àjẹ́, then connects those themes to contemporary UFO/alien talk. He explores how these ideas traveled through the Atlantic slave trade and live on in the diaspora (Cuba's Lukumí/Santería, Brazil's Candomblé, in Haiti, Trinidad, and beyond), including spiritist currents that speak of otherworldly guides. Along the way, Bidemi highlights how Ifá verses, proverbs, and Egúngún traditions frame "visitation" as ancestral or divine rather than extraterrestrial, and how modern Yoruba communities sometimes bridge both lenses. A concise, story-rich look at continuity, adaptation, and why Yoruba thought treats the boundary between worlds as porous.

Check out host Bidemi Ologunde's new show: The Work Ethic Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Email: [email protected]

Check out host Bidemi Ologunde's new show: The Work Ethic Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde explores what Jagun Jagun (a 2023 Netflix film) reveals about power, honor, fear, and Yoruba memory. Why do some leaders inspire loyalty while others only command obedience? What is the difference between being feared and being respected? And how do Yoruba proverbs help us understand the kind of power that protects, nurtures, and endures? Through the lens of this landmark Yoruba-language epic, Bidemi reflects on leadership, pride, cultural identity, and the wisdom preserved in storytelling.

Check out host Bidemi Ologunde's new show: The Work Ethic Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Email: [email protected]

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde explores a timely question for Yoruba language and culture in the digital age: can artificial intelligence truly preserve òwe, or can it only imitate their form? What happens when proverbs are separated from elders, tone, context, and lived experience? Can technology help Yoruba thrive in diaspora homes, classrooms, and online spaces, or does something vital get lost in the process? Bidemi reflects on language, memory, wisdom, and what it will take to preserve Yoruba with integrity in a rapidly changing world.

Check out host Bidemi Ologunde's new show: The Work Ethic Podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Email: [email protected]

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In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde analyzed five Yoruba proverbs.

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde analyzed five Yoruba proverbs.

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde analyzed five Yoruba proverbs.

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde analyzed five Yoruba proverbs.

In this episode, host Bidemi Ologunde analyzed the following Yoruba proverbs:

• ó di ojó alé k’ábuké tó mò pé iké kì í somo. 
• O kò mo èwà lónje à-je-sùn. 
• ò nje àgbònrín èsín lóbè, o ní o ti tó tán.
• O ru ládugbó ò nrerá; kí ni ká so féni tó ru òrìsà-a Yemoja?