Professional Yoruba wedding compere and cultural entrepreneur Damilola Lawal, popularly known as Damilola The Alaga, has launched The Alaga Handbook for Beginners, a new resource created to help aspiring Alagas understand and learn the art of traditional wedding compering.
For many aspiring Alagas, learning the craft has traditionally meant watching experienced practitioners, attending ceremonies and gradually learning the songs, chants, customs and etiquette that come with the role. The new handbook brings many of these elements together in one accessible resource for beginners.
The Alaga Handbook for Beginners is described as a guide to Yoruba traditional weddings, introduction ceremonies and intertribal weddings. It explores the different elements of traditional compering, from understanding the flow of a ceremony to learning songs and chants and navigating the etiquette required when working with families during important cultural celebrations.
One of the book’s practical features is a QR code that gives readers access to recordings of traditional songs and chants. This allows aspiring Alagas to hear the songs as they learn them, practise along and develop a better understanding of the musical aspect of the profession.
The book is particularly relevant to young people who are interested in becoming Alagas but may not have access to formal training or know where to begin.
Damilola The Alaga’s own journey into the profession began during an ASUU strike, after an Alaga performed at her sister’s wedding. What began as something she wanted to learn during the break from university eventually developed into a professional career in traditional compering.
She later founded Damilola The Alaga and DTA Academy, where aspiring engagement comperes can learn both the craft and business of traditional compering.
The new handbook extends that teaching beyond the classroom.
Rather than keeping the knowledge of the profession within live events and personal instruction, The Alaga Handbook for Beginners puts a structured introduction to the craft into the hands of people who want to learn it.
The book covers traditional engagements, introduction ceremonies, intertribal weddings, songs and chants, ceremony etiquette and other practical aspects of working as an Alaga.
For Damilola, the project also reflects a broader interest in preserving the knowledge and cultural practices that make traditional weddings meaningful.
The launch comes as Damilola continues to build her work around traditional compering, training and the preservation of Alaga songs and practices.
The Alaga Handbook for Beginners is available to aspiring Alagas, traditional wedding professionals and anyone interested in understanding the art and practice of Yoruba traditional compering.
About Damilola The Alaga
Damilola Lawal, popularly known as Damilola The Alaga, is a professional Yoruba wedding compere, trainer and cultural entrepreneur. She is the founder of Damilola The Alaga and DTA Academy, the Damilola The Alaga School of Traditional Compering.
