My name is Don Abaka
(My name is Abaka)
(My name)
Name
(My name is Abaka)
(My name)
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is Abaka
My name
My name is Abaka
My father is Okun
Magdele Okun
And
His mother
Is of Scottish
Her name is
Ayola
They were oppressioned people
On my father's flag they were very proud of their
Okaganan Irish thing
And you know
He, they never really talked about their African piece
You know what I'm saying?
Now
On my mother's side
I used to hear, um, stories
About her
Great-great-grandmother
A lady who mother died
Abaka (Abaka)
(My name is Abaka)
So I was born officially O'Connor
I changed it
Abaka
(A, Abaka, Abaka)
We used to tease you about this old woman
Because there was a myth
About her
That she was
Aje, old aje
Which means that she was a witch
And that she would
Um, at night she would give up skin
Underneath a tree
And fly away
And suck the blood
From people
Yes and
In the early hours of morning she'd come back
And she'd sit on the tree
And chant
Kilame, kilame, kilame
Which means
My skin strengthens skin
You know what is skin
And then her skin would come back onto her
Here's all the white people that have lied to us
The rest of my siblings didn't really take up Abaka
I don't know why
I lived in there for many many years
Moved to Kingston in the late part of the sixties
I came to live in England
And it stuck with me I don't know why
It stayed with me though
Quite a charming lot
I moved to England
And the more I thought about it
I started meeting continental African people in London, you see
And
I spoke to a lady for proffering
Danielle
And um
She let me touch with
Lord got me in the doctor's
Down we went past the veil
The minute I walked into his office
He just looked at me and said, "Move"
I told him my story
And he was able to shed light on Abaka
It was in Asante
Mmm hmm
So
This is it
We must not stay 'cause I don't know why
I went to see an old Italian
Loyal as I'll be
In Brixton
Made appointment
Waited, and sat down
She looked at me, she said,
"I charge 80 pounds an hour"
I told her what it was about
She listened to me
I told her, "I want to have my name changed"
She said, "I'll do that for you but
Do you know the respect you'll get?"
You know, the day Mrs. Halley called me and told me my papers are ready
And I walked out joyfully
And picked up my document that said
My name is Don Abaka
And I walked out of that place and I was slapped by a cloak of vindictive joy
I was a light in my step and felt I could do the impossible