Damilola Lawal, popularly known as Damilola The Alaga (DTA), has launched The Alaga Handbook for Beginners, a practical guide designed to introduce aspiring Alagas to the knowledge, skills and cultural understanding required to become professional traditional wedding comperes.
The new book marks another step in Damilola’s growing work to professionalise, document and pass on the art of traditional Yoruba compering to a new generation.
For generations, the Alaga has been an important part of Yoruba traditional weddings. From guiding the proceedings and engaging both families to leading songs, chants and cultural rituals, the role requires much more than simply holding a microphone. An Alaga must understand tradition, communicate effectively, read a room, manage the flow of an event and create an experience that respects the significance of the occasion.
The Alaga Handbook for Beginners was created to make that knowledge more accessible to people who want to learn the craft.
The book covers traditional engagements, introduction ceremonies, intertribal weddings, songs and chants, ceremony etiquette and practical guidance for people interested in becoming Alagas. It also includes a QR code that gives readers access to recordings of traditional songs and chants, allowing them to listen, practise and become familiar with the sounds that form an important part of the profession.
For Damilola, the book is a natural extension of the work she has spent years building.
After studying Public Relations and Communications at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Damilola built a career as a professional Yoruba wedding compere and founded Damilola The Alaga in 2019. Over the years, her work has expanded from conducting traditional weddings to training aspiring engagement comperes through DTA Academy, the Damilola The Alaga School of Traditional Compering.
She has trained more than 100 aspiring engagement comperes across Nigeria, the United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia and Canada, and has worked with hundreds of families. In 2024, she was recognised among Nigeria’s 40 Under 40 CEOs.
The launch of the handbook therefore represents more than the publication of a book. It reflects a deliberate effort to turn practical experience into knowledge that can be transferred.
“I have spent years learning, practising and teaching this craft, and I wanted to create something that would make the beginning of that journey clearer for someone coming after me,” Damilola The Alaga said.
The book also builds on Damilola’s broader work to preserve and promote traditional wedding culture. In July 2026, she released Damilola The Alaga Volume 1, a collection of traditional Alaga songs including Orin Ijebu, Orin Eko, Orin Egba, Orin Awori, Orin Ikorodu and Orin Epe.
Together, her training, music and now her book form part of a growing body of work around the Alaga profession.
At the heart of the handbook is a simple idea: traditional knowledge should not disappear because it was never properly documented.
By putting practical knowledge, cultural context, songs and ceremony guidance into one resource, The Alaga Handbook for Beginners gives aspiring Alagas a starting point from which they can learn, practise and develop their own professional careers.
It is also a reflection of how Damilola The Alaga has evolved from a wedding compere into a trainer, musician, cultural entrepreneur and educator.
For a profession that has traditionally been learned largely through observation, apprenticeship and experience, the handbook creates another way into the craft.
It is a resource for the young woman or man watching an Alaga at a traditional wedding and wondering whether this is something they can learn and build a career from.
For Damilola, that is ultimately what the work is about: not only becoming good at the craft, but making the path visible enough for someone else to follow.
The Alaga Handbook for Beginners is now available to aspiring Alagas, traditional wedding professionals and anyone interested in learning more about the art and practice of Yoruba traditional compering.
