A Hausa wedding song from northern Nigeria, sung by the bride’s girl friends as she leaves her father’s house in tears for her new husband’s compound.
From this year, you won’t go dancing,
From this year, you won’t go to the dance,
The Pinnacle
A Bemba girls’ initiation song from Zambia. The song neatly describes the delicate balance of equality between husband and wife.
The man is the peak of the house:
That is what we have understood.
Lament
A Kipsigi song from Kenya. The old man is appealing to his clan, the Kapmorosek, after his son has been murdered and his cattle stolen in a raid by a rival clan.
Send a message to the Kapmorosek,
Tell them I am not as in past years:
If Death Were Not There
An Acoli dirge from Uganda. The ceremony of Yokko Pala, in which a widow chooses a new husband, is held three or four months after the Guru Lyel, the feast held in honour of the deceased. See also Close To Her Husband.
If death were not there,
Where would the inheritor get things?
Close To Her Husband
An Acoli lament from Uganda. According to Acoli custom, a feast called Guru Lyel is held many months after the funeral of the deceased.
She used to sit
Close to her husband
A Man With a Hat On
A ChiTumbuka girls’ song from Malawi, containing some amusing satire on western dress.
A man with a hat on, I say no:
How should I know he is bald,
