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,
Nyagumbe Refuses
A Chopi song from southern Mozambique. It may be sung at weddings but has also a more general popularity. The argument of the song is that the bride must learn to acknowledge her love for Nyagumbe.
BRIDE: Nyagumbe!
Nyagumbe!
Why do you refuse?
I Heard a Bell
A ChiLomwe girls’ song from Malawi, popular as a pounding song (sung by women using mortar and pestle to pound grain to flour). The bell is a bicycle bell.
I heard a bell ngili-ngili at the corner:
I thought it was my boyfriend, the son of Chipo,
Balwo
Ten separate love songs from Somalia. Balwo means ‘sorrow’, and the subject of this type of song is invariably unhappy love which is described briefly in striking and unusual images. These songs are immensely popular in Somalia and are regarded by some as blasphemous.
Woman, lovely as lightning at dawn,
Speak to me once even.
Mwananazi
A Swahili poem, well known along the East Coast of Africa. The poem is a husband’s praise of his wife Mwananazi.
Give me a chair that I may sit down
And serenade my Mwananazi,
