Oral Poetry from Africa
The Nigerian politician, poet and journalist Dennis Chukude Osadebay translated this Ibo poem for the journal African Affairs in 1949. The lighthearted tale of an orphan boy is described by D.C. Osadebay as being several centuries old.
O Lamb give me my salt,
Salt the market folks gave me…
A new poem by Ghanaian poet Adjei Agyei-Baah, about the discrimination faced by albinos in Africa and other parts of the world.
Yours is a hard tale to tell
one already known in every household…
The following poem was originally recited by Ibo warriors as their leader Ojea lay dying on a battlefield in sight of victory. It has since gone onto become a song performed at funerals.
Ojea, noble Ojea, look round before you depart,
Ojea, see, the fight is over…
This abridged rendition of the story of Sunjata Keita, founder of the Mali empire, is valuable for several reasons. Primarily as an opportunity for listeners to appreciate the soaring vibrato voice of Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, a true master of the art of the griot.
Evans Okoyo is a Kenyan poet who has been building a following on his Youtube channel. One powerul poem, Amuna Wachne Rach (“Amuna, You are Bad News”) addresses alcoholism. Evans says that he was motivated to write this composition following the untimely deaths of some of his good friends.
The first few of minutes of the video introduce us to the central figure of the poem, a drunkard who begins conversing with “Amuna”, his bottle of liquor.
The Swahili poetess Mwana Kupona binti Mshamu composed Utendi wa Mwanakupona (“The Book of Mwana Kupona”) for her teenage daughter, Mwana Hashima binti Sheikh, around 1858. It’s apparent from the lyrics that Mwana Kupona was very ill at the time of writing these verses and the composition reads an ailing mother’s affectionate advice to her young daughter on how she should conduct herself during her own life.
Come close to me my daughter,
and listen to my advice…
