Oral Poetry from Africa
I am grateful to Professor Zodwa Motsa for providing us with the following poem, the praises performed after the inauguration of King Mswati III of Eswatini (also known as Swaziland) in 1986.
Mswati the black one amongst the ashen
Warrior stick of horns who settles not in gourd-drums
But enters in the seed-bushels of the buffalos…
Previous poems about Ogun, the Yoruba god of blacksmiths, hunting and warfare, have praised the Orisha as a terrible but necessary god. Terrible in that he is the personification of war, necessary in that he represents victory through conflict.
It is now high time for me to say as follows:
It is the god Ogun that I worship…
A previous Shona clan praise published here was of the Shumba Murambwi, whose totem is the lion. The following clan praise is of the Tembo-Shumba, the “Zebra-Lion”, a mythical totem animal that serves as the emblem of the Mutasa people, whose homestead is Manyikaland in eastern Zimbabwe.
Thank you, Zebra.
Thank you Chiwara,
Hornless beast of the wilderness,
The Well Dressed One…
Another oriki dedicated to the Yoruba goddess of trade and wealth, Aje (see also Salute to Aje, Goddess of Wealth).
The man who poverty makes a beggar among friends
Knows how the world dodges the needy…
The story of Dubulihasa strictly falls within the tradition of Xhosa folktale (nstomi) and not poetry (izibongo) but I thought readers would find it interesting as the story has at its heart a song that is repeated throughout the tale.
“Dubulihasa!, Dubulihasa!
You must go, Dubulihasa!..
The goddess Aje appears within Yoruba mythology as a patroness of trade and economic prosperity. The following oriki is addressed to Aje and also describes the ways in which wealth effects human affairs.
Aje, supreme god of wealth.
Benevolent provider of all human needs…
