African Poems

Oral Poetry from Africa

Oral Poetry from Africa

Filed Under: Praise-Poems

Gambari

L’Orchestre Kanaga De Mopti take their name from the Kanaga mask worn by members of the Awa Society of Masks, an initiatory society of the Dogon people of Mali.

The orchestra leader, Sorry Bamba (1938–2022), was born in Mopti, a town in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. He turned to music at the age of 10 after the passing of his parents, finding solace in playing a six-holed flute, imported from France, which was gifted to him by a friend. 

As a young man he explored the surrounding regions of Mopti, studying the music from the Niger River, the Fulani camps, and the Bandiagara cliffs in the heart of Dogon Country. Bamba gained the elders’ approval to perform the music of the Dogon ceremonies and named his group after the Dogon ceremonial mask that symbolizes Amma, the supreme creator god in the Dogon religion. 

Well…
Brothers and sisters, speakers of Fulfulde,
Listen and listen again to how the story of “Gambari” came to be…

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Filed Under: Praise-Poems

Alade Oyo

Dàdàkúàdá is a form of poetry that originated in Ìlọrin, the capital city of Kwara State in Western Nigeria. There is a great deal of mystery as to its roots. 

It shares many similarities to the poetry performed as part of the Egúngún masquerade, the Yorùbá cult that some claim was born in this region. However, all Yorùbá religious practices including Egúngún worship were eliminated in Ìlọrin in 1823 when Islam became the officially institutionalised religion of the city. 

Regardless of its ancestry, it is a form of poetry that blends influences from Ìlọrin’s diverse ethnic and cultural identities, with the city being home to Yorùbá, Haúsá, Fúlàní, Núpé, Kànnìké, Kéńbérí, Bàrùbá, Malians and Arabs, among others. Odolayé Àrẹ̀mú was the first Dàdàkúàdá poet to produce a record in the mid-1940s.

Some tasks are not easy to bear
The task of becoming Alaafin is a deadly one…

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Filed Under: Modern Poetry in Oral Manner

Lisabi

A new poem sent to us by Amore David Olamide, in praise of Lisabi Agbongbo-Akala the military organiser and farmer who led the Ẹ̀gbá revolt against Ọ̀yọ́ Empire in Yorubaland between 1775 and 1780.

Although ruled by their own Alake (“king”), the Egba Forest lay within the territory of the Ọ̀yọ́-Yorùbá empire and the Ẹ̀gbá initially paid tribute to the Aláàfin (traditional ruler) of Ọ̀yọ́ for protection. The Aláàfin’s representatives in the Ẹ̀gbá towns began to oppress the locals, demanding excessive tributes. Lisabi, a farmer, organised a militant movement under the guise of a traditional mutual aid society which provided collective support for its members in heavy work such as clearing land and gathering in the harvest. In reality, the farmers mutual aid society was a miltary organisation that united and armed all the Ẹ̀gbá towns.

The civil war which erupted in Ọ̀yọ́ around 1775 provided a suitable opportunity for Lisabi to launch a massacre of the local Ọ̀yọ́ forces and the military organisation he had established were successful in defending against Ọ̀yọ́’s reprisal attacks. Having won independence for the Ẹ̀gbá people many honour him by calling themselves the children of Lisabi.

When Lisabi appears in a ruthless manner
He had the appearance of flying debris…

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Filed Under: Relationship Poems

To The Widow

A new poem by Ghanaian poet, Adjei Agyei-Baah, on the challenges that widows often face. As well as experiencing the trauma of the death of their spouce, widows can find themselves forced out of extended familial relationships and have to fight to maintain their position in society and their dignity. Some become viewed with suspicion as they take on the role of the outcast. 

You are the sleepless duck
Who rests on a single leg…

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Filed Under: Praise-Poems

Ogbomosho

The city of Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ is located within Oyo State, south-western Nigeria. It is close to a forest region that was an area of indigenous iron mining and smelting. The towns in this region are home to the largest concentration of Ògún festivals in Yorubaland, Ògún being the Yorùbá god of iron, blacksmithing, tool making, hunting and warfare.

One of the indigenous genres of music that originates in Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ is Ìjálá Ọdẹ, a style of oral poetry mythically and ritually associated with the worship of Ògún. Ìjálá poetry was historically composed by hunters to describe the characteristics of the animals they hunt and to eulogise hunters and warriors at their funerals.

The poet Ògundáre Fóyánmu was born in Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́ in 1932 and died on the 13th October, 2012 at the age of 80. Introduced to oral poetry through his father, an Egúngún chanter, Fóyánmu became instrumental in the evolution of Ìjálá Ọdẹ in Ògbómọ̀ṣọ́.

Akano Oladunni,
always remember your progenitors in all your endeavours.
The king of Ogbomosho!…

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Filed Under: Blog

Saving the Malawi Tapes

I am very grateful to the team at Afropop Worldwide for the opportunity to co-produce a program for their show. “Saving the Malawi Tapes” tells the story of how the old reel to reel tapes that lay in disarray inside the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation were digitised.

This is thanks to the collaboration of Malawian musician, producer and presenter of radio and TV shows, Waliko Makhala and the Norwegian radio journalist and music producer, Sigbjørn Nedland.

Listeners will also hear more about the work AfricanPoems is doing to share these musical and poetic treasures with a wider audience.

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