Oral Poetry from Africa
Many of the protest songs sung by the chiSena women of the Lower Zambesi region of Mozambique contain a short play, inserted into the song. A typical performance begins with the women standing in a circle, bending forward from the waist and clapping or clacking piece of wood or shaking tin machacha as accompaniment to the lead singer.
Ay — ay
Paiva’s the master…
Another satiric song from the Kalela Dances of the Zambia Copper mines (see also The Kalela Dance and The Cases). The song is in Bisa and jokes about Mulumba who is the dance leader.
Mulumba should have a job at the abattoir
So that he may steal the heads of slaughtered cattle…
A Gikuyu herdsboy’s song from Kenya. It sets up a chain of language which links together humorously all aspects of life (see also Who Will Throw Goat’s Dung at Me?).
Honey-bird, honey-bird,
Get arrows, get arrows…
A Yorùbá song, partly satirical, partly pragmatic. Sourced from the Black Orpheus magazine that was founded by Ulli Beier in 1957 and co-edited by Wole Soyinka and Es’kia Mphahlele.
My wife told me
I go to the market…
