Oral Poetry from Africa
A Hausa song from northern Nigeria, popular with women. It is from an anthropological record of the Hausa people, partly compiled from an oral account given by Baba (1877–1951), the daughter of a Hausa farmer and Koranic teacher, and translated by May K. Smith.
The barber doesn’t want a burning passion:
He doesn’t wish it to break him up…
A Yorùbá Iwi, or masqueradors’, chant from Nigeria. It is a sharp criticism of modern Ibadan as a town of thieves, violence and disease. See also Oriki Ibadan.
The spirit of the rock protects the town.
Ibadan, don’t fight!..
Vimbuza is a spirit possession ceremony practiced by the Tumbuka people who live in eastern Zambia and northern Malawi.
What will I ever wear with him?
What will I ever wear with him?
An extract from a Kanuri Praise-Poem from the ancient kingdom of Bornu in northern Nigeria. The Sultan had three official praise singers, who walked beside him procession, or stood before him in audience.
You, son of Gumsu, Gumsu Amina,
daughter of Talba, you Ibrahim,
Have attained to your father’s place among the great…
A Somali song from the days of Turkish rule. The singer’s ironically compares his troubles — the Mahdi making war, the locusts eating his crops, his wife’s grumbling, the ants eating his stores, the Sultan’s men who have stolen his horse, and the soldiers camped nearby.
Between the Sayyid who upsets wealth and exterminates people
And the locust who has eaten the buds, which is the better for me?..
