A song from the Embu region of Kenya, sung by women at work on their farms.
Ululate for me, my time for going home is not yet,
I shall go home as the sun sets…
Paiva
The following Sena song exists in many versions throughout the area of the lower Zambesi river in Mozambique, dominated from 1890 by an English company which came to be called Sena Sugar Estates. The original ‘Paiva’ was Ignacio Paiva Raposo, who in 1874 rented an estate (or ‘Prazo’) near the confluence of the Shire and Zambesi rivers.
Paiva,
Wo-o‑o, Wo…
Galadima
A Hausa Praise-Poem from northern Nigeria, in praise of Galadima Dauda who ruled in the mid-thirteenth century. This is a good example of the simplest and oldest kind of Praise-Poetry, in which the hero’s memory is preserved in a brief description packed with meaning.
Champion of the axes of the south,
Champion of the young men of the south…
Prayer to Ruwa
A Chaga prayer from Tanzania. Ruwa is the Chaga name for God and also for the Sun. He is described as their Chief, the Preserver, who united the bush and the plain and created men.
We know you Ruwa, Chief, Preserver:
He who united the bush and the plain…
The Pass Laws
Three Zulu songs from Johannesburg about the notorious Pass Laws of the Apartheid era. All Africans were required to carry a special pass, permitting them to be in the city.
Take a visit to Johannesburg:
You will see big crowds…
Episode
An interlude in a Sotho Praise-Poem from Lesotho. The poem is addressed to Nathaniel Makotoko, one of the Sotho’s most famous military commanders.
The armies left the Great Place in full strength:
And when we arrived at the place of Lesaoana…