No anthology of African oral poetry would be complete without some extracts from African epics. Yet no epic can properly be represented by an extract. The epic is by far the most ambitious of literary forms. It attempts, through the form of a long story usually concerned with a single but very special hero, to give a complete account of existence.
If We Should All Die, Who Then Will You Govern?
Five Igbo satires from eastern Nigeria. These songs are of the type performed at the funerals of prominent people by groups of singers known as Abigbo singers. The satirical sections form only a part of the performances on these occasions, but the Abigbo singers are renowned for their eloquence and outspokenness.
A message should be taken to the Council men at Aboh,
Should the ruling of this world be with guns?
Who Knows What the Government is Pregnant With?
A Dinka song from southern Sudan. The situation is the civil war between the Khartoum government and the Anyanya movement which began in 1958, soon after Independence. In the early stages of the war, the northern army was ruthless in responding to southern discontent.
How does the spoiling of the world come about?
Our land is closed in a prison cell!
The Nationalist Struggle
A song from Tanzania (then called the ‘Tanganyika’) celebrating the end of colonial British rule. This song was popular on the verge of Independence in 1961.
Freedom and the Republic!
Colonialism will soon end,
The Nationalist Struggle
Two poems that were popular during the struggles for Independence in Zambia, dating from the days of the arrest of Dr Kaunda and other leaders in 1959 during the anti-Federation struggle.
What kind of singing is this
That sounds like mourning?
Work Songs
A Mandari song from southern Sudan, from the days of British rule (‘Tali’ government is Mandari government, Chief Iyon being appointed by the colonial authorities). The complaints are about taxation and forced labour.
The Tali government is oppressive,
Passing its time in harsh punishment