Oral Poetry from Africa
A Tswana Praise-Poem from Botswana, chanted in praise of Seepapitso, chief of the Ngwaketse people 1910–16. Seepapitso’s main achievement was to improve local water supplies by building dams and sinking boreholes. He is also remembered for his defeat of a party of Boers who in 1914 invaded his territory in an attempt to cross into Namibia.
Hey there, men of the Buffalo-thorn,
Do you still argue with me?
A Zulu Praise-Poem, in praise of Ndaba, Shaka’s great-grandfather and the first Zulu king.
Ndaba, son of Sonani, they say ‘What wrong did he do?’
Since the people are living with their herds
The Sultan of Bornu, A Kanuri Praise-Poem from the ancient kingdom of Bornu in northern Nigeria. The poem, which was recorded in 1926, describes an individual king, Sultan Momadu Ajimi, who reigned in 1737–51. But it is also a statement of what an ideal king should be like, providing the Sultan with a pattern that the official Praise-Singer implies he should follow.
Carefully weave the acts of kingship
Hear all and weave…
A Chaha Praise-Poem from the Gurage people of Ethiopia. Warga is not a ruler but a wealthy man who is praised for his generosity to the poor. This is, of course, a poem chanted by someone hoping to benefit from Warga’s wealth.
My master Warga, son of Qariso,
Since you were created, when has there been any distress?
An Igbo poem from eastern Nigeria, consisting of a series of metaphors for the beauty and the goodness of the young lady who is being praised.
Young lady, you are
A mirror that must not go out in the sun,
Carefully weave the acts of kingship runs the first line of the first poem in this selection of Praise-Poems (The Sultan of Bornu). Praise-Poems exist in many different parts of Africa. In Yorùbá they are called Oriki, in Zulu lzibongo, in Tswana Maboko — the list of examples would be a very long one.
