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.
In just three lines, the Galadima (the word is a title, not a name) is described as a warrior, a popular leader and a bringer of great wealth.
Champion of the axes of the south,
Champion of the young men of the south,
Harbinger of wealth, Galadima.
from Oral Poetry from Africa (1984)
compiled by Jack Mapanje and Landeg White,
Longman
