Oral Poetry from Africa
Many of the protest songs sung by the chiSena women of the Lower Zambesi region of Mozambique contain a short play, inserted into the song. A typical performance begins with the women standing in a circle, bending forward from the waist and clapping or clacking piece of wood or shaking tin machacha as accompaniment to the lead singer.
Ay — ay
Paiva’s the master…
A ChiSena prayer to Chauta (God) from southern Malawi. The prayer is led by an elder, with the people responding in chorus.
Chauta we beseech you, we beseech you!
You have refused us rain, we beseech you!…
A ChiSena funeral song from southern Malawi on the theme of equality in death, for rich and poor, black and white.
This path, yes, this path, yes,
think carefully of this path, o‑ye…
