An Ashanti drum poem from Ghana (see The Drum-History of Mampon for more about drum poems). The poem is praising the Earth which supports us in life and receives us in death.
Earth, condolences,
Earth, condolences…
Valiant Owusu by Koramma
An Akan dirge from Ghana. Owusu was a Mass Education Officer, killed in a car accident in 1952. The dirge is sung by his former landlady, a trader called Koramma, who mourns him as if he were her brother.
Valiant Owusu,
The stranger on whom the citizen of the town depends,
The Warrior’s Homecoming
An Akan poem from Ghana, sung by women in praise of the returning warrior. The camel blanket and the sandals on which Agyei is described as treading are metaphors for the men who are carrying him in triumph on their shoulders.
He is coming, he is coming,
Treading along on camel blanket in triumph.
