Oral Poetry from Africa
Two Gonga laments from the Kaffa Highlands of south-west Ethiopia. They use the form of the Praise-Poem to mourn the defeat of the king, Hinnare-tato, and the scattering of his people.
The Hinnare-tato has become a simple man,
Our magnificent gold has become copper…
A Gonga song from the Kafa Highlands of south west Ethiopia. During the mid-nineteenth century, according to tradition, the Kafa king asked his people to prepare for war against the Gimma, a powerful sultanate on their northern borders. The people refused to fight.
If we do not present the Gimma with big bulls,
Large steers, beautiful concubines, ivory and slaves,
