Oral Poetry from Africa
A Swahili poem in praise of the coconut palm, discovered c1905 by the scholar Muhammed Kijuma (1855.1945) in an old collection of marriage songs. It is attributed by some to the legendary hero Liyongo (see ‘The Legend of Liyongo’).
Give me the minstrel’s seat that I may sit at ease and tell of the praises of the coco-palm.
This tree, when it is young and sprouting, spreads its leaves outwards widely…
Another Swahili song discovered c1905 by the scholar Muhammed Kijuma (1855–1945) in an old collection of marriage songs. It begins by seeming to mock the poor man, but quickly shifts to sympathising with him.
A poor man doesn’t know
how to eat with a rich man.
The nineteenth century Swahili poet Sheik Abdallah (d. 1820), wrote a poem called ‘Song of Liyongo’, in five-line stanzas, and are probably the oldest ‘text’ presented on this website.
Oh! much, much, I begin with many,
as well as going forward to finish,
child of good things…
Liyongo, the national hero of the Swahili people, lived in the area of the delta of the Tana River, north of Mombasa. Many of the poems praising him are said to have been composed by him, so that he is also celebrated as a poet.
Oh my child, be silent, do not cry;
Listen to the tale of the King of Bauri,
