A Kisukuma hunting song from Tanzania. The hunter imagines, with some sympathy, the last thoughts of the wild pig he has killed with his trap.
I killed a wild pig in the trap.
It cried,
Where is my father?..
Prayer to Ruwa
A Chaga prayer from Tanzania. Ruwa is the Chaga name for God and also for the Sun. He is described as their Chief, the Preserver, who united the bush and the plain and created men.
We know you Ruwa, Chief, Preserver:
He who united the bush and the plain…
The Invaders
Three poems of the Sukuma people of Tanzania, referring to the colonial invasions. The first two poems are songs of resistance, dating from the 1890s, when the German armies first arrived. Note the references helmets, wooden legs (i.e., long khaki trousers with tall boots) and rifles.
You my wife, Mama Mgumba, stop here:
Let us expel him out of our house!…
The Beni Dance
Five Swahili songs from the Beni Dance which is popular throughout East Africa. Beni first became popular in Swahili-speaking communities at the end of the nineteenth century.
We Marini are the people of Paradise;
We long to go to our home on the coast.
These Arinoti are people of Hell.
The Nationalist Struggle
A song from Tanzania (then called the ‘Tanganyika’) celebrating the end of colonial British rule. This song was popular on the verge of Independence in 1961.
Freedom and the Republic!
Colonialism will soon end,
Cattle Songs
Ten Masai cattle songs, this time from Tanzania. These songs are from the Baraguyu dialect, and reveal an intense love of cattle and enjoyment of raiding.
The Europeans of Kilosa are proud of the police there,
But we, we are proud of our chosen loibon,
