Read Oral Literature in Africa Online
Authors: Ruth Finnegan
23
For example, Puplampu 1951; Larson 1963; Jacobs 1962
a
; Ba and Kesteloot 1966; Meillassoux 1967; Niane 1960; Cornevin 1966; Konate 1966; Ba and Kesteloot 1966; see also Clark 1963; Papadopoullos 1963; de Vries 1963 (Chapter 7, ‘The epic poetry of non-Indo-European nations’, speaks of the ‘epic poetry of the Fulbe’).
24
See especially the discussion in Cornevin 1966 and the poems in Coupez and Kamanzi 1962.
25
For example, Boelaert 1949 and 1957–58, de Rop 1959 and Biebuyck 1953.
26
In spite of Bascom’s description of the Lianja narrative of the Nkundo as a ‘remarkable epic poem’ (1964: 18), examination of the actual text suggests that seven-eighths or more is in prose.
27
Edited or discussed in, among other sources, Boelaert 1949 and 1957–58; de Rop 1959 (11. 323), 1958, 1964.
28
For example, Awona 1965, 1966 (a narrative poem of about 2,800 lines); Towo-Atangana 1965 (discusses the various types of
mvet
songs, including the Angon Mana, a ‘type of epic’); Towo-Atangana 1966; Echegaray 1955 (on ‘primitive epic poetry’ in Spanish Guinea); Belinga 1965, Ch. 4 (on Pahouin-Bantu of Cameroun).
29
For example, the ‘magnificent traditional sung historical … chants’ of the Nigerian Idoma (R. Armstrong, personal communication), the Haya ‘sung legend’ (Tracey 1954
a
: 238), or the Igala ‘chanted stories’ (John Boston, personal communication).
5. Panegyric
Introductory: nature and distribution; composers and reciters; occasions. Southern Bantu praise poetry: form and style; occasions and delivery; traditional and contemporary significance
.
I
In its specialized form panegyric is
the
type of court poetry and one of the most developed and elaborate poetic genres of Africa. It seems to go with a particular ethos, a stress on royal or aristocratic power, and an admiration for military achievement. It is true that praises (including self-praises) also occur among non-centralized peoples, particularly those who lay stress on the significance of personal achievement in war or hunting (such as the Galla or Tuareg), and also that the use of ‘praise names’ is nearly universal. But the most specialized forms, and those which will primarily be considered here, are the formalized praises directed publicly to kings, chiefs, and leaders, composed and recited by members of a king’s official entourage.
First, something must be said about the ‘praise names’ which often form the basis of formal praise poetry. These are most often given to people but may also describe clans, animals, or inanimate objects, and they are usually explicitly laudatory. The Zulu king Shaka is praised in one of his names as ‘The Ever-ready-to-meet-any-challenge’ (Grant 1927: 211), a Hausa chief as ‘Fearful and terrible son of Jato who turns a town into ashes’, or an Ankole warrior as ‘He who Does Not Fear Black Steel’ (Morris 1964: 48). Such words or phrases occur frequently within the more complex form of a complete poem. Other ‘praise’ names are derogatory or concerned more with insight into inherent qualities than with praise. The Hausa ‘praise names’
(kirari),
which in fact are often whole sentences and may refer to inanimate objects, illustrate this well. The stock praise name of
molo
(three-stringed guitar)
goes ‘Molo, the drum of intrigue; if it has not begun it is being arranged’ (in reference to the common association between the
molo
and immorality) (Fletcher 1912: 48); of the wind ‘O wind you have no weight, but you cut down the biggest trees’ (Merrick 1905: 76). Similar stock descriptions are used of people or animals: a butterfly is ‘O Glistening One, O Book of God, O Learned One open your book’ (i.e. the wings, compared to the Koran); a lion ‘O Strong One, Elder Brother of the Forest’; while an old woman is addressed as ‘O Old Thing, you are thin everywhere except at the knee, of flesh you have but a handful, though your bones would fill a basket’ (Tremearne 1913: 174–6). These generalized and derogatory ‘praise’ names seem characteristic of some West African societies and appear in proverbs and riddles as well as conversation. They do not replace the more laudatory comments, however, for, also among the Hausa, every celebrated man has his own praise name which is used as a basis for prolonged praises by what Tremearne describes as ‘professional flatterers’ (1913: 177). Similarly among the Yoruba the
oriki
or praise names are permanent titles held by individuals, given to them by friends or, most often, by the drummers. Some individuals have several of these names, so that a collection of them, recited together, resembles a loosely constructed poem (also called
oriki
) about the person praised (Gbadamosi and Beier 1959).
1
In eastern and southern Africa cattle form a popular subject in praise poetry, and inanimate things like divining implements or even a train or bicycle are also praised. In West Africa, apparently unlike other areas, formal praises are addressed to supernatural beings. Hausa
bori
spirits for instance, each have their own praise songs (
taki, kirari
). When the spirit is to be called, its praise songs are played through one after another until it takes possession of one of its worshippers (Smith 1957: 33). The Yoruba praise poems to deities in Nigeria and Dahomey (as well as from the Yoruba in Brazil) are particularly famous.
2
Each of the many Yoruba deities (
orisha
) has a series of praises expressed in figurative and obscure language, sung by the priest. Here, for instance, is a praise poem about Ogun, the god of iron, one of the most powerful deities, worshipped particularly by warriors, hunters, and blacksmiths:
Ogun kills on the right and destroys on the right.
Ogun kills on the left and destroys on the left.
Ogun kills suddenly in the house and suddenly in the field.
Ogun kills the child with the iron with which it plays.
Ogun kills in silence.
Ogun kills the thief and the owner of the stolen goods.
Ogun-kills the owner of the slave—and the slave runs away.
Ogun kills the owner of thirty ‘iwofa’ [pawns]—and his money, wealth and children disappear.
Ogun kills the owner of the house and paints the hearth with his blood.
Ogun is the death who pursues a child until it runs into the bush.
Ogun is the needle that pricks at both ends.
Ogun has water but he washes in blood.
Ogun do not fight me. I belong only to you.
The wife of Ogun is like a tim tim [decorated leather cushion].
She does not like two people to rest on her.
Ogun has many gowns. He gives them all to the beggars.
He gives one to the woodcock—the woodcock dyes it indigo.
He gives one to the coucal—the coucal dyes it in camwood.
He gives one to the cattle egret—the cattle egret leaves it white.
Ogun is not like pounded yam:
Do you think you can knead him in your hand
And eat of him until you are satisfied?
Ogun is not like maize gruel:
Do you think you can knead him in your hand
And eat of him until you are satisfied?
Ogun is not like something you can throw in your cap:
Do you think you can put on your cap and walk away with him?
Ogun scatters his enemies.
When the butterflies arrive at the place where the cheetah excretes,
They scatter in all directions.
The light shining on Ogun’s face is not easy to behold.
Ogun, let me not see the red of your eye.
Ogun sacrifices an elephant to his head.
Master of iron, head of warriors,
Ogun, great chief of robbers.
Ogun wears a bloody cap.
Ogun has four hundred wives and one thousand four hundred children.
Ogun, the fire that sweeps the forest.
Ogun’s laughter is no joke.
Ogun eats two hundred earthworms and does not vomit.
Ogun is a crazy orisha [deity] who still asks questions after 780 years.
Whether I can reply, or whether I cannot reply,
Ogun please don’t ask me anything.
The lion never allows anybody to play with his cub.
Ogun will never allow his child to be punished.
Ogun do not reject me!
Does the woman who spins ever reject a spindle?
Does the woman who dyes ever reject a cloth?
Does the eye that sees ever reject a sight?
Ogun, do not reject me! [Ogun needs his worshippers].
(Gbadamosi and Beier 1959: 21–2)
Despite these elaborate religious praises, however, the most frequent subjects for panegyric are humans, especially kings and chiefs. Sometimes these are self-praises, like the personal recitations of the Hima noble class of Ankole in which a man celebrates his military achievements, building his poem on a sequence of praise names:
I Who Am Praised thus held out in battle among foreigners along with The Overthrower;
I Who Ravish Spear In Each Hand stood resplendent in my cotton cloth;
I Who Am Quick was drawn from afar by lust for the fight ….
(Morris 1964: 42)
Praises of kings are the most formal and public of all, ranging from the relatively simple Ganda praise of the powerful nineteenth-century king Mutesa cited by the Chadwicks:
Thy feet are hammers,
Son of the forest [a comparison with a lion]
Great is the fear of thee;
Great is thy wrath;
Great is thy peace;
Great is thy power
(Chadwicks iii, 1940: 579)
to the more allusive and figurative praise of another powerful ruler, a man who had seized power for himself in Zaria and was deposed by the British when they occupied Northern Nigeria:
Mahama causer of happiness, Mahama
yenagi yenaga
[meaning uncertain],
Mahama slab of salt who handles it tastes pleasure
— though thou hatest a man thou givest him a thousand cowries
— thou hatest a naked man’s blood but if thou dost not get his garment thou slayest him
— Mahama the rolling flight of the crow, O boy cease gazing and seeing first white then black …
3
— the wall of silver that reaches the breast of the horseman
— the tying up that is like releasing
4
— son of Audu thy help (is) God
— son of Audu, the support of God which is more than the man withthe quiver, yea more than his chief on his horse
— hammer of Audu
— salt of Kakanda that is both sweet and bitter
5
— son of Audu, O sun thou dost not look askance and slightingly
6
— storm on the land, medicine for the man with the mat-cover
— elephant with the red loins, medicine for the standing grass,
7
with thy trunk thou spiest into every man’s house
— the beating of the rain does not stop the jingling of the bell
8
— the swelling of the palm-stem that fills the embrace of the (climbing) boy
9
— black dafara tree there is labour before thou breakest.
10
The frank assessment of the emir’s character which accompanies the lauding of his power and achievements is not unparalleled. ‘Praise’ poems of people frequently include derogatory remarks, veiled or otherwise, or give advice as well as praise. Thus the praises of two Hausa emirs of Zazzau run
Look not with too friendly eyes upon the world,
Pass your hand over your face in meditation,
Not from the heat of the sun.
The bull elephant is wise and lives long.
and
Be patient, and listen not to idle tales
Poisoned chaff attracts the silly sheep—and kills them
(Heath 1962: 27, 32)
Self-praises, created and performed by the subject him or herself, are not uncommon. Among the Sotho all individuals (or all men) are expected to have some skill in the composition and performance of self-praises, and the composition of formalized praise poetry among the Ankole is expected to be within the capacity of every nobleman: he must find inspiration in a particular episode, compose a personal and topical praise poem based on it, and add it to his repertoire (Morris 1964: 13). Again, among the Ibo the taking of a title is sometimes followed by a string of self-praises (Egudu 1967: 9–10). As we saw in Chapter 4, a certain amount of private enterprise
praising of individuals is also widespread. In northern Sierra Leone and other parts of West Africa it is not uncommon for expert Mandingo singers, sometimes accompanied by drummers or xylophonists, to wander through the streets or attend festivals on their own initiative. They pick on some outstanding or reputedly wealthy individual for their praises; and even those who refer to them contemptuously as ‘beggars’ are in fact glad to reward them with gifts and thanks, and thus hope to send them on their way content, avoiding the possibility of public shaming for lack of generosity. Praises by women sometimes occur too. In the kingdom of Dahomey choruses of wives are expected to perform in praise of the king and chiefs (Herskovits 1938, ii: 322) and professional singers include a women’s group among the Nupe (Bowers 1965: 54).
The most formal state praises, however, are usually made by official male bards. Thus every Zulu king had one or more specialists who both recited the praises of previous rulers and composed new ones to commemorate the achievements and qualities of the present king. Similarly there were specialist praise poets, ranging from the Ashanti state drummers and singers to the Rwanda dynastic poets described in an earlier chapter. Where accompaniment is important whole teams may sometimes be responsible for official praises; among the Hausa a District Head’s
maroka
(praise) team normally contained several drummers (to play the different types of drum), eulogists, two or more pipers, and sometimes a horn-blower (Smith 1957: 29). Lesser chiefs tended to have bards who were less skilled and less specialized, modelled on the king’s but performing in a less complex and more limited way.
The style of recitation varies between the unaccompanied forms characteristic of the Southern Bantu praises, those with fairly minimal accompaniment on some stringed instrument,
11
and that in which the accompaniment is stressed (usually percussion or wind). This last type is widespread in West African states and its precise form is sometimes a significant aspect of the attribution of status implied in the praise. Among the Hausa the amount or type of musical accompaniment is clearly laid down for the praises of each grade of ruler in the hierarchy; wooden gongs, for instance, may not be used to praise anyone below a certain level, and there are special instruments that can only be used for
praising kings and leading vassals (Smith 1957: 28). In West Africa the whole praise may take place on the drum or on horns, without the use of the human voice at all, a particularly common form in southern Ghana, Dahomey, and Nigeria but also recorded in some more northerly areas (for drum poetry see Ch. 17).
Most praise poetry, above all the official type, seems to adopt a more or less obscure and allusive style. The language may be archaic and lofty, there are often references to historical events or people which may need interpretation even to local listeners, and figurative forms of expression are common. Especially frequent are comparisons of the person praised to an animal or series of animals. His strength may be conveyed by referring to him as a lion, a rhinoceros, or an elephant, and, particularly in Southern Bantu praise poetry, the actions and qualities of the hero may be almost completely conveyed in metaphorical terms, only the animals to which the hero is implicitly compared being depicted in action. Comparisons to natural phenomena are also fairly frequent—the hero is likened to a storm, a rock, a downpour of rain. Other figurative forms of expression occur, sometimes reaching a high degree of complexity. In one Rwanda poem the royal name, ‘Ntare, suggests to the poet the term
intare,
lion; he does not make a direct substitution of one name for the other, but ‘veils’ the royal lion by talking about the qualities of the animal, and so refers to the king by such terms as ‘Hunter of zebras’, ‘Clamour of the forests’, ‘Mane-carrier’ (Kagame 1951
b
: 17). Not all praise poetry takes allusion quite so far, but in general panegyric seems to exploit allusion and imagery to a higher degree than other forms of poetry in Africa. Praise of a person (or a thing) is not something to be expressed in bald or straightforward language.