Oral Literature in Africa (36 page)

13
  Z. Himid, ‘Utenzi wa Muheshimiwa Rais wa Tanzania 28.9.65’ [Epic of the Hon. the President of Tanzania, 28 Sept. 1965,
Swahili
36, 1966.

14
  In some cases (e.g. Yoruba
oriki
) the same term and conventions are used for praises of both deities and humans; in others (e.g. South African Bantu) praise poetry is confined to humans.

15
  J. Westcott, ‘The Sculpture and Myths of Eshu-Elegba, the Yoruba Trickster’,
Africa
32, 1962.

16
  Goddess of river Niger, wife of Shango.

17
  Metaphor for ‘relatives’.

18
  The image is of the clouding over of the penumbra of the moon.

19
  G. Lienhardt,
Divinity and Experience, the Religion of the Dinka
, Oxford, 1961: 38.

20
  In religious contexts the Dinka often speak of themselves as ‘ants’ in the sight of Divinity, thus looking at themselves as they may be supposed to appear in the eyes of Divinity.

21
  Meaning that everything is going wrong, since people deceive and distrust each other.

22
  This is only part of a complete hymn, but most Dinka hymns seem in fact to be short, a few lines only.

23
  L. Marshall in J. L. Gibbs (ed.),
Peoples of Africa
, New York, 1965: 276.

24
  Ibid.

25
  e.g. Songhai
zamu
(hymns) are distinguished in terminology, intention, and form from
gyindize
(magical formulas) (J. Rouch,
La Religion et la magie songhay
, Paris, 1960: 83).

26
  Or in some literate societies. One of the largest collections of African ‘magical’ texts is in fact taken from the written tradition of Ethiopia (D. Lifchitz,
Textes éthiopiens magico-religieux
,
TMIE
38, 1940).

27
  E. E. Evans-Pritchard,
Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande
, Oxford, 1937: 182. The songs have more latent meaning than may appear on the surface.

28
  Ibid.: 180–2. The use of prose for prayers and magical spells and the lack of a rigid word-perfect pattern also occur among the Ibo (Green 1948: 841). Some comments on prose prayers, curses, etc., can be found in Ch. 16. Divination literature is discussed later in the present chapter.

29
  Rouch, op. cit.: 275.
Ndebi
also appears in many of the other texts cited in idem., Ch. 7 (‘La magie’).

30
  J. Van Wing, ‘Bakongo Incantations and Prayers’,
JRAI
60, 1930: 418–19.

31
  L. S. B. Leakey,
Defeating Mau Mau
, London, 1954, Chs. 4–5; B. G. M. Sundkler,
Bantu Prophets in South Africa
, London, 2nd ed., 1961: 192; Tracey 1948
b
: 48ff. See also e.g. R. Kauffman, ‘Hymns of the Wabvuwi’,
Afr. Music
2. 3, 1960; B. Kingslake in ibid. 1. 4, 1957: 18 (improvised church chants by Yoruba women); E. G. Parrinder, ‘Music in West African Churches’, ibid. 1. 3, 1956; P. Jans, ‘Essai de musique religieuse pour indigenes dans le vicariat apostolique de Coquilhatville’,
Aequatoria
19, 1956. These developments tend to be a feature of the separatist sects rather than of the orthodox mission churches, and also, it is frequently said, arise from the way in which European hymn-tunes in mission churches violate indigenous tonal patterns, thus stultifying further developments.

32
  S. G. Williamson, ‘The Lyric in the Fante Methodist Church’,
Africa
28, 1958; see also A. A. Mensah, ‘The Akan Church Lyric’,
Internal. Rev. of Missions
, 49, 1960.

33
  Though see A. V. King, ‘A Boorii Liturgy from Katsina’,
Afr. Language Studies
7, 1966 and Supplement, 1967; G. Balandier, ‘Femmes “possedées” et leurs chants’,
Présence afr
, 5, 1948; and work in progress by F. Topan on spirit (pepo) songs and their role in a spirit mediumship cult in Mombasa, Kenya.

34
  I am not proposing to discuss here the specialized invocations sometimes made to oracles
before
the results of the query are declared. Further remarks on prose prayers, etc., are to be found in Ch. 16.

35
  Based on W. M. Eiselen, ‘The Art of Divination as Practised by the Bamesemola’,
Bantu Studies
6, 1932; F. Laydevant, ‘The Praises of the Divining Bones among the Basotho’, ibid. 7, 1933; A. W. Hoernlé in I. Schapera (ed.),
The Bantu-speaking Tribes of South Africa
, London, 1937.

36
  The main sources used are G. Parrinder,
West African Religion
, London, 1961, Ch. 13; R. C. Abraham,
Dictionary of Modern Yoruba
, London, 1958 (under
Ifa
); Bascom 1941, 1943; Abimbola 1964, 1965; Gbadamosi and Beier 1959: 25ff.; R. Prince,
Ifa
, Ibadan, 1964; and Morton-Williams
et al
. 1966. Full bibliographies can be found in Maupoil 1961 (who discusses in detail the very similar Fa divination system in Dahomey) and Bascom 1961.

37
  Similar or identical systems are found among the Fon of Dahomey and Ewe of Togo as well as some other Nigerian peoples. Its elaborateness has led some to speculate about possible external origins, but it is now generally agreed that Ifa has a long history in West Africa and that, for recent centuries at any rate, the centre of distribution has been Yoruba country in Southern Nigeria.

38
  The order of the
odu
figures also has some significance in the full divination process. That given here is the order most commonly found, but there are regional variations (see Bascom 1961).

39
  Praise name of the diviner.

40
  Quoted from the convenient summaries in Bascom 1941: 46, 48, 45.

41
  
Godogbo
—fat or bold, and at the same time tall and stately.

42
  Benin has the reputation of great wealth among the Yoruba—‘Benin the place of money’.

43
  Drum connected with Ifa.

44
  J. D. Clarke, ‘Ifa Divination’,
JRAI
69, 1939: 248.

45
  For further factors involved in the continuing faith in the validity of Ifa divination procedures see Bascom 1941.

46
  The largest published collection is in Maupoli 1961 (of the more or less identical Fa system of Dahomey), but even he does not attempt to cover all the 256
odu
. Abimbola has collected much of the literature pertaining to the sixteen principal
odu
, but writes that it will probably take thirty or forty years to record the pieces associated with the remaining
odu
which are less well known—’for if it takes about two sessions to work on 16 Odus, it will take 32 years to work on the remaining 256!’ Abimbola 1964: 12. A number of recordings have also been made more recently by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, but not yet fully transcribed.

8.  Special Purpose Poetry—War, Hunting, and Work

Military poetry: Nguni; Akan. Hunting poetry: Yoruba
ijala;
Ambo hunters’ songs. Work songs
.

Some subjects are of particular significance in African poetry. Besides the subjects already elaborated there are others that could be discussed. There is poetry associated, for example, with secret societies,
¹
various types of associations,
²
initiation,
³
begging (e.g. Fletcher 1912: 62–3 (Hausa)), masquerades (e.g. Gbadamosi and Beier 1959: 38–49 (Yoruba); Egudu 1967: 9 (Ibo)), and there are also the very common songs to do with cattle and cattle herding (e.g. Ba 1950: 175–9 (Fulani); Kagame 1947 (Rwanda); Beidelman 1965 (Baraguyu); also Ch. 9). But war and hunting are topics of particular interest for many African societies, and have frequently given rise to specialized poetry; while songs to accompany work are so common throughout Africa as to demand treatment by their sheer quantity.

In treating these genres we are faced with one difficulty. Some of them, at first sight at least, so closely tied to the actual occasions on which they are performed—whether war, hunting, or work—that they seem to approach a fixed formulaic utterance with little room for variation, and change and innovation are thus at a minimum. How far then can they be treated in the same way as other, more innovatory, genres of oral literature? We are reminded here of the difficulty of making a clear-cut distinction
between literature and non-literature in oral cultures. (Ch. 1) One needs to remember, however, that this distinction is clearly only a matter of degree; some of the examples mentioned here are evidently as much ‘literature’ as examples in earlier chapters. Even if we make a rough division between innovatory and non-innovatory genres, with hunting and work songs in the second category, lyric or topical songs as pre-eminently in the first, we still find that even within these categories there can be distinctions on these same lines. Among hunting poems, for instance, Yoruba
ijala
poetry clearly provides much scope for variation and composition, whereas Ambo songs, it seems, do not. The same might be said of work songs, depending on the amount of variation by the leading soloist (see Ch. 9). A second point is that our attitude to such examples must depend not least on the
local
evaluation of these pieces. Too often this is something we are not told about, so that in the meantime all we can do is to present the pieces and hope that more research will elucidate their background. Finally, some of these poems are not nearly so closely tied to their occasions as they might seem at first sight: detachment and insight, so crucial for literary expression, are also involved.

All in all there is no real solution to the problem—except to point to it and to suggest further research. What we particularly need to know about are both local attitudes to these forms and the amount of innovation and variation that
actually
take place.

I

Poetry about both hunting and war seems to involve the same ideas of romance and glory. Sometimes the same genre of poetry is even used to deal with both, like the Galla
gheraera
or boasts, universal among warriors and hunters (Chadwicks iii, 1940: 548), or the Adangme
tegble
poetry used both for war and to honour a man who had killed a leopard with a spear (Puplampu 1951: 141). But even where there is no such direct association, the two subjects seem to be related. Both involve action that is out of the run of ordinary everyday pursuits; in both there is danger, triumph, or heroism; and boasting, challenge, and specialized ability (sometimes supplemented by magic) are frequent elements in both.

The sorts of occasions on which war songs were sung are not very thoroughly documented—I suppose one of the conditions for the collection and study of such songs was in fact the ending of widespread warring—but it is clear that they were by no means confined to the field of battle.

The excitement and emotion associated with military exploits are often expressed in poetry beforehand. In this way both poet and audience can be stirred up to declare war or to prepare for battle. So we have the Shona:

(Taylor 1926: 39)

Delafosse, when an administrator in West Africa, was similarly addressed by an Agni chief and his warriors who came to offer him their help against a rebel, urging on him and on themselves the attractions and urgency of war:

Donne-moi de la poudre et des fusils: je partirai demain.

Je veux leur couper la tête: je partirai demain.

Ils ont des femmes qui sont jolies: je partirai demain.

On dit qu’ils ont de l’or: je partirai demain.

Aujourd’hui il faut que je fasse des balles: je partirai demain.

Aujourd’hui il faut que j’offre un sacrifice: je partirai demain.

Je veux leur couper la tête: je partirai demain.

Donne-moi de la poudre et des fusils: je partirai demain.

(Delafosse 1900: 180–1)

Such war songs in fact are sometimes more an expression and reinforcement of the militant strength of a group than a direct incitement to the fight or a part of the battle itself. Several of the military poems recorded for the warlike Nilotic peoples seem to be of this kind. They involve glorification, the expression of high morale, and, very often, refer to cattle—among the Nilotes there is a very common association between war and cattle raiding:

Great bull with testicles has been killed

It is Divinity

The dark clouds and the morning rain blow up

My mother abuk, Divinity my father, help me

My father garang, help me Divinity my father

If we sleep abroad,
⁴
the white cow of my father

Will bring us cows

Avoid the spear, my age-set Mayom, avoid the spear

An affair of the great spear (a great fight)

O my club!

The spear-haft in the man’s back quivers

deng kur is a powerful divinity.

If we sleep abroad, it brings cows

White cow of my father, I did not start the fight

The bulls meet head to head!

Cow which gave peace to my father

Cow bringing cows

Make peace as the Kongor tribe did with the Agar

Last year’s fighting is ended Last year’s fighting thus is ended

(Lienhardt 1961: 88–89; cf. also Tescaroli 1961, Ch. 3 (Shilluk))

The same associations with cattle come out in another Dinka war song where the ‘feast’ or sacrifice implies war and hostility to enemies:

Though the tribe holds a feast against me

I shall not fear,

Though all the people hold a feast against me

I shall not fear,

O my tribe, I am a bull with sharpened horns,

I am a maddened bull ….

(Lienhardt 1961: 282)

Some war poetry, then, is rather the expression of the general values relating to war than an immediate part of an actual military expedition. But other poems involve more direct participation, at least in the preliminaries and aftermath of war. The Ngoni of Malawi, for instance, had two main branches of war songs: first
imigubo,
those specifically intended for singing before going out to fight; and secondly
imihubo,
sung on their return. The first type was still being sung in the 1930s, danced in full war dress with shields and spears, and performed in the Paramount Chief’s village, the traditional place of mobilization. The women too join in the dance, and the tempo works up and up to inspire the men with the lust for battle. Many of these songs seem brief, but much of the tune was sung to meaningless though rousing sounds—
inyo ho, oya ye yayo
and so on—and they were added to by the varied accompaniment of stamping feet and the clashing of spears and shields. (Read 1937: 29) Similar war songs from Malawi are mentioned by Kidney. When sung they are accompanied by small drums, by the brandishing of spears, and by bodily movements signifying courage and defiance, which stir up warlike feelings:

Fight now! Come and fight now!

Slay them! We’ll brandish spears!

Straight forth doth speed your arrow.

Tremble! Yes!
They
tremble!

When
we
draw near,

And
far
they’ll flee as we approach them!

Sharpen keen your arrows!

Brave heads upraised and shouting

Loudly our defiance.

All they who oppose us.

Quickly our spears

Shall pierce their breasts. They will be scattered.

(Kidney 1921: 26)

It is common for songs celebrating military success to become highly developed after the return home. For example, the Kamba of Kenya make the return into a triumphal procession. Special honour is ceremonially given to a Kamba man who has earned the high title of
mutiaetumo,
i.e. one who has personally killed a Masai warrior. Such a man leads his triumphant band round the villages. When they approach a village, they strike up their songs of victory. The hero is praised but his comrades’ help is not forgotten:

You wonder: he who sings the song of victory, who is he? He is
mutiaetumo
X (here follows his real name), who has fought with the men of cattle [Masai], but if we had not helped each other, he should not have come out of it successfully,
aaaaah!
(Lindblom 1920: 199)

The women play their part by greeting the warriors with shrill cries—
lili, lili, lili, lili!
—their normal way of expressing joy and delight, thus adding to the display and to the men’s sense of heroism.

The use of war poetry in the actual face of the enemy is best documented for certain peoples of North-West Africa. The Galla
gheraera,
warriors’ boasting, is often in the form of a challenge, sometimes hurled between two armies (Chadwicks iii, 1940: 548–49). The Somali
geeraar
also played an active part in war. Challenges to another clan to fight at an appointed place used to be delivered in this form, and it was also used to insult the enemy before the battle, at the same time raising the singer’s morale. The
geeraar
is characterized by a note of urgency and rapid movement and was traditionally recited on horseback (Andrzejewski and Lewis 1964: 49). Among other groups, however, such as some of the Southern Bantu, the convention was to utter certain set war cries rather than songs at the time of the actual charge.

War songs are possibly also sometimes sung in triumph on the victorious field of battle. This is supposed—perhaps speculatively—to have been the case with an old Bemba war song more recently sung only round the camp fire, but originally, it is said, it was sung by warriors dancing round the slain brandishing their spears. In it the chief is described sending out his warriors; on their return they

Sing songs of victory, saying,

‘Sompa, sompa, sompa, sompa, sompa’, with the heads of the slain.

(O’Ferrall 1926-8: 841)

But there are not, in fact, many references to singing at the actual moment of victory. The most frequent occasions seem to be as the war parties depart or return home, at later celebrations after victory, or, occasionally, as challenge and insult before an actual battle.

Figure 14. Ceremonial staff of Ogun, Yoruba, 25 ins high, top figure on horse 6 ¼ ins, probably late eighteenth century [detail]. Ogun is the Yoruba and Haitian god of iron, hunting, politics, blacksmiths and (the users of iron weapons) warriors. He is shown here, as often, on horseback, holding a spear (for further details see information in
http://www.mamiwata.com/ogun.html
).

Also common are poems in which the events of war are touched on in retrospect. The exploits of war, together with religious topics, are the most common themes of poems associated with the Islamic tradition, as
among the Swahili or the Hausa. It has already been said that, apart from Islamic influence, narrative poetry is not a typical form in African oral literature, and it is not surprising to find that in many of the poems about war the element of narrative is overshadowed by that of glorification, so that one cannot always draw the line between war poetry and panegyric (including praise at funeral celebrations). The praise poems of the Southern Bantu, discussed in an earlier chapter, have war and military prowess as one of their main themes, and the same blend of praise and interest in battle heroism can be seen in the ‘heroic recitations’ of the Ankole Hima. (Morris 1964) In Ruanda, Kagame describes military poetry as taking two main forms. (Kagame 1956–7, also Coupez and Kamanzi 1962) The heroic
ibitekerezo
(the conquests of Ruanda) are preserved by the court bards as a type of ‘classical’ military poetry. When young men are being trained in the military arts, they have to learn these poems and try to compose others in the same style. In these, it seems, the narrative element is the more marked. The second type, however, is much more in the form of panegyric. These are the lyric odes termed
ibyivugo,
composed by the court bards to exalt the exploits of heroes. There is no exact correspondence with real acts, for the point is to celebrate high and often fictitious deeds rather than to record (‘c’était de la Poésie; oeuvre d’imagination’), (Kagame 1956–57: 119) and the descriptions of battles are decorated by the frequent use of praise names glorifying the hero and his companions—’Prodigue-de-blessures’, ‘Chagrins-des-pays-étrangers’, and so on. Contemplation and description of battle after the event seem inevitably to be expressed as glorification and praise.