Oral Literature in Africa (43 page)

Where one sees birds in their flight, there is water;

Where one hears the sound of women’s laughter, there is a kraal.

A palm stick bow does not like the rainy season (it warps);

A woman fond of a man does not like to be among people.

(Loeb 1950: 847, 848)
¹⁶

An analogy with nature is also made in a very light-hearted love song by a young Soga in East Africa:

All things in nature love one another.

The lips love the teeth,

The beard loves the chin,

And all the little ants go ‘brrr-r-r-r’ together.

(Tracey 1963: 20)

Zulu love poetry often seems to be by women, a feature that has parallels elsewhere in Africa. Dhlomo gives one girl’s song that is both realistic and romantic:

Never shall I fall in love with a suckling.

Joy, joy, O mother, this one sleeps unrealising.

Never shall I fall in love with one who is no ladies’ man.

Joy, joy, O mother, this one sleeps unrealising.

I would like to fall in love with a dashing he-man.

Joy, joy, O mother, this one sleeps unrealising.

Would love him-who-appears-and-causes-heart-aches!

Joy, joy, O mother, this one sleeps unrealising.

Yes, I would like a whirlwind of a man!

Joy, joy, O mother, this one sleeps unrealising.

(Dhlomo 1947: 7)

In much more disillusioned vein is another Zulu love song, this time by an older woman living in Durban, where she runs her own small group of singers. The song expresses all her despair and the mundane yet heart-breaking aspects of parting:

I thought you loved me,

Yet I am wasting my time on you.

I thought we would be parted only by death,

But to-day you have disappointed me.

You will never be anything.

You are a disgrace, worthless and unreliable.

Bring my things. I will put them in my pillow.

You take yours and put them under your armpit.

You deceived me.

(Tracey 1948
b
: 41)

Among the Luo of Kenya, too, love songs are sung by women. The final examples of love poetry will be taken from their
oigo
lyrics, one of the many types of songs in Luo country.
¹⁷
These are love songs in a slightly different sense from the ones already quoted.

The
oigo
are songs sung by young girls on their way to visit the young men they are courting. The girls walk to the hut where they are to be entertained by the men, by the light of the full moon. As they go, they sing these songs, individually or in groups, taking it in turns to sing the whole way. ‘There was no formal order of singing; the more musically gifted girls or the more effusive took the leading part according to their
mood’ (Owuor 1961: 51). Meanwhile the young men are waiting, straining their ears for the first sounds of the song. When it is heard, one of them announces to the rest, at the top of his voice: ‘The landing has taken place, they have arrived.’ The girls come and are welcomed with gifts. And then the evening’s entertainment proceeds, the men playing on reed flutes while the girls sing their
oigo
songs.

These songs have their own special form. The tunes are simple and rather repetitive with an insistent rhythm. The most striking aspect is the singer’s vocal style. ‘The singer trills in a bird-like voice and conveys an impression of being possessed by the stream of song within her, breathless and helpless. The emotions expressed are often sorrowful and almost hysterical, yet the singer exults in her ability to sing endlessly like a bird’ (Owuor 1961: 52). This distinctive style comes out, even in translation, in the following poem. The characteristic refrain,
doree ree yo
, is far more repetitive and appealing than can be represented in an English text:

I am possessed,

A bird bursting on high with the
ree
lament

I am the untiring singer.

Dear bird, let’s sing in rivalry

Our
doree ree yo
…;

It is my wayward self,

Singing in rivalry

The
doree ree yo
;

I am the untiring singer

That rocks far-off Mombasa

With the
aree ree yo
;

It is the voice crying the
doree

That rocks far-off Nakuru;

I am the compelling
Ondoro
drum,

The bird bursting with the
doree
’s plaintive tones;

I am the untiring singer

Choking herself with the
doree ree yo
.

(Owuor 1961: 53)

Sometimes the emphasis of the song is on the sorrow of the singer, or the way she is possessed by the song. At other times we are given a picture of another side of her nature—wilful and unpredictable, her impulsiveness breaking through the ordinary rules of behaviour. This comes out in one song that is arranged round the image of a family setting out, led by the favourite bull who symbolizes their unity. Impulsively, the girl runs ahead
to keep up with the animal, in spite of the pain in her chest from her exertion:

Our bull is starting off for Holo,

The Kapiyo clan have fine cattle.

Our bull is starting off for Holo,

The Kapiyo clan have fine cattle.

Then the giggling one said,

Then the playful one said,

(How amusing)

The impulsive
ree
singer

Is a forest creature lamenting the pain in her chest;

The forest creature lamenting the pain in her chest,

The spirited one lamenting the pain in her chest,

The giggling
ree
singer

Is a forest creature lamenting the pain in her chest,

The
Nyagwe Gune
lamenting the pain in her chest,

The impulsive
ree
singer

Is a forest creature lamenting the pain in her chest.

Our bull is starting off for Holo,

The Kapiyo have fine cattle;

The Kadulo clan is a bull which starts off for Holo,

The Kapiyo have fine cattle.

(Owuor 1961: 54)

In these songs, a special picture of girlhood is presented. It is one which does not necessarily correspond in all ways to the reality, but forms a conventional part of this particular form of art:

She lives in a dreamland, though much tempered by the idealised role she longs to fill in the community …. As with a bird, singing appears to be the natural outpouring of the life force itself. The prestige of clan and family depended not only on the prowess of its young men but also on the zealous way in which its women represented its interests in song and dance. For a group of girls the oigo was a means of announcing their presence and of differentiating themselves from the older married women; for an individual a way of expressing her idiosyncrasies (Owuor 1962: 52).

I’m still complaining,

Crying the
ree ree ree,

I’m still complaining,

Ever tearful with the
ree ree ree,

I’m still complaining;

The redo-singer’s unceasing complaint,

Scion of young women

Still complaining,

Ever tearful with the ree ree ree,

I’m still complaining.

I am in love with the oigo;

I cry the
ree ree ree

Infatuated with the oigo;

The redo-singer’s unceasing complaint

Blasting Amimo’s hearth

With constant complaining;

Ever tearful with the
ree ree ree
,

I’m still complaining.
¹⁸

III

Songs in Africa are very frequently in antiphonal form. That is, there is response of some kind between soloist and chorus, and the song depends on the alternation between the two parts. The role of the soloist (or ‘cantor’) is crucial. It is he who decides on the song, and when it should start and end. Even more important, he can introduce variations on the basic theme of the song in contrast to the part of the chorus, which is more or less fixed. In other cases, the soloist has complete scope to improvise his part of the verse as he chooses (apart perhaps from the very first line). This type of composition results in many impromptu and often ephemeral lyrics.

Within the general antiphonal form, which has often been mentioned as one of the main characteristics of African song, there are several possible variations. This is partly a question of who the performers are. Sometimes, for instance, there is more than one cantor; two or even three may interchange verses with each other as well as with the accompanying chorus. In other special musical types, the singers take turns in leading the singing, or two answer each other’s song. But, as will appear, even in
the most basic type (one leader/one chorus) there is scope for variety and elaboration.

One of the simplest forms, at first sight at least, and one that seems to occur widely in Africa, is repetition of two phrases between soloist and chorus. Nketia terms this pattern the ‘call and response’ form and shows how even this type of antiphony can be elaborated in actual performance (Nketia 1962: 28ff).
¹⁹
At its simplest level, one that occurs, for instance, in children’s games or other action songs, there is merely a repeated interchange between leader and group, the first singing his own phrase (A), the chorus coming in with theirs (B).
²⁰
But there are also more complex forms.

Various techniques of elaboration of the basic A-B form may be employed. Variations in text, in melody or both may be introduced in the cantor’s phrase (A) while the balancing responsive phrase (B) sung by the chorus remains the same. Interest may be further enhanced by varying the beginning and ending point of the cantor’s phrase in such a way as to make this part overlap with the chorus response. In addition to these, a little elaboration in the form of a short introduction based on the words of the song may be sung by the cantor or by a member of the chorus who wishes to start a new song before the leading phrase (A) is begun. Examples of this will be found in the music of
kple
worship of the Ga people. It is also greatly exploited in Adangme
klama
music (Ibid.: 29).

Songs founded on this type of repetition are basically short, though the actual repetitions may be drawn out almost indefinitely. Further extensions of the basic principle are also common. One might be built up on a kind of sequential pattern so that A and B are repeated at different levels, resulting in a form of A B A
¹
B
¹
. The complete unit (now of four sections, or even of six, eight, or more) can be repeated several times over. In this type too the cantor is at liberty to introduce slight variations, melodic or textual. The words of the chorus usually remain the same, though in some elaborations they are changed while the cantor’s part stays the same. As can be seen, many other combinations are also possible—like, for instance, the A
¹
B, A
²
B, A
³
B pattern of many Limba songs.

All these elaborations of the ‘call and response’ pattern basically involve the balance of sections sung by leader and chorus against each other, and
depend essentially on repetition. This raises the problem of how the song is ended. Sometimes the end is abrupt and the leader simply stops; but at other times he joins in the chorus response, often with a prolonged final note. In other songs there is a special closing refrain.

Another type of antiphonal collaboration between leader and chorus is the ‘solo and chorused refrain’ (Nketia 1962: 30–1). In songs of this pattern there is not the same balanced alternation between the two parts. Instead the soloist merely introduces the song. The cantor might sing the entire verse of the song right through once, and this is then repeated by the chorus. An example of this is the simple but effective Ghanaian song:

I sleep long and soundly;

Suddenly the door creaks.

I open my eyes confused,

And find my love standing by.

Mother Adu, I am dying.

Adu, kinsman of Odurowa,

What matters death to me?

(Nketia 1963
a
: 37)
²¹

In the Ewe
nyayito
dance songs, in which new words are continually being composed, the first cantor sings the whole song through unaccompanied. By singing in a dramatic tone he can encourage people to join the dance (Jones 1959: 75). In other cases, the cantor sings only a short introductory phrase, and the chorus then sings the main song. The form is highly flexible:

When the cantor has sung through, he may sing a short leading phrase before the chorus comes in. This leading phrase may also be added to a cantor’s introduction. Further, the main chorus refrain can be interrupted by a cantor at appropriate points …. Furthermore a number of cantors may take turns at leading the chorus. Either of them may sing an introductory phrase before the chorus comes in, or they may take turns at leading each new verse. Sometimes cantors singing in twos are encountered. All these show that this form is flexible, and that there is room for building up complex sectional patterns on the basis of the singing roles taken by the participants.

(Nketia 1962: 31)

There are other possible variants. There are various combinations of the two main types described, including songs like the well-known Adangme
klama,
which open with an introductory section by the cantor sung in free rhythm, followed by a section in strict tempo with a solo lead and chorus refrain (or overlapping solo and chorus parts), repeated three or
more times; each new stanza can then be treated in much the same way as the song proceeds (Nketia 1958
a
: 28). Sometimes basically solo songs in declamatory style are supplemented by a chorus or instrumental addition (Nketia 1962: 31). In other songs the antiphony is between two soloists rather than solo and chorus. Thus the Kassena-Nankani of northern Ghana have a special type of song in which a young man who wishes to sing the praises of a girl conventionally asks the assistance of a friend: this results in a kind of duet by the two men accompanied by gourd percussion (Nketia 1962: 27). Alternatively the antiphony may be between two choruses. This is the common pattern, for instance, in the Limba women’s song which accompanies the boys’
gbondokale
dance and involves almost endless repetition of only a few phrases. Another example is the Zulu wedding song where, after the leader has stated the theme, it is taken up first by the chorus of women, and then by the men who answer with a contrasting theme, overlapping with the women’s singing (Cope 1959: 35).