Read Oral Literature in Africa Online
Authors: Ruth Finnegan
The path has crossed the river,
The river has crossed the path,
Which is the elder?
We made the path and found the river.
The river is from long ago,
From the Ancient Creator of the Universe.
(Nketia 1963
b
: 47)
The Akan have a special cycle of proverbs associated with the Akantam dance and especially constructed for performance on drums. These have a regular metrical form and are marked by repetition of words, phrases, and sentences which create metrical and musical effects. In this Akantam series, each piece contains at least two proverbs. It is preceded by special introductory rhythms, and the proverbs are then beaten out in unison by all the heavy drums while the small drums provide the musical ‘ground’. As the piece proceeds, the proverbs are repeated as a refrain, and the piece is concluded with special rhythms which merge into the introduction of the next piece in the cycle (Nketia 1958
c
: 49).
This form can be illustrated from a long example published by Nketia.It consists of about twenty stanzas interspersed with refrains drawn from two proverbs. I give only a short extract from the second half:
The great Toucan
I have, bestirred myself,
Let little ones lie low.
But Duiker Adawurampon Kwamena,
Who told the Duiker to get hold of his sword?
The tail of the Duiker is short,
he is able to brush himself with it
.
Kurotwamansa, the Leopard, lies in the thicket.
The thicket shakes and trembles in the dark forest.
Duiker Adawurampon Kwamena,
Who told the Duiker to get hold of his sword?
The tail of the Duiker is short,
But he is able to brush himself with it
.
The antelope lies in its thicket-lair,
The hunter lures him with his call.
The hunter deserves to die. For he will not answer him.
Duiker Adawurampon Kwamena,
Who told the Duiker to get hold of his sword?
The tail of the Duiker is short,
But he is able to brush himself with it
.
Wild Bear, Akuampon,
How did it happen that the water buck got tied up in cords?
It is because he could not hold his tongue.
Duiker Adawurampon Kwamena,
Who told the Duiker to get hold of his sword?
The tail of the Duiker is short,
But he is able to brush himself with it
.
The tall forest palm tree is bent low.
The tall forest palm tree is bent low.
Whether it will fall or not,
The jealous one is mighty anxious, over-anxious, over-anxious;
The jealous one is deeply anxious, over-anxious, over-anxious.
(Nketia 1958
c
: 51–2)
Panegyric poetry is a genre to which public and ceremonial performance in drum language is particularly suited, whether the actual medium happens to be in fact drums, gongs, or wind instruments. Especially in parts of West Africa, praise poetry on drums and other instruments may take a complex and specialized form and is particularly common on public or state occasions. For Southern Nigeria, for instance, Armstrong quotes the following praise; it is taken from a performance in the royal court of the chief of Igumale, and is spoken by a flute. Throughout the poem the chief is praised in the imagery of a leopard:
Akpa killed those who have horses
coza loga
.
7
The leopard in power is no toy!
The mouth of him who goes wrongly and pays a fine is what is guilty!
8
O
go tikpa logwu gokpaawaga
!
9
When the land is dry (‘strong’) they will wait for the rains!
10
When the leopard is on the way, the animals fear.
When the kite calls, it is noon.
11
The locusts swarm!
12
Big, powerful man
cuna zegha
.
When there is a lion, there is a leopard!
13
The Chief, a full-bodied leopard in the hole!
The horses, here they are!
14
When the Chief did this, did that, they said it is not fitting. The Chieftaincy is not a plaything!
When the girls have no husbands, they say they belong to the Chief! The girl from the corner with shame in her head, let her take shame from her head, for dancing is no plaything!
15
The leopard and the Chief have claws, have claws; the leopard and the Chief are coming today!
When the good thing is coming into public, what will the singer do today?
He who sits on the (royal) stool, Lion of lions, Chief, it is of him that I worry; the leopard and the Chief are no plaything!
He who is fitted for the kingship, let him be king! It is God who makes the King!
(Armstrong 1954: 362–3)
Again, one could quote from the elaborate drum praises so freely used among the Yoruba. The rulers of the old kingdom of Ede, for example, are still praised on the talking drum every month and in the course of all important festivals. These eulogies are built up on a series of praise verses. Thus in the drum praise of Adetoyese Laoye, the eleventh ruler, we have the building up of praises (mingled, as so often, with admonition) with the whole poem bound together by both the subject (the king) and the recurrent image of the tree:
Adetoyese Akanji, mighty elephant.
One can worship you, as one worships his head.
16
Son of Moware.
You enter the town like a whirlwind. You, son of Odefunke.
Egungun
17
blesses quickly when you worship him.
Orisha
18
blesses more quickly when you worship him.
My father Akanji is an orisha.
The more devoutly you worship him
The greater blessings you receive from Adetoyese Akanji.
Bless, and bless me continuously;
Akanji, and do not leave me unblessed.
Do not attempt to shake a tree trunk.
One who shakes a tree trunk, shakes himself.
One who tries to undo you, you who are as short as death,
He will only undo himself.
A wine tapper cannot tap wine from a coconut palm.
19
An elephant eats up the entire roots of an oro tree.
Do not behead me, I am not among them
I am not among the conspirators.
Conspirators, the hair on whose heads
Is ugly and ruffled.
A serious case may worry one but it will come to an end.
A serious case worries one, as if it will never be settled.
The case will be settled, and the slanderers and gossipers
Will be put to shame.
You met them in front, and you greet and greet them.
You met them behind you, and you greet and greet them
Your being courteous does not please them, like being insolent.
Keep on being insolent to them and their fathers!
It is unusual for one to greet his father’s slave and prostrate.
You Adetoyese Akanji, bend one foot to greet them,
You leave the other unbent!
20
You, a notorious confuser! You confused everybody by your appearance!
21
Akanji you confused all those
Who tie cloth round their waists, without carrying a child
22
I beg you in the name of God the great king, confuse me not!
Do not allow me to starve.
The leaves on a tree, do not allow the tree to feel the scorching sun.
You are a lucky person to wear the crown
A person who is on the throne
When the town prospers,
Is a lucky person to wear the crown.
(Laoye I [1965])
In a rather different style are the many Akan panegyrics for drums, used for honouring kings and chiefs both of the past and of the present. They
recall their origin, their parentage, and their noble deeds. The following is an extract from one of these praise poems, this time on the drum:
Korobea Yirefi Anwoma Sante Kotoko,
When we are about to mention your name,
We give you a gun and a sword.
You are the valiant man that fights with gun and sword.
If you were to decide, you would decide for war.
You hail from Kotoko, you are truly Kotoko.
Osee Asibe, you are a man,
You are a brave man,
You have always been a man of valour,
The watery shrub that thrives on stony ground,
You are the large odadee tree,
The tree with buttress that stands at Donkoronkwanta,
A man feared by men.
(Nketia 1963
b
: 45)
In another Akan example the chief is saluted and ushered to his seat by the drummer’s praise, while all remain standing until he is seated:
Chief, you are about to sit down,
Sit down, great one.
Sit down, gracious one.
Chief, you have plenty of seating space.
Like the great branch, you have spread all over this place.
Let us crouch before him with swords of state.
Ruler, the mention of whose name causes great stir,
Chief, you are like the moon about to emerge.
Noble ruler to whom we are indebted,
You are like the moon:
Your appearance disperses famine.
(Ibid.: 147)
Among the Akan and the Yoruba, drum poetry also appears in invocations to spirits of various kinds. Longer Akan poems sometimes open with stanzas calling on the spirits associated with the drum itself—the wood and its various components—or invoke certain deities or ancient and famous drummers. Important rituals are also commonly opened or accompanied by the suitable drum poems. ‘The Awakening’ is one that must be performed before dawn on the day of the Akan Adae festival:
The Heavens are wide, exceedingly wide.
The Earth is wide, very very wide.
We have lifted it and taken it away.
We have lifted it and brought it back,
From time immemorial.
The God of old bids us all
Abide by his injunctions.
Then shall we get whatever we want,
Be it white or red.
It is God, the Creator, the Gracious one.
‘Good morning to you, God, Good morning’
I am learning, let me succeed.
(Nketia 1963
b
: 44)
A final example from the Akan area will illustrate how drums can speak of the history of a community. This is from the drum history of the Mampon division of Ashanti published by Rattray in 1923. This type of poetry is performed on the public occasion of an Adae festival and, as Rattray points out, it has ‘a deeply sacred significance. The names of dead kings are not to be spoken lightly, and with the recounting of such a history comes no small sadness to the listener’ (Rattray 1923: 264). The history consists in all of twenty-nine stanzas, and opens with an invocation to the spirits associated with the drum. The actual historical record starts in the fourth of the stanzas quoted below:
(Spirit of) Earth, sorrow is yours,
(Spirit of) Earth, woe is yours,
Earth with its dust,
(Spirit of) the Sky,
Who stretches to Kwawu,
23
Earth, if I am about to die,
It is upon you that I depend.
Earth, while I am yet alive,
It is upon you that I put my trust.
Earth who received my body,
The divine drummer announces that,
Had he gone elsewhere (in sleep),
He has made himself to arise.
(As) the fowl crowed in the early dawn,
(As) the fowl uprose and crowed,
Very early, very early, very early.
We are addressing you,
And you will understand.
We are addressing you,
And you will understand …
(Spirit of) the fibre, Ampasakyi,
Where art thou?
The divine drummer announces that,
Had he gone elsewhere (in sleep),
He has made himself to arise,
He has made himself to arise;
(As) the fowl crowed in the early dawn,
(As) the fowl uprose, and crowed,
Very early, very early, very early.
We are addressing you,
And you will understand;
We are addressing you,
And you will understand.
Oh Pegs, (made from) the stump of the Ofema tree,
(Whose title is) Gyaanadu Asare,
Where is it that you are?
The divine drummer
24
announces that,
Had he gone elsewhere (in sleep),
He has made himself to arise,
He has made himself to arise.
(As) the fowl crowed in the early dawn,
(As) the fowl uprose and crowed,
Very early, very early, very early.
We are addressing you,
And you will understand;
We are addressing you,
And you will understand …
(Spirit of) Asiama Toku Asare,
25
Opontenten Asi Akatabaa
26
Asiama (who came from) the God of the Sky,
Asiama of the Supreme Being,
The divine drummer declares that,
Had he gone elsewhere (in sleep),
He has made himself to arise,
He has made himself to arise.
(As) the fowl crowed in the early dawn.
(As) the fowl uprose and crowed,
Very early,
Very early,
Very early,
We are addressing you,
And you will understand.
[Oh] Boafo Anwoma Kwakyie, Kwakyi, the tall one,
Kwakyi Adu Asare,
Whence camest thou?
Thou camest from Mampon-Kontonkyi, the place where the rock wears down the axe.
Mampon Kontonkyi Aniampam Boafo Anwoma Kwakyi,
Kon!
Who destroys towns, Firampon,
Alas!
Alas!
Alas! …
[Oh] Adu Boahen,