Oral Literature in Africa (17 page)

Footnotes

1
   A great number of these Arabic manuscripts have been collected and catalogued in recent years. See e.g. Monteil 1965–7; Hunwick 1964; Bivar and Hiskett 1962; Whitting 1943; Kensdale 1955, 1956; Hodgkin (in Lewis 1966); Vajda 1950.

2
   See the work of e.g. Werner, Dammann, Allen, Harries and Knappert.

3
   Though see recent work by Hiskett and Paden on Hausa poetry and the production of various texts in Fulani (e.g. by Lacroix and Sow).

4
   The Tuareg are marginally outside the area covered in this work and are only touched on in passing. For an account of their written and oral literature see Chadwicks iii, 1940: 650 ff, and references to date given there. Among more recent works on Tuareg see Nicolas 1944; Lhote 1952 (AA. 4. 310); also de Foucauld 1925–30. The North African Berbers are excluded here.

5
   Cf. the English translation of the fourteenth-century chronicle
The Glorious Victories of ‘Amda Seyon, King of Ethiopia
(Huntingford 1965). On Ethiopian literature in general (particularly oral) see Chadwicks iii, 1940: 503 ff., and bibliography to date there; also (mainly on written literature): Cerulli 1956; Lifchitz 1940
b
; Ullendorf 1960, Ch. 7; Conti Rossini 1942, Klingenheben 1959 and various articles in
J. Ethiopian Studies
and
Rass. studi etiop
.

6
   An exception is the interesting but controversial discussion of different periods in Zulu praise poetry in Kunene’s unpublished thesis (1962), summarized in Cope 1968: 50 ff.

7
   
The World Year Book of Education
London 1965: 443 (possibly an exaggeration but it is clear the number is still very high).

8
   See the description in Fernandez 1962.

9
   See for instance the political songs, Christian lyrics, work songs, topical songs, and children’s singing games described later, as well as the increasing use of radio.

10
  Including the sub-families of West Atlantic, Mandingo, Gur, Kwa, Ijaw, Central, and Adamawa-Eastern (Greenberg 1963, 1962: 17)

11
  It includes among others the Nilotic and ‘Nilo-Hamitic’ languages.

12
  The once-accepted view that certain languages outside the Afro-Asiatic family (as now recognized) are wholly or partly ‘Hamitic’ (e.g. Fulani, Bushman, Masai) and that the history of these and other areas in Africa could therefore he explained by successive incursions of ‘Hamites’ (racially white) is now rejected by professional scholars of Africa.

13
  The account here is largely based on this classic article, also Lestrade 1937.

14
  Zulu proverbs are frequently exhibit in metrical form.

15
  It is worth bearing this in mind since in most cases it has only been possible to include translations of the literary examples quoted.

16
  Evans-Pritchard 1962: 143; cf, also E. E. Evans-Pritchard 1961; for other discussions of ideophones in non-Bantu languages see e.g. Equilbecq i, 1913: 100–2 (West Africa); Finnegan 1967: 80–1 (Limba); Galaal and Andrzejewski 1956: 94 (‘imitative words’ in Somali), as well as many passing references in collections of stories, etc..

17
  On Arabic influences see also Sow 1965, and the interesting analysis of a Fulani poem by Seydou 1966.

18
  For some further references to questions of prosody see Coupez and Kamanzi 1957, and 1962: 8–9; Coupez 1958, 1959 (on the quantitative element in Rundi and Ruanda verse); Klingenheben 1959 (argues from Amharic popular songs that metre is based on accent rather than, according to the usual view, on syllabic numbering).

19
  Among them perhaps some of the Southern Bantu languages, Swahili, Fulani, Hausa, Dogon, and some Kwa groups on the West African coast; but even in these cases there has not been systematic or rigorous coverage.

II. POETRY

4.  Poetry and Patronage

Variations in the poet’s position. Court poets. Freelance and wandering poets. Part-time poets
.

This chapter is intended to give some account of the conditions in which African oral poets produce their works, and the audiences to which they address themselves. However, even the most summary account of this topic is a matter of great difficulty. This is partly because of sheer lack of data. Even those who have spent time and care recording African texts have frequently taken next to no interest in the position of the authors or reciters. A related but more profound cause of confusion lies in the popular images which underlie the work of many commentators on African oral literature, images which suggest some general and simple pattern to which these poets are expected to conform.

One commonly held view of the position of the poet among unlettered peoples seems ultimately to derive from the picture of the rhapsodist of the Homeric age. The bard is depicted as standing before the gathered lords to chant the heroic lays handed down through the generations, rewarded with honour and rich gifts. It seemed to some earlier writers natural to assume that African societies were at a certain evolutionary stage, one long since passed by Indo-European peoples, and that the type of poetry and of patronage apparently once found in the latter would be discoverable in the former. This image of the bard delivering his rude but stirring verses to barbaric audiences has gained a profound hold on the popular imagination from its vivid representation in literature as well as in scholarly works inspired by the concept of ‘the heroic age’.

There is another common image which presents an opposite picture. In this the poetry of non-literate peoples is seen as in some way arising directly and communally from the undifferentiated folk. In this case song is its own reward and the specialized role of the poet has not yet made its appearance.

In fact neither picture fits the varied nature of poetry in Africa: This will be immediately obvious: as soon as the question is raised it is self-evident that any study of the conditions and background of poetry in Africa can no longer afford to rely on such half-consciously held generalizations but must proceed to a much more rigorous and detailed investigation of the actual position of poets in the various societies. Some poets, it is clear already, are associated with royal courts and receive reward as professionals. Others depend on private enterprise, perhaps wandering from patron to patron and living on their wits. Others gain their basic livelihood from farming or cattle-keeping (or whatever the local basis of subsistence may be), but are marked out by their expert skill on special occasions. Finally, in some contexts poets are not set apart from their fellows in terms of training, reward, or position. Indeed, almost every category of relationship between poet and audience can be found in Africa in one context or another. These differences are not confined to different geographical areas but can be discovered even within a single society. Even in one culture (Hausa or Fulani, for instance, or, to a lesser extent, Ashanti) one can sometimes see the coexistence of a learned and a more popular tradition, and it is common for many different genres of poetry to be recognized simultaneously, each with its own type of performer, reward, and occasion. No single picture can cover all these variations and even the most cursory account of poetry in Africa must begin by insisting on the variety before going on to discuss certain common patterns.

I

The practice of poetic composition and performance as a specialist art is not uncommon in Africa. Poetry is, by and large, differentiated from prose as being marked by greater specialism. The most specialized genres of poetry occur in association with royal courts. The other familiar form of patronage—religion—is also relevant, but in an organized form it is less significant.

In the traditional kingdoms of Africa, with their royal courts and clearly marked differences in wealth, power, and leisure, court poetry flourished. Poets were attached to the courts of powerful kings, to the retinues of nobles or lesser chiefs, and to all those who had pretensions to honour and thus to poetic celebration in their society. The speciality of these court poets was, of course, panegyric, a form illustrated in the following chapter. One can cite the elaborate praise poems of the Zulu or Sotho in southern
Africa, the poems of the official singers of the ruler of Bornu, the royal praises of the Hausa emirs, the eulogies addressed to rulers in the various kingdoms of the Congo, and many others. In all these areas the ruling monarchs and their ancestors were glorified in poems, and real and ideal deeds were attributed to them in lofty and effusive language. The court poets sometimes had other functions too. Preservation of the historical record and of genealogies, for example, was often a part of their art, and it is sometimes suggested that this was at times a distinctive activity carried on in its own right. But in spite of repeated assertions about this,
¹
there are few details about the actual performance or expression of historical poetry as distinct from panegyric, and we have to content ourselves with vague generalizations.
²
It is clear, at least, that a knowledge of accepted history in the sense of the glorification of the great deeds of royal ancestors or present rulers was a necessary part of the cultivation of panegyric poetry, and that praise poems are a fruitful source of the currently authorized interpretations of certain historical events and genealogies. What we always come back to in the productions of these court poets is the adulatory aspect, giving rise to poetry of profound political significance as a means of political propaganda, pressure, or communication.

The actual position and duties of these court poets vary in different areas. In some cases a poet holds a single clearly recognized office among a ruler’s entourage. This was so with the Zulu and other Bantu kingdoms of southern Africa where not only the paramount king but also every chief with any pretensions to political power had, wherever possible, his own
imbongi
or praiser. This was an official position at the court, important enough to the rulers to have survived even the eclipse of much of their earlier power. The
imbongi
’s profession was to record the praise names, the victories, and the glorious qualities of the chief and his ancestors, and to recite these in lengthy high-sounding verse on occasions which seemed to call for public adulation of the ruler. The poet had two duties: to remember and to express the appropriate eulogies. Though these praises tended to have a set and recognized form (particularly those of dead rulers), the poet’s task did not consist of mere memorizing. The praises had no absolute verbal immutability, and emotional and dramatic force in actual recitation
was expected of a successful
imbongi
. The lofty strain of these Zulu eulogies and the impressiveness of their delivery can be pictured from a few lines taken from the praises of a Zulu king; they glorify the swiftness and completeness of his victory over the foe:

Faster-than-the-sun-before-it-has-risen!

When it rose the blood of men had already been shed.

The Bush, ‘the Buck-catcher’, caught the men of Sekwayo’s.

He made men swim who had forgotten how,

Yes! even in the pools!…

The tobacco fields rotted even to pulp!

The wrapping-mats were finished at Banganomo;

At (the kraal) of Kuvukuneni,

At that at Mdiweni, even Vimbemsheni’s,

At that at Bukledeni,

At that at Panyekweni

(Grant 1927: 227)

In many West African kingdoms the pattern is more complicated. A whole band of poets is often involved, the various members making their own specialist contributions to the performance. Musical as well as verbal elements play a part, so that the skills of many different performers are necessary. Among the Ashanti, for instance, there were not only minstrels (
kwadwumfo
) to recount the deeds of past kings whenever the living king appeared in public, but also royal horn-blowers and a band of court drummers especially appointed as part of the ruler’s formal entourage and over whose performances he held a kind of monopoly. On state occasions these drummers provided both music and the type of ‘drum poems’ described in a later chapter—the drum-beats or notes of the horn being ‘heard’ as actual words, praising the ruler and his predecessors and commemorating the glorious victories of the past. Such performances were an essential part of state occasions: at state receptions at the palace or out of doors; in processions to display the regalia or visit some sacred spot; and at national festivals, state funerals, and political functions like the installations of new chiefs or the swearing of oaths of allegiance by sub-chiefs.
³
Again, in the old and powerful kingdom of Dahomey there was not just one but a series of royal orchestras charged with praising the power of the royal dynasty, the high deeds of past kings, and the glory of the present ruler. Every morning in Abomey concerts were held by the
main state orchestra before the royal palace, and when the king went out it accompanied him to sing his praises (Da Cruz 1954: 13). A final well-known West African example is that of the maroka teams of praisers still associated with the wealthy and cultivated Islamic emirates of the Hausa of Northern Nigeria. These highly specialized teams are attached permanently to the office of the king, and, to a lesser extent, to that of District Heads. Smith describes the king’s team:

The king’s musicians and
maroka
form an organized group containing one or more titular series and effective authority hierarchies. The group is both more numerous and specialized in its musical functions, and more permanently attached to the title, than are the teams linked to District headships, which are similarly organized. Many of the royal maroka proudly describe themselves as royal slaves, and point to the fact that their ancestors held titles as royal musicians under earlier kings. It seems that there is at least a core of such
maroka
hereditarily attached to the throne. The king’s musical troupe is also peculiar in containing one
marokiya
(female praiser), who formerly had the title of
Boroka
in Zaria, but is nowadays known as
Zabiya
(the guinea-hen) from the shrill ululating sound which it is her function to let out at odd moments, such as during the king’s address to his assembled subjects after
Sallah
. Other specialized musical functions in the royal troupe include blowing on the long silver horns or shorter wooden ones, playing on the
taushe
(a small hemispherical drum), and singing the royal praises in Fulani, the last being the task of
maroka
recruited from among the Bombadawa Fulani. Royal
maroka
are in constant attendance at the palace, and announce the arrival of distinguished visitors such as the Resident, Divisional Officer, District Chiefs, and the like, by trumpet fanfares, drumming, and shouting. They also salute the king on the Sabbath eve and nightly during the annual fast of
Ramadan
, when the royal drums (
tambari
) are regularly played. The king’s
maroka
address no one except their master, unless to herald visitors into his presence. They are allocated compounds, farm-lands, and titles by the king, who may also give them horses and frequently provides them with clothes, money, or assistance at weddings as well as with food …. As befits their position, the royal maroka are unique within the state and work only as a team

(Smith 1957: 31).
⁴

In spite of differences in status and medium of expression, there are obvious similarities in the positions of all these court poets. They all depended on royal or chiefly patronage, given them in an official capacity and often implying exclusive rights over their services. Their performances were public with the emphasis, it appears, on their ceremonial functions rather than their entertainment value. And their audiences were primarily those who attended either the royal court or state occasions in the royal capital. To some extent this type of poetry must also have filtered down to other levels of society, with every local chief and leader attempting to follow the model of the ruler. But it seems that it was at the centre that court poetry and music were cultivated in their most specialized and exclusive form.

Many of these court poets seem to have been true professionals in the sense that they gained their livelihood from their art. Their official position at court presumably gave them a share in the greater luxury and leisure of court life, though the degree must have varied from area to area—more marked, say, in the wealthy and specialized Hausa emirates than in the kingdoms of southern Africa. However, the exact economic position of court poets is obscure. There is little detailed evidence about, for instance, the relative wealth of specialized poet and ordinary subject, or how far court poets could count on steady economic support as distinct from occasional lavish gifts. The whole subject merits further investigation.

The question of specialized training is also not very clear. That apprenticeship in some sense was involved is obvious, but this was probably sometimes of an informal kind, perhaps particularly when, as with the Hausa or the Yoruba, there was some hereditary tendency. In the case of highly specialized skills, however, there must also be a certain amount of quite formal training. This is so with Ashanti players of the speaking drums (Nketia 1963
b
: 156–7), the Fang
mvet
singers (Towo-Atangana 1965: 172), or the highly specialized bards of Ruanda.

It is worth considering the Rwanda school of poetry and its complex corporation of poets in some detail. They are among the few official poets of Africa whose life and learning have been described at all fully and they provide a striking instance of the specialized and learned artistic tradition which can develop in a once-termed ‘simple’ society.
⁵

In the highly centralized traditional kingdom of Ruanda, the royal poets had their own association and were officially recognized as holding a privileged position within the state. They were in charge of the delivery
and preservation of the dynastic poems whose main object was to exalt the king and other members of the royal line. This was only one branch among the three main types of Rwanda poetry (dynastic, military, and pastoral) which corresponded to the three pivots of their society (king, warrior, and cattle). It was in turn divided into three sub-types, different genres through which the king’s praises could be declaimed.