SONGS/ORAL POETRY

In African societies almost all communal activities are accompanied by song and dance. In most
societies there are songs for every stage and occasion of a per son’s life, from the cradle to the
grave.

There are songs at birth, naming ceremonies, songs, and lullabies, singing games, songs in
stories, initiation songs, marriage songs, work songs, war songs, praise songs, worship or
divination songs, and lastly funeral songs.
As opposed to narratives, which are prose, song and recitation are verse. They demand that the
composer should arrange his words in such a way that they should sound perfect
especially in terms of rhythm and melody. These together with the meaning of the words
enable the poet or the singer to express his feelings with the strongest impact possible. We
distinguish between recitation and song mainly on the basis of musical complexity. Normally,
musical features will be more pronounced in song than in recitation.

A song is a short poem or other set of words set to music or meant to be sung. A narrator may use
songs to convey diferent aspects.

Songs are majorly used to;

a. Create suspense.
b. Connect episodes/ plot development.
c. Predict what is to happen/foreshadow events.
d. Break tension within the audience.
e. Express the feelings of the narrator/character.

Classifiation of Songs
The classifcation used in this hand book is based on the functions served by songs in question.
1. Religious Songs
These are songs and poems performed during religious occasion or for spiritual purposes
(prayer, incantations, and invocations.)

Write one verse of a religious song you know.

2. Dirges/Elegiai Songs
These are songs sung during funeral ceremonies. In most African communities death was a
phenomenon taken very seriously based on its implications when it occurs, the loss of a beloved
and the sorrow that goes with it.
Death was variously conceived in communities e.g. death does not just occur but is caused by
some evil person or spirit; others believe that death is not a fnal thing. Life is a continuous process
and when someone dies he is simply transformed into the world of spirits.

They are sung during the actual burial and during remembrances, a memorial rite of the dead
or other post-burial ceremonies. These songs are sung round the corpse or round the house in
which the corpse is lying while awaiting burial. Dirges reveal the community’s attitude towards
death.

They also serve to mourn and console the bereaved, sing praises to the deceased and as
a lamentation towards death for taking away loved ones.
The expression of the bereavement or grief of the living took the form of song, wailing, weeping
etc.

The elegies are commonly sung by women. This is more so because these songs often involve
wailing, sobbing and weeping. This makes them suitable for women. In some societies there are
professional mourners although it is a very rare thing.

The kind of songs sung often varies from one community to another. The dirges may be seen to
reflect upon the age and importance of the deceased person. In most cases however the dirges are
an expression of the pain of separation, the sorrow caused by death, resignation and acceptance of
the inevitable.

Acholi funeral dirge:

I wait on the pathway in vain
He refuses to come again
Only one, beloved of my mother oh,
My brother blows like the wind
Fate has destroyed chief of youth completely
 I wait on the pathway in vain

Write one verse of a dirge you know

3. War Songs
There are songs performed by warriors during a war event. This could be sung as a preparation to
war, in order to boost the morale of the warriors. They could also be sung after a battle as the
warriors come back home victorious.
War songs were not confned to the battlefeld. War songs could also be sung in the absence
of war in order to reinforce the military might of a particular community. The songs are
sometimes accompanied by drumming brandishing of spears, and by bodily movements signifying
courage and defance, which stir up war like feelings.
Not all war songs glorify war. Some do exhibit the dangers and cost of war. There are always
casualties. The warrior leaves in the knowledge that he may not return but that he goes to do his
duty courageously.

War songs also express the general values relating to war.

Example:
Fight now! Come and fght 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 yo yo arrows!
Brave heads upraised and shouting
Loudly your defance
All they oppose us.
Quickly our spears
Shall pierce their breasts. They will be scattered

4. Work Songs
There are songs that accompany rhythmic work universally in Africa societies. This would include
chores or monotonous labour such as paddling, threshing, grinding corn or pounding, weeding,
mowing, launching a boat, sawing, hauling in fsh nets, floor beating, digging or hauling and
hunting. Work songs depend on the rhythm of the work rather than audience. Therefore, their use
vary with societies.

In recent times work, songs have also been observed among road workers, miners and boulders for
pulling trucks, road work, factory lands, miners etc.

These songs do lighten, coordinate and embellish agricultural labour and forms of work. Work
songs stand out from others in their directly functional relationship with the activity they
accompany. The joint singing co-ordinates the action and leads the workers to feel and work as
part of a cooperating group, not as separate individuals. The rhyme of the song still encourages
collaboration and control within the group, a pressure on all to take part equally within the given
framework. The function of rhythmical music in encouraging people to work harder, faster and with
more enjoyment.

Work songs can also comment on life in general on local events or on local characters and can
express ideas of love, friendship or even obscenity.
The form and style of work songs typically accompany collective rhythmical movements of the
leader and chorus. The soloist has more scope to develop or improvise his words, particularly when
he is not expected to take part in the work directly but can concentrate on his singing.

The most striking aspects of work songs are the emphasis on rhythm and melody and not the
words. The myth of the work provides the fxed framework within which the song must be
developed.

An Akamba work song

Pounding song
At Kitilis there are herdsmen, both boys and girls,
There are goats and lambs and cattle:
Mwesya, do I not call you in my poverty?
I have no family, I have no mother,
I have no relatives to call upon.
Death, I will not give him food or water
Seeing he has denied me my father and my family.
E! Grinding!
Musyoka,
I have no family, I have no mother,
The mother of my sister Vika, Lonza and Linda;
Ho w forlorn I am! Did I call you?
I do not share the sleep ing mat with Lonza.
Ho w forlorn I am, I have nothing of my own!
(Source: Jack Mapanje and Landeg White. Oral poetry from Africa, Long man: New York, 1983.)

5. Lullabies
These are songs sung principally to put the baby to sleep. They are sung in the soft tune that
enhances their soporifc efect. They employ simple language; one that children can easily identify
with. Lullabies may also employ onomatopoeic words especially designed at ensuring rhythm. At
times, nurses may sing lullabies expressing their attitude towards the mother of the children they
have been left in charge of.

Example below;
Bunyoro lullaby
Ha! That mother who takes her food alone
Ha! That mother before she has eaten
Ha! That mother she says,” Lull the baby for me.”
Ha! That mother, when she has f fnished eating,
Ha! That mother she says,” Give the child to me!”

6. Hunting Songs
These are songs sung by hunters on their way to or from hunting after a successful kill. They could
also be sung to express disappointment at having failed to catch any game. Praise and celebration
is often reserved for the killing of game considered particularly to be dangerous. These may be
animals such as elephant, lion, leopard or bufalo.
The hunter himself also sings boastfully of his exploits and retells his heroism in song designed for
an audience. The dangers and hardships of hunting are also common subjects.

Hunting songs are also often sung at the funerals of skilled hunters. Hunting associations also
sometimes have specialized festivals when, for example, they admit hunters to new ranks in the
hierarchy.

Below is an example of a hunting song performed after a hippopotamus has been killed?
Chop it, chop it,
Do take it and chop p it;
Do take it and chop it yourself.
Chipishya, bring the boat.
Have you killed it hunter?
Chishya bring the boat,
Chipishya bring the boat,
Have you killed it hunter?

7. Wedding/Marriage/Love Songs
Though many wedding songs capture the joy associated with wedding ceremonies, many songs
express sorrow at the thought of leaving the familiar home for an uncertain future. Other wedding
songs sing praises to the bride, the groom and their parents.

Example
Wedding song (from Isukha of Western Kenya)
It is hard,
Aloo,
It’s hard to leave your home
To go to another.
It’s hard to call another
Your mother.
Father was educated, at Korotis
And is a clerk
I have seen the clerk.
I have seen the clerk,
Mama was educated at “Chipyesi) (GBS: Girls Boarding School)
And is a nurse,
Mama wanted Mama wanted her child to be a
Nurse
Weed the garden of fruits
Weed mama’s garden of fruits
That they continue to yield.
Aloo!
Haa! Haa!

Love songs are sung and addressed to a beloved man or woman in the hope of marriage,
frustrated love or in praise of a loved one. Besides expressions of feeling they also teach in
morality and the expectations of the society in matter pertaining to marriage.

Write down one verse of a love song you know

8. Children’s Play Songs

African children seem to have the familiar range of games and verse for their own play – nonsense
songs, singing games, catch rhymes and so on. They also engage in riddle asking and in other
games and dances.
a) Nonsense songs
They frequently take the form of a kind of follow-up or progressive rhyme, usually in dialogue. The
sequences may be just for fun or may also include a defnite competitive content making up of a
kind of game. These songs pick on a particular petty thing or issue and sing about it and saying
nothing in particular. They are used by children to bring out their childishness. In such songs
children would sing about such things as frogs and cats.

The following song is sung by two groups of children (marked A and B respectively) in turns. The
children join their hands to form the circle and swing their hands as they sing.
A: Watata WA tiriri our house is excellent
B: Watata WA tiriri it cannot be better than ours
A: Watata WA Tiriri what is yours made of?
B: Watata WA tiriri ours is made of stone
A Watata WA tiriri ours is made of timber
B: Watata WA tiriri give us one person
A: Watata WA tiriri who m do you like to have?
B: Watata WA tiriri we would like Kariuki
A: Watata WA tiriri Kariuki why don’t you go?
At this point the boy named Kariuki moves from his group and joins the other group the other team
begins the song again and by the end of the session the two groups would have exchanged many
of their members.

b) Chain Songs - In chain songs every successive line is derived from the former.
c) A catch-rhymes/Tongue –twisting rhymes
They take the form of a game in which the point is to try to have one of the participants make an
error. In this Yoruba catch rhyme, a participant may err by mentioning that an inanimate object has
blood.
Lead Chorus
Who has blood? Blood, blood.
Has a goat blood? Blood blood.
Has a sheep blood? Blood blood.
Has a horse blood? Blood blood.
Has a stone blood? - -

A mistake results in laughter and sometimes-friendly beating.

Children also use a rhyme as parts of a hide-out-and seek game. The searcher faces the wall
singing his nonsense song while the others hide. When he reaches the question part of the song
the others must answer giving him a clue to their hiding–places.
d) Singing games
These are songs as part of the play activity. The singing is an integral part of the game. A common
one is the song sung by small girls the jump around a rope.
e) Naughty songs
Each age has its secret naughty things that they want to do or say only in the context of their age-
mates. For children they would taunt one another and occasional they may border on the absence.
Sometimes nursery school children have naughty songs taunting their teacher though in a light
note.
f) Trick – verse
This involves two groups engaged in a battle of wits using words in a song. Each group would
represent an idea, object or specifc group trying to prove to the other their supremacy. One group
could represent cats while the other represents dogs and each would try to show the other how he
is adored by men
g) Round songs
Several groups would be singing the same song but in a rotational form such that while the frst is
singing in the second line, the second starts the frst line and so on. Its intention is to ensure that
the members of each concentrate so that they are not outdone or overshadowed by the other.
h) Nursery chants
This is a modern category of songs sung in elementary schools to enhance the learning process.

9. Initiation/Ciriumiision Songs
These are sung during circumcision or other rites of passage. These are sometimes narrowly
perceived circumcision songs. They are sung when youngsters are being initiated into adults.
Their function is to educate the initiate or such things are tribal history, immorality expectations in
adulthood. Sometimes they can be used to encourage the initiates praise the fearless ones and
ridicule cowardice.

Example
A Kipsigis initiation song
We tell you we are going,
We men don’t mock us women.
We tell you circumcision is painful
But you can’t die.
We tell you step on the grass
While it falls down.
So we tell you children
Those go for circumcision like Europeans
Who go to their wedding calmly prepared?
We tell you
Stay frm like a stone
We shall be happy after your circumcision
Even those who, are passing, even
Brothers.
We tell you
I say thanks until we meet.
See you father, see you mother and
Relative
Till we meet.

10. Panegyrii/Praise Songs

These are also referred to mass praise songs. They are sung to praise on royal or aristocratic
power, and an admiration for military achievement, a person, clan or a community. They lay stress
on the signifcance of personal achievement.

Praise songs can therefore be seen as composition and recitations which praised leaders and great
men in society whose abilities, personal achievements and rare qualities are well known. Praises
did not however go to men alone, ever inanimate things like bicycles and the supernatural; the
spirits and gods were praised.

These songs were important in the rites of passage, when an individual moves from one age group
to another in society, the transition is celebrated. Self-praise by boys at initiation are an important
aspect of their claim to adulthood. Weddings are also an obligatory occasion for praises for the
bride and groom by friends and relations or by professional bands. Taking charge of ofce is
another occasion for praise.

The signifcance of praise can be said to be the validation of status by the content of the praise and
the number and quality of performers and by the public nature of the recitation. The validation is
often acknowledged by gifts. They stress accepted social values or can act as a medium of public
opinion. For instance, praisers can withhold praise or include implicit or explicit ofensive allusions
as a kind of negative conduct of the ruler’s acts.

They also publicize new status or achievements, flattering their power or drawing attention to
one’s own achievements, preserving accepted versions of history serving as an encouragement to
emulate or achievement and also providing an economically proftable activity for many of those
who engage in it.
Most praise songs makes use of imagery such as similes, metaphors, symbolism and hyperbole
often employed with references to historical events. There is elaborate use of alliteration and
assonance, parallelism, repetition, ideophones and interjections to convey emotions or add to the
descriptive quality with vivid conciseness.

People may be compared to animals or a series of animals. His strength may be encouraged by
referring to him as a lion, rhino, elephant etc. The actions and qualities of a hero may be conveyed
in metaphorical terms. However may be compared to natural phenomena e.g. a storm, a rock etc.

Write two stanzas of a praise song.

11. Politiial Songs

Oral literature plays a signifcant role in raising political awareness of people. Political songs are in
widespread occurrence in Africa. Their occurrence is, however, not limited to recent or present
times. They date back to the time immemorial.
Political songs can be divided into:
(a) Songs of social protest.
(b) Songs for creating political awareness
(c) Songs for creating political conformity.

We are familiar with songs sung in praise of our leaders, whenever there is a gathering – meeting.
These songs, panegyric songs, are perhaps the most commonly sung.
Political songs have various functions: generally these songs report, comment on current afairs
can be used to exert political pressure, political education, propaganda and to reflect and mold
public opinion. Songs of insult, challenge and satirical comment are common.

Songs form a means of communication with someone in power with the hope of influencing
avoiding the danger of speaking directly. The conventionality of song makes it possible to indicate
publicity what could not be said privately or directly to a man’s face.

It is common, for instance, for singers to place their requests through song to a leader, to express
public opinion through a song. This would not be possible otherwise as it is not always easy to have
access to these leaders like the president for instance.

During the ‘Traitor’ issue in Kenya in 1982 a number of songs were sung to reflect and mold public
opinion, to praise and strengthen the position of the leaders.

In Kenya, songs for secret propaganda were widely used by the Mau Mau movement popularly
known as Mau Mau hymns.

Example
Serikali ya Nyayo
Ni ya maendeleo
Fuata Nyayo mwenzangu,
Hatutaki matata
Kama wewe wataka
Kuleta matata Kenya,
Tafuta Kenya yako
Hatutaki porojo
Rais amesema
Atawalinda watoto,
Jiunge nasii wenzangu
Hatutaki porojo!

Make notes of following songs

 Beer songs
 Child-naming songs