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Modern Swahili poetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Farouk M. Topan
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Extract

It is possible to distinguish broadly four types of Swahili poetry in East Africa today.

The first type, mashairi (lit.) ‘poems’, is characterized in form by symmetrical verses which have an equal number of lines (usually not exceeding six) in each verse, and an equal number of syllables (usually not more than sixteen) in each line. This type is extremely popular with the people and with the majority of the poets: mashairi appear regularly in Swahili newspapers—Baraza, Kiongozi, Uhuru, etc.—and weekly radio programmes in Tanzania and Kenya are devoted to them. It is thus not surprising that almost every Swahili scholar is familiar with this form, and the bulk of the publications on Swahili poetry both in English and in Kiswahili are on it. Since much has been written on its prosody, I shall not discuss it further here.

Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , February 1974 , pp. 175 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1974

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References

1 The term mashairi (sing. shairi) carries two meanings: it functions as a generic term for poems/poetry and, more specifically, it denotes the type of Swahili poetry referred to here. The following are some of the publications which discuss its prosodic features: Abedi, K. A., Sheria za kulunga mashairi na diwani ya Amri, Dar es Salaam, East African Literature Bureau, 1965Google Scholar; Allen, J. W. T., ‘Swahili prosody’, Swahili, Journal of the Institute of Swahili Research, Dar es Salaam, XXXVII, 2, 1967, 171–9Google Scholar; Eastman, C. M. and Topan, F. M., ‘The Siu: notes on the people and their language’, Swahili, xxxvi, 2, 1966, 22–48Google Scholar; Harries, L. P., Swahili poetry, Oxford, 1962Google Scholar; Hichens, W., ‘Swahili prosody’, Swahili, XXXIII, 1, 1963, 107–37Google Scholar; Knappert, J., ‘Notes on Swahili literature’, African Language Studies, VII, 1966, 126–59Google Scholar; Turuka, U. A. H., ‘Yasemayo mashairi,’ in Topan, F. M. (ed.), Uchambuzi wa maandishi ya Kiswahili, Nairobi, Oxford University Press, 1971Google Scholar.

2 See Cory, Hans, ‘Jando. Part 1’, and ‘Jando. Part II’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LXXVII, 2, 1947, 159–68, LXXVIII, 1948, 81–94Google Scholar; Hinawy, Mbarak Ali, ‘Notes on customs in Mombasa’, Swahili, XXXIV, 1, 1964, 17–35Google Scholar; Koritschoner, H. (Cory), ‘Ngoma ya sheitani: an East African native treatment for psychical disorder’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, LXVI, 1, 1936, 209–19Google Scholar; Velten, C., Desturi za Wasuaheli, Göttingen, 1903Google Scholar. I have recently examined the role of spirit songs in a spirit-mediumship cult of Mombasa, Kenya, : Oral literature in a ritual setting, Ph.D. thesis, University of London, 1972Google Scholar. I am very grateful to the late Professor Wilfred H. Whiteley for his guidance throughout the period of that study.

3 A profitable start may be a comparison between these two types of poetry on one such level exploring, for instance, the relationship between their respective forms and functions. (A tentative observation in that direction may be noted: whereas popular poetry seems to be constant or rigid in its forms but ‘free’ in the type of situations in which it may occur, the reverse seems to be true of traditional songs. Most of the latter are subservient to the contexts in which they occur and to the type of roles they are made to perform, but they are relatively freer in form.)

5 Men's and women's clubs, such as Kunguwiya and Ikhwatu-safaa in Zanzibar and Ibinaa and Banu Saada in Mombasa, used to organize dances and sing-song concerts (locally known as taarab) where these songs were sung to musical accompaniment.Taarab gatherings are still held on the coast and, in Tanzania nowadays, they form a part of most local political festivities.

5 S. Matola, Mw. Shaaban, Whiteley, W. H. (ed.), Waimbaji wa juzi, Dar es Salaam, Institute of Swahili Research, 1966Google Scholar. For a rather idealized biography of East Africa's famous woman singer during the 1940's and 1950's, see Shaaban Robert, Maisha ya Siti binti Saad (Supplement to the East African Swahili Committee Journal, 28, 1), 1958 (recently republished by Nelson in the Diwani ya Shaaban series, No. 3, Nairobi, 1967).

6 Euphrase Kezilahabi, Kichomi, Nairobi, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd, forthcoming.

7 Chiraghdin, S. (ed.), Malenga wa Mvita, Nairobi, Oxford University Press. 1971, 14Google Scholar.

8 Nowhere has this tenet been so well expounded as in the famous al-lnkisluifi of A. A. Nassir. The following verse typifies the tone and theme of the poem (Hichens's translation):

'This mortal life, this vale of thy desire,

Where doth its virtue lie, that thou admire?

Nor Earth, nor Man, for ever shall endure!

E'en had'st thou mortal power, what could'st attain?' (verse 31).

A. A. Nassir,al-Inkishafi, ed. W. Hichens, London, Sheldon Press, 1939; repnblished Nairobi, Oxford University Press, 1971.

9 As do traditional poets. Cf. Harries's, assessment of a traditional poet: ‘… He is not an individualist, but rather the representative of the traditional community. He is not a creative writer in the Western sense but the mouthpiece of what are generally accepted as the best values in the community’ (Harries, L. P. (ed.),Poems from Kenya, Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 1966, p. xii)Google Scholar.

10 The Madan–Johnson Standard Swahili–English dictionary defines kanzu as a ‘long-sleeved calico gown … reaohing from the neck to the ankles, usually plain white or yellowish brown, with or without lines of silk stitohwork, red or white, on the neck, wrists, and front, fastened with a small button or tassel at the throat’. It is usually worn by men and, generally, it is taken as an outer distinguishing mark of a Muslim (in the same way as the wearing of the cross is of a Christian).

11 I saw Hussein, ‘performing’ this poem on stage in 07 1968Google Scholar in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He played back a tape of his recitation of the poem and he danced to it with movements of his body, standing on the same spot throughout the performance with arms outstretched on either side. He swayed to one side and then the other—symbolizing the pull towards the drum and the violin respectively—as the poem progressed. His costume consisted of a black and white kanzu (with patches removed) and a cross of considerable size hung from his neck. When he reached the end of the poem, he bowed his body, hung his head, and let the cross swing before him.

14 A collection of Crispin Hauli's poems,Mashairi tasa, may be published by the Tanzania Publishing House, Dar es Salaam.

13 It also forms the theme of one of Hussein's plays,Wakati ukida ‘Time is a wall’ in Micliezo ya kuigiza, Nairobi, East African Publishing House, 1970.