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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000180/00001
Material Information
- Title:
- Collection of Swahili Verses (MS 47708a)
- Series Title:
- Hichens Collection :
- Creator:
- Kijuma, Muhammad ( Author, Primary )
Kijuma, Muhammad ( contributor )
- Publication Date:
- 1913 AD (1331 A.H.)
- Language:
- Swahili
- Materials:
- Paper ( medium )
- Technique:
- Handwritten manuscript : In red and brown bound volume labelled ‘Swahili Verses’; written in red and black ink, with pages numbered in pencil
Notes
- Abstract:
- This manuscript contains a succession of poems on the same basic theme. A note at its end, by William Hichens, states that it was scribed in August 1913 by Muhammad Kijumwa from a manuscript held by ‘Mzee Mahadhoo, who had borrowed the book from its owner, a woman from Siu. That book Mzee did not return to the woman, who sued him for it.’ Hichens comments on the eventual ownership of the original and the existence of Other copies. He calls the manuscript ‘Marriage Dance and Other Songs, composed about 1700-1800.’ Unlike many manuscripts scribed by Muhammad Kijumwa, this one contains no explanatory notes. The phrase ‘kala akhar’ (meaning ‘amesema mtu mwingine,’ another person said) generally separates one poem from the next, and sometimes the name of an author accompanies a poem. The poems appear to have been composed upon a single occasion, such as a wedding, during which festivities each composer took a turn at presenting a celebratory song. An interesting similarity among these poems, and one that suggests an occasion such as a wedding, is opening lines referring to beating a drum or blowing a horn - to making festive noise of one kind or another. A composition by Muhammad Kijumwa appear last in the volume. The first 14 pages of this manuscript are transliterated, with significant errors, in MS 210012 in the Werner collection. ( en )
- General Note:
- Biographical information: Muhammad Kijumwa was born circa 1855 in Lamu. He was a poet, scribe, peformer calligrapher, carpenter, tailor and sculptor who taught his son, Helewa, the craft of decorative woodcarving. He assisted many Eurpoean scholars of Swahili literature, including William Taylor, Alice Werner, Carl Meinhof, H.E. Lambert, William Hichens, Ernst Dammann and John Williamson, and was a well-known character in Lamu.
- General Note:
- Date of Composition is unknown
- General Note:
- Languages: Swahili (Arabic script)
- General Note:
- Dialects: Northern
- General Note:
- Poetic Form: Shairi
- General Note:
- Extent: 1 vol.
- General Note:
- Incipit: Vumiza pembe ya fili na ya jamsi [jamusi] na tasa
- General Note:
- Partial transliteration of this manuscript may be found in SOAS University of London manuscript MS 210012
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Kijuma, Muhammad : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/43775563
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Kenya -- Lamu County -- Lamu -- Lamu Island
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Tanzania -- Manyara Region -- Siu District
- General Note:
- Donated by Mrs E. Hichens, 1 June 1945
- General Note:
- Scribe: Kijuma, Muhammad
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
 This item is licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.- Resource Identifier:
- MS 47708 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 47708a ( SOAS manuscript number )
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