|
|
- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000440/00001
Material Information
- Title:
- Songs attributed to Liongo (MS 210015a)
- Series Title:
- Werner Collection
- Added title page title:
- Papers of Alice Werner (MS 380393a)
- Creator:
- Werner, Alice, 1859-1935 ( Author, Primary )
Hichens, William, -1944 ( contributor )
Werner, Alice, 1859-1935 ( contributor )
- Publication Date:
- 1912 AD (1330 A.H.)
- Materials:
- Paper ( medium )
- Technique:
- Handwritten manuscript : Written in black ink, in two hands, on formerly bound pages; additional notes in pencil
Notes
- Abstract:
- This manuscript comprises songs, poems and notes that were collected by Alice Werner in Kipini and Witu in 1912; Werner apparently wrote down the songs and poems as they were being sung or recited. It also contains further notes, some of which were added by William Hichens. Materials from the manuscript appear in Werner’s article ‘A Traditional Poem Attributed to Liongo Fumo’ (1927). Eight of the eleven pages of the manuscript contain songs that were sung by informants. They include a poem sung by Chacha binti Wakaimu beginning ‘Liongwe Fumo, endapo Gana,’ which, Werner notes, Other informants claimed was not authentic. (One among the present cataloguers, who heard ‘Liongo songs’ as a child, concurs in this opinion.) Also included are songs in the Kitikuu dialect by Mzee bin Bisharo. One begins ‘Fumo Liongo, uchenda Gana,’ and the Other begins ‘Kijakazi (changu) Saada nakuchuma hujatumika.’ The manuscript also contains ‘a series [of poems] recited by Mzee bin Bisharo.’ While the divisions between poem seems indefinite in places, the first lines appear to be as follow: ‘Upijao mbiu/Sipije hiyao’: the relation between this poem and Liongo seems especially questionable, with the sixth verse closely resembling lines by Muyaka bin Haji al-Ghassaniy and the eighth and ninth verses recalling ‘lexical’ poems composed to present the various meanings of a word; ‘Uonapo ari/Mume mui’: described as a war song. This poem would seem to address a man, ‘mume mui,’ who has been insulted or degraded. Here ‘mume mui’ would imply a ‘true’ or a ‘masculine’ -- rather than an evil - man; ‘Wapi mchai?/Kicho chake’: described as a war song. The poem asks what life has ever been lengthened through fear, and what life ever shortened through bravery; ‘Zamani za kondo/Kifa changu nakenda ngao’: described as a war song, with ‘kondo’ meaning war; ‘Si khofu kunena/ Penye waungwana’: an apparently complete poem that a note, probably by William Hichens, identifies as ‘Utungu wa Mwana.’ This poem is relatively easy to understand; ‘Nataka kuimba shairi/Malenga niwamkule’; ‘Akuchendao mchende/Umuonye na kichendo’; ‘Kuna gungu la kilozi/ Kulla mwaka husikia’; ‘Huyambo nami sijambo/Habari niepokea’; ‘Kiungo tinda cha ondo/Kitatosha kuungia.’ These latter five poems appear in Werner (1927). Their authenticity in terms of a link with Liongo seems questionable in places. The manuscript also contains notes on the life of Liongo that were obtained from ‘Sharifu Abdallah bin Muhamadi bin Ahmadi bin Abdulaziz bin Darwish bin Ridani,’ who was born in Pate. There are also notes in German and English on the Liongo legend. Further notes, probably by William Hichens, treat the ‘tribute of heads’ as described by Werner (1927) and tax on slaves as described by C.H. Stigand in The Land of Zinj (1913). ( en )
- General Note:
- Biographical information: Notes on Alice Werner’s informants are contained in the manuscript. Liyongo Fumo is a mythical Swahili poet and hero, and it is tought that he composed many oral songs and poems narrating about his life time, which is around the 12th and 13th century.
- General Note:
- Date of Composition is unknown
- General Note:
- Extent: 11 leaves
- General Note:
- Incipit: Ballad: As sung at Kipini by Chacha binti Wakaimu and another, Nov. 9, 1912
- General Note:
- While most of this manuscript may be dated c. 1912, the notes by William Hichens, including the page that begins ‘Tribute,’ are of a later date, probably around 1934. MS 210013 contains correspondence between William Hichens and Alice Werner connected to the Liongo poems
- General Note:
- Authorship of the poems is unknown
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Werner, Alice, 1859-1935 : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/32099140
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Hichens, William, -1944 : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/250560982
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Kenya -- Lamu County -- Shanga -- Shanga Ruins -- Pate Island
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Kenya -- Tana River County -- Kipini
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Witu Sultanate -- Witu
- General Note:
- The Hichens Papers were donated to SOAS on 17 July 1967
- General Note:
- Scribe: Werner, Alice, 1859-1935
- General Note:
- Publication information: Muhammad bin Abu Bakr Kijumwa. 196-?. Utenzi wa Fumo Liongo. Dar es Salaam: East African Swahili Committee.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Mbele, Joseph L. 1986. The Liongo Fumo epic and the scholars. Kiswahili 53 (1-2): 128-145.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Werner, Alice. 1927. A traditional poem attirbuted to Liongo Fumo with some notes on his legend. In Festschrift Meinhof Hamburg: Kommissionsverlag von L. Friederichson.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Werner, Alice. 1928. The Swahili saga of Liyongo Fumo. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 4: 247-255.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, J. 1967. Swahili Songs. Afrika und Ubersee, 50:163-172.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Knappert, Jan. 1975. Swahili proverbs and songs. Afrika und Ubersee, 59:105-112
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- This item is believed to be in the public domain
- Resource Identifier:
- MS 210015 ( SOAS manuscript number )
MS 210015a ( SOAS manuscript number )
|
|
