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- Permanent Link:
- http://digital.soas.ac.uk/LSMD000471/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- In section S/47 there are seven exercise books compiled by Whiteley during his fieldwork in Tanzania. The books contain transcripts of oral texts, including recording of songs, poems, and folk tales, as well as Whiteley general notes. The first notebook (Hall-Mark notebook with brown cover) contains the poem ‘Mawaidha’ by Amri bin Abedi, and a few poems by unnamed authors, including the following: - Zabibu na Zaitumi - Nimpendae hajali - Kulibeba nimechoka - Nilikupenda kwa dhati - Tanzi - Kusubiri sijachoka - Lini mpenzi utarudi The second notebook (The Royalty exercise book with blue cover) contains scribbled poems written with pencil, with many unreadable parts. The poems included are ‘Huba na Mapenzi’, ‘Ndako wewe hamu’ ‘Tausi kwa heri sana’. Then, there are three exercise books (Mlima exercise book with grey cover) also containing poems written with pencil. One notebook contains explanations of meanings and thematic of poems and songs by Shabaan Roberts, as stated on the cover of the notebook. The Other two notebooks contain list of Swahili sentences probably written by Whiteley as a form of exercise in learning Swahili. A further notebook (The Olivetti shorthand notebook with light green cover) contains some material used by Whiteley for the publication of ‘Waimbaji wa Juzi’ (Singers of the Past). The last notebook (Century notebook with red cover) contains short extract of stories, hadithi, repeated throughout. S/48 contains a collection of 16 short stories, of the Ngano genre. The Ngano are short stories with implied wisdom that are transmitted through generation to instruct children. They are part of oral tradition and oral literature. The stories of this collection are all written in modern Standard Swahili. Most stories are satirical, and some uses animal characters in a metaphorical way. The list is as follow: - Hadithi ya Kunitenda Kisa Mkasa - Hadithi ya Nguo Nyeusi - Hadithi ya Kuozwa Punda - Hadithi ya Akisali Hapitiwi Mbele - Hadithi ya Boga-Kusema - Hadithi ya Mwinda na Chura - Hadithi ya Wasia wa Juma - Hadithi ya Kibilfitina - Mfadhili Hafadhiliwi - Kisa cha Mtu na Radhi - Hadithi ya Kifimbo cheza - Hadithi ya Nipeleke kwa mama Kitundu - Hdaithi ya Khalfan na Nar-Yana - Hadihti ya Kigilginas - Hadithi ya Sungura na Mbuzi wake - Hadithi ya Popoo-kusema Tambuu-kucheka The first story, ‘Kunitenda Kisa Mkasa’, narrates the friendship between the son of a king, Mohammed, and the son of a poor person, Almasi, and about the admiration of Mohammed for Almasi’s wife and the tricks that Mohammed tries to play in order to spend time with the beautiful wife. The second story, ‘Kisa cha Nguo Nyeusi’, narrates of a King who is puzzled by a man that always wears black clothes and wish to know the reason. The man tells him of a place called Aswad, where everybody dresses in black. The king decides to go and visit the place and once there he meets an old woman to whom he asks the reason of wearing black clothes. The old woman takes him to an orchard tree area where the king is given fruits to eat that made him fell asleep and when he awakes he found himself married to a beautiful woman that turns out to be a jinn (spirit). The king falls in love but the woman abandon him shortly after. The king is very sad and because of the terrible sorrow he began to wear black clothes. The third story entitled ‘Kuozwa Punda’ is a very funny story about husband and wife that could not have children. The husband makes a woe that if he gets a child he will marry a donkey (punda). Once he made his woe the wife gives him a beautiful daughter. So, he began to worry that he has to marry a donkey but his friend tells him that there are many people who can be considered like a donkey (implying stupidity), so he should just marry one of them. The fourth and fifth stories are rather incomplete, the narrative does not make much sense, and there is not implied wisdom in the content. The story entitled ‘Mwinda na Chura’ is about a hunter (mwinda) who hunts gazelles. In a hunting excursion he is almost eaten by a lion, but a frog (chura) saved him. The hadithi ‘Juma na Wasia’ is about being wise and act in good manner as told by the tradition (older generation). The ‘wasia’ are wisely advice given to young people to instruct them about proper social behaviour. The following story, entitled with the proverb ‘Mfadhili Hafadhiliwi’, exemplifies the meaning of the proverb (methali) that say that those who do good to Others should expect bad things happening to them in return. Swahili culture has many proverbs with this kind of implied meaning, like, for instance, ‘Mwema kuwa muovu aliyetaka ni yeye’. The story entitled ‘Kisa cha Mtu na Radhi’ exemplifies the concept of Radhi. Radhi is the word used to express a father’s blessing when dying. It means that the parents are contented with their son’s life and conduct, and in order to be respected by the community it is very important to receive radhi from parents. The story narrates of a son and his father who travelled from Zanzibar to Pemba for the picking of cloves in the plantation as the season has arrived. However, the son soon after asks his father to return to Zanzibar because the rainy season had started heavily. The father let him go only if he takes a proper boat, meli, and not a jahazi, small boat made of wood that has no engine. The father said to him that if he goes with the jahazi he would not get radhi from him. But, for many days no meli were available so the son finally decided to take a jahazi instead. Once he embarked on his journey however he began to have many misfortunes. First, the weather turned very bad and the jahazi almost sink when the yourng man is saved by the nahodha (captain of jahazi) who took him to a nearby island. Then, the islands turned out to be inhabited by a spirit (jinn) that caused them harm. All this misfortune was brought because of lack of radhi. The remaining six stories, not fully described, are of the same genre. In addition to this collection, S/48 contains two relatively short stories by H Chum, of who we have no biographical information, entitled ‘Zimwi mla watu’ and ‘Kisa cha Wardia na Badran’. It also contains a short story by unnamed author entitled ‘Kumwe na Kumwe’, and finally an essay, in Swahili, about the local history of the Island of Kilwa, located in southern Tanzania. The narrative of the essay is typical of oral history accounts and the author is not mentioned. It narrates the arrival to the Island of Sultan Ali bin Selimani el-Shirazi, known as Ajema, and the conquest of Kilwa. ( en )
- General Note:
- Date of Composition is unknown
- General Note:
- Languages: Swahili (Roman script)
- General Note:
- Extent: 7 exercise books and 95 leaves
- General Note:
- Incipit: Kunitenda Kisa Mkasa. Aliondokea mtoto wa mfalme
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Whiteley, Wilfred Howell : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/54248715
- General Note:
- VIAF (name authority) : Chum, Haji : URI http://viaf.org/viaf/14050683
- General Note:
- Africa -- Eastern Africa -- Tanzania -- Lindi Region -- Kilwa District -- Kilwa Kisiwani -- Kilwa Kisiwani Island
- General Note:
- Publication information: Whiteley, W H. 1966. Waimbaji wa Juzi. Institute of Kiswahili research, Dar es Salaam University College.
- General Note:
- Publication information: Whiteley, W H. 1964. A Selection of African prose, Vol.1 Traditional oral texts, Vol.2 Written prose. Claredon Press, Oxford
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- SOAS University of London
- Holding Location:
- Archives and Special Collections
- Rights Management:
- This item may be in the public domain. Its status has yet to be assessed.
- Resource Identifier:
- PP MS 42. S/38-S/48 ( SOAS manuscript number )
PP MS 42. S/47-S/48 ( SOAS manuscript number )
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