Colored! they call us
Looking Down in distaste
Yet endlessly they troop like baboons
Swinging on the Duku tree
To steal a sight of these wondrous burnt skinned tribe in the guise of tourism!
Looking Down in distaste
Yet endlessly they troop like baboons
Swinging on the Duku tree
To steal a sight of these wondrous burnt skinned tribe in the guise of tourism!
COLOURS
From the multicolored jigida
That temptingly graces the slender waists of our maidens
To the multi coloured loom that weaves the Akwete and Kente cloth
That clads the Mohobelo dancers!
That temptingly graces the slender waists of our maidens
To the multi coloured loom that weaves the Akwete and Kente cloth
That clads the Mohobelo dancers!
NATURE
The browns of our savannah
The ochre of our deserts
The greens of our jungles
Like a magnet attracts the world to us!
The ochre of our deserts
The greens of our jungles
Like a magnet attracts the world to us!
We pride in our pride of lions
While we gather round the fireplace
Sharing laughter with the hyena
Underneath the guard of mother moon!
While we gather round the fireplace
Sharing laughter with the hyena
Underneath the guard of mother moon!
MUSIC & DANCE
With talents too we are blessed
The sweetest of sounds
Escaping our instruments
Carved by our own hand from objects of nature!
The sweetest of sounds
Escaping our instruments
Carved by our own hand from objects of nature!
Bring out the talking drum and the lyre
Pluck the Lamellophone and Mbira in harmony
Strike also the strings of the Adungu, Kora and the one-stringed fiddle
And relay our passion to the world
As we sing in one tune songs of peace!
Pluck the Lamellophone and Mbira in harmony
Strike also the strings of the Adungu, Kora and the one-stringed fiddle
And relay our passion to the world
As we sing in one tune songs of peace!
Let our maidens come out and dance
As well as our clay colored warriors
Clad yourselves with the Kente, Alasho, Isiagu and Djellaba
Throw on a Kanga and Koto
Let your Kaftans sweep the floors
As we thrill the pale world in the dance of the colored people!
As well as our clay colored warriors
Clad yourselves with the Kente, Alasho, Isiagu and Djellaba
Throw on a Kanga and Koto
Let your Kaftans sweep the floors
As we thrill the pale world in the dance of the colored people!
Clear your voices Dibango, Kojo, Habib and Kidjo
Rouse the ghosts of Fela and Taylor
Bless the night with the rhythm of the Afrobeats
Letting your ancestors be assured by your drumming
That the tribe lives on and our tradition too!
Rouse the ghosts of Fela and Taylor
Bless the night with the rhythm of the Afrobeats
Letting your ancestors be assured by your drumming
That the tribe lives on and our tradition too!
FOOD
From his looks
This stranger appears weary, pale and underfed
For he has come a long way
To see with his own eyes
That our resilience comes not from magic
But from puddings and gruels
Concocted over the hearth!
This stranger appears weary, pale and underfed
For he has come a long way
To see with his own eyes
That our resilience comes not from magic
But from puddings and gruels
Concocted over the hearth!
Let him have a taste of our palm wine
As well as a wrapped serving of Tapioca and fish
Let him whet his appetite on the vegetable salad
Before he is presented with a mound of our cassava fou-fou!
As well as a wrapped serving of Tapioca and fish
Let him whet his appetite on the vegetable salad
Before he is presented with a mound of our cassava fou-fou!
He asks for “desert”
We present him with more palm wine and a bowl of roasted termites
Yuck! He says!
Well my pale friend I replied!
“In Africa Nature gives all and we waste none at all!”
We present him with more palm wine and a bowl of roasted termites
Yuck! He says!
Well my pale friend I replied!
“In Africa Nature gives all and we waste none at all!”
TRADITIONS
From the tongues of the griots of Sambala,Papa Susso and
Tata Bambo Kouyate
The stories will flow down the line
Dan Maraya Jos with the sweetest of tongues
Will speak forth the tale that once was handed to him!
The stories will flow down the line
Dan Maraya Jos with the sweetest of tongues
Will speak forth the tale that once was handed to him!
Let the young men gather beneath the banyan tree
Where they would dare the adventure of the forests
To prove their coming of age
To partake in the rituals of adolescence!
Where they would dare the adventure of the forests
To prove their coming of age
To partake in the rituals of adolescence!
Let the Morans gather at the palace
And present their herds before the king
And he whose flock outnumbers all
Should be given the hand of his daughter in marriage!
And present their herds before the king
And he whose flock outnumbers all
Should be given the hand of his daughter in marriage!
Let the women and children
And those with feeble hearts
Run for cover beneath the shades of dark
Let the initiates join the parade
For the dance of the night masquerade is about to begin!
Let he who seeks the hand of the maiden step forward
And bare his back to the sting of the whip
Let him prove himself a man worthy of her maidenhead
By bearing the bite of a hundred lashes!
And those with feeble hearts
Run for cover beneath the shades of dark
Let the initiates join the parade
For the dance of the night masquerade is about to begin!
Let he who seeks the hand of the maiden step forward
And bare his back to the sting of the whip
Let him prove himself a man worthy of her maidenhead
By bearing the bite of a hundred lashes!
PEACE
A grey partridge
Coos in the morning light
Calling out to their smiling faces
Asubuhi Njema !
Coos in the morning light
Calling out to their smiling faces
Asubuhi Njema !
The owl and nightingale
Birds of dusk
Hoot and sing their evening song ushering in the night
Kachifo! COLOURED PEOPLE!
Birds of dusk
Hoot and sing their evening song ushering in the night
Kachifo! COLOURED PEOPLE!
From “Songs to Mother Africa”
By
John Martins Agba
April 06, 2015 08:53p.m.
By
John Martins Agba
April 06, 2015 08:53p.m.
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