Daniela Merolla: Verba Africana Series
The World Oral Literature Project is pleased to host the Verba Africana Series. Details of the full collection can be browsed on DSpace@Cambridge by clicking here.
The Verba Africana Series publishes video recording of African verbal arts on CDRoms, DVDs and the Internet. This series responds to the increasing need for new electronic tools that integrate the written and audio-visual materials for research, teaching and learning of African languages and oral literatures.
Daniela Merolla, the director and editor of the collection, has been working on this ongoing series since 2005. Please see the Verba Africana website for further resources on the collection, including interviews and text analyses.
The collection currently contains sixteen videos of oral literature genres and performances which are presented below.
Collection Details:
Collection: Daniela Merolla: Verba Africana Series
Collector: Daniela Merolla
Date(s): 2005-Ongoing
Language(s): Ewe (Ghana), Karamojong (Uganda), Swahili, Maninkakan (Malinké, Mandinka,
Maninka, Manding, Mandingo, Mandin, Mande) (Mali)
English, French
1. Headless Crabs
This aetiological narrative establishes the crab’s origin and its moral significance for the present day. The cautionary tale is narrated to children, and warns against identification with the character of the ‘young crab’, who is unable to handle relationships appropriately when feelings for his bosom friend are involved.
[Archive] [Watch video]
2. Jealous Twins
This tale treats competition within the family and, in particular, betrayal among brothers. It explores the contradiction inherent in peer-relationships within the family: siblings from the same mother/parentage (here epitomised by twins) are expected to feel the strongest bond and to take care of each other and their family, but at the same time each brother has to assert himself individually.
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3. Épopée de Soundjata (Sunjata Epic)
Two themes of the Epic of Sunjata, which are typical of the version of Kéla, are the history of the liberation of Nagana Tiriba by the ancestor of Diabaté and the history of the purchase of horses in the country of Kajorè by the ancestor of Diawara.
[Archive] [Watch video]
4. Kijiti
The Swahili song Kijiti, whose text was composed by the famous taarab artist Siti binti Saad (1898-1950), expresses the anger of the abuses committed against women that often remained unpunished. It is performed by the udi player Said Nassor and the old taarab singer Bi Kidude.
[Archive] [Watch video]
5. Waridi lisilo miba (A rose without thorns)
The song Waridi lisilo miba (both lyrics and music) was composed in 1960 by Seif Selim, a member of the taarab club Akhwan Safaa and a great artist. It is performed by Hussein bin Ali and the orchestra of the Zanzibari Taarab’s National Group (Kikundi cha Taifa cha Taarab).
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6. Ndege we (Oh you bird)
Ngoma (a Swahili word which literally means ‘drum’) are happenings during which music, dance and song act together to realise performances related to the most important rites of the Swahili communities’ cycle of social life. All the ngoma performances reproduced here are ‘planned performances’ which means that they were not recorded during the rituals to which they belong. They were recorded in order to complete a PhD research which was based on contemporary times. Ngoma ya Ndege is the last of the ngoma za Unyago
which scan the initiation phases.
[Archive] [Watch video]
7. Kyaso
Ngoma (a Swahili word which literally means ‘drum’) are happenings during which music, dance and song act together to realise performances related to the most important rites of the Swahili communities’ cycle of social life. All the ngoma performances reproduced here are ‘planned performances’ which means that they were not recorded during the rituals to which they belong. They were recorded in order to complete a PhD research which was based on contemporary times.
Kyaso is a ngoma native to Pemba Island.
[Archive] [Watch video]
8. Kunguiya and Kilua
Ngoma (a Swahili word which literally means ‘drum’) are happenings during which music, dance and song act together to realise performances related to the most important rites of the Swahili communities’ cycle of social life. All the ngoma performances reproduced here are ‘planned performances’ which means that they were not recorded during the rituals to which they belong. They were recorded in order to complete a PhD research which was based on contemporary times.
Kunguiya is one of the ngoma performed during the female
initiation ceremony, Unyago ya kuvina. Kilua has been
chosen because it is representative of one important
aspect in the study of this cultural performance: to
understand where a ngoma comes from. Kilua, which is
native to the Wamanyema land, but is normally considered
a ngoma ya mjini (a ngoma native to Zanzibar town) by
performers coming from Zanzibar.
[Archive] [Watch video]
9. Chikocha
Ngoma (a Swahili word which literally means ‘drum’) are happenings during which music, dance and song act together to realise performances related to the most important rites of the Swahili communities’ cycle of social life. All the ngoma performances reproduced here are ‘planned performances’ which means that they were not recorded during the rituals to which they belong. They were recorded in order to complete a PhD research which was based on contemporary times.
This performance, which is, in more specific terms, an
initiation ngoma, is native to the southern region of the
mainland, but, as seen in the text of the songs
(tunaendeleza utamaduni, Watanzania tudumishe
utamaduni), it speaks about the national culture of the
country. This ‘evolution’ of the ngoma’s choreography
depends on the cultural policy adopted after Tanzania's
independence.
[Archive] [Watch video]
10. Hogbetsotso festival and migration stories
In this fragment Dr. Datey-Kumodzie recollects the historical migration of the Ewes and offers songs related to the festival. The organisation of the Hogbetsotso festival is presented and interpreted as well as the dance and song enacting the migration stories.
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11. Self presentation
At the beginning of the interview, the interviewee made it clear that he was a repository of a very special, secret knowledge that no other researcher could reveal and that he was worried about “people tapping and stealing” his knowledge.
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12. Songs
In this fragment Dr. Datey-Kumodzie performs a number of songs related to the Hogbetsotso festival and Ewe migration stories. The songs are translated by Dr. Datey-Kumodzie in the interview, according to his thesis and his manuscript Hu-Yehweh, The Eternal Wisdom of Africa.
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13. The Hare and the King’s Daughter
In this inteview Luisa Nativi performs and translates a tale about the intelligent Hare (Karamojong, Uganda).
[Archive] [Watch video]
14. I rather die than marrying this man
In this inteview Luisa Nativi performs and translates a song about a woman complaning of marrying a man whom she did not want to marry (Karamojong, Uganda).
[Archive] [Watch video]
15. Song: Making flour
In this inteview Luisa Nativi performs and translates a song concerning the making of flour (Karamojong, Uganda).
[Archive] [Watch video]
16. Documenting Karamojong Oral Culture in Hamburg
Interview with Luisa Nativi. In this inteview Luisa Nativi performs and translates a number of songs and tales of the Karamojong, Uganda.
[Archive] [Watch video]