African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 145
CONTEMPORARY BARDS: HAUSA
VERBAL ARTISTS
The Hausa are known throughout much of West Africa as traders and artisans. They have
settled in Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, and Chad, but are usually associated with the Hausa
city-states, such as Kano, in Nigeria. In the earth nineteenth century, the Fulani jihad
(holy war) brought all the Hausa together under Islam and merged the two people in the
cities. Today, the Hausa-Fulani form one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria and they
continue to cherish their ancient arts, including music and the verbal arts.
A number of prose forms are usually distinguished in Hausa terminology. The prose
narratives labari and tatsuniya are contrasted as “presumed real” and “fictive” narratives
respectively. While the term tatsuniya predominantly means “traditional tale,” it is
sometimes also used to denote a conundrum or riddle, more often referred to as ka cinci
ka cinci, or “pick up, pick up” which acts both as name conveying the interactive nature
of the genre and as introductory formula. Tatsuniyoyi (pl.) as “tales” refer to
animal/trickster tales, to narratives of “human to human” interaction, and of “human to
supernatural being” interaction. Heroes and villains, larger than life stereotypes, inhabit
the center of each story, predictable in their heroism or their villainy. Conflict or contest
between protagonists is an important characteristic as the tale develops the encounters
and interactions between characters. Discussion of personal emotion or psychological
state is unusual; such dimensions are conveyed primarily through the acting out of
dialogue and action of the characters. The storyteller’s art of “acting out” is focused on
the use of voice and facial expression. Although the character stereotypes may allow the
audience to very quickly grasp the potentials of any particular situation established by the
storyteller, the direction of the interactions of two stereotypes is less predictable.
Outcomes are more in the gift of the tale-teller’s skills. The stereotyped characters of
tales are both human (such as the ill-treated but faithful daughter, the corrupt judge, the
pious cleric, the country bumpkin, the city slicker, the disobedient child, or the arrogant
prince) and animal (such as the hare, jackal, lion, or hyena) as well as liminal characters
such as Dodo (evil spirit/ monster) and Gizo (trickster). Each one among this cast of
characters has an accompanying package of features ranging from aspects of personality,
such as cunning, to manner of speech, such as a lisp in the case of Gizo.
Within short-form verbal arts, karin magana distinguishes proverbs/sayings. The
Hausa term implies folded speech, thereby allusive diction, which requires, on the part of
the listener, interpretation of imagery or secondary reference. A functional distinction
among short-form expressions identifies kirari as epithet, often used in praise, and
habaici as innuendo depending upon the presumed intent of the speaker. Allusive diction
is an integral part of many communicative contexts and while karin magana are
recognized as a distinct form, they constitute the building blocks of other discrete genres
within Hausa folklore.
Rhythmic or nonprose language is generally represented by the term waka which is, in
common parlance, a single term covering both instrumentally accompanied, solo or “lead
and chorus,” oral song, and also another genre: written poetry intoned without
accompaniment. In drawing the distinction in normal Hausa parlance, they would be