African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 146
distinguished as waka baka (oral waka) and rubutacciyar waka (written waka.) Song has
been closely associated with praise-singing in traditional aristocratic courts.
“Tied” singers in patron–client relationships with nobles have both sung the praises
and vilified the rivals of their patrons; among the most famous have been Dankwairo,
Jankidi, and Sarkin Tabshi. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the popularity of
singers and their financial independence through the sale of records and tapes and
through TV appearances have allowed them to work as freelance artists, among the most
famous being Mamman Shata and Dan Maraya Jos. The poetrywriting tradition derives
from the Islamic religious jihad of the early nineteenth century when poetry became a
favored vehicle for the reformists’ battle for the hearts and minds of the people. The poets
of that era included a woman scholar and organizer, Nana Asma’u, daughter of the leader
of the jihad, Usman dan Fodio. In the late twentieth century, secular writing has
expanded the range of topics addressed beyond the strictly religious concerns of earlier
years. Well-known modern poets include Akilu Aliyu and Mudi Spikin.
There is a further range of labels for creators of such genres and for other performers.
Mai tatsuniya simply implies storyteller, but the term maroki, literally “one who begs,”
specifically suggests a praise-singer in search of reward for his services; mawaki (one
who sings), on the other hand, could be applied to a singer or a poet. There are further
terms for public entertainers of various kinds, such as yan kama (burlesque players), yan
gambara (rap artists), and yan bori (musicians and performers associated with the spiritpossession
cult). Popular culture in Hausa at the beginning of the twenty-first century
presents a dynamic mix covering a variety of oral performances ranging from the earthy,
irreverent rap dialogues of yan gambara as they work the markets of northern Nigeria to
the public manifestation in the modern media—radio and television—of the tied praisesinger
perceived as representing cultural “tradition.” At the same time, an explosion of
popular fiction writing during the 1990s has led to an even greater explosion of
commercial Hausa-language video film production, another medium in which notions of
traditional oral culture and its practitioners are embedded. For an introduction to Hausa
folklore, see Ames (1973), Furniss (1996), and Skinner (1969).
References
Ames, D.W. 1973. A Sociocultural View of Hausa Musical Activity. In The Traditional Artist in
African Societies, ed. W.L.D’Azevedo. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press.
Furniss, G. 1996. Poetry, Prose and Popular Culture in Hausa. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution Press.
Skinner, A.N., ed. 1969. Hausa Tales and Traditions: An English Translation of “Tatsuniyoyi Na
Hausa,” originally compiled by Frank Edgar. Vol. 1 (1969), London: Frank Cass; Vols. 2 and 3
(1977), Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
GRAHAM FURNISS
See also Folktales; Medicine: Folk Medicine of the Hausa; West Africa: Overview