On the musical patterning of sculpted words: exploring the relationship between melody and metre in a Somali poetic form
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i3.1830Abstract
Somalia has often been called a "nation of bards", and poetry is frequently considered to be the most important form of artistic expression and social commentary in Somali society, a point made clear by Andrzejewski and Lewis when they state that "the Somali poetic heritage is a living force intimately connected with the vicissitudes of everyday life" (1964:3). It is evident from existing literature that Somali poetry is a powerful force fulfilling a multiplicity of social roles; it is intrinsic to the fabric of social action itself, from the negotiation of inter-clan relationships to the accompaniment of camel watering, from commenting on issues of public policy to those of technological development. What is not so evident is that all Somali poems can also be carriers of melody. These melodic qualities of Somali poetry are first noted fleetingly in the travel writings of Richard Burton.References
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Adorno, Theodor 1992 "Music and Language: A Fragment", in Quasi una Fantasia: Essays on Modern Music, trans. Rodney Livingstone, pp. 1-6, Verso: London
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Andrzejewski, B. W. and S Andrzejewski 1993 An Anthology of Somali Poetry, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Banti, Giorgio and Francesco Giannattasio 1996 Music and Metre in Somali Poetry. African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour ofB. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:83-127
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Blacking, John 1995 Music, Culture and Experience: Selected Papers of John Blacking, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
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Cogan, Robert 1984 New Images of Musical Sound, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Feld, Steven 1974 Linguistic Models in Ethnomusicology, Ethnomusicology, 18(2) : 197-217
Feld, Steven and Aaron A. Fox 1994 Music and Language, Annual Review of Anthropology. 23:25-53
Giannattasio, Francesco 1988 The Study of Somali Music: Present State, in A. Puglielli (ed.) Proceedings of the Third International Congress of Somali Studies, 123- 132. Il Pensiero Scientifico: Rome
Guled, Abdillahi Deria 1979 The Scansion of Somali Poetry, in Hussain M. Adam (ed.) Somali and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium held in Mogadishu, October 15-21, 1979: Volume 1 - Toward International Somali Studies: Language, Linguistics and Literature, 132-140, Mogadishu: National Printing Press
Haan Associates 1997 English-Somali Dictionary and Thesaurus, London: Haan Associates
Hughes, David 2000 No Nonsense: The Logic and Power of Acoustic-Iconic Mnemonic Systems, British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 9(2):93-120
Johnson, John William 1974 Heellooy Heelleellooy: The Development of the Genre Heelo in Modern Somali Poetry, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
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1997 "Music and Poetry in Somalia", in Ruth M. Stone (ed.) Garland Encyclopaedia of World Music Vol.1: Africa, London: Routledge
Kirk, J.W.C 1905 A Grammar of the Somali Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Lévi-Strauss, Claude 1979 The Raw and the Cooked: Introduction to a Science of Mythology, New York: Octagon Books
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Lewis, LM. and M.H. Mukhtar 1996 Songs from the South. African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour of B.W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:205-212
Morin, Didier 1993 "Mimetic Traditions in Beja Poetry from Sudan", Research in African Literatures, 28(1):3-14
1996 "Afar Praise Poetry: Orowwah", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour ofB. W Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:269-274
Orwin, Martin and Maxamad Cabdullaahi Riraash 1997 "An Approach to the Relationships between Somali Meter Types", African Languages and Cultures 10(1):83-100
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2001b "On Consonants in Somali Metrics", Afrikanistische Arkeitspapiere, 65:103-127
2003 "On the Concept of 'Definitive Text' in Somali Poetry", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 66(3):334- 347
Samatar, Siad S. 1979 "Literary War in the Somalia of the Sayyid Mahammad Abdille Hassan", in Hussain M. Adam (ed.) Somali and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium held in Mogadishu, October 15-21, 1979: Volume 1 - Toward International Somali Studies; Language, Linguistics and Literature, 154-150, Mogadishu: National Printing Press
1982 Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad Abdille Hasan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Schlee, Gunther and Abdullahi A. Shongolo 1996 "Oromo Nationalist Poetry: Jarso Waaqo Qooto's Tape Recording about Political Events in Southern Oromia, 1991", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour of B. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:229-242
Snyder, Bob 2000 Music and Memory, Cambridge: The MIT Press
Xaashi Dhamar 'Gaariye', Maxamed 1976 "Miisaanka Maansada: The Meter of Poetry", Xiddigh Oktoobar, 17 (January):3
Zaborski, Andrzej 1996 "Notes on Afar Verse Structure", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour ofB. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:257-268
Zorc, David 1991 Somali-English Dictionary (Second Revised and Expanded Edition), Hyattsville: Dunwoody Press
Adorno, Theodor 1992 "Music and Language: A Fragment", in Quasi una Fantasia: Essays on Modern Music, trans. Rodney Livingstone, pp. 1-6, Verso: London
Andrzejewski, B.W. and Musa H.I Galaal 1963 A Somali Poetic Combat, East Lansing MI: Africa Studies Centre, Michigan State University
Andrzejewski, B.W. and I.M. Lewis 1964 Somali Poetry: An Introduction, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Andrzejewski, B. W. and S Andrzejewski 1993 An Anthology of Somali Poetry, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Banti, Giorgio and Francesco Giannattasio 1996 Music and Metre in Somali Poetry. African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour ofB. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:83-127
Bateson, Gregory 2000 Experiments in Thinking about Observed Ethnological Material, in Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 73-87, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Bateson, Gregory and Mary Catherine Bateson 2005 The World of Mental Process, in Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred, 16-30, New Jersey: Hampton Press
Blacking, John 1995 Music, Culture and Experience: Selected Papers of John Blacking, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Burton, Richard 1966 First Footsteps in East Africa, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Cogan, Robert 1984 New Images of Musical Sound, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Feld, Steven 1974 Linguistic Models in Ethnomusicology, Ethnomusicology, 18(2) : 197-217
Feld, Steven and Aaron A. Fox 1994 Music and Language, Annual Review of Anthropology. 23:25-53
Giannattasio, Francesco 1988 The Study of Somali Music: Present State, in A. Puglielli (ed.) Proceedings of the Third International Congress of Somali Studies, 123- 132. Il Pensiero Scientifico: Rome
Guled, Abdillahi Deria 1979 The Scansion of Somali Poetry, in Hussain M. Adam (ed.) Somali and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium held in Mogadishu, October 15-21, 1979: Volume 1 - Toward International Somali Studies: Language, Linguistics and Literature, 132-140, Mogadishu: National Printing Press
Haan Associates 1997 English-Somali Dictionary and Thesaurus, London: Haan Associates
Hughes, David 2000 No Nonsense: The Logic and Power of Acoustic-Iconic Mnemonic Systems, British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 9(2):93-120
Johnson, John William 1974 Heellooy Heelleellooy: The Development of the Genre Heelo in Modern Somali Poetry, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
1979 Recent Contributions by Somalis and Somalists to the Study of Oral Literature, in Hussain M. Adam (ed.) Somali and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium held in Mogadishu, October 15-21, 1979: Volume 1 - Toward International Somali Studies; Language, Linguistics and Liter-ature,,1-14, Mogadishu: National Printing Press
1996 "Musico-Moro-Syllabic Relationships in the Scansion of Somali Oral Poetry", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour of B. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:73-78
1997 "Music and Poetry in Somalia", in Ruth M. Stone (ed.) Garland Encyclopaedia of World Music Vol.1: Africa, London: Routledge
Kirk, J.W.C 1905 A Grammar of the Somali Language, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Lévi-Strauss, Claude 1979 The Raw and the Cooked: Introduction to a Science of Mythology, New York: Octagon Books
Lewis, I.M. 2008 Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History and Society, London: C Hurst and Co.
Lewis, LM. and M.H. Mukhtar 1996 Songs from the South. African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour of B.W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:205-212
Morin, Didier 1993 "Mimetic Traditions in Beja Poetry from Sudan", Research in African Literatures, 28(1):3-14
1996 "Afar Praise Poetry: Orowwah", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour ofB. W Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:269-274
Orwin, Martin and Maxamad Cabdullaahi Riraash 1997 "An Approach to the Relationships between Somali Meter Types", African Languages and Cultures 10(1):83-100
Orwin, Martin 2001a "Introduction to Somali Poetry and Translations of 'Samadoon' by Cabdulqaadir Xaaji Cali Xaaji Axmed and ' Jacayl Dhiigma ma lagu Qoray' by Maxamed Ibraahim Warsame 'Hadraawi'", Modern Poetry in Translation - Non English Language Poetry in England, 17:12-30.
2001b "On Consonants in Somali Metrics", Afrikanistische Arkeitspapiere, 65:103-127
2003 "On the Concept of 'Definitive Text' in Somali Poetry", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 66(3):334- 347
Samatar, Siad S. 1979 "Literary War in the Somalia of the Sayyid Mahammad Abdille Hassan", in Hussain M. Adam (ed.) Somali and the World: Proceedings of the International Symposium held in Mogadishu, October 15-21, 1979: Volume 1 - Toward International Somali Studies; Language, Linguistics and Literature, 154-150, Mogadishu: National Printing Press
1982 Oral Poetry and Somali Nationalism: The Case of Sayyid Mahammad Abdille Hasan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Schlee, Gunther and Abdullahi A. Shongolo 1996 "Oromo Nationalist Poetry: Jarso Waaqo Qooto's Tape Recording about Political Events in Southern Oromia, 1991", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour of B. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:229-242
Snyder, Bob 2000 Music and Memory, Cambridge: The MIT Press
Xaashi Dhamar 'Gaariye', Maxamed 1976 "Miisaanka Maansada: The Meter of Poetry", Xiddigh Oktoobar, 17 (January):3
Zaborski, Andrzej 1996 "Notes on Afar Verse Structure", African Languages and Cultures: Voice and Power: The Culture of Language in North East Africa. Essays in Honour ofB. W. Andrzejewski. Supplement No.3:257-268
Zorc, David 1991 Somali-English Dictionary (Second Revised and Expanded Edition), Hyattsville: Dunwoody Press
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2009-11-30
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“On the Musical Patterning of Sculpted Words: Exploring the Relationship Between Melody and Metre in a Somali Poetic Form”. 2009. African Music : Journal of the International Library of African Music 8 (3): 97-116. https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i3.1830.
