Farming Hymns (Kpari Yiila)

Photo Credit: Franz Kröger



Weeding the fields couldn't be more delightful! 
Though backs are breaking in the noonday heat, 
Palms blistering from gripping rigid hoe sticks, 
Sweat trickling down the groins of labouring kinsmen, 
And all their muscles are taut with effort, 
The smell of dark loamy earth freshly upturned 
Releases a singing trapped in the lungs of men. 


Have you read: Village Boy Impressions - The Matrimonial Dance

The thrill of music banishes all weariness 
And even the weakest muscle would gain 
Momentum to break the moist earth with iron 
Whilst hearts throb with the harmonious choruses; 
Hymns that at once inspire, admonish, and entertain. 
Chanting the village news as well as the secrets of men, 
One is forced to pay as much heed as to work harder. 

Every drop of gin sent coursing into half-empty bellies
Lends leverage to even unwilling tongues
And the sweetness of agreeable voices is released.
Every deed of men is censured or eulogized;
From sexual prowess to adulterous relations, 
Nocturnal domestic quarrels and miserly neighbours, 
And from mere gluttony to revolting avarice. 
The scourge of stubborn ghosts and witches
The uncharitable host and his bitter pito
The sex-starved bachelor who knocked up the village retard
The man who jumped into a barn to examine his foreskin
The boastful imbecile who spends all the day at the tavern
Whilst his home and fields are overrun by wild weeds
Are all but themes for singing delightful tunes.

Read: Village Boy Impressions - Tethering Goats

As the whisperings and theories are intoned,
The hoes rise and fall in unison and weeds are slain
Precious crops are freed from their strangling hold
And hopes for a good harvest are heightened. 
In the house, women feverishly scrub pots and calabashes
In preparation to cook the evening meal
Whilst the happily-worried host has children chasing his prized ram.
















Comments

  1. This takes me back to those days. We will help serve food in big bowls and the men will return singing passionately with their hoes hanged on their shoulders. #buluk.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All that over venomous reptile and scorpion, millipede and centipede, the displacement of the wild bird and discovery of the hidden nest of some eggs!

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you are a true Bulsa, you see the picture of what is being described here. I laughed when I got to this place "kparini nyonowa yig pai-diak kai ale k'a dala" ("And the happily-worried host has children chasing the prized ram"). What a true reflection of the culture!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow! How pretty it would be if these can be maintained.

    ReplyDelete

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