Pragmatism in Hausa Oral Poetic Tradition

Citation: Dankwari, L.M.. (2024). Pragmatism in Hausa Oral Poetic Tradition. Ginshiƙin Nazarin Salon Waƙoƙin Hausa, 289-294. www.doi.org/10.36349/djhs.2024.v03i01.035.

PRAGMATISM IN HAUSA ORAL POETIC TRADITION

Lawal Musa Dankwari

Department of Hausa, Federal College of Education Zaria

Abstract

The study suggests the craft of oration in the Ƙasar Hausa developed in traditional religious shrines around the vicinities of Dala, Durbi, Kwatarkashi and Turunku with priests as the most significant actors. The earliest Hausa Oral tradition informed an artist to compose to guide or teach the society. Evidence from Barbushe’s oral verses indicates that his intention was not only to convey the god’s verdict to the Dala and environs inhabitants, but also to relate to the community what it was directed by the fetishistic gods to do; propagates popular values; guide the population in the matters of worship and reiterates his authority over the environs.  The Hausa society poetic tradition from the earliest time was pragmatic as reflected in the artistic attitudes of the first generation of its oral and literary artists. For instance, the attitude in the Barbushe’s verses recited in the pre-Islamic Dala Communities; Danmasani’s poem on the prophet Muhammad led battle of Badr, Composed during the seventeenth century; Shehu Usman bn Fodio’ Tabban Hakikan which is an admonition to Hausa Society composed during the nineteenth century; were all designed to expound values and beliefs which the Hausa society appreciates at different phases of its history.

Fitilun Kalmomi: Pragmatics, Hausa Language, Oral Poetry

Introduction

There seems to be a general agreement that waƙa (the craft of praise singing) evolved from kirari (praise phases) which in this article is treated as another form of oration. The issue has been addressed by Gusau (1993). Since the earliest time, the grand ancestors of the Hausa’s were believed to be giant hunters and food gatherers, who developed a highly nourished culture of oration to relate with the ancestral gods, expound values and preserve history. The iconic Hausa oral singer, Alhaji Mamman Shata Katsina was a product of the old Hausa oral culture which evolved and flourished mainly around the environs of the Hausa subsistent fetishistic communities of Dala and Durɓi-ta-Kusheyi since the Late Stone Age (Scoper 1965). The craft flourished in the Hausa World hundreds of years before the down of Mamman Shata era, which Abubakar Dokaji herald to break in the early 1950’s AD. And the process which transformed the craft to an ethical art and guide its acts since the early Iron Age in the Hausa subsistent settlements, established around the environs of the hunting communities of Durɓi, some eighteen miles away from Katsina and some twenty miles northwest of Dala, by oralists who applied the craft as a tool at different phase for the transformation of these communities and the exposition of their value systems continued to date.

The first glance at the praise of Barbushe, published in Dokaji (1978) undoubtedly expose his dual role, first as spiritual leader of the pre-Bayajidda Dala Hausa ethnic community and second an artist philosopher who not only relates with the gods, but also make some powerful revelations about its future. While the community recognized him as leader, people also accept him as the voice who mediates between them and ancestral gods. What is unclear, however, is whether the ancient settlers were viewing him as an orator despite, the fact that he was relating to them and perhaps with the gods in verses. The system persisted until the opening of the channels which facilitates the dispersal of the Islamic norms, and indeed the western thought scraped the traditional fetishistic mode of worship in the communities as well as the role of Barbushe and his predecessors as the agents of the society and the protectors of its values system.

Ja muna,

An kasa,

Mun gama,

Ni ne Magajin Dala,

Da kun ƙi da kun so,

Ku bi ni ba ra’i ba.

May the spirits help in our endeavors

Others failed we succeeded

I am the representative of Dala

Accept or not;

You are obliged to be obedient to me

Theoretical Framework

In what seems to complements our introductory reflections, on the role played by ritual oralists like Barbushe and the functions which the craft of oration performed in the earliest Hausa settlements, one of the earliest Greek philosopher Socrates (470 -399 BC) in the Plato's Apology for Poetry, described poets as nothing but are representatives of the gods. The post Socrates literary era was featured with the publication of the guidelines for writing poetry as portrayed in one of the classical philosophical exploration of Aristotle (384-322BC) in Ars Poetica. A poem, he explains is the craft of imitation and its main functions are to instruct, delight, and to move. In this perspective, a poet duplicates in the endeavor to educate. An imitation is false and cannot rationally be argued real. In the third book of The Republic Socrates describes imitation as direct impersonation.

Aristotle’s most famous disciples Plato (c428-347 BC), was a moralist. Thus, he despised the perceived unethical fake craft of poetry. Plato, like his teacher Aristotle expounds poetry as the arts which deal with imitation and illusion. In the fanciful Republic he sarcastically envisages poetry, he expounds, should be banned. In his theory of mimesis (imitation) Plato taught, the art of poetry deals with illusion and poets, imitates an imitation.

In literary studies, theories are sects which allow a student of literature to have a glimpse of the intellectual shade or angle from which a poet, writer, or an artist is guided and derives aspirations. In a wider sense, theories are mechanisms for literary analysis of the essence of literature. The concept of literary theories is primarily concerned with the attitude of the reader or composer towards the craft, as well as the continuous changes in the nature of the tools of explaining what establishes the nature of literature.

An oriental American romantic literary critic Abrams (1953) identified four critical theories which stretched to include the entire history of English literary theories and criticisms. The first among these theories is the pragmatic, which display an orientation towards the relationship of the work of art to its audience. The attitude here is to view the arts as a means of achieving an end and judges the value of art based upon its success in achieving that end. For pragmatic critics, poetry is a means to attract certain responses from its readers. According to Philip Sidney (1595) in his An Apologie for Poetrie, the purpose of poetry is to teach and delight… and move readers to high morally guided standard action. In what appears like a proclamation of his disdain for imaginative poetry Sidney further expounds poetry should be to teach, delight and move readers to high morally guided standard action.

In his clarifications on human society, literature, and philosophy, Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace 65 BC–8 BC) in his Ars Poetica, meaning the Craft of Poetry, advises poets to compose poetry with the purpose to combine value with entertainment. The Ars is a poetic wathiqa (letter) addressed to a pal who cherish the craft, containing covenants expounding the techniques for poetry composition. In the wathiqa Horace advises poets to write poetry with the aim of pursuing and achieving the aesthetic effects of instructing and delighting without violating virtue

In the outlines for how poetry should be Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) maintains poetry should apply solid images to appropriately express a moment of human experience, for instance deep affection, intense sorrow and passionate pleasure. In other words a poem should give its reader actual, tangible items (touchable) that can be experienced with the senses. Poetry, he added should be a physical, not an intellectual experience, and one way to accomplish this is to use a solid object in place of abstract concepts. MacLeish further expounds that a poem should have direct, not abstract, influence on the reader (or listener), and a reader or listener should not look for substance beyond the imagery used. Along this perspective Donaldson (d. 2020) suggests poetry should communicate the real intuitive experience obtained from one individual experience.

The most attractive traits of Hausa poetry literary activity are its pragmatic orientation, and the discourse, the diversity which lies in the perspectives of what informs its purpose, guide its composition and what constitutes its structure. In the current digital era, The Hausa classical poets are mostly concerned with formulating rules, guidelines and methods for achieving the desired effects upon the audience. In an instance of a shared pragmatic literary sentiment Mamman Shata, like Philip Sidney expounds a song should desire to instruct, inform and persuade. In the Pragmatic orientation, which Mamman Shata shares in Furniss (1999), the craft of poetry is perceived as a means of attaining a goal and its value is based upon its success in achieving just that. In an interview published in Furniss, Mamman Shata expounds waƙa (a song ) is an art for keeping track of significant events, citing the instance of his song on the change on traffic rules from driving from the left to the right, which he projects in his song: Bana kiliya ta koma dama (Now we turn to driving to the right. And during the 1973 Nigerian National Census, Mamman Ɗan Sodangi (Sarkin Tafshin Katsina) sang to guide and inform the Hausa population on the significance of the national head count. Hence:

Mutane ku yi ƙoƙari in ƙidaya ta zo

Ku ba Malaman ƙidayak ku goyon baya

People should endeavor to corporate with the head count officials.

On the elements of poetry Dan Rifenburgh expounds a poetry could be identified with the music of verse, richness of description, the wonder of creative imagination, marvels of metaphor, and the force of emotion, poetry can educate, ennoble, motivate, and enlighten its audience. Even so he added, it is possible to describe the general nature of poetry and to at least indicate the power, range, and magic of this ancient, ever-renewing art form. Like other forms of literature, poetry may seek to tell a story, enact a drama, convey ideas, offer vivid, unique description or express our inward spiritual, emotional, or psychological states.

Literature Review

Recently, in a new approach which significantly metamorphosed thought on the way poetry is treated, Yahya (1997) established the relationship between the act of singing and human body chemistry. The author expounds the fact that singing, heart and music are all identified with rhythm in their function established the nutritious value of Waƙa (song). With regards to ethics in Hausa poetic tradition, the research conducted by Gumel (1992) projects on morality as preached by some twenty-five oral singers who propagated the attributes of piety, kindness and other values that would help towards moralizing the Hausa society.

In the 1940’s Greenberg (1949), conducted a research on the two genius of Hausa poetry; these are oral song and written poetry. Greenberg classified the former as ‘popular poetry and the latter as learned poetry. In 1957 a study by M.G. Smith examined the sociological character of Hausa praise-singing as well as its contribution in consolidating and sustaining the Hausa traditional political system. In the late 1970’s, Dalhatu Muhammad undertook research on the poetry of Aƙilu Aliyu in which the difference earlier outlined by Greenberg, between oral and written poetry, has been widened to cover the extra literary, literary and the textual context of Hausa poetry.

In 1978 a research conducted by Bello Sa’id on the role of Hausa poetry on the Islamic movement that led to the spiritual purification and socio-political transformation of Hausa land during the nineteenth century further enhanced the studies of ethics in Hausa poetry. The first volume of the research provides an insight to the life account of Shehu Usman Ɗan Fodiyo the leader of the movement and his aides and the influence of their verses on the lives of the Hausa people and the developments shaping their society during the period. The second volume is a collection of some eighty Hausa poems composed by Shehu Ɗan Fodiyo, Shehu Abdullahi, Nana Asma’u, Maryam ‘Yar Shehu, Khalil Ɗan Abdullahi, Mamman Tukur Ɗan Binta (Al Fallati), Malam Danho and so on.

In 1980, studies on ethics in Hausa poetry was enhanced by the research undertaken by Abdulqadir Ɗangambo. The work in the first part, comprises the first and second chapters which examines four poems composed by Shehu Usman Ɗan Fodiyo, Malam Abdu Gwandu, Abdullahi Ɗan Fodiyo and Malam Muhammadu Namaiganji. The second part of the research, which comprises the third and the fourth chapters, also examines four admonitory poems preaching the world’s character and death, composed by Isan Kware Maibodinga, Malam Audi and Malam Aliyyu Isa. The third part of the research to which the fifth chapter is devoted, examines two poems dealing with the signs of the coming of the Hour and the appearance of the Mahdi, composed by Dikko Ɗan Bagine and Abubakar Maikaturu. And in the fourth part, which comprises the sixth and the seventh chapters, four poems preaching Resurrection, Judgment, Divine punishment and Reward, composed by Asma’u Nana, Alhaji Gambo Muhammadu, Salihu Ɗan Zama and Garba Ebisidi, are examined. The work is concerned with admonition in Hausa poetry generally as it developed from ca 1800 to ca 1970.

Instances from Hausa Poetic Tradition

In terms of identity, accepted norms as well as the values preached by the late eighteenth century, as Usman observed, the majority of the local population in the major Hausa kingdoms were largely Islamized, and by the first decade of the nineteenth century the Hausa world is well integrated into the British colonial empire the development stamped are permanent mark on not only the history of the Hausa people but also literature. In terms of its form and orientation the Hausa pre-colonial literature is not at variance with its people Islamic norms and values. The Hausa oral poetry in particular, is pragmatic and identified with categories of literary genres, which establishes its identity, and more important to us here, the bases of its observation.

The Hausa poetry for instance identified with a unique patterned arrangement of language music versification featured with regular beat, a rising rhythm, or a series of rhymes. In other words a poem ought to bear the traits of a unique decorative language at variance with regular saying or unimaginative literary work. In essence, poetic composition means regular metrical versification as witnessed in Namangi’s Hausa poem Imfiraji (The Tidings),

Wanda ke da uwa a zaune,

Ko uba na sa in ya gane,

Ya rike su da gaskiya ne,

Ci da su kuma wajibi ne,

Da tufafi ba da sun rasa ba.

The Hausa poetry is also featured with the music of verse, as in Muhammadu mashi maganin Mangawa (Spear a panacea to the ethnic Mangawa aggressiveness); dignified description, as in Jikan Mujaddadi a wajen matash shi, ( Grandson of Shehu Dan Fodio from his marital side), imagination, marvels of similes and metaphor like in:

Gafiyar suri mai wuyar gina amma naman da zaƙi, gafiyar juji ba wuyar gina, ku zubar naman ta ɗaci ga rai.

(an ant hill bubonic that is difficult to dig with juicy test/A heap of rubbish bubonic is easy to dig, but its meat is not candy)

The Hausa oral literature reserves in its archives the stock of categories of literary genres specifically parodies and paradoxes as in Mamman Shata’s Sha ruwa ba laihi ba ne (Drink bear is not forbidden) In Hausa poetic tradition parody refers to an absurd literary phrase or in this context irresponsible statement. On the hand a paradox is an apparent absurd statement in Literature, which may bear some truth as in Mamman Shatas famous verse;

Allah Ba Ya Ba Ka Sai ka Tama Shi Nema.

God would not provide unless you reciprocate with an effort

And Abdu Karen Gusau’s statement in his master hit:

A maida hankali ɗan Ibirahim:

Allah ba ya ba ka sai sadda ka motsa!

Allah would not provide until you reciprocate with an effort first.

The use of images in expounding ideas or actions is another attribute of Hausa poetry. An image is created when words are use to expose the picture or idea in mind. Mamman Shata, for instance, in his praise for Mamman Ɗa says:

A can farko zamanin da ina ɗan yaro

Mai Shata komai nisa

Ni Mamman na hangi mutum

zan gane shi yanzu ko ba na, ganewa sai ya zo daidai gu na

kana sai in gane shi

daɗa girma ya kama ni

nesa fa ta zo kusa yara.

Some time back when I was young

From far distance

I can identify everyone now I cannot

Until a person came close to me than I could recognize him

I am now over aged what was at far distance has indeed came to a glance.

The Hausa poetry is also featured with the use of efficient rhetoric questions. These are highly informed artistic questions posed by a poet or singer, actor or writer to provoke thought not to generate answer. In his song for marriage, Don Sallah da salatil- fatih, Mamman Shata posed to his listeners this wonderful rhetoric questions:

Shin wai da wanda ya ba ka kuɗi yi ka yi aure

Da wanda ya ba ka ɗiyash shi ka aura

Wane ne suruki ƙwaƙƙwara?

Between he who paid for your marriage;

And he who hands to you his daughters hand in marriage,

Who is the real father- in-law?

The craft also reserves in its archives the stock of categories of literary genres specifically parodies as in Mamman shata’s Asha ruwa ba Laihi ba ne; (Drink bear is not forbidden)

References

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Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) An American poet, born in Glencoe, Illinois.

Aristotle Greek: philosopher born in the city of Stagira in Northern Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, and he was brought up by a guardian. At seventeen or eighteen years of age he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BC). Shortly after Plato died,

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Quintus Horatius Flaccus Horace (65-8 BC) was a Rome educated lyric poet satirist and philosopher. Marcus Brutus He was drafted into the Republican army soon after he and Cassius conspired and assassinate Julius Caesar in 44 BC. His Ars Poetica (Epistle to the Pisos) was published just after the issuance of his first Epistles, Book in c 20 BC. He died November 27, 8 BC, in Rome.

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Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), English poet born in Penshurst, Kent.

Socrates (469-399bc) was an Athens born short, robust, calm and unappealing first Greek moral philosopher of ethical tradition of thought , who profoundly affected Western philosophy through his disciples Plato.Socratic dialogue are ancient Greek genres of literary dramatic or narrative prose developed in Greece during the 4^th C BC. Most of it were reserved in the works of his best known disciple Plato in the Republic.