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ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the textual aesthetics of the Congolese-born (later Tanzanian naturalized) Swahili singer-songwriter Remmy Ongala. In the first part, I argue that a textual approach is also important for songs. The theoretical discussion is mainly based on the studies by Karin Barber, which offer a fundamental perspective on these issues. On this basis, I propose a more literary perspective, related to the ideas of the father of aesthetics Baumgarten (1714-1762), the American writer Susan Sontag (1933-2004) and the Swahili writer Euphrase Kezilahabi (1944-2020). Since Ongala belongs to different textual traditions, Congolese and Tanzanian, I use texts from these traditions for a comparative analysis of style and thought. On the Congolese side the comparison is based on elements of oral literature, like folk tale and song, both in relation to the proverb Kipendacho roho hula nyama bichi (A soul in love eats raw meat), while on the Tanzanian side the comparison is based on Swahili literature of that time.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all colleagues of the PRIN project and in particular Prof. Flavia Aiello for supporting my research and for the pleasure of working together. I would like to thank everyone who helped me during my fieldwork. All the members of the Ongala family were very welcoming and helpful. I would like to thank Mzee Chuki and Mzee Makassy for their time and willingness. Moreover, I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, and in particular because they helped me to avoid a serious misreading.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1 See Hilhorst, “Remmy Ongala”; Kirkegaard, “Remmy Ongala”; Perullo, Live from Dar es Salaam; Sanga, “Postcolonial Cosmopolitan Music.”
2 See “Oliver Mtukudzi – (Norton, Zimbabwe) at VOA in Washington, DC” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKTmE5b46b8&t=393s (accessed 1 January 2021).
3 Barber, The Anthropology of Texts, 13.
4 See Barber, “Quotation in the Constitution” and The Anthropology of Texts.
5 Barber, “African-Language Literature,” 8, 18.
6 Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 44–52.
7 See Hartwig, “The Historical and Social Role”, “A Cultural History of the Kerebe”, “Long-Distance Trade”, “Oral Traditions Concerning” and “Oral Data and Its Historical Function.”
8 Hartwig, “Music in Kerebe Culture.”
9 Ibid., 451–5.
10 Khamis, “From Oral to Written Form,” 701. My emphasis.
11 See Vierke, “What is There in My Speaking”; Kezilahabi, “Ushairi wa Mapokeo na Wakati Ujao” and “African Philosophy”; Gaudioso “A Literary Approach to Avoiding Objectification”, “When Words Go Beyond Words”, and The Voice of the Text.
12 Kezilahabi, “Ushairi na nyimbo katika Utamaduni wetu,” 137. On the conception of time and tradition in Kezilahabi, see Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 52–66, 173–86, 257–67.
13 Gaski, “The Secretive Text”; Bicknell, “Just a Song? Exploring the Aesthetics”; Valdés Miyares, “Breaking Joy Division’s ‘Glass’”; Yoka, “La littérature musicale congolaise”
14 The following studies go in this direction: Aiello and Gaudioso, “Sando Marteu: Il cantore”, and Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 43–8, 187–9.
15 Finnegan, “The How of Literature,” 173–6.
16 Ibid., 182.
17 Barber, The Anthropology of Texts, 13.
18 Barber, “Popular Arts in Africa,” 4.
19 Sontag, Against Interpretation and Other Essays, 21.
20 Kezilahabi, “Ushairi wa Mapokeo na Wakati Ujao,” 121–9 and “African Philosophy,” 217–41; see also Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 77–106.
21 Gunner, “Africa and Orality,” 17.
22 Baumgarten, L’Estetica, 27.
23 Baumgarten, Riflessioni sulla Poesia, 71.
24 Sontag, Against Interpretation and Other Essays, 21.
25 Knappert, Four Centuries of Swahili Verse, 46–50.
26 For a more detailed study, see Knappert Four Centuries of Swahili Verse.
27 Mkota, Kamusi ya Methali, 214.
28 George Mulumbwa (University of Lubumbashi) gave me this information.
29 See minutes 37:24 to 43:31: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV-WItOv8s4&t=2531s (accessed 1 January 2021).
30 Phone interview with Mzee Chuki, 23 March 2020.
31 Interview with Makassy, Dar es Salaam, March 2019.
32 Mtobwa, Remmy Ongala.
33 Mkota, Kamusi ya Methali, 456–7.
34 Ibid., 332.
35 Ibid., 116.
36 Djungu-Simba and Lepa-Mabila, Kipenda Roho.
37 Private communication, 26 January 2020.
38 Sacleux, Dictionnaire Swahili–Français, 779.
39 See Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 19–76, “This Is Not Free Verse!”, “The Swahili Free Verse Dispute” and “Emancipation, Secularism and Sexual Education.”
40 Topan, Aliyeonja Pepo, ix.
41 For a description of secularism in Dar es Salaam in these years and the analysis of Topan’s play, see Gaudioso and Minerba, “Materialism and Secularism in Swahili Literature.”
42 Hussein, Kinjeketile, v.
43 Mulokozi, “Kinjeketile,” 47–8.
44 See Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 16–20.
45 See Gaudioso, “Mikondo ya Mtiririko wa Kishairi.”
46 See Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text, 53–61 and “Emancipation, Secularism and Sexual Education.”
47 Kezilahabi, Kichomi, 14.
48 From the 1989 album Songs for the Poor Man, Realworld/Virgin Records.
49 Interview in Dar es Salaam, 8 August 2018.
50 Kezilahabi, Dhifa, 17.
51 Kezilahabi, “African Philosophy,” 238–9.
52 Kezilahabi, Kichomi, 3.
53 Kezilahabi, Kichwamaji, 84.
54 Barber, “Popular Arts in Africa,” 7.
55 Kezilahabi “African Philosophy,” 5; Gaudioso, The Voice of the Text.
56 See Gaudioso “A Literary Approach,” The Voice of the Text, 77–106, “The Swahili Free Verse Dispute” and “Liberating Form and Thought: liberating Criticism.”