Music is such an important part of African culture. Their lives are permeated with music and dancing much more than even the teenagers and young adults in our country. I’m guessing it is part due to the fact that oral traditions have been a such a huge part of their cultures for centuries long before the written word was ever introduced.
One portion of Kenyan literature is the study of songs. Not only are songs sung as music, but they are often integrated as part of their daily life, even within their stories. This past week we talked about songs as a genre in my Form IV (senior) class. It was probably the most enjoyable lessons we have had the past two years! We would discuss characteristics of each category, take notes, I’d sing them a song from our culture if I could come up with one, and they’d sing songs from their cultures. One of the joys of working in Kenya is watching them burst forth in song, singing, swaying, creating rhythm with whatever they have at hand and dancing. It is beautiful. They have such grace, rhythm, elegance.
When you stop to think about it, we probably have songs in some of the same categories but we don’t use them as a part of our daily lives. I was able to think of songs from the States in several of the categories: lullabies, work songs, sacred songs, love songs, singing games, learning songs. Those were easy: “Hush Little Baby”, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”, “How Great Thou Art”, “A Tisket, A Tasket”, “The Alphabet Song”. I told them I was too old to remember any love songs and had to look up the words to “Annie’s Song”. You’d think you’d be able to remember a song sung at your wedding! Categories I couldn’t come up with examples for include birth songs, child naming songs, wedding songs, praise songs, political songs, war songs, dirges, and initiation songs. They sure didn’t have any trouble coming up with examples!
I was amazed at a couple of similarities. For example in the lullaby category, just as in “Hush Little Baby”, many of their lullabies also promised the baby that a parent would bring them many things. They sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” as a sacred song. Did it originate in America as I had originally thought or in Africa? Who influenced who? According to Goggle it started in the US but who really knows?
