Bridging the hiatus: Dramatic and poetic elements in Malalo’s kirari

Abstract

The theme of this paper is farautar jarumta ‘heroic hunting’ in the north-western part of Nigeria. The paper pays particular attention to the kirari ‘praise-epithets’, also called koɗa kai ‘adulation of the self’, of the mafarauta ‘hunters’ as one of the cardinal features of this kind of hunting. It traces certain dramatic elements, such as stage/space, costume and props, dramatis personae, plot, impersonation, and the spectacle as well as the singing and drumming that are an important part of performance of kirari. It further examines poetic elements in Ummaru Usman Malalo’s famous kirari Saka-cira; these elements are grouped into genealogy-based, action-based, and metaphorical yabo ‘praise’. The paper shows that, although the delivery of kirari has, in some studies, been analysed as a song text, it requires performance along with the dramatic elements which belong in a performance. The analysis of Saka-cira – which has never previously been studied – shows that in their kirari, mafarauta utilise poetic devices to portray, embellish, and exaggerate events, comparing themselves with, or even declaring themselves to be an animal or a natural phenomenon. The analysis in the paper relies on the Hausa version of the kirari. It utilises a transcribed version of Saka-cira, interviews, observations, and secondary literature.