Taarab or Songs of Abuse?: Verbal Duels in East Africa in Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa

For long, it has been believed that song of abuse, as it has come to be called, is a preserve of west African communities. Early inroads into this oral subgenre were made by scholars who, more often than not, hailed from Ghana and Nigeria. A false impression of its locus was created to the effect that it was region-specific. This paper is an attempt to illustrate the pervasiveness of this verbal art, in disguised forms among the Swahili of East African. Drawing illustrative material from communities inhabiting the larger east African region of the continent, I argue that songs of abuse are part and parcel of the Swahili and Bantu groups such as Abagusii’s oral repertoire serving crucial expressive needs of the community. Considering that most art in Africa has always been conceived in functional terms, I posit mipasho as a creative art with aesthetic and social purposes – falling in a form of popular entertainment called mashindano, an organised competitive event. A survey of Swahili poetry and oral repertoire reveals that taarab, a form of sung poetry, clearly serves the purpose songs of abuse did in west Africa. If art or poetry is a vent for pent-up emotions, and a channel for powerfully overflowing emotions/feelings, then this art forms an important avenue for individual or groups. The paper foregrounds these continuities and regional-specific elements of this art, in particular, i) the competitive or conflictual spirit, ii) it is taking new shape in contemporary times, iii) it tends to be a preserve of women, Specifically, I interrogate the genre’s characteristic features, the aesthetic codes and conventions through which it generates meaning and the general social context of performance and interpretation. I explore not just the forms it takes, but also examine its contexts, formulaic usage of linguistic resources and the trend it has taken in contemporary times. Finally, and most importantly I will make a comparative analysis with the West Africa variant.