Sukuma Labor Songs from Western Tanzania - 9789004184688

Collaborating with Tanzanian scholars, musicians, cultural commentators, and translators, Gunderson (ethnomusicology, Florida State U.) has collected, translated, and interpreted hundreds of songs from singers and composers of the Sukuma people, who live south of Lake Victoria. Some of the 335 songs here are among those, while others are from other published or archival collections. They focus on links between people and work at a time when many of the traditional activities and occupations depicted in the songs have uncertain futures as mechanized farming spreads into the region. Original lyrics in one of the two local Bantu languages, Kiswahili and Kisukuma, are paralleled by English translation, and followed by an interpretation ranging from a short paragraph to over a page. Among the categories are snake hunters and porcupine hunters, Lake Eyasi salt caravaners, long-distance porters, warriors and mercenaries, conscripted soldiers, reciprocal village labor, and in praise of the hoe. Though the main emphasis is work, other sections consider songs of nationalist praise for TANU, Julius Nyerere, and uhuru; songs of political discourse during the Ujamaa epoch 1967-85; songs concerning the war against Idi Amin; songs of praise for the CCM since Nyerere's 1985-95 presidency; and songs of the village vigilante associations. Some black-and-white photographs are included. The volume is likely to acquire the same canonical status as first collections of folksongs in other cultures. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)