Agwagas July 4, 1972 - 2A Pokwomo

Recording #2A

Place of Recording: Pokwomo

Date of Recording: July 4, 1972

Performance:

Informant: Paul Abulla and Agwa Alem

Date of Transcript: July 27, 1972

1 000 Call your mothers. Did you send a man to call the people? Yes? Drumming is inferior.

1 035 Awawa.

Information: Children singing. Children praising one another. Mentions the names of groups of people. Expressing their greatness in dancing. Done before they all come together. A call to come together.

3 079 Agwaga.

Text: We are the strongest. We are going to ambush them. Come out in the fields and the police will come and be surprised. Could not find the chief in charge.

Information: Old song. Difficult to get the meaning. Mentioning the names of the people, how they ambushed and defeated the enemy. Fought against the government. 7 or 8 years ago. Defeated police 3 times. Anuaks custom: Will not eat this kind of animal till I kill a lion or elephant. During this time, Pokomo killed the animal so they were very pleased. Government became angry about shooting and festivities. Began beating the villagers with sticks, so the village began firing with guns. Killed a captain and some others. Police called police from Gambela and Woreda, third time called from Gore. Soldiers 70 or 80 still defeated, then called Addis and were then finally defeated by the forces from Addis.

4 132 Dancing Song.

Information: In a circle. Girls in the middle standing in the circle of the men. Songs for dancing. Mentions Galla capture. Written by a fellow from Pumoli who came up and wrote this about the chief.

5 252 Obero

Information: Goodness of the chief. And also, names of old men and some that are still alive. Old song. A song for a dead chief. Not usually sung at a dance. Leader will begin and the ladies and children will sing but the leader will be quiet. Goodness of the chief and including the old men. His way of leading of the village. During this time there were not things wrong in the village as there are now.

ANUAK Project: FIELD NOTES – July 5, 1972

Retyped: June 6, 2019

11:30 Leave Pokwo

11:40 Tierlul: sit in assembly area under a tree and wait for men to arrive.

12:20-1:20 Work with thom and flute players. They play songs and demonstrate various aspects for the tape. I take pictures of the playing methods, fingering patterns with movie film and take still pictures of the instruments themselves, making measurements of them and shooting from several different angles. The men are very willing and pleasant to work with. One of the leaders of yesterday’s group of dancing and singing said he wasn’t ready to sing by himself at that time. Therefore, he demurred. In the midst of my taping of the thom, I discover the UHER to have lost power, therefore I switch to the National Cassette player and listen to the flute being played. I neglect getting names of the four-holed instruments. We repeat some of the thom playing for the other recorder and a second thom player demonstrates his skills.

1:30 – 2:15 Assemble with about 45 women and children under another tree with about 30 men watching from behind me, facing the women. Singing is to a degree antiphonal with several soloists dominated by one woman who sings with great fervor. About 7 songs were sung. In the context of this situation, the singers sing when they feel like making it necessary to have the tape running continuously and they do not allow time for intensive questioning of the material being sung. The data will have to be assembled with one informant probably after the performance takes place.

2:15 We break off session. The women are tired. The problem of pay for services is again brought up. Something will have to be done about this so that we can continue.

2:30 Return to home in Pokwo.