Mix July 12, 1972 - 10B Tierlul

Recording #10B

Place of Recording: Tierlul

Date of Recording: July 12, 1972

Performance:

Informant: Paul Abulla

Date of Transcript: August 1, 1972; Direct conversation

1 000 Dancing song.

Information: Chumi, a term that can mean either chief or king so can’t tell which is being sung about. (Sometimes, when people find that their names are in a song, they will give something to the composer. Not only the chief gives but those names are in the song will give something to the fellow who wrote the song.)

Text: I never thought of getting something, but I did. What is given to the chief (or the king) I will not deny that I was not given. Talking to a certain lady, saying, “Don’t be surprised if this liar is trying to confuse us and bring misunderstanding between us.” Anyone who stays with the chief may get something. He is speaking about the Chumi. Mentions the names of the people. Now, nobody will give us something. She is asking the people, not the king, but those whose names are in the song, to give her something. She then asks the Chumi not for herself, but to give something to the people.

2 059 Dancing Song.

Information: Some of the people will go to a girl and say I’m am going to get a demoui in 6 months or a year but they really don’t mean it. In Anuak area, if a fellow wants to marry, he will send a friend of the girl he is interested in to the girl and ask her to come and meet with him.

Text: Concerns a liar. Telling people there is one liar here who accused me of doing wrong. Don’t believe the person who is not telling the truth. I am going to get the demoui. You better look for a rich man. I gave her to a rich man. That man talked to her advising her to go to the rich man, though she didn’t love the old rich man. That way she would get demoui.

3 073 Love Song (dancing).

Information: Song from the Sudan.

Text: Mentions friend who when dances move very rhythmically and very pleasant to look at. Repetition. This song, don’t compare yourself with Ningyori. Asking her friend, where is your husband, she replies that my husband went to headquarters to fight with Arabs. We are going to get independence and remain in our land.

4 093 Love Song.

Text: Your boyfriend went to a certain place for a year. Don’t worry, he will be back. Although my boyfriend has no money, if you refuse to allow me to marry him, it would be better to thrown me into the water. Mentions the name of her friend. Repeats

5 122 Love song (dancing).

Information: When a girl is given to a rich man, and she doesn’t like him. He will beat that girl until she is harmed, hand broken or something of this sort. Her husband went to a certain place, and nobody knows whether he is going to come back or not (Probably includes the problems of several people in one song). One married to a rich man that she doesn’t love and another who doesn’t know if her husband will return, etc.

Text: When I sleep, I dream about my boyfriend. When I see somebody who is not educated, I don’t like him. (Perhaps somebody who doesn’t know how to behave – has bad manners.) This part is included in all love songs: If you refuse me please tell me so that I can get a better one. Same words and melody crop up all the time.

6 160 Love Song

Text: Telling her friend your boyfriend sends us greetings. Now tell me if you refuse so that I may get a better one. (me no Eni ouwar bac ani go) this phrase heard repeatedly. (me no eni ouwar be chani go ana cito ki orro gonno mi kaatha ciri) It would be better to tell me, I’m going to look for demoui.

7 178 Agwaga.

Information: Was written about 15 years ago. The king fought with the Galla (Police) they killed the captain, Asfa that time, most of the people of Gok went together with the Amhara, so those that defeated the Amhara also defeated the people of Gok. Name of the king, Orogwal. Probably from Ternam.

8 195 Agwaga. War Song.

Information: Against those of Adongo mentioned the names of those killed from the side. Probably from Ajwara. A certain fellow from Tede moved to Adong, during that fighting he was killed. His name is mentioned in songs number 2 and 3. Companies of Anyanya went to Adongo and defeated them. (the kings place is like that of a chief…simply a grass house. But called a palace CWOD. The place for a chief would be called BURA where a chief lives.) Those of Adongo were supporting the Arabs. Fought 4 times Anyanya were defeated 3 times and finally defeated those from Adongo on the 4^th time. Was written after the fourth time by the supporters of the Anyanya. From Ajwara.

Text: Where were those who were boasting when we destroyed the place of the king. Those of Adongo were boasting, those Anyanya are they going to fight us, they are very thin, we are fat. Can these thin people fight with us? It would be better to unite with them. Can those Anyanya who are living in the forest and have no food to eat fight with us?

9 227 Agwaga.

Information: Probably from Ajwara and probably against Adongo though the name is not mentioned.

Text: Mentions the names of the people. We are going to make Agwaga for the king. Mentions the names of the brave in fighting. You have to ask yourself, you used to confuse people, were some that tried to confuse the people among them. Ask you who confuse the people, you are guilty of the death of those who perished because of the fighting. Anyone who stays with the king, he will receive something from the singing.

10 280 Agwaga.

Information: This boy is mad for telling about the war. He told the secrets.

Text: We are the only people who saved the women and girls from danger. Mentions the names of the people, saying you have to inform us for fighting.

11 317 Agwaga. War Song.

Information: Probably from Ajwara.

Text: Mentions the brave men. Telling about the Gallas (by inference) those of certain tribe called Muhle (Murle) from Sudan wanted to fight this village.

12 412 Agwaga.

Text: Strength of the king is mentioned. Includes the bodyguard (jo Bura) they killed so many people from that village, saying you go back to your village and bury your people. Your people don’t go to Jurr. Stay on the Ethiopian side.

ANUAK Project: FIELD NOTES – July 12, 1972

Retyped: June 7, 2019

1:10 Leave for Tierlul.

1:15 Arrive at Tierlul and stop at our favorite tree. No one there this time and Paul therefore goes from place to place and soon one or two come.

1:45 Begin recording, going into a house (Paul’s house) to do the work because of the sound of the grain grinder motor. The first fellow is a young exuberant fellow who uses motions to make points in his singing. Olok Ajem from Tedo. He sings much softer for the tape than when he was singing before the serious work began. We must be careful of too careful responses which alter the natural way of normal response. On the whole however, this is not or doesn’t seem to be a problem. The people sing in quite an uninhibited way especially after getting used to the idea.

1:55 Orieu Omot also from Tedo sings

2:10 Gora Odola from the Sudan village of Ajwara.

Orieu Omot returns to sing several more times. These fellows appear to be between 20 and 25.

2:40 Thorgi Olok an older lady sings an old song. An apparent pattern is that the lower part which is like a chant is to be sung by those who are singing with. The higher part is the part of the leader.

Tape 1: Side 2

2:50 Sung by a young girl, Ojicli.

Sung by girls who have taken part before. Awiti Ojulo from Tedo and Awili Akway from akobo (Sudan). They sing in a variety of ways a variety of songs from love songs to lullabies. Others add their voices in several cases.

3:20 Alam Omot from Tera and Kwot Ojulo and Ocan Obang from Nyikwo village sing a variety of songs in several styles. Alam Omot has sung several times before.

We exhaust our battery supply and so have to wait for replacement before Ocan Obang can sing (Nyikwo) but we finally have replacement by about 5:20 and he sings several songs.

5:45 We finally end a hard-working session having filled two tapes. Much patience has been needed today because the songs have been somewhat short from a variety of sources with some delay between, some looking around for the next singer, and always the need to play back the entire performance for the benefit of the singer. This of course doubles the working time and doubles the use of the batteries through which I am going at a great pace. The feeling I am getting now is that we have quite well exhausted the music contributions of Tierlul. We are hearing the same songs again (which is good for comparison purposes) but the people are getting a little weary of the idea and are lacking to a degree in the freshness that I would like. It seems to be time to move on.