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Calling the Bori Spirits

Although ascription and kinship do not determine who becomes a fiddler in Hausaland, some goge musicians do enter the profession because their family members play the instrument. Several performers I interviewed (i.e., Balan Na Bassa, Mamman Landi, and Garba Liyo) learned to play at a young age from kin. Yet those who learned from relatives did not expect their children to be-come fiddlers. In most instances, fiddlers encourage their children to attend a Qur’anic or Western school that leaves little time for fiddling (Landi 2003; Liyo 2003). Others do not become fiddlers because family  members believe doing so would bring them harm. Sandra Bornand, who found such a situation 143in  northwest Nigeria, explains: “Sanaye Oumarou, a Hausa originating from the village of Koko, in the region of Birni Kebbi, in Nigeria, was a goge-player himself, but he did not want his son [Harouna] to play the instrument for fear that other musicians, his rivals, might put a curse on the boy. In the past, competition was fierce” (1999:12). Although his father did not want him to become a fiddler, Harouna  was determined to learn fiddling because he believed the spirits called him to do so. To satisfy his father, however, he delayed learning the fiddle until after his father died. When he started training, he had to learn on his own, playing with friends who recalled how his father performed. After studying with an established fiddler, Harouna’s performance improved to such a degree that he became a “renowned musician” in his home and surrounding areas (Bornand 1999:13)

The current social status of fiddlers and the attitude of the Hausa toward fiddling are determined to a large degree by views held by Muslims in Hausa-land. Since most Fulbe-Hausa, particularly those who consider themselves to be deeply religious, condemn and do not want to be associated with music, fiddlers have had a low social status in spite of their popularity (Erlmann 1983b, 1983b). Most Hausa regard musicians and the music profession, with the exception of court performers, with disdain. Whereas several types of idiophones, membranophones and aerophones are attached to the emir’s court, those who perform chordophones are not represented. Many Hausa parents would also disapprove their daughter’s marriage to a fiddler. Even during the 1960s when fiddling was popular, Ames observed that the lack of social acceptance could be seen in the refusal of many nonmusicians to eat of the same bowl with musicians or to lodge in the same dwelling (Ames 1973b:154). The attitude that members of a community have about a musical tradition is sometimes reflected in their oral literature. The proverbs and jokes listed below indicate how some people in Hausaland regard the goge players:

The goge fiddler to the hourglass drummer: “You only play for the girls to dance and [they] give you pennies.” The drummer replies: “You only play for the harlots to dance and [they] give you a half-smoked cigarette to finish up.”   (Ames 1982:14)

Recorded in 1908 and released in 2011 on Buda Musique, the music disks Tessema recorded in Germany are now over a century old. They are certainly the oldest for Africa. The Goethe Institute, Addis Ababa, launched the release of the restored version of Eshete's recordings on 20 September 2010 for their centennial.

Tessema Eshete (27 July 1876 to 13 October 1964) was born in Minjar, Ethiopia, to his mother Woleteyes Habtu and his father Eshete Gube. In the year 1908, Tessema was selected by Emperor Menelik and sent to Germany with German concessionaire Arnold Holtz to be trained as the first Ethiopian Automobile driver/auto mechanic. This was to be a life-changing mission for him. He accomplished his training, and also recorded Ethiopia's first recorded music on 17 double sided shellack disks. A not so wealthy young man when he departed, Eshete became one of the richest Ethiopians on his return to the country. He was paid 17,000 Gold Marks by Beka Rekords Berlin, and also earned continuous income from the sale of his disks which were reproduced by HMV Germany in 1912, Odeon Germany in 1931 and Odeon Milan during the brief Italian occupation of Ethiopia 1935-1941.

In addition to restricting the clothes women don, Islamic conservatism has also been aided by the growing popularity of kulle, the practice of secluding wives within the home. Before independence, the least strict form of kulle–which allowed women to leave their houses when escorted by males–was predominant. However, with the tightening of sharia, the strictest version of kulle–which doesn’t allow women to leave the house at all–became increasingly observed in northern cities. Absolute wife seclusion on such a large scale is rarely seen in Muslim societies; it is a characteristic unique to northern Nigeria. The practice of kulle physically traps women in the home and precludes any chance of education or financial independence.

Women’s traditional performances include lullabies, work songs and Asauwara, an energetic dance  done  by  women  during  festive  seasons  such  as  the  Eid  festivals.  These  are  sedate  with no  overt  vulgarity.  Amada  is  another  musical  form  by  women. It  is  evident  that  seclusion brought out the women’s creativity;they had to find ways of easing their boredom and creating some  form  of  entertainment  to  fill  the  time  they  spent  indoors  during  the  day.  Paradoxically, the  fact  of  the  seclusion  is  the  source  of  their  creativity.  Within  the  dictates  of  culture, women’s  oral  performances  are  done  only  for their  fellow  women.  However,  during  such performances,  under  aged  boys  and  male  relations  may  come  in  and  go out  at  will.  Whereas, men’s  performances  are  mostly  in  public  and  have  been  recorded  frequently,the  women’s performances are rarely recorded because they are performed in private female quarters.

Four elements were found to be important in the process of gender and self -assertion: visibility, audibility, Hausa culture and Islamic religion. These elements shaped the content of Amada and influenced its performance strategy. The performers’ rejection of invisibility and inaudibility (seclusion), made  them  to  reconfigure  and  extend  their  spaces  beyond limiting  cultural  ones  by moving from private to public spheres.   This  was  realized  through  metonymic  construction of  musical  instruments  in  all  the  songs. Items  such  as  bowls  and  calabashes  were  used for drumming.  Such  items,  associated  with  women,  are normally  used  for  cooking,  washing  and bathing;  but  were  put  to  counter  use  in  the  performance.  In  that  sense,  the  performances paradoxically affirmed the women’s cultural stereotypes as cooks, launderers  and  homemakers while they reject the same stereotypes. Choge’s synecdochic description of women as “buttocks and robust buttocks” was complemented with other narrative strategies like transgression idioms, ambiguity  and  body  poetics.

Bukar Abdullahi
2 weeks ago
This was when it was N4=$1.. now it's N360=$1.

i da pozovu palfoota da je osvesta.