Nyimbo za Watoto: The Swahili Child’s World View CAROL M, EASTMAN INTRODUCTION In recent years a number of studies have examined forms of expres- sive culture that comprise song and dance in various societies. When. adults are the participants, the activity is seen a8 music in culture and taken to be an expression of the culture bearer’s selF identity ‘When children sing and dance, the activity tends to be regarded as play, and is thus taken less seriously. Hanna (1979) examined adult, dance plays (nkiea) performed by the Ubakala of Nigeria. Campbell (1983) looked at Swahili adult musical “happenings” (ngoma) per- formed mainly at weddings, circumcisions, or in conjunction with the annual Maulidi celebration in honor of the prophet Mo- hhammed’s birthday. Adult music in culture such as nkwa and ngoma is generally analyzed in anthropological writings as functioning to “generate pleasure, reinforce shared perceptions and values, reaf- firm social bonds, and assist in dissipating tension” (Hanna 1979:162). Beyond this, these dance plays as musical happenings are “also a vehicle to introduce innovation, mediate paradoxes in anticipated or actual expressions of .. . world view, and encapsu- Tate phases of social drama” (1979:62). From analyses of the content of adults’ songs and of the structure and movement patterns of their dances, world view principles may be seen to emerge, Hanna (1979) describes the Ubakala world view (CAROL M. EASTMAN is Profesor, Department of Anthropology, University of Washing: fon, Sexle, WA ryTHESWAKILICHILDSWORLD VIEW 145 that emerges from nkiea performances as stressing continuity, com- petition, innovation, respect, and reciprocity. Campbell and East- ‘man (1984), from a sociolinguistic perspective, describe the com- municative competence of Swahili ngoma performers. Their analysis reveals five types of ngoma common in Swahili adult cultural life: one women’s ngoma asserts its song composer's social status; another, for younger women, serves a sex-instruction function; a third deals with relations between the sexes; and two male ngoma involve primarily dance and instill team spirit and a sense of cooperation, “The questions to be addressed in this paper are these: How does ‘a world view that is manifest in adult musicin culture (such as ngoma and mhwa) develop or grow? What precursors of music in culture bespeak a child’s world view that may be related to that culture's ethos? My concern here is with the seeds of an ethos, or adult system of belief about cultural behavior, that may be found in pre-nkwa, pre-ngoma childhood musical behavior. ‘Venda people in South Africa as well as the Swahili in East Africa respectively classify childhood musical behavior as nyimbo za vhana (cana in northern Swahili dialects) and nyimbo za watat, Both Bantu- speaking groups employ essentially the same label meaning literally “songs of the children” to refer to this form ofchild’s play. That the songs exist as a recognized and labeled genre was seen by Blacking (1967) as dependent on voluntary association during the day in which children have ample opportunity “to heat all the different styles that make up their musical tradition.” Even though the songs Blacking was writing about did not appear to him to be related to adult music, he found that “their structure is in fact related to the adult music which the conditions of their social life enable them to hear on numerous occasions” (1967:29). He felt it possible, too, that many of the Venda songs were “composed by children and not handed down to them, as many English nursery rhymes have been” (1967:29) In ight of this, [am concerned with finding out what view of real- ity Swahili children construct in their play (songs) and whether this view is maintained in adult musical forms of expressive culture (in other words, asin ngoma). If this is the case, the study of child world ‘view as expressed in the songs of children’s play may be critical to an understanding of adult ethos in other societies with traditional ‘musical culture (as among the Ubakala and Venda). To this end, ‘what will be presented in these pages is a description of the content146 Eros and formal structure of Swahili children’s songs analyzed as an expression of world view in context." Prior toa description of song content and performance structure, 2 brief discussion of the type of research done in general on chile ddren’s songs is provided as background BACKGROUND RESEARCH Blacking’s (1967) ethnomusicological analysis was unique in that it mainly focused on children’s rather than adults’ songs. He also found there to be play dances (ngano) in Venda society but these are more formal evening occupations undertaken by adults as well as children and performed specifically in autumn and winter. In con- trast, the children’s songs he studied occur any time of the day at any time of the year, with brief and repetitive texts (1967:25). He claimed in his analysis that the children's songs and later play dances lead Venda children “towards mastery of the techniques, and appreciation of the ethos, of adult music” (1967.25) In contrast, most research on children’s songs has appeared ‘embedded in research on play (see, for example, McLellan's The Question of Play, 1970). Children’s songs axe sometimes mentioned, too, in work on the role of play in child development. In most re- search, play (including song) is seen as helpful in social develop- ment. A common view expressed is that children “through their many and varied forms of play . .. come to be able to look forward with confidence to the next period which is the threshold to the world of the adults” (McLellan 1970:82). Play is action or occupa tion for pleasure or amusement, a stage passed through by a child ‘who, as an adult, must relegate it to leisure activity or creative en- deavors. Play becomes an “extra” in adult life—a frivolity In Western societies, researchers have only recently begun to see play as continuing through life. The view expressed is that with au- tomation comes more leisure time so “we need to study the play of children now more than ever before if we are going to have gencra- tions of young people who can use their leisure time for rest, relax- ation and renewal of physical and mental health” (McLellan 197085). Such research assumes that play somehow occurs when people are doing nothing. Such research sees education and job training as tying into life's work but that life's play is left unchan- neled. Ethnocentrically, McLellan concludes that “play could be"THESWAHILLCHILDS WORLD VIEW 147 called the child’s raison dre, and ifwe are going to have a healthy society, shall we not have to find the adults’ raison dire also?” (1970:86). In traditional coastal Swahili communities with a Muslim Bantu- speaking culture, women and children spend most of their time to- gether, while adult males, due to religious duties and a fishing oc- cupation, are often absent. The resulting expressive culture reflects both this cultural fact and a continuity of cultural life for children from infancy through to adulthood (puberty) (Campbell and East- ‘man 1984; Campbell 1983). Likewise, non-Muslim Bantu-speaking Venda grow up in an expressive culture that is continuous from childhood to adulthood but there is not such a strict physical sepa- ration of the sexes in adult life. The 36 songs Blacking described as sung by children in the Northern Transvaal were categorized by him as action, counting, game, or mockery songs. It appears that the cat- ‘egories of song used by Blacking (and later adapted by Campbell 1983) are somewhat arbitrary, and it may be no accident that they parallel some of the category labels used in child development stud ies to refer to play on a broader level. Blacking found the songs to have words and rhythms inspired by “daily topics of conversation and common events in the lives of Venda children” (1967:193) ‘They sing about straying herds of cattle and about nursing babies, and they taunt children who have gaps in their teeth or who are afraid to leave their mothers.” The texts of the songs are straightlor- ward though obscurities are tolerated and liberties taken for the sake of poetic expression. To Blacking, “Children, in particular, learn songs without troubling about their meaning” (19675156). ‘The Swahili children’s songs to be examined in the following sec tion are sung by children between the ages 4-12, that is, throughout the entire period of growth from child to adult. In much ofthe child development literature, particularly in the work of Piaget (for ex- ample, Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood, 1951), play is seen as intellectual activity that “develops” from practice games, to sym- bolic games, to games with rules.’ Some characterize this process as ‘one of moving from a stage of action, to play, to game (ef. Blacking’s [1967] and Campbell's [1983] similar labels for their song cate- sgories). But, Swahili people tell me that all nyimbo za aloo are per- formed by all children 4-12 unless the task associated with a song is beyond their physical or mental development. That is, 4-year-old ‘Swahili children (like 4-year-olds everywhere) cannot master com-148 ETHos plicated clapping patterns, counting games, or team sports. This is also why songs are thought to “begin” at 4. Still younger Swahili children are “in” the nyimbo contexts. In Western society, by the time the children are old enough to “play,” they are frequently sep- arated for much of their day by being in school ‘What is different in Swahili society, then, is that this physical and. ‘mental unpreparedness does not keep infants and toddlers from in- volvement with the older children in the same activity. One might see play in non-Western societies as being more constructional (in the Piagetian sense), that is, creative, rather than conforming to a developmental stage. Constructional play is “closely linked with reality and it is not easy to tell whether this activity is a game, imi- tation, or spontaneous work” (McLellan 1970:22). In contrast, the three stages of play Western children conform to are linked to the development of inelligence. Action play corresponds to sensorimotor intelligence, play play corresponds to the representational stage of intelligence acquisition, and game play with rules is in the realm of children who are at a reflective stage. For the child in non-Western society, passing through play stages correlated with intelligence de- velopment is not considered necessary forthe child to grow up as an imaginative and uninhibited adult. Ina rather overt way, then, much child development literature links a need to pass through play stages with the successful devel- ‘opment of intelligence. Further, the literature speaks of a need to ‘make people in non-Western societies aware of this. For example, In such places as Nigeria and Sierra Leone the parents must fist be convinced of the nec and right of every child to play. In Nigeria the problem of iteracy pre= sented an almost insurmountable barrier to educating the parents about play. It has been found that the film (sic is» most useful medium for helping the parents to understand some of the needs oftheir children, In Nigeria they have art and ‘materials to make suitable toys, but the ordinary people are not yet convinced of the valu of play other than for physieal development, [MeLellan 197029] However, one might ask instead: What possible use is literacy for parents whose children (if left alone in their traditional society) ‘would exhibit natural forms of play? Through play these children express their own version of adult musical performances and con comitantly an incipient ethos oftheir particular culture, ‘The child development in education approach to play and its im- portance in the development of intelligence is sensitive to what it sees to be a conflict between the school and traditional society.“TMHESWAMILLCHILDS WoRLD VIEW 149 In Sierra Leon, culties have bee created because there were two cultures pe vailing inthe same country. Tes only in the las en years that education has de veloped considerably inthis area and some time i now allocated in schools for ames. Even so, some ofthe children seem to have litle enough time in which to play, for domestic duties are considered very important ad excupy much of the ‘hilden's leisure ime. [Met-elin 1970-29, Bur it is just as possible to see an exciting area of creative play in these leisure-time domestic duties as itis to see only work, difficul- tics, and apparent conflict. Even where the school is urging play and. the home work, a “constructivist” view would allow for an interpre= tation to be made of growth and change in progress. It may be that categories of play, ideas of work versus leisure, and the perennial bias involved in efforts to define intelligence are standing in the way of any cross-cultural understanding of the role of play in child growth. It may be that the child’s world needs to be continuous with that of the adult's if society is to be healthy, that is, composed of imaginative people with uninhibited experience (McLellan 1970:23), Intelligence is something else. Perhaps the height of paternalism in the study of child develop- ‘ment with a pro-Western bias may be seen in a statement issued 25 years ago by the International Council for Children’s Play (Brigh- ‘on, England) asserting its goal “to assist in establishing in all coun tries the child’s right to play” (McLellan 1970:30) An anthropological perspective on play has more recently begun to emerge. This perspective has ties not only to developmental psy- chology but also to the study of language in culture via sociolinguis- tics and also ties to the study of music in culture via ethnomusicol- ‘ogy. In light of these ties, this perspective also fits in with the general study of world view. Hanna (1979:178) saw the Ubakala dance play (nkiwa) in Nigeria as having language-like properties and saw her concern as “much the same as the sociolinguists in their study of spoken language in social interaction.” She sought to bring out cer- tain functions and patterns from dance in relation to Ubakala social life as a whole. Stross (1975) looked at Tzeltal song performances as consisting of | three categories (standards, women’s improvised, men’s impro vised) and found that By listening but with no explicit instruction, children acquite knowledge of song structure and eontent. Learning how to sing is weil forthe chill being socialized,130, eros for many songs afm sex oe distinction and reinforce ideal sex role behavior as wells belies about cros-sex role relationship, [1975320] Where some anthropologists looking at play are using a language and culture framework, other anthropologists looking at child de- velopment eschew such expressive cultural and world view studies in favor ofa strict adherence to developmental psychology. For ex- ample, Harkness and Super (1983) point out how the focus, so far, has been on an “antecedents-consequences” paradigm whereby adults are examined as having passed through (emphasis mine) cer- tain prior developmental stages. However, they see a way to Tink such work toa more context-based approach. They suggest that de- ‘velopmental stages be examined in context as niches that need to be examined from the child’s perspective rather than the adults. the developmental niche, as we shall term the structuring ofthe child's en ronment, isthe primary source fr the child's acquisition of eulture, including the ‘experience, encoding, and expression of aflet. 198:227] Working in Kenya with Kokwet people (in a Kipsigis commu- nity), Harkness and Super describe three child developmental niches from birth to age nine. Their theoretical approach may be seen as complementary to the anthropological view of play/expres- sive culture in context, as it holds that the regulates ofthe physical, socal, and psychological parameters of the ache, ‘swells the thematic continute from one culturally defined developmental stage {othenext, provide the material fom which the child abstracts the rules culture, just as the rules of grammar are derived from the regularities ofthe speech envi. ronment. (1988-27) Such context-based (anthropological) views of play and develop ‘ment contrast somewhat to Piaget's approach. Such views also exist in contrast to Piagetian derivatives such as the ideas of Kohlberg, (1969) on the development of moral judgement. Scholars such as Piaget and Kohlberg, in looking at moral development, come under criticism for measuring it as degrees of acculturation to Western “civilization” rather than as an expression ofa distinetive cultural ‘ethos. The suggestion made here is that if one were to examine chi ddren’s songs/games in use as data rather than at their verbal rea- soning about moral judgement, it might be possible to see such an clusive concept as morality (cum ethos or world view) in a more cul- ture-free way.THESWAHILI CHILDS WORLD View — 151 ‘THE SWAHILI CHILD'S WORLD IN SONG ‘The focus in the discussion that follows is on language use in the performance contexts of some 30 Swahili children’s songs in an ef fort to see what emerges that might be analyzed as presenting a di tinct world view. The reader familiar with Blacking’s (1967) study wil be struck at first by a similarity in performance context here. Nyimbo za waloto are songs of leisure that can be performed any time of the year, usu- ally during the daytime. All but four of the songs Campbell de- seribed are performed by both boys and girls; these four are sung by girls only. Just six ofthe songs (a different set from the four) may be sung by adults. Thus, the majority ofthe children’s songs are theirs only and are nondifferentiated along sex lines. These nyimbo za wa- {oto, as a class of songs, are distinct from “happening songs” (nyimbo -zangoma) performed by adults—though children may know some of the songs used in the overall ngoma context (see Campbell and East- ‘man 1964). Both adults and children will also sing work songs or participate in storytelling where songs are included, This latter ac- tivity is referred to as ngano by the Swahili just as itis also by the Venda, ‘Truc nyimbo za watoto are classified by Campbell as either recreation or tearing songs. Recreation songs are subclassified by Campbell as action, pay, or game songs, with game songs being the most complex. Both game and play songs also involve action, There were six ac- tion, six play, six game and nine teasing songs regularly performed by Swahili children during the period of Campbell's fieldwork. ‘Some songs had variants and some variants were specific to a par- ticular town. Swahili people tell me there are other children’s songs but that this sample is quite representative of the range of songs, ‘message content, and associated performance structures represent ing the Swahili child’s repertoire. In addition, not all children will know all of these and new songs are being “made up” by children regularly. Of the nine teasing songs, three tease people using indi vidual names, three are used by both adults and children to com- ‘ment on childrearing practices, three more make comments on s0- cial behavior and one is used to tease babies. Three songs are “just” songs—that is, not associated with action, play, or games, but “merely” sung by people who get together to sing. What will be de- scribed here is how these song texts and performance configurations152. rruos function and what messages they convey. The community examined is that of the Swahili coastal Muslim child and the event of concern is play cam music in culture. I describe who performs each song where and look at the structure of each song performance and the rules of behavior employed and expressed in each. The result i seen as the Swahili child’s “way of singing,” that is, ofexpressing his or her world. ‘These songs are performed on the northern Swahili coast in the city of Mombasa, Kenya, and in the towns of Lamu and Tchundwa in the Lamu archipelago. Most of the songs as classified by Campbell? according to title and type are shown in Table 1. I will now describe these songs within each category with respect to con- tent and structure of performance. Action Sones, Kibuzi (Little Goat) is performed as children sit on the ground in ‘circle with outstretched legs. One child acts as leader and picks up ‘the legs ofthe others one by one and taps them lightly on the ground while singing the following song: Lite mone goat, litle mone goat "The mother goat came and ‘Two goatherds came Show of. Show of, Minstrel Hide the hand. Let's goto the fies Pick up the spear, the knife ‘The chicken andthe lon have returned ‘The teacher has returned with Moarnize ere atthe coast there's a tee “This ree hasbeen planted Tthas bore el peppers ‘Twelve chils—sand, biter medicine. ‘Mone in the first line is the Swahili equivalent of “baa baa,” re- ferring to the sound the goats make. The legs picked up are said to represent the spear and the knife. Bitter medicine refers to the chilis—diffcule to eat on their own, The reference to sand is obscure but, as will be seen below, this is not unusual in the songs. Another of the songs decribed below has a reference to pebbles similarly used. Ukucki (Dry Coconut Fronds) involves boys and girls in a circle moving counterclockwise flapping their arms up and down (in the‘TIESWANILICHILDS WORLD viEW 153, ‘TABLED Swans Canons Ses [RECREATION SONGS ‘ines Kido ht Topo nite Sal sali (dite Goat) (Cite Backer of (Shall }Cue Her) (U Wasn't There) Freon) Uta Kiuaboe hg Taeeashinde Sorat (Dry Coconut Fronds) cg (ve Wont (Where Dl Sara {Oy Write Cat (Come From?) Mai yeni Tosambiimis Beds jyrg (Lemon Jie) (Cut Two Times) (One, Two) (Rented Peanuts) er mshi (iar Trin) Ppepate Aleman Mego mshi (Shake the Bnpry (Al ehe Lazy One) (March Tai) Grin Ps) Woman nai Aigo gin ony) Maal (Two Women) (Once) Zama tage (sue) “TEASING SONGS se by Ade and hid Men pat (Lite Kity) Alsat (Sh of He Fart) Mee Kobe (The Toes) Kiyo (Lie Bede) Kiar (Le Hy) ‘manner of dry coconut fronds flapping in the wind). Every time pe- fea (“it blows"—wateteme in another version) is sung, arm motion is exaggerated. On the last pepeya, everyone squats down on the ‘ground.1st euos While performing Mai ya ndimu (Lemon Juice), children are on their knees on the ground with their hands stretched forward and their fists closed. As they sing the first two lines, “Lemon juice, lemon juice, grind, grind,” they act out a grinding motion with their hands and closed fists. They then sing “Open, hwa’” and open their fists, palms facing forward, followed by “Close, hwa”” with the palms oftheir opened hands then turned down. “Shake the Empty Grain Pods” (Pepe pepeta) is performed by a pair of girls or very small boys facing each other who cross their farms and hold hands swinging each other. When they sing the ‘words wazungu wawili wapita (Two Europeans are passing by each ‘other) they spin faster and faster and faster. Note that wazungu, usu- ally translated as “Europeans” in English, isthe term used to refer toany Westerners. ape opt (Shake the pots) Wacungu ait sopita (Two Esropeans pass by) Wana loo aka (They have sears on thir heals) Waliostana (They wound each other's heads) Watt (They fight) In““Two Women" (Wamama wat), gels face each other and clap their hands in a sequence repeated two or three times and then the hands are reversed. The clapping begins with each gil’ left palm up, right down, and arms extended. They clap each other's hands left on right, right on left, and then clap their own hands together. ‘The clapping patter procecds very quickly. After the decided-upon repetition (2-3 times) of the sequence, they turn their hands over right palm up, let down and repeat the sequence through the song. the last two phrases the sequence is broken and on the syllables “shh, shh, sh, shh,” they motion with two closed fists, thumbs ex- tended, backward over each shoulder. People fel this to be a new song and say girls learn itafter they have been to school. ‘Two women param para They went to market, rmparam param ‘To buy tbacoo ‘mparum parum But (and) tobacco There wart any ‘They did't get sleep ‘They dida't shh shh shh hh didn’ get did sleep ‘i’ shh hn shh hh,CHILD'S WORLD VIEW 155 In Zambre, gitls as partners again face each other and perform ‘lapping patterns, Each partner’s left hand first cups the partner's right elbow. Then each claps her hands together (left palm up, right down). This cupping, clapping sequence is repeated 2-3 times, then reversed again until the “shh, shh” closing sequence occurs, accom- panied by the fists (thumbs extended) over the shoulder final ges- ture (here used twice, versus four times in Wamama wawili). The idea in both Zambive and Wamama eawilis to keep the complicated clap- ping going while getting the words right at the same time. Zambwe Zambwe Zambwe —Zambwe narume ni mjerume imjerume ery with him dodo do do dodo do a nchi naa ye My child, swi, banana choklet,choket Please don’t be angry Wake up dal nea ‘Matches, waya, waya matches, waya,waya. ‘Matches shi shin Matches, ways, waya, matches, sh, shh PLay Sones Kido kun (Little Bucket of Firewood) involves up to ten boys and girls plus one designated leader. The group sings: Lite bucket offrewood Bibi ies swimming Bibs mother is sleeping inthe water Help me unload. Thave elephantass, ‘Then the leader counts off the members of the group embedding the ‘numbers in rhythmic nonsense speech, as follows: hikchi one Ailongo longo hike longo longo hike tn longo long. Once all the children are counted, the leader says “I’m going to ‘the mosque to pray” and goes away. When the leader comes back, she or he asks “Why are there only —people lef?” filling in the blank with the number remaining that is progressively one less, since every time the leader goes ‘to the mosque” one child goes off136. eros and hides. The procedure is repeated until the leader finds no one left when she or he comes back. Ulingo (Stage) is performed with boys and girls singing: Stand up! [Here a chilas name is fled in] So hat we may sce your figure Roll, roll, bmp! Asforas the seashore Asa child’s name is sung, that child must stand up and rotate his, or her hips in a circular motion on the words “Roll, roll” then the child must make an emphatic sideways motion on the syllable ba— “bump.” On the words mpaka puani—“as far as the seashore”—the performer sits back down (that is, comes offstage). "Another play song, Kitambara changu cheype (My White Cloth), i volves boys and girls standing in a circle singing, My white coh has white spots ont With espect forall rol over. Here again, the blank is filled by a child’s name. One child ina circle must go to the center of the circle and execute a somersault, The song is repeated until all children have had a turn, ‘Tema mbili mb (Cut Two Times) has a leader who sings a fine of the song that is answered by the other children singing “Cut two times.” ‘There are three lines and three responses. Then the leader asks “IPT put down what I’m holding, will you laugh at me?” AIL children answer in unison “No!” so the leader puts down what she or he is holding and all the children—laugh! The song may be re- peated with another leader holding another object. ‘Singing Ali mkunguni (Ali, the Lazy One), boys and girls in a circle rush to tuck their hands under their arms (right arm under right armpit and vice versa) as the last line is sung. The last to do so is “Ali, the lazy one.” The song is: Ali, the lazy one Ali, the lazy one ‘An uncoordinated hing ‘An uncoordinated thing Mosher called me ‘eat (to come ad do the sting) Mosher called me Itmeabbte (to come and do the winnowing) Chaff and flour ‘ChafFand four ‘Mbakiambuche — Mbsinanbach (you resemble im) [Literally, you resemble ‘degiaja, an uncoordinated thing)‘THESWAUILI CHILDS WoRLD VIEW 157 ‘tal chet (V'm going) [This is sai wo bean imitation of nan speech and thought to mean “Pm leasing} Mafia ged gd (ilo geno geno)” Girls only sing Ai gosho (Oh Gosh!) as they jump over a circular piece of rubber—commonly part of an inner tube today—in jump- rope fashion. Ai gosho consists ofa one-line jingle, Ai gosho Omari mari gosh O—Oh gosh! Omari, gosh!” Two girls hold and stretch the cir- ‘cular rubber strip, a third jumps over one side then the other. All three sing the jingle. The jumper’s feet are supposed to hit the ground on the syllable “gosh.” When the jumper misses, one of the others gets a turn, Complications ofthe basic jump include jumping with the eyes closed, while clapping hands, with the feet together, using one leg only, or with the strip held higher and higher. The rubber circle is held taut against the back of the knees of two girls facing each other as the game begins. It may be moved up next around their waists, then up under their arms, The jumper is in the center of the circle the strip makes around the two holders. This is said t0 be a new game since “in the old days" it wasn't considered {00d for girls to jump. Game Sones Hapa nikate (Shall 1 Gut Here?) is a game song performed as chile dren clasp hands tightly together and stand in a circle, In the middle of the circle is a leader whose goal is to break out of the circle by cutting through the clasped hands. The leader goes from child to child in the circle, singing and pretending to use the various imple- ments in the song to do the cutting. When the leader succeeds, everyone in the circle scatters and it is up to the leader to catch one of them who then goes in to the center so the whole procedure may bbe repeated. The song is: ‘Shall Let here ot no? There isa then oom Changamwe [a section ‘of Mombasa) With an ax? Ieean't be eat With a hammer? ean be eut With big ie? ean be eut With a amall ie? Tea be out With ail? eean't beet Swahili children use a chant to celebrate a victory and simulta neously taunt losers. This is “We have defeated them, we have de-158 eros feated them, she le le, she le la” and is used mostly by victors in team sports, One context for singing this is when one group does better than another in Koran school lessons. Compare this to Amer~ jean victory chants such as “We've won because we've won because Fk do (One, Two) like “We have defeated them” is another game- associated chant. Its used for choosing sides or to pick who gets to bbe “it.” As each child is pointed to one by one, a group will chant Eka dona sare tin, On tin (“three”) whoever is pointed at is selected. ‘What is interesting here is that the counting is not in Swahili, Most children believe they are using nonsense syllables much as, in Eng- lish, children count with “eenie, meenie, miney, moc.” The count- ing actually is said to be a takeoff on what children hear when Asian shopkeepers count in their languages (for example, in Hindi or Gu jerati. Further influence from India on Swahili society shows up as boys and girls sing “Railroad Train” (Gari fa moshi) while they play a “London Bridge”-type game, Two children make an arch with their joined hands and the others pass under the arch. On the word Man- {gachor (thought to mean “‘thief”) their arms drop, capturing a child, Children choose between two objects (such as a boat or a car) and the choice determines which team (side of the arch) they are asked to join. Once they choose, they go stand in a line behind the person. holding up that side of the arch. Railroad train choo, choo, choo choo, choo, hoo ‘Mal lel le (thet, there, there) Kamkameto kameto kameto Kipeh,kipehar,kipchar,kipehar Mangachor. Note here, as elsewhere, that Swahili syllable structure (in other words, CVGV") is abrogated in the use of “nonsense” in kipchar, kip char, and 50 on. This reinforces the belief that the “words” are for- cign (ic., Indian). Kamkameto kameto and so on, in contrast, is legit imate Swahili nonsense and may even be a play on "go and catch hhim or her,” kamkamata. ‘To the same tune as “Railroad Train” and during the same game, children in the northern village of Tchundwa sing a song that ap- pears to be all nonsense:‘THESWAMILICHILDS WORLD VIEW 159 Malakatala torodiotroio. Last astolasto Blaka blak gum ‘Blaka blak gumugu Again, note here the mixture of nonsense syllable structures. ‘The arms are lowered to capture a child when gumugu is sung the second. ‘There's another game song with a railroad image and using what the children perceive to be “Indian” speech, In this case, rather than imitating Indian languages, the words are “fractured” Swa- bil, ridiculing the Indian form of Swaili children hear in shops and. oon the strect. This imitating consists of, for example, magar instead of magari for “train,” that is, using a plural fora singular and a final consonant where Swahili dictates a vowel. Also, “Who should 1 catch?” is literally rendered “Who catch me?" (cf. “Me Tarzan, You Jane” linguistic mockery in American culture). The entire lyri¢ is in this “pidgin” Swahili form. To perform “March Train,” chil- dren stand on a platform (such as on the stone seats outside the fronts of Swahili stone houses) or on some other form of platform up off the ground. In a question and answer frame, they sing: Mager machine ndo (Mah tain, ye, yes, come, come) Nile ‘Hi ao0 (May T come?) (Al igh, come) ‘Nan amata mini? Mini tamate (Who should Teatch?) (Catch me) Shake hint (ump down!) Hist sha (Here, Pm down) (On the words “Here, I’m down” the children jump down and run to avoid being caught by the child who is “it.” The first to be caught is “it” the next time. “PURE” Sones Swahili children also enjoy singing songs that have no game or action component and that are sung simply for fan, ‘Three of these songs are Sali salio (I Wasn't There), Sara nlokapi (Where Did Sara Come From?) and Njugu karanga (Roasted Peanuts),160 Eros Sali salipo goes like this: I wasn’t wasn there Tras at the harbor We were counting poles There were leven (One person wast there She'd gone to become rch Where's he goto become rich? ‘To Pemba and Zanzibar Mesa fiend Kame, ate you alright? Get up and we'll ext what God has provided Ws the oil ofgendo Geno isnt gendo Pebbles, Note that this song contains the other reference to “oil of gendo” (seen above in Ali mkunguni), elaborating here that gendo is not ggendo and ending with the cryptic “pebbles” in the same manner ‘we saw “sand” used in Kidugi (Little Goat) above. The Swahili term translated as “pebbles” in English refers to the small stones used in the construction of Swahili houses. “Another version has the lines “Friend Salimanga, she cooked rice with meat (for us to eat)" instead of “Friend Kame, are you alright? Get up and we'll eat what God has given us.” This shorter version also has the “I” of the first two Tines as the same “I” who went to get rich instead of introducing another person. ‘Sara ntokapi (Where Did Sara Come From?) sounds like this; Where aid Sara come fom wit the platform (stage)? he came from the palm tre to drink wine morzow T will come from the Maria dhow wit «big oll of ot [es] gl Ps the ite dow les goto Bwana Hamad who has elephants Weve robbed him ofhis mangoes And ric is delicious with dates, Mariama is his ook In this song we have another reference to elephantiasis—as seem- ingly out of place as it was in the play song “Little Bucket of Fire wood” (Kido kumi) In Njugu karanga (Roasted Peanuts) the children sing: Roasted peanuts, roasted peants Puta olen your penny to help the poor: "The Queen eied when she heard that one ofher counties ha been size. Tehad been seized by an Aan and that Afican is Mzce Kenyatta, Roasted peanuts roasted peanTHESWAMILECIILDS WoRLD VIEW 161 Teasin Sones Boys and girls will use songs as a way to make fun of each other, commonly using the name of the person in the song, for example Fatuma: Fatuma ropa (rhyme slang) Exerement is coming out of her you eat wth her ‘She will defeat you [in other words, she wil “win by getting more to o} or Rukiya Rutiya, Riya Pale the cow's til and got herself hundred shillings, In Rukiya, the “fan” is in rhyming with the name itself (Rukiva rhymes with mkia, “tail,” and with mia, “hundred”). Many names end ina GV (see note 8) syllable, especially women’s names, and so are common in such teasing songs, Consider also Mariya: ‘Mariya, Mariya Told you tell—ambis) Don't eat hinglish fury) Iwill ure you (hua) Go round the baobab tee (mba) You will nd atta) Sister Mocanajuma Cooking porridge, and abit okngfish and bit of shark, ‘One more “name” song is used to point out someone who has done something for which they ought to be punished by adults: “Farijala {or any name), you will eat dates!” Here there are a couple of levels, ofsymbolism at work. First, the reference to dates evokes a common Swahili proverb, Rudisha tende Manga, “Send dates back to Arabia,”” that is, “Send them back where they came from, we don’t need any—get them out of sight!” Hence, Farijala, you should be ban- ished. Further, “dates,” tende, and “elephantiasis,” lende (or, also, ‘eende), are referred to by the same word. So, Farijala, you will get (cae) elephantiasis (dates) —clearly a punishment as bad as ban- ishment! Without specifically using another’s name, children and adults will use songs to call attention to unseemly behavior. People who have162 rHos passed gas may be publicly humiliated as others sing while pointing to everyone present one by one, When the onomatopoeic syllable “bof is sung, the finger is pointed at the presumed guilty party and, all the others laugh. Also, as Campbell (1983:20) observed, “Some- times the offender takes the role of the leader and at the end of the song points to him or herself.” The song Alishuta (She or He Farted) Shetarted Wet! wet! and i's soupy ike shark curry There atthe seashore there's a litle dhow from Makadara [another section of| Mombasa cf "Changamwe"catit) Bursting the stomach, kaBOF! ‘To chide a person for not fasting during Ramadhan (in the case of adults) or to let a child who was seen sneaking food know they were seen, others may sing Kobe (The Tortoise): ‘Tortie, tortoise ofthe day [Got] the rat's day-old condiments! ‘Thats, you snuck food—and all you got forit was the rats leftovers! Bedwetters are subjected to Kitojozi (The Little Bedwetter): “The lite bedwetter urinated and se ise clothes on ire! [A child whose head has been newly shaved is taunted with Kipara goo (Little Baldy—Knuckles). Performing this, the singers gesture pretending to grind their knuckles on “Little Baldy’s” head, Children and adults will amuse a smaller child or baby by bounc- ing it on their knees singing “Baby kitty, meow, meow” followed by speaking the nonsense forms chid, chid, chidi, chidi as they tickle the chile ‘THE SWAHILI CHILD'S WORLD VIEW CULTURE Content From the foregoing description of the songs Swahili children sing (between the ages 4-12), one can extract a rather extensive view of Swahili coastal culture. We gain a glimpse of specific culture con- tact, sex roles, the natural environment, religion, and social mores both from the lyrics and the actions that go with the songs. TheseTHESWAHILLCHILDS WORLD ViEW 163 onmusical components of Swahili mimbo za watoto represent as- pects of culture found in the play songs and as such manifest aspects of the child's world view. In describing the songs, the categories used by Campbell (1983) of action, play, and game song were used. ‘These may be seen to echo the categories of play stages discussed carlier as represented in the writings of child development scholars such as Piaget. As must be clear by now, the categorization of the songs is rather arbitrary. Some, like Pape pepeta (Shake the empty grain pods), that are described as action songs could also be viewed as teasing songs. Itmay be that play categories, too, are of ittle utility in examine ing child development in play (involving song) in a culture such as that of the Swahili coast, since all children are involved in all song- related play (unless excluded in a very few cases by sex), What may be a more useful approach to studying children’s song (and child development?) isto view itas expressive of culture in its underlying form rather than as expressing development “stages.” As children grow, their culture grows along with them (as do their arms, legs, and so forth). In this section I describe what might be considered such a basic or underlying form of culture seen to emerge from the content of the syimbo za watot, We find a society where baobab and palm and chili pepper trees ‘grow, where kittens are pets, chickens are part of the homestead, lions roam the wild, and goats are herd animals that bleat “meme, ‘meme’ instead of “baa, baa.” Coconut fronds (akucki) blow in the breeze. We are aware of the “work” of rice and grain being sifted and winnowed and ground yielding pepeta (empty grain pods) amidst an abundance of local produce such as ndimu (lemons), nga (flour), mpunga (rice), nyama (meat), palm wine, shark curry, man- goes, dates, kingfish, porridge, and so forth. Firewood and eutting tools (axes, hammers, knives of various sizes) are important. Insongs with words the children feel to be nonsense, cultural cues ‘emerge. In Kitembara changu cheype, the idea is “If my whitecloth is soiled, take a chance and soil yours, too, by rolling over.” That is, we are all equals here. Where words are used that children don’t know, they may turn out to be imitations of English. For example, ‘ladda from the English “bladder” is the word for the inner tube the girls jump over in Ai gosto and, of course, the titles the English “Oh gosh.”” Other nonsense is imitative of Indian speech, as in ek do and16t Eos mangachor. The girls’ clapping songs acquired, people say, in school playgrounds invoke chocolate, wire, and sweets. It is certainly no accident that these contact vocabulary items occurin songs “about” contact phenomena and in games that are relatively new and also contact-related, such as jump-rope. The railroad comes into the songs with Indian vocabulary, reflective of the influence of people from India on the building of the railroad that leads from the Swa~ bili coast to the inland capital of Nairobi. ‘Ata deeper level, the songs, via their tone or affect, reveal some cultural “understandings.” The idea that you cannot trust what ‘everyone says comes through in Tema mbili mbilé (Cut Two Times) ‘when the children laugh anyway when the singer puts down what she or he is holding after having given their word they would not. People who are lazy are losers (Ali mkunguni). Competitiveness is a value (Tumewashinda—We have defeated them). In addition, there are the overt, yet mysterious, references to “oil ‘of gendo” and the symbolism of elephantiasis in Kido kun and Sara ntokapi—both terms in their contexts indicating things to be avoided. “Elephantiasis” is also a possible pun in “Farijala, you will cat dates,” that is, punishment will be meted out and one good way to.do this isto get the dread disease (or be sent away), It seems clear that whatever oil of gendo is, itis evil and perhaps also corrupt; ele- phantiass is not to be contracted. ‘Where games are played and teams chosen, an Indian count-off system appears. Seeds of stereotyping occur where mangackor is in tended to mean “Indian thief” and where the two Europeans (peo- pile tell me one is German and the other British) are portrayed as squabbling among themselves. Ali mkunguni, the lazy one, moves ki- twajavaja (in a shullling, slow, secretive manner), manifesting an awareness of the view outsiders often stereotypically express about ‘coastal Swahili people as lazy and bumbling, a view the people themselves try to counter. ‘The idea that Swahili people are Kenyan in nationality as well as Swahili ethnically and that they have a sense of national pride as ‘such is seen in Njugu karanga—boasting of the country’s then Presi- dent, Jomo Kenyatta, having wrested the country from England (“the Queen”). The reference to pennies with holes in them evokes the colonial economy when coins were strung around people's necks or wrists so they wouldn’t lose them despite not having pockets (or trousers!) to keep them in, We hear in Sali salipo that one way these“THE SwAMILLCHILD'S WORLD VIEW 165 days for people to get rich is to seek work at the harbor and not just sit around and wait for what God will provide—or even worse, deal in “oil of gendo” only to find out that what you have is worthless— pebbles! Maritime culture is alluded to in mention of dhows, trade, and ‘eargocs of “hot” (fresh) gold (in Sara niokapi), ‘Teasing emerges as a strong cultural force. People who pass wind, break a fast, or have newly shaved heads are in for it. Some of the teasing songs are simple taunts such as Rukiya and Fatuma. Religion is an aspect of the “hide-and-seek” game and the song Kido kuni Proper sexual movement for girls is taught in Ulingo and, interest- ingly, little boys may also “play” at being “on stage” until they are ‘moved from the song’s context and sent to Koran school. We saw that in some songs there were words the children them- selves did not understand. Also, references were made to polities, social facts, diseases, ways of cooking, and foods used. Stereotyping charaeterizations were made of others such as Europeans and Asians and even of “typical” Swahili people, In Wamama wawili and Zambwe, a number of words from English that are obvious to English speakers are sung as nonsense to the children, for example, switi (candy or “sweet"), tumbako (tobacco), banana, choklet (chocolate), dati (doll), andl waya (wire). The first wo lines of Zambwe thought by children to be nonsense may ‘mean’ “Zambwe [name] is a Ger- man” from Zambwe ni Mjerum(ani) and be an indirect reference to that period of colonial rule in East Africa. Juxtaposed with the Eng- lish (colonial) loans of tobacco, chocolate, wire, and dolls makes this possibility particularly intriguing. The mparum parum in “Two Women” is onomatopoctically reminiscent ofa verbal drum roll CutruRE Form Amidst this picture of Swahili life described from the content of children’s songs, we see forms of play that seem quite familiar, ‘There are the children’s circle games. Kibuzi (Little Goat) is rer niscent of “This Little Pig Went to Market” and Ukucki (Dry Co- conut Fronds) calls to mind “Ring Around the Rosy.” There is the fast spinning game Pepe, papa (Shake the Empty Grain Pods). ‘There are the complicated clapping rhythm games (Wamama wail and Zambive) reminiscent of hand-clapping songs performed by American children such as, “My mother told me, me, me/IT were .go0d—ee, ee, e¢/That she would buy me, me, me/A rubber doll-ce,