The Somali Oral Traditions: a Call for Salvation

Abstract

The rich and variform poetry of the Somalis who live in the Horn of Africa has brought them fame as a nation of poets. Sir Richard Burton, an English traveller and a scholar in the field of Arabic studies, who visited Somalia in 1854 reported: “The country teems with poets...”.¹ The love of alliterative poetry among Somalis, the majority of whom are still nomads, has continued to this day. The best poems and verses of the outstanding Somali poets have been more or less thoroughly recorded and issued. Some of them have been translated from Somali into other languages.² Unfortunately the oral traditions of the Somalis, in which they have also fully demonstrated their creative talents, are much less known. An insufficient number of their work-songs, riddles, proverbs and folktales have been published in Somali, which became a written language only in 1973, or have been translated into major European languages. Moreover, the tragic events of modern Somali history have placed the national oral traditions on the verge of vanishing. The National Library, which included large collections of books and manuscripts, has been gutted. The Somali National Academy, with its extensive collection of publications, has also suffered destruction.³ Many educated Somalis have been killed in the civil war which broke out after the dictatorial regime of Siad Barre had been overthrown. Thousands of Somalis have been obliged to emigrate. Their children know foreign languages better than their native tongue. And they have no idea about the oral traditions of the Somali people.