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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Mukāndā': a new form of oral Luba poetry
Author:Maalu-Bungi, CrispinISNI
Year:2005
Periodical:Research in African Literatures
Volume:36
Issue:4
Pages:55-86
Language:English
Geographic term:Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Subjects:Luba
oral poetry
oral poetry (form)
External link:http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/research_in_african_literatures/v036/36.4maalu-bungi.pdf
Abstract:The oral literature of the Luba of Kasayi (Democratic Republic of Congo) comprises several genres that can be classified as either prose narratives or poetic narratives. This article focuses on a category of poetic narrative on which nothing has yet been written: the 'mukāndā', also called the 'leetrč'. A relatively recent creation compared to other genres, the 'mukāndā' was born of the contacts of the Luba with Europeans. More precisely, it is tied to the institutions that were inherited from colonization, namely the school and Christianity, which produced, among other things, graduation rituals and ceremonial institutions. Contrary to indications in its name, which means 'letter' or 'written message', this literary form is declaimed rather than read, before a participating public, by a male performer. During the performance, the poet holds a blank sheet of paper which he occasionally looks at in order to simulate reading. Beyond the function of praise, the 'mukāndā' entertains and instructs. The article includes the texts of two 'mukāndā' in Luba with French and English translations. They were spoken by Vital Cyaba Kabwe in 1975 and 1979 respectively. The article analyses their cognitive and expressive traits, stylistics, content, and social context. Bibliogr., notes, sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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