bakwerirama

Children's Games (Maloko ma wana): Kweti

By Eposi Tokeson

Kweti is a game that is played during the rainy season by the fireside.  This game emphasizes the importance of naming one's relatives and it emphasizes the importance of memory and quick thinking; The winner has to be very smart in verbal expression, physical dexterity and also to have a sharp memory.

Stylistic Patterns in Oral Literature: The Form and Structure of Bakweri Dirges

BABILA J. MUTIA - University of Yaounde I, Cameroon

Nordic Journal of African Studies 12(3): 387–406 (2003)

ABSTRACT
This article examines and analyses the language of dirges among the Kpe (or Bakweri), a homogenous ethnic group of semi-Bantu stock in the Southwestern region of Cameroon. By so doing, it exposes the fascinating language variety of the Kpe dirge form as poetry. The article is of the view that the structure of the dirges, their chant and antiphonal form, the figurative language employed by the performers (that includes lyrical repetition, personification, symbolism, imagery, apt metaphors, and allusions) constitutes some of the essential components that are utilized in the realization of this funeral poetry.

Bakweri War Song

JIMBI IH KUMBI (THE SLIT GONG HAS SOUNDED)

Jimbi’ ih kumbi (The slit gong has sounded)
Eszewa vheh tongi (The trumpet too has sounded)
Eh tongi ndi maongo* (It says trouble is at hand)
Wana wa njum’eeh sza weah (Warriors don’t you hear)
Eh phonda njum’eeh muka (The time to fight is at hand)
Ih tanea ndo maphany (Let’s meet at the junction)

Ee wonya moe (Dear brothers/sisters)
Eh phonda eeh muka (It’s time to go)
Ee limil’o l’akpate? (Why are you preoccupied with girding up your loins?)
Maongo* ma Muka (The arrows are already here)
Ma muka n’o wesu (They have reached our walls)
Ih tane’o maphani (Let’s meet at the Junction).

*The term Maongo has the sense of “war” or “violence. It also refers to spears or arrows. A violent death from any cause is known as a Kpel’a Maongo (“death of Spears”). Mot’a Maongo (“person of spears”) was a man known to be ruthless in fighting and no respecter of persons or laws, an asset in war but a trouble in peace. Maongo é is the standard cry of calamity given where there is fire, theft, or murder.