Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric

Taarab is a music complex that demonstrates the fusion of local elements and those from Arabia, Europe, India, the USA, and Afro-Cuban. Until recently, the taarab lyric has been normally composed following prosodic rules found in Arabic poetry and written to portray mainly 'romanticized love&#...

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Main Author: Said A. M. Khamis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nordic Africa Research Network 2004-03-01
Series:Nordic Journal of African Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/305
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author Said A. M. Khamis
author_facet Said A. M. Khamis
author_sort Said A. M. Khamis
collection DOAJ
description Taarab is a music complex that demonstrates the fusion of local elements and those from Arabia, Europe, India, the USA, and Afro-Cuban. Until recently, the taarab lyric has been normally composed following prosodic rules found in Arabic poetry and written to portray mainly 'romanticized love'. In a taarab sub-category called mipasho conceived in the 1990s, the form, shape and function of the taarab lyric have changed radically. The lyric is now often composed in blank and free verse styles, about anything that opiates and expresses wishful thinking based on consumerism and rivalry between individuals and groups. This essay sets out to show the type of images the Swahili poets use to constructs many facets of love in the taarab lyric in its traditional and modern form. Initially, this essay was presented as a paper in a colloquium jointly organised by the Department of Islamic Studies and the Professorship of the African Literatures in African languages of the Bayreuth University (Universität Bayreuth) in May 2003, in one of international meetings organized to provide discussion of various interdisciplinary topics under the umbrella project "Local Action in the Context of Global Influences" sponsored by the Humanities Collaborative Research Centre (Kulturwissenschaftliches Forschungskolleg - SFB/FK560).
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spelling doaj.art-1f77116357e04280848806d04559316d2023-09-03T11:54:31ZengNordic Africa Research NetworkNordic Journal of African Studies1459-94652004-03-0113110.53228/njas.v13i1.305Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab LyricSaid A. M. Khamis0University of Bayreuth, Germany Taarab is a music complex that demonstrates the fusion of local elements and those from Arabia, Europe, India, the USA, and Afro-Cuban. Until recently, the taarab lyric has been normally composed following prosodic rules found in Arabic poetry and written to portray mainly 'romanticized love'. In a taarab sub-category called mipasho conceived in the 1990s, the form, shape and function of the taarab lyric have changed radically. The lyric is now often composed in blank and free verse styles, about anything that opiates and expresses wishful thinking based on consumerism and rivalry between individuals and groups. This essay sets out to show the type of images the Swahili poets use to constructs many facets of love in the taarab lyric in its traditional and modern form. Initially, this essay was presented as a paper in a colloquium jointly organised by the Department of Islamic Studies and the Professorship of the African Literatures in African languages of the Bayreuth University (Universität Bayreuth) in May 2003, in one of international meetings organized to provide discussion of various interdisciplinary topics under the umbrella project "Local Action in the Context of Global Influences" sponsored by the Humanities Collaborative Research Centre (Kulturwissenschaftliches Forschungskolleg - SFB/FK560). https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/305imagelovetaarablyricglobalisation
spellingShingle Said A. M. Khamis
Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric
Nordic Journal of African Studies
image
love
taarab
lyric
globalisation
title Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric
title_full Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric
title_fullStr Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric
title_full_unstemmed Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric
title_short Images of Love in the Swahili Taarab Lyric
title_sort images of love in the swahili taarab lyric
topic image
love
taarab
lyric
globalisation
url https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/305
work_keys_str_mv AT saidamkhamis imagesofloveintheswahilitaarablyric