DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0226
164
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
in a friendly way, but there was no rivalry excited by it; and trick riding such as the
Kababish have sometimes seen in El-Obeid or Omdurman is never practised.
The Kababish show considerable skill in signalling without speaking, “right,” “left”,
“come here”, etc., being unmistakably communicated; but there are no conventions or
generally recognized signs for camel, gazelle, or other animals.
Fire signals are unknown.
XVI. Songs; the legend of Abu Zayd. It was not possible in the time at our
disposal to make anything approaching a complete study of the songs of the Kababish;
we were able, however, to distinguish certain types, which we would provisionally classify
as follows:—
(1) Short songs alluding to historical events, especially such as are concerned with
raids and warfare. In this class we include the mourning songs composed in memory
of those killed in battle. These always refer to the virtues of the deceased, but the terms
employed may be so allusive and metaphorical that even the tribesmen may be puzzled
as to the exact meaning. It seemed that these funeral songs were generally composed
by women.
(2) Longer songs, always composed, as far as we could determine, by singers of repute,
were sung especially during the moving of the camp. These songs have a reflective or
hortatory motif, and more than one of them referred to the feud with the Kawahla.
(3) The third class of song consists of the short and often obscure lines sung when
dancing. These commonly glorify the Sheykh or members of his house, and are usually
composed by slaves.
The Kababish recognize certain individuals as poets. Thus the funeral songs of
a Berara woman, one Bakhtta bint Dahawia, who lived a couple of generations ago,
were much admired and are still sung; while at the present day it is no exaggeration to
regard the elderly gray-haired Fadlmulla wad 'Awad es-Sid as the tribal bard. With
regard to the form of these songs the lines may be, and generally are, of unequal length;
the only obvious rule being that the last syllable of each line rhymes with that of the
preceding line, as in the following example:—
Gamas kurunuh lay,
Likhasimuh bikr el-kay,
Wa Muhammad senabuh hay.
The following songs belong to the first class; a celebrates the great deeds of Fadlulla
wad Salim, the grandfather of the present Sheykh. It was composed by the Beni Hamar
after their defeat by the Kababish, who overcame them near Nahud and took much cattle
and many slaves, including the concubines of Abd Dugal, the Hamar sheykh. Song b
was composed by Bakhita bint Dahawia, and laments the death of Wad Kenawi, a sub-
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
in a friendly way, but there was no rivalry excited by it; and trick riding such as the
Kababish have sometimes seen in El-Obeid or Omdurman is never practised.
The Kababish show considerable skill in signalling without speaking, “right,” “left”,
“come here”, etc., being unmistakably communicated; but there are no conventions or
generally recognized signs for camel, gazelle, or other animals.
Fire signals are unknown.
XVI. Songs; the legend of Abu Zayd. It was not possible in the time at our
disposal to make anything approaching a complete study of the songs of the Kababish;
we were able, however, to distinguish certain types, which we would provisionally classify
as follows:—
(1) Short songs alluding to historical events, especially such as are concerned with
raids and warfare. In this class we include the mourning songs composed in memory
of those killed in battle. These always refer to the virtues of the deceased, but the terms
employed may be so allusive and metaphorical that even the tribesmen may be puzzled
as to the exact meaning. It seemed that these funeral songs were generally composed
by women.
(2) Longer songs, always composed, as far as we could determine, by singers of repute,
were sung especially during the moving of the camp. These songs have a reflective or
hortatory motif, and more than one of them referred to the feud with the Kawahla.
(3) The third class of song consists of the short and often obscure lines sung when
dancing. These commonly glorify the Sheykh or members of his house, and are usually
composed by slaves.
The Kababish recognize certain individuals as poets. Thus the funeral songs of
a Berara woman, one Bakhtta bint Dahawia, who lived a couple of generations ago,
were much admired and are still sung; while at the present day it is no exaggeration to
regard the elderly gray-haired Fadlmulla wad 'Awad es-Sid as the tribal bard. With
regard to the form of these songs the lines may be, and generally are, of unequal length;
the only obvious rule being that the last syllable of each line rhymes with that of the
preceding line, as in the following example:—
Gamas kurunuh lay,
Likhasimuh bikr el-kay,
Wa Muhammad senabuh hay.
The following songs belong to the first class; a celebrates the great deeds of Fadlulla
wad Salim, the grandfather of the present Sheykh. It was composed by the Beni Hamar
after their defeat by the Kababish, who overcame them near Nahud and took much cattle
and many slaves, including the concubines of Abd Dugal, the Hamar sheykh. Song b
was composed by Bakhita bint Dahawia, and laments the death of Wad Kenawi, a sub-