Agwagas July 25, 1972 - 28B Pokwo

Recording #28B

Place of Recording: Pokwo

Date of Recording: July 25, 1972

Performance: Olok Okae from Cham

Informant: Agwa Alemo

Date of Transcript: February 17, 1973

1. Agwaga

Information: Mentioning the name. If you want to marry a virgin or a girl, you have dance. There is a clan and lineage in Anuak sometimes if there is a war between the clan, not including the whole village but the clan only, clan will fight against another clan. This song sung because of the war between the clans.

Text: Mentioning the name of the people. Continues to mention the names of the people. Repeats. (Mentions LAM which means prayer; If a group of people in the village who had been there for a long time, they may have land or meander pools. If people want to fish in the meander river before they get to the river they will pray to God and say, this is our meander river and our land, we hope that there will be nothing harmful to anybody. The people will then get in and fish. The clan that produced this kind of song said that during our grandfather, we were not a people of war but we were a people that prayed to God. From Cham.

2. Agwaga

Information: Mentioning the name of the people. When we say QUOTH if you are going for a long journey and have not eaten anything you will say an insult against that village. That village is very bad, I got nothing to eat. Gilo area, they can state the names of the people in the tribe they came from. Old men will say, is this that Clan from the North tribe or somewhere else that we captured many years ago. So, the people of DEGERA were considered as a Nuer tribe rather than Anuak. But they were not Nuer; a kind of insult. (Difficulty in Anuak area and common in Africa as well. They practice the tribalism. Marks on the face. In Anuak area if your grandmother or grandfather was captured from the war from the other tribe people will never forget. He was from a tribe. And considered himself as an Anuak. But he is really not. Because of the marks that he wears.

Text: The singer said I can’t say that I am satisfied because my friend gave me nothing to eat. (QUOTH – unsatisfied). The song from DEGER. Mentioning the names of the person in the village, Repeats.

3. Agwaga

Information: A song from AKORO. In Anuak area, if you have many sons, you will suffer a lot If they marry, perhaps nothing to pay for the wives. Our people consider the sons as something bad but for myself, the sons are good, because they can help in the field of war. In the area, there are people who used to borrow some beads a spear or demoui. Who they take it they might not pay it back soon but the owner of the beads will go from his village to the village of the man who borrowed beads from him? He will stay there as long as it is necessary to get the beads. This is done during dry season when they are not working. Anuaks do not practice tribalism. Even during the work between the South Sudan, we helped those who came from Sudan. In many ways, guns food and place to live. Because of the death of Joseph OTIEO, many people in our tribe became very angry and they wanted to practice tribalism but the majority did not agree. Nuers still practice tribalism. Something common learned from grandfathers: if I go very long journey, with one by not of my tribe, when we arrive in the village, people will give him water first before me. After that then they will give to me. A person from another tribe must be treated nicely. If my mother doesn’t have anything to eat, this man will be taken by another person in the village to eat there. The Anuak will serve the guest first.

Text: Villagers saying against a village called ABOL on the Gilo River. Mentions the leader of AKOBO. Our leader is used to adapting orphans. He shows pity to many, many children. He has no feeling of war. Those who are boasting in the Gilo River village. Let them be cursed by God and not by us. Mentioning and praising the names of the people. The singer mentions something about the beads, said: I’m still tied up in this village, talking for my beads. Repeats

4. Agwaga (for Dancing).

Information: A song from OKADE. (Gallas 15-20 years ago, were having a custom, if you don’t kill this buffalo, you will never marry in Galla area. Because of this they when into Anuak area to kill buffalo. Many of them (the Gallas) will die because of the hot climate. This kind of thing was controlled by the government. If they see Gallas going down through Anuak area, the government will arrest the Anuak and not the Galla. We have tall grassland in our area. That keeps the animals inside of it during the dry season. When the grass is dried it is burned. People will surround that area and burn. When the grass burns, the animals will try to run away and many of them will be killed by the people. People will surround according to the villages, sometimes war breaks out because of that. If a person from one village kills the animal perhaps another person will shoot at the same animal. Because of this argument will start. I was the one who killed it first. Dispute will break out between villages and war will break out.

Text: The first part praising the people of the village. A man who's named after buffalo. Mentioned that Gallas were to go to Anuak area to hunt for buffalo. The singer praised this man who was named after buffalo saying when went to the island, I saw your animal. The head of your animal. That was hanging in front of the house of Gallas. For dancing. Mentions something about hunting (The song mentions something to this effect.) Even Gallas didn’t know that the buffalo was the dangerous animal so then you go to hunt buffalo you will go as if you were going to war, but in Galla area, when they dance, they just beat the head of a dead buffalo with a stick. They don’t know how to hunt it.

5. Dudbul.

Information: Difficult to translate. Repeats. Very short. Incomplete in the repeat.

Text: Mentions the names of the people