FTX-809 - THE LION ON THE PATH

Hugh Tracey tells African Stories

Here are 8 stories, including some field recordings of African storytellers, mainly extracts, but including one complete story in its native language, followed by the same stories re-told in English by the collector himself. They have been selected to show the different types of themes of both the animal and human world, as well as the inherited skill of the traditional tellers, with their repeated "cante-fable" or sung verses.

1. (Shonal Zezuru) MADLIMBU NEMANYERE (The Lion on the Path) Meregedze Shumba, Penhalonga, Mangwende Dist. , Mrewa, S.Rhodesia - 1'38"

2. The same story told in English by Hugh Tracey - 4'53"

3. (Xhosal Mpondo) KAMIYO. Mildred Ntshangas rec. Qaukeni ("Great Place"), Lusikisi Dist., Cape Province, South Africa - 1'15"

4. The same story in English - 5'03"

5. (Njangja/ Manganja) KALULU NA NJOBVU (Rabbit and Elephant) Pfumo Tengani, Tengan Mpatsa, Port Herald Dist., Malawi - 1'21"

6. The same story told in English - 4'59"

7. (Karangal Duma) MUNO WAIKAMA MAPERI (The Man who milked a Hyena) Mamungo Gumbo, Zaka Dist. ,S.Rhodesia - 1'51"

8. The story of the man who turned into hyena in English - 5'50"

9. (Karanga/ Duma) MUSIKANA WO MVURA MURUGWIZI (The Water Sprite) Mamungo Gumbo, Zaka Dist. ,S.Rhodesia - 4'21"

10. Story told in English - 5'57"

11. (Shona/ Karangal Durna) NDERA WANDERA (The Woman & The Crocodile) Zaka Dist. - 1'54"

12. The same story told in English - 4'31"

13. (Nyoro/ Haya) ENJANGU (The Cat) by Eliasi Karuandila, Kalerna, Bugabo, Bukoba Dist.Tanzania - 2'36"

14. "The Cat who came indoors" story told in English - 3'51"

15. (Tumbukul Henga) CHAKUNAKA by Paulosi Jere, Chief Paula Jere's Village, Nizimba Dist., Malawi - 2'34"

16. "The story of Sakunaka, the handsome young man" told in English - 5'44"

The English versions of these stories appear in Hugh Tracey's THE LION ON THE PATH (Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1967), they are Dr.Tracey's own adaptations based on his own recordings of traditional story-tellers.

Because many of these stories have been written down without the music of the songs that go with them, it is not generally appreciated how much the "Cant~fable"(sung-verses) form the framework of nearly every traditional story that is told in Africa. The skill of the storyteller is to improvise the connecting narrative while his audience participates with intetjections or by the continuous repetition of responsorial chanted words (as for example "Sarangano" in #7).

These recordings were made by Dr.Hugh Tracey in the early fifties for The International Library of African Music and are reproduced here with his permission and that of the Library. First published on Folktrax cassettes 1976.

European study of African Oral Traditions began with the publication of Roger's retelling of Wolof fables from Senegal (Paris, 1828), Koelle's "African Native Literature in Bornu lanaguage" (London, 1854) and Bleek's "Reynard the Fox" (London, 1864). There is a useflil contemporary survey in Ruth Finegan's "Oral Literature in Africa (Oxt'ord, 1970).