Passion to preserve oral tradition

By Edwin Makiche

The evening fire casts shadows of those seated around it on the wall of granny’s hut. Save for the buzzing of the night insects and bleating goats, the other sound here is the fading voice of the elderly woman as she narrates a chilling ogre story to her enthusiastic grandchildren.

Occasionally, she changes her tone to imitate the ogre, sending jitters among her captivated audience.

This was common when we grew up. Generally, children nowadays have no such privilege. They are bogged down by loads of homework and grandmother lives far away. Others spend their evenings on the coach watching soap operas or browsing the Internet for entertainment.

They might never know how important oral tradition, one of the key pillars of African literature, was in teaching young people moral lessons.

Nurtured children

Through the genre —folktales, folksongs, proverbs and tongue twisters, among others — provided a connection between the young and elderly. This relationship nurtured the children as they grew up.

The oral tradition is now found in a few literature books. With the older generation being phased out by age, it is alarming that their knowledge may be buried with them.

Traditional music and drama has also been greatly diluted by Western influence. The annual drama and music festivals don’t capture the real tradition.

And that is why one woman, passionate about tradition, has decided to bring this genre, which she defines as the facet of the rich African heritage, to the family table.

As if racing against time, Janeth Rono, 32, goes around villages in Bomet collecting narratives, folksongs and proverbs from the older people and documenting it, word for word.

She says modern ‘traditional’ rhythms have taken toll on historic Kalenjin accompaniments such as Ndureret (the flute) and Kimeng’eng, which might be phased out if not preserved urgently.

Rono, who is a teacher at Sagenya Primary School, says the African tradition is so rich with moral lessons that one verse or proverb could correct a child’s behaviour.

For example, she says, the traditional Kalenjin mock song Helena dissuaded girls from engaging in risky sexual behaviour.

The song is about a young woman who engages in sex and once she finds out she is pregnant, she avoids embarrassment by secretly delivering her baby and throwing him away.

But when her evil act is discovered, she is embarrassed and her experience serves as a lesson to others.

“Our history is replete with tales of legends, heroes and heroines as well as failures. These are good examples to learn from — even today’s generation.”

Rono draws her inspiration from her mother, Catherine Langat, who is a “passionate storyteller of all time”.
 
Langat, a mother of eight girls and three boys, feared that without proper guidance, her daughters would be drawn to the wayward behaviour  common among the modern youth.

So she often narrated to her girls stories with lessons. For example, the story Tabutany ak Cheplanget (Tabutany and the leopard), a folktale about a choosy bride who accepts to marry a leopard because of his smart  outfit oblivious of the fact that he is a beast, was meant to teach them about character judgement — and not just to follow a group unless it was the proper thing to do.

Character judgement

And she achieved her goal. Her daughters were wiser in choosing friends and making certain decisions about their lives. Because of what she achieved from folklore, Rono wants others to benefit from the same.

She has asked her siblings and pupils to assist in collecting and recording sayings and any folklore they encounter.

She is also penning scripts for plays, folksongs and poems.

Her poem Kalyet (peace) is popular among her audience and peace loving people. And her pupils recited the poem at the recent the National Music Festival and won in Kipsigis  traditional dance category.

In documenting her community’s oral traditions, Rono is walking in the steps of the late politician Taitta Towett  who is described as the Kipsigis’ ‘library’.

Jacob Kimulwo, a radio journalist with Chamgei FM blames modern parents for not creating time to tell their children stories as they were told when they were growing up.

“This has endangered oral traditions especially among the Kipsigis. Except the few folktales penned by Towett, a vast majority are headed to extinction as they remain unpublished,” cautions Kimulwo.