Machaho Tellem Chaho

The case of the Criminal Walk and Other stories by Hama Tuma, Outskirts Press, 2006. It was published in 2006 but I do not know when the stories were written. “As people say, misery is a brother and happiness just a passerby.” Readers, please excuse but I am going to be rambling on for the next three paragraphs which you are more than welcome to skip, don't miss Hama Tuma's quotes though, am sure you'll love his style. I never wanted to study History, I always used to dodge lessons or snore in the front row so that I would get thrown out of class. There isn’t much I find remotely mentally titillating in the records that human beings - or should I say ‘man’ beings ;-) - keep. The earliest examples of writing, as archaeological findings indicate thus far, does not recount romances, love, not even hate nor war, but economy, pure and simple mathematical calculation (actually not that simple!). History's body is literature, through it, with it, it thrives, invites, seduc...

These are two Gurage gods (well one god and one goddess) whose praise poems I am lifting from "Gods and Heroes" (by William A Shack and Habte-Mariam Marcos, 1972). It is a collection of Gurage praise-chants. Bwaža is this permanently irate god who has an itchy thunderous palm. Damwamwit is the goddess of creation and death. She reminded me much of Ishtar (the goddess of procreation and war) in Ancient Mesopotamia, at least a less whimsical version. The Gurage worship three deities and the gods inhabiting these poems are: - Wak, the god of War, also known as the 'Sky god', - Damwamwit (also Maryam who is either one and the same or a separate entity goddess) and exclusively belongs to the realm of women, - The mighty Bwaža, the Thunder-god, who sits in the Gurage's conceptual hierarchy next to Yegzar, "their otiose supreme beings, associated with nature an inanimate objects". The prayer-chants are called waywat. The Heroes chants (secular praise) are...

I came across " Africa Confidential " (" 50 years of reporting in Africa" , " one of the longest-established specialist publications on Africa" ) several weeks ago, that is in name only. My curiosity was intensely teased when I could get no access to it: none from media outlets, be they online or in print, none from archives, none in dissected parts in other magazines, none from universities' online digital resources (Africa Confidential is only available to read when logged on ON campus) and most certainly for me no access from the magazine itself - the price of an annual subscription being in direct competition with my food budget (the prices range from £665/US$1,128 to £737/US$1,290 for an annual subscription.... oh plus VAT). "To preserve our readers’ information advantage, Africa Confidential is only available by subscription. You’ll not find it on high street news stands or other public outlets. Moreover, none of our commentary, news and ...

"By remembering the past, the future is remembered". These notes are taken from Mengesha Rikitu's research on "Oromo Folk Tales for a new generation" by (see also his "Oromo Proverbs" and "Oromo Grammar"). Some proverbs are folk tales are worth the detour: 1) Oromo Proverb – Harreen yeroo alaaktu malee, yeroo dhuudhuuftu hin'beektu   "The Donkey doesn't know that it is farting again and again when it is braying." (ie some people concentrating on their own verbosity are unaware of what is going on behind them) You can tell that dhuudhuuftu is the farting can't you, am betting on the sound that word makes. Oromifa is one of the five most widely spoken (Afroasiatic) languages in Africa. Its importance lies in the numbers of its speakers and in its geographical extent. The 'official' numbers point to 30 million Oromo speakers (but there has not been to this day a complete or reliable census). The majority...

Notes based on "Ethiopic : An African Writing System / Its History and Principle" by Ayele Bekerie, The Red Sea Press, 1997. In his chapter 'The History and Principles of the Ethiopic Writing System', Professor Bekerie introduces parts of the exegesis for Ge'ez. I wish I could get my hands on Asras Yanesaw's Yakam Matasabia, preferably translated in English (I'll settle for French also mind you). Anyways, briefly, this is what I wanted to share: Ge'ez is a writing system that organises itself around 7 orders (what Indo-European terminology would categorise as vowels within a syllabary) and 26 graphs. I keep here the term graph used by Professor Bekerie and I really hope that his new term 'syllograph' for Ge'ez will be widely accepted and adopted from now on by Ethiopianists. Indeed, Ge'ez is NOT an alphabet! On a personal note, I do think that there would be much to be gained from observing Ge'ez's graphs as logograms or a...