Hark!
Is that the gangan I hear?
Or an another worldly sound in my ear?
Indeed it is the gangan I hear.
Oh! Joy, joy, joy to my ear.
I want to break into dance,
Kneel and sieve sand through my fingers.
Feel the pulse of the land,
Swell and thump
In time with minstrelsy fresh yet so old.
Oh! It is, the gangan I hear.
A bit of leather here,
A bit of leather there,
And a bit of shaped wood to prompt
As I answer the ancient call,
Ijo ijo ijo.
My heart pleads
Lulu lulu lulu
Gangan!
Thou hypnotist of old
Do you still do this?
Blending heart beats
And pulse rates
And feet stomps
Into one heady gig that echo’s
In the soul?
Kakaki, Kakaki,
Honoured to have you here.
Thou majestic of instruments.
Emir after emir,
Is turbaned to the sound of your voice.
Queen Amina must have heard you
As she rode away to war.
Your melody must have
Echoed in her head,
Quickening her pulse.
Kakaki
A royal voice,
Powerful, rich, proud of you ancestry
Dignity is the dance, at the sound of your voice.
Ewo!
Oja is that you?
Welcome.
Accompaniment of songs long forgotten.
Still strong, your voice rings out.
Follower of our fathers.
A dirge in time of death.
A sweet intro at naming,
And in war, in war
A piece of bamboo with holes,
Sends off our dikes.
With resolve permeates the soul with
The bravery of your spell.
The spell which won us the wars.
Oja, you still move legs and hands, hearts and souls.
You move us into frenetic oneness with our land.
Who can ignore the mesmerism of your call?
Well spoken child.
Eloquence is a gift,
And you have honoured us with it.
But listen with your heart.
Heed your elders,
And your voice will find audience
When the heat of too many suns
Bleach your hair.
Listen child,
Each alone stands in splendour,
But together in candor
We strip away the hitherto malignant disease
Of individualism.
Listen, to the science of harmonical
Sounds, rendered in ancient tongues.
Listen and you will understand.
Listen, as together we sing one song.
Listen and let the rhythm of the
Truth excite you, incite you and invite you.
As we sing our song of rhapsodic profundity
Over rivers, hills and valleys.
Listen.
Now your pulse races,
Your heart lurches,
Your feet are possessed with a mind of their own,
Every part of you pulsates
Listen, listen, and listen to the symphony of
Divided we sound
United we thunder!
Sweet melody of African culture…
This is a masterpiece of a poem. I especially love the first three stanzas that focus on the instruments; the first one (gangan) being my absolute favourite.
I also love the way you ended the poem with those two powerful lines.
Nice work! This is a worthy poetic piece; a glowing reflection of the beauty and harmony Nigerians we can achieve from celebrating and appreciating their diversity.
Thank you.
Simply beautiful!…Well done…$ß
Gracias.
Superb! Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for reading.
Rio, you got me hooked from the first words…
Hah! My Nigeria streams from you..
Nice one…
Thank you. Our Nigeria
ya…our Nigeria…lol
Rio! This is simply fantastic!
I love the manner in which you have highlighted the diversity of native instruments and their beauty. Symbolic of Nigeria and its different tribes.
Though different they produce a union of beautiful sounds…”though tribes and tongues may differ, in brotherhood we stand” comes to mind.
Mucho gracias.
Listen poets of NS
This is what a poem should be.
Profound beauty with powerful reasonable message.
Most poems on NS are stupid and filled with nonsense,
But just read this one, read and learn.
I salute you for this masterpiece.
The poem is worth more than all NS points put together.
But please, accept this 100 points from me.
Triple Respect
Wow, thanks @kaycee. High praise indeed. I’m honoured.
@admin, i’ve been trying to donate 100 points to this poet…site keeps telling me invalid recipient or sumfin like that,
i’ve used both her username and name
@Kaycee,
In the ‘Recipient’ field, ensure that you enter the username of the person you want to donate points to. Do not include the @ sign. (So if you are donating to @Riowrites, enter riowrites only.)
In the ‘Amount’ field, enter the number of points you want to donate.
In the ‘Message’ field, put a message that you want included with your donation.
Click the ‘Donate Points’ button at the bottom, click ‘OK’ to the question that appears on the next dialog box and you should get a message saying that your donation was successful.
Let me know if you are still having issues.
Rich poem!
Thanks.
Timo dei initium sapientia. I duff my hat.
Duffing mine right back atcha.
Good work. Ur choice of font punched my eyes out.
U did good.
Thanks and sorry about your eyes.
Great! I love this kind of poem. It is a pity drummers are endangered specie.
It is, isn’t it @layrite?!! What a shame. Thanks for read, I’m glad you like it.
Wow.
WOW.
Thanks for reading @Seun-Odukoya.
Jst gat to read dis poem again. E too tight.
This one is ‘carried’ Gbam!!