Nyimbo za Liyongo / zimekusanywa na kuhaririwa na Jopo la Utafitl kuhusu Liyongo = Liyongo songs: poems attributed to Fumo Liyongo

Nyimbo za Liyongo / zimekusanywa na kuhaririwa na Jopo la Utafitl kuhusu Liyongo = Liyongo songs: poems attributed to Fumo Liyongo

The earliest Swahili poet of note whose works have survived to the present day is Fumo Liyongo. Dating his life and work, and hence dating the emergence of the Swahili language itself from its Arabic origins, have been a matter of considerable contestation. Scholars relying on written sources have estimated Liyongo to have lived 400-500 years ago, while those relying on the oral tradition of the Swahili people have dated him several centuries earlier. At any rate, it can be ascertained that the origin of the Swahili poetic tradition predated the colonial period by several centuries.

The work exhibited here is a collection of various poetic selections either attributed to Liyongo himself as author or celebrating his place as a folk hero of the coastal Swahili people.

Call Number: PL8704.Z95 E57 2006

Collected and edited by the Liyongo Working Group ; Gudrun Miehe, [et al.]

Dar es Salaam: Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili, Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, 2006.

Swahili