Another pleasant surprise was seeing an ajami text praise song for the Gobir ruler Bawa Jangwarzo in Heskitt's work. Since courtly praise singing was looked down upon by some Islamic scholars (think of al-Tahir's reference to praise singing in a poem on Borno), we are assuming this text was written in the Arabic script by someone affiliated with the court of Gobir's dynasty. The use of kirari for short verses describing Bawa Jangwarzo. Unfortunately, Mervyn Hiskett, whose A History of Hausa Islamic Verse is quite detailed otherwise, does not elucidate the origin of this song.
Since it appears to be one of the few surviving examples of an ajami courtly praise song for a pre-jihad ruler, it must have been written by someone familiar with the praise literature for the Gobirawa royal line. While short kirari appear in the Kano Chronicle, this seems to be one of the few extended songs to be adapted with the Arabic script. Moreover, this praise song was written in what Hiskett refers to as the khafif meter. This suggests its author was someone well-versed in the tradition of Islamic poetry, even if using it for a secular theme in praise of Gobir's king.
The thematic and symbolic language of the praise song is similar in some ways with what one can read in Kanuri praise songs. The ruler, Bawa, is praised as the "forked pole that supports the roof" and his military victories or conquests are celebrated. The references to rebellions put down in Shiki and Dole or the narrator asking for a horse further support the idea of the Gobir king as a great warrior. Indeed, traditions refer to his campaigns against Zamfara which sought to free itself from Gobir's dominance. It is perhaps worth nothing that Dan Tafa referred to Bawa as the first Hausa ruler to refuse to send tribute to Borno, too.