The Song to the Gumsu

J.R. Patterson's translation of "The Song to the Gumsu" is one of the most interesting praise songs in Kanuri Songs. Said to have been a wife of Ali b. Umar (r. 1639-1677), one cannot help but wonder if this is the same gumsu mentioned in a 17th century source dated to 1658 by Palmer. According to this document, the Gumsu during the reign of Ali b. Umar was powerful, with up to 20,000 slave soldiers available to her via her, which is probably an exaggeration. Nonetheless, it does attest to the power and resources of this gumsu, who may have been the Amina praised in this song. She was even said to have under her employ 500 gunmen, again likely an exaggeration as Borno in the 17th century appears to have stopped using large numbers of musketeers in its military operations.

Of course, other possibilities exist. For instance, according to standard sources (Nachtigal, Ali Eisami, Nur Alkali), the gumsu's authority was usually restricted to the royal family, her own fiefs, and, indirectly, her influence on her husband, the mai. But, if the Gumsu was often the daughter of the talba, then her family may have wielded far more power than we realize. After all, according to Nur Alkali, the talba was part of the central government council and acted as a magistrate in the capital. If Amina was indeed the daughter of the talba, then her father may have been involved in the coronation and accession of Ali b. Umar in the first place. Another question to answer is if the gumsu was invariably the daughter of the talba, since Nur Alkali referenced a gumsu who became the mother of mai Brem Gumsumi while Ali Eisami likewise referred to a gumsu Amina who was the daughter of the talba (although Koelle may have mistranslated Eisami). 

As the daughter of a prominent official, and the senior wife which gave her additional status, it is perhaps understandable why Amina, according to this song, tried to control her husband's military policy ("prevented Sultan Ali son of Umar from riding"). If the praise singer's message to the sultan about ignoring his wife's wishes to focus on horses is a reliable indicator, perhaps this gumsu was either too fond of pleasure or wanted to influence Ali b. Umar's policy on matters of state. This even led to Ali b. Umar divorcing Amina, but later reconciling (remarried?) with her, he gave her a gift of 1000 slaves. Even if exaggerated, as are the figures for the slaves held by the gumsu in a 1658 document, it shows the access to wealth and resources the Sayfawa court could draw from during the 17th century. One only wishes to know what military conflict Amina wanted her husband to not engage in. Was it conflict with Kwararafa, or the Tuareg?

Gumsu, the whole earth is yours

Ruler of Islam (may you be) always happy

Owner of a thousand thrones

And five hundred gunmen

Chief of all women (may you be) always happy

You distribute slave children as you would food (to your followers)

If you camp at a single hut in the middle of a farm, even,

Your present of welcome is a camel

Yours Dugumaram, and the land of Bamma

Yours the large town of Banna, whose maidens are well-known

Gumsu, you are the queen of women

Owner of the town of Asaga whose orders are 

accomplished by no days of grace

Of the slave Bitku, the Yiroma who looks after

your riverain towns, you are the owner

Water in a place covered with wild rice never dries up

You are the mother of the (Yiroma) who looks after the riverain towns

Yours the towns on the river, and the town of Dillawa,

and the water holes of Gizawa

It is you who own a ‘yambal’ sword made in the North country

Gumsu, chieftainess of women

You are (like) flour made from the ‘Rogondimi’ snake,

(like) porridge made from a python

The man who cooks (that) porridge) will not drink it

Queen Gumsu, owner of Maradi town, never looks behind her

Owner of the city of Yam, and the land of Yemen

And of N’gasargamu and Njimi town

Your mortar is made of the scented Guinea-pepper wood

You own a pestle of polished silver

Gumsu Amina, daughter of Talba

A descendant of the great

The great and the blessed

Good morning, Good morning

You are (like) the moon at its full

(Like) the morning star

Precious as gold, daughter of a bush cow, you a bush cow among women

Gumsu daughter of a lion

She is a lion as precious as gold among all women

(Like) silver, Amina daughter of Talba

May God give you the long life of a frog, and the dignity of an eagle

(It was you Gumsu) who prevented Sultan Ali son of Umar from riding (to war)

The Babuma said to him (the Sultan) ‘Do not do as your wife wishes

You who own Watera and Rugaya,

Rugaya which lies at the further side of both rivers

Sultan leave behind the pleasures your wife wishes for

Look at this market of fine horses’

And Mai Ali divorced her

And after he had divorced her he reconciled Gumsu Amina, daughter of Talba, with one thousand slaves.

The Song of the Zakkama to the Zerma

Another praise song said to date from the reign of Ali b. Umar is "The Song of the Zakkama to the Zerma." In honor of a zerma named Ibrahim or Ibram, he was said to be the son of a princess and of royal blood. Obviously, this is at a time before the office of jerma was occupied by slaves. Indeed, according to Nachtigal, the title was once very important in the Sayfawa court since the holder was responsible for the sultan's security and the royal stables. He even attributes the leadership of the Tura to this office, too, with an administrative district not too far from Gazargamo. Furthermore, the position also included roles in the accession rituals of the mai, according to Nur Alkali. Sadly, Ali Eisami is not too useful here, since tsarma is translated as "a certain military officer." It would appear that there were two, a big one and a little one who led a smaller regiment in support of the tsarma kurabe regiment, who were tasked with making the first attack in battle.

Thus, from the little we could find on this title, it was once far more important in the court of Borno and occupied, in at least one case, by someone with family ties to the Sayfawa dynasty. The association with the Tura is also important, since a mahram from the time of Idris b. Ali (Idris Alooma) and translated by Palmer suggests the Tura traders were once major supplies of horses, although exempted from military service (check Palmer's Bornu Sahara and Sudan). Mahrams suggest some of the Tura were of great significance for trade via Kawar, such as the Bani Mukhtar. As indicated by Bobboyi, one Tura leader, Ali Kellu, was said to have even married a daughter of Ali b. Umar (the same as the 17th century ruler?). In fact, there may even be evidence of Ibrahim, the zerma, in a document translated by Palmer and dated to 1658. In that source, the zarma is named Muhammad Margimi, which could be related to the "son of Margi" Ibrahim. Indeed, Zerma Ibrahim was also called the son of Zerma Dunama, possibly a reference to "Muhammad Margi" in the 17th century document? Naturally, more evidence is necessary, but this should be explored further.

As for the song itself, it frequently praises the zerma and mention his support and proximity to the sultan. The second half of the song is more interesting, since it includes a number of warnings to the titleholder. For instance, "Do not match yourself against Providence." These moral lessons or warnings to a powerful official from a praise singer who declares, "You are not any relation of mine, nor my own flesh and blood, it is only so long as I am happy that I shall stay in your town" may suggest that the zerma was young when he took office. Alternatively, it may have been part of a discourse on the responsibilities of the office which had been abused in the past. 

Copied below is J.R. Patterson's full translation of the Kanuri text, from Kanuri Songs  (1926). 

Zerma Ibrahim, son of a princess

The Sultan’s support (firm as) a bowl made of fan palm trunk

His tribe the Tura, a son of Margi

Zerma, the warrior

A quiver for a hundred arrows

A hawk, a brave warrior

Alone he is equal to a thousand men,

he who can run hither and thither like a puppy

His patience like that of a male pelican

He is like boneless flesh, like brains

He is the owner of Buntigum Kadasha

And of Wawum and the town of Damasha

His eye (is to be feared as) a elephant hunter’s spear

His eyelashes are arrows

Support of a Sultan; if his eye becomes red he is preparing to fight

His Gursulu of the North

Who owns a tethering rope of gold

He is like a horse led behind the Sultan, its trappings ready on its back,

he too carries a Sultan on his back

Like a large spear: in his hand he carries an oil bottle

Zerma Ibrahim, a despoiler who lives in the Sultan’s house

So of Zerma Dunama whose mother was a Sultan’s granddaughter

whose home was N’gasargamu

Support of a Sultan, yours the country called Gabana

Sugu, whose mother was a princess and who is happy therefore

You who sit in the shade of an acacia tree on a sandy mound, 

you are a faithful follower of your chief

Faithful as a dog to its master

(If a man does any of the things) which lie between frowning

on one to being responsible for one’s death,

that is hate, Ibram Mairammi

(If a man gives one a present of anything) from a ‘mudu’ 

of corn to a fine horse, that is favour

One thread of truth in a shuttle will weave

a hundred threads of lies, Ibram Mairammi

Vomiting one’s liver cures the most severe biliousness, Ibram Mairammi

The hatching of an egg is unpleasant for the shell, Ibram Mairammi

Do not match yourself against Providence 

God is all powerful: He prevents the eye from seeing the eyelashes (near it)

Eggs become lice

The small man becomes the great one, Ibram Mairammi

Stick to the truth, Ibram Mairammi

Truth is like the light of dawn, Sugu Mairammi

Untruthfulness is like the darkness at sunset, Ibram Mairammi 

The “kagura” bird is God’s caller to prayer

The crested crane is the blower of the ‘fum-fum’ of the birds

You are not any relation of mine, nor my own flesh and blood,

it is only so long as I am happy that I shall stay in your town

The Song Sung to Kaigama Anterashi, Son of Lima

As for "The Song Sun to Kaigama Anterashi, Son of Lima," it too is attributed to the time period of Ali b. Umar in the 17th century. This is difficult to confirm, although J.R. Patterson's introduction confirms it (and his translation pasted below of the song). However, when checking other sources from the reign of this significant mai of Borno, the only kaigama we found was named Ya'gha. Of course, this is from a mahram Palmer dated to 1647, so there may have been another kaigama before or after this date. Still, it is clear that the title was occupied people slaves by this time. However, as a "chief slave" of the mai and supreme military commander of Borno, these were very powerful men. 

Most of the song reiterates this strength, power, and military leadership of the kaigama in various ways. First, he is associated with the morning star, spears, the personality of a Sultan, and greater than all prosperous men. While the song reminds us that he serves the Sultan, he enjoys a number of privileges due to his importance position in Borno as the highest military authority. Unsurprisingly, Ali Eisami confirmed this since the regiment of the kaigama consisted of at least 1000 horsemen. Nachtigal likewise emphasized the slave origins of the titleholders (although not always the case in the annals of Kanem and Borno). His ability to feed troops, owning land or having tribute rights on dispersed lands, the influence in the south (Mandara and the Kotoko areas) and his even gifting slaves to praise singers suggest someone of immense wealth and power. This may explain the enigmatic allusion to witchcraft, since the power of the kaigama may have been aided by the use of charms and occult knowledge. Anterashi was also influential in Borno's southern frontier, with the mention of the Shari River and a few other place names pointing in that direction.

What is striking about this song, supposedly for someone who lived in the 17th century, is the praise song's vociferous praise of power officials with military and administrative powers that made more powerful than most free people. To be a slave with much power and owned by the most powerful person meant that, despite his enslavement, he was still one of the most powerful figures in Borno. One can imagine titled officials with family ties to the Sayfawa or origins in the royal dynasty might have resented this, which appears to be captured in a praise song to a yerima of noble lineage. 

Kaigama Anterashi

He is the Star of the morning

Chief slave, the rallying point of the spearmen

The hub of war

His town Chirami, his personality that of a Sultan

Morning and evening he is in the midst of the noise (of war)

A chieftain, the glowing embers of the Sultan’s Council

(His friendship) a death-trap; his friend short-lived

If a hawk snatches up a chicken

Following its tracks devolves on the Kaigama

Holder of the principal of the (Sultan’s) offices

Less than the Sultan, certainly, but greater than all the prosperous men

If the chief slave wages war, he does not do so in vain

If he does not engage in war, his idleness is not useless

Chief slave, if I say to you “Slave”

I mean the slave of the Sultan

Chief slave, if I say to you “Bush-cow”

You are a (Man with the heart of) a bush-cow among men

Chief slave, (if I say) your town is Ngumfane,

I mean that you are the forehead of all the slaves

Chief slave, patience is your attribute

Your patience like that of a dromedary

Chief slave, in your hand is a large-headed spear

Chief slave, you practice witchcraft

But its source is in the palm of your hand

Chief slave, my mastery, war is your hobby

Your play, play with a shining spear

You owner of the town of Zarara

Your attributes those of a Sultan

You and a Sultan do not eat from one calabash

Neither do you eat what a Sultan leaves

Sun (of greatness), seat (of power)

Embers of the Sultan’s assembly

If the Sultan counts as ten large kola-nuts

The Kaigama counts as twenty halves

If he and the Sultan are sitting together and their horses are fighting

He will not catch the Sultan’s horse

Nor will the Sultan catch his

Some other mann will catch them

These are the (privileges of) a chief slave

You are the father of all the minor chiefs

And the older brother of all the great chiefs

Chief slave, owner of the town of Ala and of Alari

Who lives between the Rivers Shari and Sharwa

Chief slave, Commander of Bornu’s army

Should the Sultan come out of an old woman’s dilapidated hut even,

After him will come the holder of the office of Kaigama

Should (the link in) the office of Kaigama break,

the Fuguma will join it up anew

Fuguma of the games that never cease

His play not like that of the women, nor of boys

They are games played with a polished spear

You (Fuguma) have lit the fires of war, and are feeling their heat

Other men look on at you from behind a screen

You (Kaigama) Chief slave, owner of the town of Fefelo and of Kafe Fello

Provide a thousand calabashes of food for your followers

The Ngijima, Babuma and Zakkama

All three have sung their song

For the success of the holder of the office of Kaigama

For the success of Anterashi, son of Lima

And he has given them seventy slaves.

The Song to Yerima Mohammadu

With a song composed in honor of a yerima named Mohammadu, J.R. Patterson suggested it dated to the reign of Ali b. Umar. A major mai of 17th century Borno reigning from c.1639-1677, various sources attest to conflict with the Tuareg of Air at this time. For instance, the enslaved French doctor in Tripoli, who wrote extensively about Borno, mentioned conflict between the powerful kingdom and Air. Additional sources, including works translated as the Chronicles of Agadez by Yves Urvoy allude to this conflict. Written sources from Borno, including an Account of Gazargamo dated to 1658 by Palmer in his Bornu Sahara and Sudan, similarly mention one of the conflicts with the Tuareg of Air. Sadly, none of these sources agree on the name of the Air sultan and of the names suggested (Ali, in this praise song, Ada Hamma in the Account of Gazargamo), none are supported by Air internal sources. 

In fact, the Account attributes the conversion of the Air ruler to Islam to his capture by the forces of Borno, something contradicted by a plethora of sources referencing the Islamic "Istambulawa" dynasty ruling at Agades since the earliest time. For the time period during Ali b. Umar of Borno's reign, Air was ruled by the following sultans, according to Djibo Hamani: Muhammad al-Tafrij, succeeded by his brother, Muhammad al-Mubarek. Thus, we believe it likely that some of the names attributed to Air "sultans" in the Borno sources may refer to Tuareg leaders of clans who autonomously raided Borno's northwestern frontier in the 1600s (and continued to do so into the 1700s and 1800s). This seems plausible given the paltry number of horsemen who endeavored to raid the cattle of Fulan in the land of Digima, under the care of the yerima, Mohammadu. It was essentially a small raiding party, but the praise singer turns it into an epic instance of the military prowess of Mohammadu who fought the raiding Tuareg with only 7 horsemen. In other words, he heroically fulfilled his duties in protecting Borno's border. 

Ultimately, we suspect this Mohammadu probably was a yerima sometime during the second half of the reign of Ali b. Umar, and was his grandson through a daughter of his. Using evidence from a mahram dated by Palmer to 1647 in Bornu Sahara and Sudan, which named the yerima as Kaday, we suspect this Mohammadu must have served in perhaps the 1660s or 1670s. The praise song states, "But good fortune belongs to the man twenty years old." This suggests the recipient of the praise song was a young man and, if he was not yerima until after 1647, we suspect this was a youthful yerima who may have been in office after the more alarming actions of the Tuareg in the 1660s (one of which led to the capture and enslavement of a nephew of Ali b. Umar in the Mediterranean after the Air Tuareg were invited by princes fighting for the throne of Borno to help their cause against the mai). It seems unfathomable that the Sayfawa mai would have appointed a young man in his 20s as the yerima during such troubled times. 

Either way, he would have been well-connected in Gazargamo, as his mother was the daughter of Ali b. Umar. According to Maikorema Zakari, the yerima usually lived in Gazargamo himself, while Nachtigal emphasized he was (always?) the son of a princess. Furthermore, Ali Eisami, whose testimony for pre-jihad Borno requires attention, described the yerima as capable of fielding 1000 cavalry forces. Based in the capital, a grandson of the mai and perhaps among the more loyal relatives of Ali b. Umar than his the sultan's brothers, Mohammadu may have been a large supporter to the state in the waning days of Ali b. Umar's reign.

Here is the "Song to Yerima Mohammadu" translated by Patterson in Kanuri Songs:

Son of Doguma Lafiya

Who was like a mudu of kanya fruit which was better than a sa of dates

Lafiya, precious as choicest food, (you Yerima) are the son of Sultan Ali’s daughter

Your land Air is fruitful, full of jujube trees, has rivers full of fish in which to bathe

Guzun is your town in which “darra” is played, it is mosquito-ridden

Yerima is our chief

The holder of the office of Yerima

(compared with) a he-goat is bright red,

(Compared with) a she-goat is light brown as men of the Kingena tribe

Three (sections of the) N’gal tribe and thirty (sections of the) Ngalaga are yours

The Yerima is like a prancing horse whose legs are not hobbled

Like a camel which wanders where it will without a halter.

He is but the grandson of a Sultan, but he is greater than a prince,

Yerima Mohammadu, son of Doguma:

Let me sing his praises and do you give heed.

My song (will fit him) as a gown made with a neck-band,

As trousers made with a slot for a string round the waist.

If you doubt it, ask the Ngijima, Babuma and Zakkama 

who are the three people whose news is trustworthy.

White hairs are dignified,

But good fortune belongs to the man twenty years old.

The fair women of the capital are Asma, daughter of Rugaya,

Kagudi, daughter of Jamall,

Zahra, daughter of Ali the leather worker:

(The women said) ‘Kelima, playful fellow, we do not see the truth of what you say’

He said, ‘Is what I said a piece of reading?’

Playfulness it is that makes the world forgetful of trouble

To rouse the men we said it

There is a prince of Kanem, a son of Fanna

And a prince son of Mune, and whose town is Chungul

And one whose land is Gajiga, who is a son of Gombo

And the prince who is greater than all others

And the prince whose town is Titiswa, and whose father was Gwali

And the fair-skinned prince whose land is Ngamma

And the prince whose land is Danna

You are grandson of a Sultan but greater than a son of a Sultan

Prince Yerima son of Doguma

Kelima Mele son of Hawa (says to you),

Prince Yerima, did you hear what took place last night?

The Angel of Death with his followers,

Seventy horsemen all men of Sultan Ali whose country is Air

Came to take away the cattle of the Fellata of the land of Digima who are your special care

“What is your plan my six horsemen?” (the Yerima said)

There is Kagel, Mele’s son

Mohammadu son of Askura

Adam whose “furra” (?) consists of weapons

Bukr who never fights a fight in vain

Mohammadu whose pleasure is to hear of deaths in battle

With Mohammadu son of Forto there are six, I myself make seven

We shall conquer them

(The Yerima’s) singer is the Kelima

A prince with a Sultan in his pocket

You are a greater man than Iyrima Daudu or Maidalla Hawami

Or than Gadamanga

We have received what we sought

May God preserve you.