A War-song on Yoḥannəs IV against the Egyptians, recited by Ləğ Täfäri in Aksum, 1906

Abstract

Oral tradition is, under many aspects, an important component of historiography. It is extremely rich and still to a large degree unexplored. It does not only consist of the orally transmitted memory of people who witnessed historical events, but also of carefully composed pieces of oral literature which transmit historical records in an ordered way from generation to generation; in a way these records are oral books. Very often this kind of oral historiography, which is of an extremely great importance especially for local historiography, is on the way of getting lost today due to modern education. One well-known example for oral historiography (and in a way the basis for and origin of all oral historiography in the Ethiopian-Eritrean region) are genealogies, which are often combined with knowledge over local land rights. Oral historiography, however, also transmits pieces of veritable literature and traditional poetry. Historic deeds of leaders are often resumed in the form of songs and poems, which transmit a specific interpretation of historic events, and are thus of greatest importance for the understanding of the subjective perspective people assumed in a specific period.

Keywords

• Ethiopian chant lyrics
• oral poetry
• history of Ethiopia