-----------------
Written by: Mohammed Ahmed (Mohammed Qophee)
Perforomed by: Ali Shabbo
Date: 1986
--------------
Ali Shaboo lost the whereabouts of his beloved accidentally.
He started to seek her through the entire Hararghe region. And finally he found
her in my hometown, Galamso. Here is how he expressed the story of the search
for his beloved in a beautiful song (the poem is in Afaan Oromoo. The words in
parenthesis are the approximate English translations).
------------
Diimtuu too bareedduu tannin yaadu halkuu (My
beautiful beloved the one I miss all nights)
Obsu waa hindandayuu bikka isin jirtuu (I can’t
be patient of thinking her whereabouts)
Hamman deemee arku (Until I go and get her)
Teeyso isidhaa hinbeyne bikka itti argamtu (I don’t
know the address where she can be found)
Mee nin iyyaafadha oliifi gadittuu (Let me move in
the ups and downs to look for her)
Barbaadu waa hindhabu Hararguma haataatu (If she
is in Hararge, it is likely that I can get her)
------------
Dirree Dhawaas bu’ee mana gaggaafadhe (I went to
Dire Dawa and asked her residence)
Tanin shakke cufa suuta akheekadhe (I watched
carefully the ones I suspected of her)
Dhiiroo barbaada isii oow’i waan nagodhe (But I
gained nothing except the heat of the desert)
------------
Jijjiga
Hindabartu kharaa Gursum khana (She might not pass Jijjiga and the way up to
Gursum)
Xuuxxisaa
dhagayeetin itti-fufe amna (On that proposition I continued my journey)
Way garaa jalalaa laalaa laala gowwomina (Really
love has misled me by taking me there)
------------
Kharaa baddaa Khanaa hindhabamtu Laata (She might
be found up in the highlands)
Je’e numan dhaqe ani Gaara Mul’ataa (Saying that
I went to Gara Mul’ata and the hills)
Arkuu waa hindandeenyee waan isii fakkaataa (But
never did I see the like of her)
------------
Oborraa fi Ciroo hunda kehysa dhaqe (I really
traveled in Oborra and Ciroo)
Miilaa fi makinaan barbaadeetin dhabe (But I
couldn’t get her after a search on foot and by trucks)
Argu koo waa hin oolu je’etin of sobe (I wasn’t
frustrated, and I said to myself rather “I will get her”)
------------
Sa eedaan qalbiin tuni wahayyuma beyti (Indeed my
heart knew what was going to happen)
Baddeeysa ol kunnaan khate gammachutti (When I
passed Baddeessa, it (my hart) was full of delights)
Jaalalleen tiyya tun intala Habrootii (For my
beloved was found to be a native of Habro)
------------
Jaalallen gar meeqaan barbaadaan of rakkee (My
beloved whose search had caused me these troubles)
Tanin deemee dhabe baakkan itti shakkee (The one
whom I couldn’t get from the places I suspected)
Walkkaa
magaalaa Galamsottiin arke (I found her in the center of Galamso town)
--------------
Arkadhe qal’o too diimtuu too bareedduu (I got my
beloved, the beautiful and the tall)
Isii barnootarra kharaa gala deemtu (When she is returning
to home from school)
Gamdeen
bahaa mee ree dheebuu tootuu (Let me be happy now, let me quench my thirst in
her)
--------
Regards to Ali Shabbo for immortalizing my
hometown in his beautiful speech.
Afendi Muteki
September 14/2013
Visit Afendi Muteki’s blog.
Afendi’s Facebook page አፈንዲ ሙተቂ/Afendi Muteki-
Ethnographic Researcher and Author
--------
No comments:
Post a Comment