MaryBodhiAkany_songNyibodoYouthSong

Abstract

The recording at the center of this item is a Shilluk song. The young men of the village of Nyibodo, from the house of Awunkwey, were dancing with girls from Atigo, a nearby village. But the youth from the Amaylidh house – which is part of the Kwawaang clan, just like the house Awunkwey – wanted to get to the same girls. This song was composed to tell the Amaylidh house that they will not succeed, and that the girls themselves will tell them that they will not dance with the men from the Amaylidh house. The composer calls that house ‘the house of acwobo’ which means that they have no cows and do not go hunting or fishing, so they eat grass. The girls in question will not even accept to be married to that house (of acwobo grass).