Ahmadu Fulani: An African Poetry

Ahmadu An African Poetry is a poetry volume in English, Yoruba and Hausa, celebrating the memory of the poet’s father and speaking to the lessons the poet learned from his father as a child. The volume addresses issues of national and international significance, human and environmental rights, and speaks against injustice no matter who the oppressed or the oppressors are or where they come from. Ahmadu Fulani is a book of performance poetry, exploring oral performance traditions of Ilorin and Sokoto cultures, from Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani traditions of Nigeria and West Africa. From memorial contours, to social inquiry, to praise and mobilization poems, readers would need to perform the poems in order to realize their full meanings and literary aesthetics. A person can perform this poetry alone at home, or with others in the classroom or at the market square. Even the poems that doe not have refrains can be read with performance flavor. As in his first volume, Almajiri, Na’Allah continues the invocation of street poetry tradition of the Nigerian street beggars, oral singers, and children and adults selling goods and services and chanting poetry on the Nigerian streets.