Utenzi or utend̠i is a form of narrative poetry in
Swahili
Swahili may refer to:
* Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes
* Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa
* Swahili culture
Swahili culture is the culture of ...
. Its name derives from the fact that it usually describes heroic deeds, like the medieval European ''
gesta
Gesta may refer to:
Titles of works
Gesta is the Latin word for "deeds" or "acts", and Latin titles, especially of medieval chronicles, frequently begin with the word, which thus is also a generic term for medieval biographies:
*Gesta Adalberonis ...
'' (lit. "deeds"). ''Utendi'', plural ''tendi'', meaning "act" or "deed", is derived from the Swahili verb ''ku-tenda'' "to do". Well-known examples of ''utenzi'' are the ''
Utendi wa Tambuka
''Utend̠i wa Tambuka'', also known as ''Utenzi wa Tambuk''aThe symbol ''d̠'' is a transliteration of the Arabic for the Swahili sound ''dh'' (). Often this sound is written simply ''z'', hence the different spellings. ("The Story of Tambuka") ...
'' by
Bwana Mwengo
This is a list of English language words that come from the Niger-Congo languages.
It excludes placenames except where they have become common words.
Bantu origin
*banjo – probably Bantu ''mbanza''
*basenji – breed of dog from the Congo
* ...
(one of the earliest known literary works in Swahili, dated 1728), the ''
Utenzi wa Shufaka Utenzi wa Shufaka (Swahili language, Swahili: "Poem of Mercifulness") is an utenzi (classical narrative poem) in Swahili literature. It is composed of 285 stanzas of four lines of eight-syllables each. The poet-narrator of utenzi offers details of ...
'', and the ''Utenzi wa vita vya Uhud'' (the epic of the battle of Uhud) compiled around 1950 by
Haji Chum
Hajji ( ar, الحجّي; sometimes spelled Hadji, Haji, Alhaji, Al-Hadj, Al-Haj or El-Hajj) is an honorific title which is given to a Muslim who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca. It is also often used to refer to an elder, since it ...
. Reciting utenzi is a popular pastime on
weddings and other ceremonies and feasts; often, specialized narrators are invited to do this.
Utenzi verse form consists of four-line
stanza
In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
s, with each line having eight syllables. The last syllables of the first three lines rhyme with each other, while the fourth line has a rhyme that is constant throughout the whole of the epic. This last rhyme thus serves to tie all stanzas of the epic together. Within a line of eight syllables there are no further
meter requirements. The verse form can be illustrated by the first stanza of the ''Utend̠i wa Tambuka'':
[In Knappert's Latin transcription, based on the Arabic manuscript ''U'', as found in Knappert 1977:32.]
:Bisimillahi kut̠ubu
:yina la Mola Wahhabu
:Arraḥamani eribu
:na Arraḥimu ukyowa
The first three lines all end in ''-bu''. The last syllable of the fourth line ends in the vowel ''a'', and this sound is found at the end of every stanza of the poem. When recited, this last syllable is sustained for some time and given emphasis.
See also
*
Swahili literature
Swahili literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the Swahili language, particularly by Swahili people of the East African coast and the neighboring islands. It may also refer to literature written by people who write in the Swahili ...
References
*Chum, Haji & H.E. Lambert (1962). ''Utenzi wa vita vya Uhud (The epic of the battle of Uhud)'', collected and compiled by Haji Chum, edited with a translation and notes by H. E. Lambert. (Johari za Kiswahili, vol. 3). Nairobi.
* Gérard, S. (1976) "Structure and values in three Swahili epics", ''Research in African Literatures'', 7, 1, 7-22.
*Knappert, Jan (1967). ''Traditional Swahili poetry: an investigation into the concepts of East African Islam as reflected in the Utenzi literature''. Leiden: Brill.
*Knappert, Jan (1977). ''Het Epos van Heraklios. Uit het Swahili vertaald in het oorspronkelijke metrum''. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff. (Dutch translation in the original
meter).
*Knappert, Jan. (1999). ''A Survey of Swahili Islamic Epic Sagas''. Lewiston
tc. Edwin Mellen Press.
*Wamitila, K. W. (1999). "A Rhetorical Study of Kiswahili Classical Poetry: An Investigation into the Nature and Role of Repetition", ''Research in African Literatures'', 30, 1, Spring 1999, 58-73.
Notes
{{reflist
Swahili poetry