6
“As He Plucked Them”
Greed and Selfishness
The song “As He Plucked Them” (“Bwe Yazimaanya”) is an example of a technique different from false praise, which the court musicians of King Kamaanya (r. ca. 1794–1824), the father of King Ssuuna II, used to shape their political landscapes. Although these musicians seem to have composed the song in the confines of the court, it is likely that they did not intend to sing it to the king. Following his performance of the song, Mukasa Kafeero (b. 1971) narrated its background as follows:
Kamaanya’s subjects considered him an extremely unpleasant man (whose mind might have been deteriorating for some time) and the song was originally a response to one of his nastier habits: ripping out the beards of people who displeased him. In other words, “As He Plucked Them” chided the king. He was a member of the Grasshopper (Nseenene) Clan, which means that grasshoppers were his totemic insects. The king hated men with long beards because they reminded him of grasshoppers, and he would rip them out with his hands as if they were their wings. This is how his subjects came to call him Kamaanya (which means “Plucker”). That is, he earned the nickname from plucking out men’s beards and claiming that he was plucking grasshoppers. In response to this habit, his court performers composed and performed a song. The musicians would also joke with one another in private that Kamaanya ate grasshoppers; however, nothing said in the court is ever truly a secret, and as the rumor spread, it eventually reached the king. The musicians’ new song made him furious because it implied that he had eaten his clan totem, both major taboos in Buganda. Due to the song and rumors that the musicians spread about the king, he stopped his wild behavior. The belief that Kamaanya’s action of “plucking grasshoppers” indicated his readiness to eat them had bothered him enough to halt his actions.
1Kafeero interview, July 28, 2005.This history contextualizes the reasons King Kamaanya’s musicians composed the song “As He Plucked Them” (“Bwe Yazimaanya”) and the relationships that subsequently informed its content. The Baganda are organized into over fifty patrilineal, exogamous clans (
ebika). Every clan has a primary totem (
omuziro)
and a secondary totem (
akabbiro), and it derives its name from the primary totem. A totem “may be a plant, an animal, a part of either one, or a non-living substance such as water from a special source or an inanimate object such as an awl.” Clan members may neither injure nor eat these totemic species.
2Kafumbe 2018, 1. According to oral tradition, many theories exist as to how the totems came to be. One suggests that ancestors of some clans assigned totems as beings that had harmed clan members. Another theory posits that elders of certain families assigned totems. A third theory is that during a time when food was scarce, the first king, or
kabaka, of Buganda, Kintu, ruled that certain families could not eat certain species, though the sources of this theory omit the specific reasons for this ruling.
I briefly and subtly join in the second half of Kafeero’s performance of “As He Plucked Them.” He alternates and repeats two vocal phrases that several musicians traditionally perform in a call-and-response style, with instrumental accompaniment. Kafeero performs the two vocal lines twice, with a slight variation the second time:
1 Bwe yazimaanya bwe yazirya, tomuwa nseenene
As he plucked them, he ate alone, do not give him more grasshoppers
2 Bwe yazimaanya bwe yazirya
As he plucked them, he ate alone
3 Bwe yazimaanya bwe yazirya, tomuwa nseenene
As he plucked them, he ate alone, do not give him more grasshoppers
4 Bwe yazimaanya bwe yazirya, omulangira
As he plucked them, he ate alone, the prince
3Kafeero interview, July 28, 2005.The formal simplicity and repetition of these phrases highlight the importance of the song’s lyrical content. The lyrics show how Kamaanya’s musicians delicately use language to challenge and stop his negative behavior, thus exercising their particular ability to wield political power. In this way the performers take an active part in shaping power relations. The power of their song comes not from criticizing the king for his behavior but from the way its lyrics give rise to interpretations as he and others continue to listen to it. In this sense, these lyrics become fertile ground on which different understanding grow and shift. The success of “As He Plucked Them” in altering Kamaanya’s behavior demonstrates the effectiveness of songs as sociopolitical tools. More than other forms of oral literature, they are lasting and often appear innocuous, factors that allow singers to conceal messages that listeners might otherwise perceive as too subversive to those in power. “As He Plucked Them” is thematically relevant to family and friends, masses and politicians, and leadership and consensus, as the multiple interpretations discussed in this chapter confirm.