Poetry, song and stories
Geeraar: the short-lined Somali poem once recited on horseback
The geeraar is a classical Somali poetic metre with short lines of about six to eight syllables, built around a fixed core of long, short, short, long. It was traditionally recited on horseback and used for war, challenge and praise. Faarax Nuur's 'Rag sabaan ka sabaan baan' is one of the best-known geeraar poems.
A poem from the saddle
The geeraar is one of the four classical Somali metres, alongside the gabay, jiifto and buraambur (Jama 1994, Oral Tradition 9/1, p. 186). The SOAS scholar Martin Orwin notes that several works report it was traditionally recited on horseback. He quotes the writer Faarax Axmed Cali "Gamuute": "A distinct beat that resonates the rhythmic falling of the hooves of a cantering horse, distinguishes Geeraar" (Orwin 2018, Metre and extrametricality in the geeraar, p. 107).
The first written mention is in J. W. C. Kirk's 1905 grammar, in a chapter on songs, where he noted "a distinctly poetical style" in the geeraar, gabay and hees (Orwin 2018, p. 107).
The line
A geeraar line is short. Cabdalla Cumar Mansuur (1977) gave a basic line of seven syllables, which may have six when it ends in -aa, often at the end of a verse, or eight when it ends in iyo, oo, -na or a calling ending such as -yow (Orwin 2018, pp. 110 to 111). He held that a line needs at least two long vowels, in the third and sixth places, and none in the fourth and fifth.
Every scholar agrees on a fixed core: a long-vowel syllable, two short ones, then a long one. Gaarriye, who published the first account of the metre in 1976, wrote it as 2-1-1-2, with a short opening before it (Orwin 2018, p. 108). His examples:
- Iska seexo idhaa ("And say: just sleep"), 1-1 then 2-1-1-2
- Salaantaan badiyaa ("I give many greetings"), 1-2 then 2-1-1-2
Cabdillaahi Diiriye Guuleed "Carraale" counts lines by syllables and long vowels, as "six-three" or "seven-two" lines (Orwin 2018, pp. 109 to 110). The Djibouti scholar Maxamed Cabdillaahi Riiraash describes ten vowel units split 5 and 5 (Rirache, Somali poetic genres).
Words that do not count
Gaarriye noted that small words at the end of a line, such as oo, ee, eey, baa, buu, baan and bay, are tied in grammar to the next line but are not needed by the metre. Orwin calls this "extrametricality" and found it held in every geeraar he examined (Orwin 2018, pp. 108 to 109). It is the only such rule proposed for any Somali metre.
Giorgio Banti and Francesco Giannattasio (1996) gave the most detailed study, with separate patterns for the geeraar of Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan and for other poets (Orwin 2018, p. 113).
"Rag sabaan ka sabaan baan"
Orwin analyses Faarax Nuur's geeraar "Rag sabaan ka sabaan baan" ("Time and time again"), using the text and translation of Rashiid Sheekh Cabdillaahi Xaaji Axmed and Ismaaciil Aw Aadan (2009). Nine verses follow one refrain line, Hadduu saakimi waayona ("And if he fails to calm down"), and each verse lists a gesture of hospitality: a sleeping mat, the milk of the camel Suub milked three times, a slaughtered animal; later verses turn to the spear (Orwin 2018, pp. 123 to 125). The whole poem alliterates on s.
Read more
Sources
- Jama 1994, Oral Tradition 9/1, p. 186 · journal.oraltradition.org
- Orwin 2018, Metre and extrametricality in the geeraar, p. 107 · unora.unior.it
- Rirache, Somali poetic genres · archiv2.sfd.at
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