Imbongi

Let us consider the contemporary oral poetry of the Xhosa Bantu[…], and its highest form, the praise-poetry of male tradents, who were attached until recently to tribal chiefs. The tradents are imbongi ‘praise poets’ and the genre of their work is the izibongo ‘praise poem.’ “The lines of the imbongi’s oral izibongo do not display either syllabic or quantitative meter … though there is some reason to believe that one may be able to determine certain recurrent intonational patterns that function as meter” ([Jeff] Opland 1975: 194).

[…] Mbutuma and Manisi are both "traditional" iimbongi, but Manisi's oral poetry is more historical than Mbutuma's – so that the bearer of a tradition is an individual creative artist even though he shares attributes with other participants in the tradition. […] Few Xhosa iimbongi today are untouched by urbanization, literacy, and exposure to mass media. How have these forces affected the tradition? To what extent can modern iimbongi be considered traditional?

In the national figures this bawdy laughter seems hardly ever to be present; it is only slyly winked at once in the King's praises in the "pillow" reference, but on the whole it is suppressed or censored out by successive izimbongi.

Sunday Times Managing Editor, Ray Hartley – a former political correspondent – is brutal about the state of political journalism. He questions the lack of analysis and debate about government policy and dismisses a lot of the writing about President [Thabo] Mbeki and the government as 'hagiography'. While the government may have its media imbongis (praise singers), much of the problem lies with inexperienced political reports and poor newsroom leadership.

Modern South African film directors and performers as bards, izimbongi or storytellers have only residues of existing 'traditional societies' to bring to the surface. Where primarily oral cultures elaborate their stories within the epic form, fables and extraordinary heroes and fantasies, the izimbongi in The People's Poet and Songololo are more concerned with cultural loss, oppression, colonisation and emancipation.

Mandhlakazi provided a description of the dress and actions of izimbongi (praise singers) as they recited and performed praises and told Stuart, / I, Mandhlakazi, once asked a son of Magolwana how it was that the Zulu izimbongi were able to remember the praises of kings to so extraordinary a degree[…]. He said it was because they were given always tripe to eat. Moreover, they used to eat the drug umklele, […]

An interesting exception to the generally formal, apprenticeship-based training assumed for the professions is that of the imbongi, or praise-poet, among groups such as the Zulu and Xhosa in southern Africa. The imbongi is in many ways a unique figure in traditional society; his role is part historian, part counselor, part social and political critic. The imbongi fulfills a role similar to that played by the medieval bard, relying both on the established oral tradition and his own ability to improvise in creating the appropriate izibongo (praise-poem) for the occasion.