African Music

This love you must experience
but can never know
the curves of a melody
the timbre of a moment
lives lapping and overlapping
voices of Africa
melisma of the Maghreb
yodelling of Pygmies and Bushmen
Muwashshah
circles round itself
repeating
the snakecharmer
and the snake

The zumbara flute plays
as the Galien nomad sings
crossing the Sudanese night

Vibrato chants of the Fellashas
rise from Lake Tana
eliding and sliding microtonal inflections

The bull roarer hums out
in the hills of Mali
voice of the first man to die

The drummer
stares into the eye
of the atumpan
all poems and praises

The kokokyinaka bird
taught the Ashanti to drum
crying
kro kro kro kro ko
kyini kyini kyini kro kyini
ka ka ka
kyini kyini kyini kyini ka

The blue horse rides you
into the skies
stone chimes
sound the rainy season
of prayers