Found…in translation
Yakubu Mohammed, a director, producer, creative writer, and publisher of the magazine Noble Icon, has been involved in the Hausa film industry since 1998, when he founded 2Effects Empire with actor/director Sani Danja. Since that time he has written and sung hundreds of songs for Hausa films. Waziri’s poetic translation is exactly the sort of […]
Yakubu Mohammed, a director, producer, creative writer, and publisher of the magazine Noble Icon, has been involved in the Hausa film industry since 1998, when he founded 2Effects Empire with actor/director Sani Danja. Since that time he has written and sung hundreds of songs for Hausa films.
Waziri’s poetic translation is exactly the sort of work that needs to be done to promote Hausa film, music, and literature to the world, and we need many more translators like him. It is very difficult to translate poetry word for word, so those who read Hausa and English may notice slight variations. The translation and the translator’s note below are his.
Ibrahim A. Waziri: I believe that the Kannywood lyricists are producing some of the finest emotional love lyrics in the contemporary world. Probably because they are in Hausa, one may not easily connect to their depth of appeal. But, sincerely speaking some can be compared to love prayers by Dolly Parton or the songstress Celine Dion of the West and the many Sudanese poets we cherish in Arabic. I have transcribed below the lyrics of a song from the Hausa Home Video, AKASI, released in the early 2000s, accompanied by a rough and quick translation of the lyrics into English language for your appreciation. It was written for a female character’s farewell to her beloved. I believe it is possible for the world to have a glimpse of what emotional love means to young Hausa persons at the wake of this century through these kinds of lyrics when they are properly attended by more competent translators.
BANKWANA NA K’AUNA/FAREWELL TO A BELOVED
1. Bankwana na qauna
Farewell to a beloved
Gara in saida raina
Better I forfeit my soul
Koda bamu tare kasan kai ne nake qauna
Even if we are not to be, know, it is you I love
2. Soyayya tsumagiya
Love, like a whip
Ta fyade ni bai daya
Whipped me all round
Bankwana da kai aiki ja ne a hanya na
Bidding you farewell is a difficult task for me
3. Don kai ne gani na
For you are my sight
Numfashi da ji na
My breath, my hearing
Yanzu fa ji nake yi karan kaina tamkar gawa
Now I feel my whole self like a corpse
4. Ni kaine madogara
You are a shoulder to lean on
Kwalli ko ko jagira
Adornment or Eye pencil
Kai ke sani kyawo rashin ka fa dole in yi kuka
You make me beautiful, in your loss I cry
5. Sonka fa bani tankiya
Your love is without contradiction,
Ko shara da tsintsiya
Even the stress of a sweeping broom
Bata share sonka ka ji koda kana qina
Doesn’t sweep your love, hear this even if you hate me
6. Munan zuci na gani
Grief I have suffered
Vacin rai duk na gani
Anger I have been provoked
Kan qaunarka raina yana ciwo ina fama
For your love my heart ails, I struggle
7. Sonka fa bani tankiya
Your love is without contradiction,
Ko shara da tsintsiya
Even the stress of a sweeping broom
Bata share sonka ka ji koda kana kina
Doesn’t sweep your love, hear this even if you hate me
8. Harka inda yaudara
In any deceitful interaction
bana yinta zan kira
I am not involved a one
Inna faxa nace ni ban kaunarka nai qarya
If I say I don’t care for you, then I lie
9. In har fuska ta kiya
Even if the face doesn’t reflect
Rayi yayi magiya
The heart will wail
Qauna ni nake yi cikin raina ya mai sona
It is care; I feel in my mind, oh my beloved
10. Halayya na rayuwa
In all the affairs of life
So itace kololuwa
Love stands at peak
Koda baka sona ni zan dame ka haske na
Even if you don’t love me I’ll be mad for you, oh my Light!