Nana Miriam is a mythical female heroine character in legends of the Sorko river-hunters, related to the Zarma people and known for being among the first people to settle in the river-banks in the region of Gao in the Songhai Empire. The main story associated with Nana Miriam is how she used her wits and magic to defeat a giant hippopotamus threatening the river settlements. According to different versions her father was Fara Makan or Owadia.[1] The earliest translation of the story in English is the version recorded by Leo Frobenius,[2] The American musicologist Maud Cuney Hare noted a "Song of Nana Miriam" in 1936.[3]
References
edit- ^ Stephen Belcher African Myths of Origin 2005 "Fono thought he was the greatest of the Sorko river-hunters. Every day he would spear three ... He learned also that Fara Makan had a daughter, Nana Miriam, and so he decided to ask for her hand in marriage. But the emissary he sent to ..."
- ^ Leo Frobenius The Voice of Africa: Being an Account of the Travels of the Travels of the German Inner African Expedition in the Years 1910–1912 ." Translated by Rudolf Blind 1913 "Then Nana Miriam sent word to all the villages of the Soroko , saying : “ Leave all weapons and implements of the chase at your homes , but give good heed to all that happens in the great river and quickly bring every good catch to shore so ..."
- ^ Maud Cuney-Hare Negro Musicians and their Music 1936 "From it is taken the "song of Nana Miriam," composed to celebrate the slaying of the Nilehorse. Miriam, the daughter of Owadia, primal ancestor of all the Sorko tribes, was taught all her father's magic arts. By her incantations, she killed all the ...