The Soultown! Volume III: Issue 9 SEPTEMBER 2019 | Page 23

THE GRIOT What’s In A Name? Blues: An African Naming Ceremony Dedicated to Toni Morrison (1931-2019) CEDAR FALLS, IA - Want to know how I got my name-- MVUYEKURE-- And how I got the right to sing the blues?-- Birth/right Blues-- For this “Song of Myself,” Walt Whitman says, “This hour I tell things in confidence, “I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you”: I got the right to sing the blues: I was born with the blues On a reed mat spread on a dirty floor in a Thatched window/less, electricity-less hut. Didn’t scream life when I came out of the womb Wrapped in blues. My father, the diviner, tried his Magie noire black charms, but still no sound came. Seven days I lay sound/less on a reed bed urutara. Seven nights my worried mother Lulled me to sleep with ibihozo lullabies. I slept in silence and woke up in silence. I got the right to sing the blues: Seven days I didn’t utter a single sound. My father swallowed his pride and called Mambo Nyamvura, who divined with one’s Spit mixed with herbal concoction umuti. She borrowed my father’s rattling gourd ikinyuguri. Rattled it hard, shook it in a circular movement Counting limwe, kabiri, gatatu, kane, gatanu Gatandatu, karindwi, umunani, icyenda. Icyenda keza abana. One, two, three, four, five, Six, seven, eight, nine. Nine that begets children. I couldn’t bear the deafening melodies Ringing from my father’s magic rattling gourd. DR. PIERRE MVUYEKURE The Griot ________ Learn more from The Griot at: http://www.thesoultown.com/the-griot.html Email Me: [email protected] I screamed so strong and so loud Mambo Nyamvura dropped the instrument, Picked me up in her tender arms and Authoritatively named me MVUYEKURE-- I COME FROM FAR-- Umwana ni MVUYEKURE! The child’s name is MVUYEKURE! I got the right to sing the blues: I was born with a veil on my voice. Mambo Nyamvura lifted it off my face. I got the right to sing the blues: All the time I’m lone/some and blue. But I won’t be blue for long. Bought a trumpet to blow the blues As such --melancholy-- A/way. Won’t be blue for long. Bought a trumpet to blow the blues As such--melancholy-- A/way. NOTE TO THE EDITORS: The poem definitely has SOUL. Drawing on the African naming ceremonies and the meanings of African names, the poem is a kind of “Song of Myself,” as it celebrates my parents and my birthday on September 8. As always, there are literary ancestral voices, including B. B. King, Robert Murray, Sterling Plumpp, Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Skakespeare, and Walt Whitman. I am Dr. Pierre Mvuyekure, Griot for The Soultown International Magazine. I’d like to thank the African storytellers for having SOUL! , Courtesy Photo Sept. 2019 • The Soultown International Magazine • Celebrating 2 years • Connecting Our Cultures to Our Cyber & Conscious Communities • thesoultown.com 23