Muslim Women Sing: Hausa Popular Song (African Expressive Cultures)

In Muslim Women Sing, Beverly B. Mack shows Muslim women in northern Nigeria actively involved in creative activity. Although most of the songs and oral poetry are performed for female audiences only, some are performed for mixed groups, and typically men of the household are permitted to listen as women sing and recite songs and poems that reflect their contemporary social and cultural concerns. Themes such as women’s roles in society, women and Islam, history, politics, AIDS prevention, child care, and hygiene form an integral part of their repertoire. Descriptive portraits of the singers interspersed between chapters reveal how they have learned to compose or play instruments and expand on sources of their creative energies. An accompanying audio CD introduces Western audiences to the beauty and richness of Hausa women’s song.

African Expressive Cultures—Patrick McNaughton, general editor