Wollo is well known for its cultural tolerance. It is a place where Muslims and Christians live together in tolerance and love. This tolerance and love is not a mere tolerance for the sake of loving. It is deep and real. Their love and tolerance among each other is deeply rooted. Wollo people are also well known for Manzuma.
Manzuma is a spiritual way of reflecting personal happiness, grief or political feeling. It is also a means of praise the creator -Allah- with melody and poem. For Wollo people Manzuma is another way of prayer and worship. In other word the people in Wollo use Manzuma to intercede with their god.
According to Dr. Abate Getahun, Wollo University President, Manzuma has a healing effect to those individuals living with stress. In exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herlad, Dr. Getahun said that, this is an area where the question of bread has become secondary. People need a food to their soul. They need positive words that can uplift their soul.
When people are provided positively charged words with poem and melody there is spiritual power that triggers their internal part to feel happy. They will be happy. In this respect, Manzuma is one way of casting positive power over a person with depressed feelings.
According to Dr. Abate, Manzuma has also social and political values. It is a way people reflect their grief, anger or discontent or any emotions. Depending on the type poem they use people might employ Manzuma to show their political grievance as well. For instance, Shek Hussen Jebril who is a well known figure among the Muslim community is remembered for this. Besides reflecting the political and social feeling of the people, his Manzuma is also considered as a prophetic message among several people. Mohamad Awel`s Manzuma is also another good example in this regard. He uses Manzuma to reflect sadness, happiness and hope of the majority.
According to Dr. Abate Getahun, in Ethiopia Muslim and the Christian communities have a long story of brotherhood. It is common to observe in Ethiopia a Christian man celebrate Muslim holiday. Same is true a Muslim brother celebrate a Christian holiday. For instance, we are found in the month or Ramadan. It is a time where Muslim communities fast.
Manzuma as a social practice has multi- dimensional roles. The reality manzuma sustains is, the tradition and culture of the Muslim community in Ethiopia. It is part of major social practice in their day to day activities. It helps them hold on to their cultural values and brings about spiritual fulfillment in just performing it.
In wollo, there are many respected sheikhs who are said to be four-eyed who can see the past and the future, among them are Sheikh Husen Jibril, Sheikh Muhammed Awol, and so on. These great scholars are known by their Manzumas. They used manzuma as a means of sustaining their tradition. Manzuma is used as a good mechanism to sustain the tradition of Wollo Muslims. This includes their values (mostly Islamic but there are cultural values as well), language and norms. Manzuma is one of the techniques that document, record and sustain the tradition of the Muslim Wollo community just like the other non-religious songs.
Sources indicated that the historical value of Manzuma relates history. It is one of the functions of manzuma to narrate historical happenings. It is also used to
narrate significant incidents. For example, Sheikh Husein Jibril’s narrative poetry relates what happens to the Wollo Ulemas and the famine in Wollo. Manzuma recorded many historical events such as About Christianizing the Muslim of Wollo, About Famine of wollo, About ‘Sefera’ Displacement/Resettlement of Wollo and many others. In this regard, Sheikh Husein Jibril was a great person who is known by his amazing sayings. He relates those sayings that many quote him for generations during chat sessions by Manzumas.
Manzuma has also artistic values. According to sources, it is an art of its own kind. It praises and honors Allah and the Prophet in a very beautiful and artistic way. It is a great skill and performance. It is quite an art with its unique way.
Manzuma plays a great moral value. The major purpose of Manzuma is to order good and forbid from evil, disseminate moral values. Many of the olden Manzumas that are common on live Manzuma sessions are directed towards general moral values.
Regarding to instruments, scholars who made their research on Manzuma indicated that the only common musical instrument used in Manzuma is the drum. It is often accompanied with clapping. This is typical of the hottest chorus. Not all manzumas accompany drum and clapping.
For the kinds of Manzuma that need ‘Dibe’, drum and clapping is common. However, many Manzuma with chorus or otherwise do not accompany any instruments.
Poetry Manzuma is organized in poetic form rather than prose or narration. Amharic Manzuma with the style of narration is not common at least in Wollo. There are many stories narrated through poems.
Manzuma is a genre of a kind that resembles no other but itself. It is unique and has its own attributes. The marking features of Manzuma make it different and become a genre on its own right.
The Ethiopian Herald, May 29/2-19
BY LEULSEGED WORKU
