Yesterday we talked up to the point when Naa Shitɔbu came out. And the one who ate Yendi and sat and everyone knows it: that is Naa Shitɔbu. It was Naa Shitɔbu who came to sit at Yɔɣu, and it was from Naa Shitɔbu's time that Dagbon came to be where it is now. Because of that, there are many people who say that Naa Shitɔbu is the first person we can call the chief of the Dagbamba, and so he was the first Yaa-Naa. If they call the name of Kumtili or Gbewaa or Ʒipopora, they don't call him a Yaa-Naa. As some people are calling the name of Nimbu and these people, there are others who say that even coming to the time of Naa Gbewaa and Naa Ʒirli, we Dagbamba were not separate from the Mossis and Mamprusis and Nanumbas because we were all within one area. Naa Gbewaa was the chief of all of them, and we were all mixed together. At that time, there was no Dagbon. All of us came from Biɛŋ to Pusiga and Bagli, and then to Yɔɣu and Yaan' Dabari and Yiwɔɣu, and we were sitting. And so what our custom shows, there are some people who are one with us. You see the Nanumbas: it was a Yaa-Naa's son who first went there. You see the Mamprusis: a Yaa-Naa's son went there. You see the Mossis: it was a Yaa-Naa's daughter who went there. And so I will take it from Naa Shitɔbu and show how Dagbon came out and stood. And at that time, there were no chiefs apart from the Yaa-Naa, and it was from the time of Naa Shitɔbu that our Dagbamba chieftaincy started. Naa Shitɔbu's first-born was Naa Nyaɣsi, and it was Naa Nyaɣsi who waged war against the people who were here, and our Dagbon came and stood. And I will show you the people the Dagbamba met when they came here.
When the Dagbamba came to Ghana, truly, there were people sitting here, and there were people who stayed here even before the ones we came and met also sat here. We did not meet the first people who were here; we call them the Tiyaawumiya people. In the olden days, the time when the Dagbamba came here and settled, they were no more here. But even today, people have been digging and finding their things under the ground. Some of them look like bangles. And people talk about them and we hear. Some people talk and say that they were very tall and very big, and that there is no one who resembles them. And I heard that one of their bangles can go around your waist, no matter how fat you are. Our grandfather told us that he found one of those bangles in his farm. And our grandfather told us that he heard that one of them could stand in Voggo and blow a horn and people in Kumbungu could hear it. As for that, I have only heard it, because people have talked it. And again, I have heard people talk and call the name of Yaawunde people. I don't know whether they are the same or different from the Tiyaawumiya people. It was from our grandfather that we heard about the Tiyaawumiya, and Namo-Naa also mentioned them. And so as for the Tiyaawumiya people, no one knows of them again, and I think that they went away before we came and settled. And I don't know if somebody else also came after them, but I think that they were here. If not that, we wouldn't have been digging and seeing their old things.
And so when the Dagbamba came here, truly, the people the Dagbamba met were the Kaluɣsi people, and it was the Kaluɣsi people the Dagbamba fought first. They killed some of them, and some of them ran away. Those who remained were not many. The Kaluɣsi people ran away to the Gonja land, and I think they have become Gonjas, because the Gonjas are in two: there are the real Gonjas and there are those we call Zabaɣ' kparba, typical or black Gonjas. The typical Gonjas understand Gonja and they understand Dagbani, but a real Gonja does not understand Dagbani unless he sits here. It is also the same for us Dagbamba, because we have the typical Dagbamba and the real Dagbamba. As for the typical Dagbamba, we call them Dagban' sabli, black Dagbamba. Their way of living has got a lot of old talks. And so when the Dagbamba came, there were people here, and we came and met them, but we didn't meet all of them. And I think that those who remained here are the ones we call typical Dagbamba. That's what I think. And now we are all one. And so the people we came and met, I think that some of the Kaluɣsi people have mixed and become Gonjas, and the people who stayed mixed themselves with us and become Dagbamba.
Even you, John, as you are sitting, if you are going to stay here for long and you take a Dagbana woman to bring forth your child, maybe you will call the child an American, but how will the mother's house call the child? They will call the child a Dagbana. And again, if you stay here for many years, you will become a Dagbana, and your children will all become Dagbamba. So what I'm telling you is not lies: the Dagbamba came and sat here, and those people who stayed have become Dagbamba. That is how we are with them. Some of those people who were here ran away, and some stayed. And I think that the tindanas came from the those people. Those who ran away left the tindanas, and the tindanas were holding the towns. This is what I think.
It was Naa Nyaɣsi who waged war against the tindanas, and if not because of Naa Nyaɣsi, the tindanas would have been chiefs up until now. It was Naa Nyaɣsi who turned Dagbon into Dagbon, and now the sons of Yaa-Naas become chiefs. Naa Gbewaa gave birth to Naa Shitɔbu, and Naa Shitɔbu gave birth to his first-born, Naa Nyaɣsi. Naa Nyaɣsi's real name was Wumbee. We call Naa Shitɔbu by the name Naa Siɣlinitɔbu, that is, “landing with war.R Have you seen that he had two names? That is how it is. Sometimes somebody may call the name differently from somebody, but it is the same person, and so if somebody calls it in that way, you shouldn't say that it is a lie. Naa Shitɔbu was sitting at Yɔɣu, near Yaan' Dabari. And Naa Nyaɣsi came to be too fat for the town, and his father said they could not both sit in the same town, and Naa Nyaɣsi went and sat at Yaan' Dabari. Where Naa Nyaɣsi was sitting, there is a small village called Dinga; the land is for the Diari chief, and it is the chief of Dinga who takes people to see the grave of Naa Nyaɣsi. And Naa Shitɔbu told Naa Nyaɣsi to gather people, and Naa Nyaɣsi was sitting.
And truly, Naa Shitɔbu and his brothers didn't like one another. Naa Shitɔbu was not giving gifts to his brothers and his elders, and if you are a chief and you are not giving these people, they will try to find a way to kill you and get somebody who will be giving them what they want. And at that time, a chief's son could not get near the chief more than these people. And Naa Shitɔbu was not giving them gifts, and they didn't like him. The time Naa Shitɔbu became old, he wanted Naa Nyaɣsi to be the chief, and he saw that Naa Nyaɣsi's junior fathers were strong. And Naa Shitɔbu thought that he would die, and his child would not get chieftaincy to eat. And Naa Shitɔbu's stomach pained for his son, and he made a plan, and he called Naa Nyaɣsi and told him to gather people and beg for war. And he said he didn't mind the tindanas, and he told Naa Nyaɣsi, “You should prepare and fight the tindanas. If you don't fight a war against them, the children you give birth to will not become chiefs. And your mother's children will come to give birth to children, and they will not get chieftaincy. And your grandchildren will come to give birth to children, and they will not get any chieftaincy. And by that time, it will mean that there are no Yaa-Naa's children. And so you should get ready for war.R And Naa Nyaɣsi prepared for war, and he sent and asked Naa Shitɔbu that he should allow him to go to war against the tindanas. And Naa Shitɔbu said Naa Nyaɣsi was not yet sensible and he was not yet strong enough to fight. And they came and told Naa Nyaɣsi. And Naa Nyaɣsi kept quiet. And one day Naa Shitɔbu called his son and said, “Go out and fight.R And Naa Nyaɣsi said, “But I told you I will go and you said I should not go.R And Naa Shitɔbu said, “Yes. Go and tell your elders and your mother's children and your brothers to come and tell me, that they should come to me and beg for the war. Tell them that you want to tell your father that you want to go to war.R
And Naa Nyaɣsi went to Kuɣa-Naa Subee Kpɛma and told his father's elders to tell his father. This Subee Kpɛma was a son of Naa Gbewaa, and he was Naa Shitɔbu's brother. I have heard some people say that Subee Kpɛma used to sit under a mahogany tree, and in Dagbani “kuɣaR is a mahogany tree, so they used to call him the chief of the kuɣa tree, Kuɣa-Naa. Nobody taught me that; I have heard it. But “kuɣaR can also mean stones, and it can mean a chair or a stool. I only know that Kuɣa-Naa is a child of Naa Gbewaa. Inside drumming, nobody asks whether it is a tree or stones or whatever. Today Kuɣa is a small village near Yendi, and Kuɣa-Naa is the senior of the Yaa-Naa's elders. If anything happens on the part of the elders in the Yaa-Naa's house, it is Kuɣa-Naa who will leave the other elders and go and tell the chief. This Kuɣa-Naa Subee said that as he was a brother to the chief, he didn't want Yendi, and if the chief died, he would take Yendi and give it to one of his brothers and still be the Kuɣa-Naa. And when Naa Nyaɣsi told them they went and told Naa Shitɔbu. And when they added themselves like that, Naa Shitɔbu agreed for Naa Nyaɣsi to go. And Naa Shitɔbu told Kuɣa-Naa, “You Subee, you are my brother, and I thought that any time I am not there, you will sit where I am sitting. And you went and ate chieftaincy and left me alone. And you have added yourself to this small boy. And so as for you, your chieftaincy is left with this Kuɣa chieftaincy. And you have said that you are going to be in front of this person, so that when you come across a bad stone, you will remove it, or when you come across a bad root, you will remove it.R And any elder who had a child gave the child to Naa Nyaɣsi, and some of the elders too followed him. And the reason why Naa Shitɔbu refused Naa Nyaɣsi the first time was that he knew that if he died, his brothers would not agree for Naa Nyaɣsi to become chief. Naa Shitɔbu wanted all the his brothers and the elders of Dagbon to make one mouth to follow Naa Nyaɣsi. And so Naa Shitɔbu was alive and eating Yendi, and he gave the chieftaincy to his son, Naa Nyaɣsi, and Naa Shitɔbu left Yɔɣu and went to be the chief of Bagli. And it was in the war that Naa Nyaɣsi showed that he was stronger than his junior fathers, and they could not challenge him to collect the chieftaincy from him. And that was why Naa Shitɔbu wanted them to make one mouth and go to war, so that they would become followers of Naa Nyaɣsi.
And Naa Nyaɣsi went to war, and the first town he reached was called Gaa. The way old drummers taught us, when he was coming, the tindana of Gaa heard of him and ran away and left the town. All the people ran away. Only one small boy was left, and the child was on top of a tree. And when Naa Nyaɣsi and his followers got to the town, they were about to go, and some of them saw the child on top of the tree. And they told the child to come down, and the child came down. And they asked him, “Why are you on the tree?” And he said, “The whole town has run away, leaving me, and I was hungry. I was in the tree eating the fruit.” And Naa Nyaɣsi removed one of his elders to add to the child, and he told the boy, “You are the chief of this town.” And the boy opened his mouth and said, “I used to climb this tree with my friends, and now I have climbed the tree and become a chief. I have met good luck.” And because of what he said, they called him Gaa-Naa Tuuviɛlgu, that “he has met good.” And as the Gaa tindana ran away and didn't come back again, the child became the Gaa-Naa. And we call him a son of Naa Nyaɣsi.
And any town Naa Nyaɣsi went to, the tindanas ran away. And if the tindana of a town remained, Naa Nyaɣsi killed him. And when they arrived at any town, Naa Nyaɣsi said, “As it is, I will let one person remain here, and I will give my tongue to him and he will remain here.” And Naa Nyaɣsi made his followers to stay in the towns, and he was roaming and killing the tindanas, and putting chiefs in their place. He would build huts and put his followers inside them to hold the towns. He went to Karaga, and the Karaga tindana ran away. And Naa Nyaɣsi put his child at Karaga and gave him a gown. He went to Savelugu, and he made Yenyoo the chief. And if Naa Nyaɣsi met any tindana, he killed him, and he put one of his brothers, junior fathers, or one of the people following him as the chief. And this was how he went around all Dagbon, killing the tindanas and replacing them with his followers. Some of the tindanas ran away, and Naa Nyaɣsi killed the others. And so if someone says that Dagbon started with Naa Shitɔbu and Naa Nyaɣsi, it is because before their time, the Dagbamba didn't have an idea to fight wars and put their children as chiefs of the towns. That is why I can say that it is from the time of Naa Nyaɣsi that our Dagbon came out and stood.
All those who followed Naa Nyaɣsi to war and became chiefs, we call them sons of Naa Nyaɣsi. It is a song that they take to sing the names, and they will call a name and sing, “Naa Nyaɣsi bia,” or son of Naa Nyaɣsi. It's not that they sing about Naa Nyaɣsi in the Samban' luŋa. It is only that they call the names in a song. There are many drummers who cannot count them unless they sing it. As I am sitting, I know the names I have heard them sing. But there are too many of them, and I cannot sit to count all of them for you. Even I don't think you need to know all of them, but what I was telling you, as we call them sons of Naa Nyaɣsi, truly, some of them were sons of Naa Gbewaa. As for the sons of Naa Gbewaa, I have told you that Naa Gbewaa gave birth to many children. I am going to count the children. Naa Ʒirli was the oldest, and Fɔɣu followed him. The one following Fɔɣu was Naa Shitɔbu. The next one was Mamprugulana Tohigu. Some drummers say that Mamprugulana was senior to Naa Shitɔbu, and they are standing at that point. I have been hearing that particular talk, but I don't know how to separate that argument. There are differences in the way people arrange them, and how someone's tongue can be different, sometimes you will hear some differences in the way they call the names. And so I think that as far as you know the names of the children, it is all right. Bimbila-Naa Ŋmantambu is next. There is Kuɣa-Naa Subee Kpɛma. I told you about the two daughters: Kachaɣu and Yaantuuri. And coming again, Salagalana Kayilkuna is there. Zantanlana Yirigitundi is there. Now Salaga is under the Gonjas, but in the olden days, Naa Nyaɣsi put one of the children there. But Zantana is still in Dagbon; Zantanlana is still there. And again, the chief of Karaga was Beemoni. The chief of Sunson was Buɣyilgu. Subee Bila became the Sanglana. Nyensun Yaambana was a son of Naa Gbewaa. Yenyoo ate the Savelugu chieftaincy. Baatanga became the Nanton chief. Yamolkaragalana Kayetuli, Bohinsan Zugulana, Zoggolana Sungburi, Nyingaa Ʒibie, Kpuɣli Kungoo: we sing and call them each of them Naa Gbewaa bia, a child of Naa Gbewaa. It can happen that you will hear a drummer call Nanton-Naa Baatanga or Savelugu-Naa Yenyoo or one of them as a child of Naa Nyaɣsi. Some drummers call them and add them together, Naa Gbewaa and Naa Nyaɣsi. Drummers know they are children of Naa Gbewaa, but that is how drummers do it. And so I'm telling you that the way you are digging inside drumming, they don't do it.
And so when we sing, we call the children of Naa Nyaɣsi. I have told you about Gaa-Naa Tuuviɛlgu. Tuuzabli ate Lungbunga, and Daasangoliŋ ate Demon, and Ziba ate Naasaa. And the ones I also know, these are some of them: there was the chief of Voggo, Vo-Naa Bambilia. The chief of Gbulun was Lukpaa, and he was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The chief of Gukpeogu was Gukpe-Naa Tulebi, and we call him a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. Tampionlana Kpimbee was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The chief of Singa, Singlana Lalyoɣu: he was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The chief of Diari was Diarilana Shelin: he was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The chief of Kumbungu was Kumbun-Naa Bimbiɛm: he was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. Nyankpalalana Beyom was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The chief of Kpatinga, Kpatinlana Nyolgu, was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The name of Tibunlana Lundo is there, but it is Tibunlana Sandaani that is in the open: he was son of Naa Nyaɣsi. The chief of Galiwe, Niŋ Fɔŋ: he was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. All of them, they call their praise as a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. Let me add more for you. Dipalilana Daŋʒiya, Dalunlana Yaɣrinaa, Zangbalinlana Burizambo, Zugulana Yenwaa, Namɔɣulana Bizuŋ, Tolonlana Naadima. When Naa Nyaɣsi was fighting the war, these are the children he pushed to the places. All of them, they are inside drumming, and there are more.
When drummers sing, they don't show how these people followed Naa Nyaɣsi to the war, but drummers sing and beat their praises as Naa Nyaɣsi's children. And those who ate in the olden days, drummers use their names to praise those who are eating at this time. And you can't say whether such a person was that first person's child. He is sitting at first person's former sitting place. That is all. That is why they use it to praise them. And so any Vo-Naa's praise name is Bambilia, Naa Nyaɣsi bia. Nanton's praise name is Baatanga. The Nanton-Naa eating today, they call him Baatanga. And this Yenyoo, the Savelugu-Naa, if he eats today, they call him Yoo-Naa. Any chief of Savelugu, if you don't call his name, and you call him Yoo-Naa, everybody will know that it is the Savelugu chief you are calling. There is a place at Savelugu they call Biyoo. That is the same as Yenyoo; one person will put it as Biyoo, and one will put it as Yenyoo. Old names like that, many of them have ways of calling them. And so it is the same thing. In Savelugu, everybody knows it like that. I told you that a house where the houseowner has died, and people have left the house, we call it dabɔɣu. There is a hill there, and that is the former place of the chiefs. In the olden days, the chiefs who came after them were repairing that place. And so this Yoo is a buɣli, a shrine. And any chief who eats, he has to go there and make a sacrifice. That is how it is. And when drummers call the children of Naa Nyaɣsi, they can call the names of Nanton-Naa Baatanga or Savelugu-Naa Yenyoo and add them. But they are not Naa Nyaɣsi's children. They are Naa Gbewaa's children. But if you call them like that, it's not a fault. Nobody is going to challenge you are ask you anything. It is there like that.
All these people, they all became chiefs. We drummers, inside our drumming, we call the names of Naa Nyaɣsi's children. But when we are talking about Naa Nyaɣsi, we call Naa Nyaɣsi bia: Naa Nyaɣsi's child. Have you seen? Some of them were the children of Naa Gbewaa, and so they were the junior fathers of Naa Nyaɣsi, but if they were there, we call, “Naa Nyaɣsi bia.” It is because they followed Naa Nyaɣsi to the war and became chiefs that we call them sons of Naa Nyaɣsi. And so Naa Nyaɣsi's children are the ones he took and put them at these places. They are his children. Any child he will put there, even though the child is not his child, that is his child. But it is not the women he slept with whose children's names we call. At that time, where would he get a wife to give birth to so many children like that? As he prepared and he tied the war and he was going, then any person who followed him, when he gave that person chieftaincy, the person has become Naa Nyaɣsi's son. This is how we call it. If he kills a tindana and he takes a Gurunsi man and puts him there, then that is his child.
And I can say again that it is not all of us who know that Naa Nyaɣsi's first-born was Naa Zulandi. Some people say Gaa-Naa Tuuviɛlgu, and many people know about this Gaa-Naa. They say that Naa Nyaɣsi's first son was Gaa-Naa, not knowing that Gaa-Naa was not a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. This is why our drumming talks are difficult. Truly, if you hear drummers singing and counting the names of Naa Nyaɣsi's children, we call Gaa-Naa first as Naa Nyaɣsi's son. And they show that when Naa Nyaɣsi was going to war, the first town Naa Nyaɣsi reached when he was going from Yendi, it was this Gaa he reached first. And he found a child of the town in a tree, and put this child at Gaa as the chief, and because of that, we call him a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. Some drummers say that he was the zuu, the first-born, but the Gaa-Naa wasn't a son of Naa Nyaɣsi. He was not actually given birth by Naa Nyaɣsi. Naa Zulandi was Naa Nyaɣsi's first-born.
And so Gaa-Naa was not a son of Naa Nyaɣsi, but we call him a son. Someone is not your son: how can he become your son? You see what I have asked you: I am going to show it to you well. The reason why they said Gaa-Naa was a son of Naa Nyaɣsi is because of “Take such a fellow and take him to the war.” Naa Nyaɣsi was going to war, and you know that a war is a place where a human being can easily be killed. And you the person sitting in the house, you know that Naa Nyaɣsi is going to fight a war, and you know that somebody will be dying, and you take your child and give to Naa Nyaɣsi that he should take him to the fighting place. And as he has taken him to the fighting place, what has this child turned to become to him? It shows that the child has now become the son of Naa Nyaɣsi. If God agrees, and they reach the fighting place, and this child is killed, then people will say, “This man gave his son to follow Naa Nyaɣsi to the battlefield, and he was killed there.” And so the time Naa Nyaɣsi came and defeated the people of a town and drove them away, and there was no one for the town, Naa Nyaɣsi had a way to take that child and place him there as his child, because the child was following him as his child. You will lead such a fellow to a war, and you will reach a town and drive away the people from the town, and you will take this fellow and put him there. And so Naa Nyaɣsi's placing him in the town shows that the child is his.
And you yourself are also an example of that. You are a white man, but as you have come here, you see that everybody is calling you my son. Why is it that they call you like that? Because of what? The work I am doing, you are also doing the same work with me. They can see how you are colored. Do you see how I am black? How can I be black and give birth to a very colored boy like you? But maybe you have been hearing, or you haven't been hearing, they have been calling you my son. If you happen to be a Dagbana, the chieftaincy I would have been eating, and you have been working with me or bowing down before me, if I should die, you can eat that chieftaincy. Why couldn't you eat? You have suffered my suffering, and so if you should eat my chieftaincy, there is nobody who can blame you or refuse you for that. That is why I told you that if it were to happen and a time would come when I am not there again, you could just come to my house, lock my room and take the key and say that you are now the head of the family, and no one would argue with you.
And so it is like that. When Naa Nyaɣsi was going around killing the tindanas and putting his followers as chiefs, none of his real children were following him. His real child was not in the war with him. It was the common people and the elders of Yendi who gave their children to Naa Nyaɣsi to go and fight the war. We the drummers call all of them the children of Naa Nyaɣsi, and it is not a fault or a wrong thing inside chieftaincy. On the part of Naa Zulandi being his first-born, we know it, but it isn't all drummers who know something about it. Some people just know Gaa-Naa. And someone can even tell you that he doesn't know an actual son of Naa Nyaɣsi who became Yaa-Naa. And this is why I'm telling you that truly, in our talks, how we call Yendi and the work we do with it, we drummers don't joke with it: our Yendi matters have got a lot of talk inside, and only we drummers know it. This is how it is.
I am going to open your eyes to a hidden talk inside drumming. How it is, I can say that there are certain chiefs of Yendi who have not given birth to a child. Or a chief of Kumbungu or Savelugu or Tolon, he may happen not to give birth to a child. And his brother's children or his sister's children, if he happens to die, he can get his zuu, his first son, from these children. If he collects the child from his brother to come and eat the chieftaincy of this town, we won't say that this child is for the chief's brother. We will say that the child is the child of that chief. And the reason why we call him the son of the chief is because of the skins he is sitting on. And you see that in the olden days, all the chieftaincies that people were eating, they were the sons of Naa Nyaɣsi. But in the true fact, they weren't the sons of Naa Nyaɣsi. And that does not spoil our tradition. All of this, they know it, but when they are going to praise in the drumming, they say it this way. And no one has got any arguments to make about that.
Even there is something that comes into our chieftaincy. If there is a chief who has got a dead penis, he has wives and they are giving birth to children. But we know that he is impotent. And these children, too, there is nobody who will call them some people's children. We call them sons of the chief, or princes. And if this our chief was a young man, and he becomes a very old person, such a chief will not have any appetite in women, but his wives will be about forty or fifty. Maybe at the age he has reached, he cannot have sex with even a single wife, but they are giving birth to children. There is nobody who can claim the children to be his. Even if this woman goes out from the chief's house for another fellow to sex her, and she gives birth to a child, and she stands to prove that the child is for so-and-so, that man will run away from the town. He wants himself: that is why he runs away. If not that, in the olden days, if they caught a chief's wife with someone outside, they could even kill the fellow. Nowadays on the part of our chieftaincy, they don't do that, but they collect money. And so such children, we say they are the children of the chief.
All this is inside drumming. You shouldn't be confused about the calling of names. And apart from what I have told you, if it is on the part of a child who was actually given birth by the chief, a Yaa-Naa will give birth to his children, and even a child who happens not to eat chieftaincy will call a name. If he is young before he dies, he has a name inside the drumming, and drummers are beating these names on their drums. And this child of a Yaa-Naa, the name the drummer is going to call for him, he will call it at Yendi, and it is the drummers of Yendi who know the name. But we who are in, say, Tamale, we don't know. If a Yendi chief give birth to a son, unless the child eats chieftaincy, the Savelugu drummers won't know. If somebody happens to call the name, we the drummers outside Yendi may say that it is a lie. And the only reason behind it is that we are not at Yendi, or we were not at Yendi, and so we didn't hear his name. We only know the names of the children who are still alive, or those who were eating chieftaincy. Even apart from that, if a Yaa-Naa gives birth to a child today, and the child dies today, they will call a chieftaincy for that child before they bury him. And we here don't know; it is those at Yendi who know. And if one time a drummer from Yendi is beating the drum and counting the children of chiefs, if he comes to count such a person, we will say that it is lie. But he is not telling lies. It is only that we haven't reached to the extent of knowing that. And we the drummers here, if we happen to go to Yendi and learn that thing and come back here, and we tell some of our drummers who haven't learned anything about it, they will say that we are running into the bush, and that we are telling lies.
Do you see how Dagbon is having two sides? We call this side as Toma, and we call Yendi side as Naya, and we are different just because of the way they know things. The way they beat drumming is different from the way we beat. Their fathers teach them about that side, and our fathers teach us the way our side is. Even their Dagbani is different on the part of their tongues, and it can separate our talks. You can call a name to somebody from that side, and if not somebody who knows Dagbani very well, he won't know what you called. But we are all Dagbamba. What I want to tell you is that there can be differences in the way some people call Naa Nyaɣsi's children. The towns around Yendi side, the drummers there know those towns' praise names. As we are at Toma side, a drummer at this side will know the praise names of the towns and chieftaincies here, and adding the names of the princes. We are here with them, today and tomorrow. That is why we know the towns here. But if you are not a drummer who knows very well, you will only know the names of the towns at Yendi side, but not the praises. For example, somebody will know a town called Demon, but he won't know how to praise Demon. Somebody will know Yelizoli, but he won't know how to praise Yelizoli. Somebody will know Gbungbaliga, but he won't know how to praise Gbungbaliga. Going to Sunson: Sunson has a praise name, too. That is why, on the part of Naa Nyaɣsi's children, many people don't know how to call their names. I think I have given you more than twenty names, but I didn't count all the towns. Sagnerigu is there. Banvim is there. All that is inside, all the towns in Toma, and you have to count the children, and coming. And so what you know is what you say. What many drummers here know is different from those at Naya. If you have not gone to a place, it is difficult to know it. That is why drummers from here go to that side, and we ask them to know their side's towns, and we add their knowledge to ours. And they also come here to learn. The Toma drummer who tries will get to know Toma side and Naya side, too. And he will know it. And a small drummer in Naya, if he also tries, he will get to know what is inside Naya, and he will also come to Toma and learn what is in Toma. But anyone can decide to say, “As for me, if I know only Toma side, it's all right. Or Yendi side, it's all right.” And so he won't ask again, and he will just get to know about where he is. That is the way our thing is.
And so our drumming shows that these towns started a long time ago, and the chieftaincies of those towns also started a long time ago. As Dagbamba came to be sitting as chiefs of these towns, at that time, these towns were not standing where they are today. And some of these towns have moved, and some of the old towns are not there again. And some are still there. If you are watchful, you will see many towns that are near Yendi today are also villages around here that have the same name. Some of these villages are the former towns. Formerly Yendi was near Diari. That is Yaan' Dabari: old Yendi. I told you that in Dagbani, a dabɔɣu is a compound where the householder has died, and the people have left. In Dagbani, dabari is many of them, and so it means the ruins. Now some of these towns are no longer there, but the ruins are there. And so drummers still know the towns. Is it because of the land that you are giving the praise name, or is it the chief who was there and he died? No drummer has seen those chiefs who were holding those towns, but no drummer will forget about them.
And so the talk of Naa Nyaɣsi is a very big talk in Dagbon here. You can hear more stories about that time and the time of Naa Shitɔbu if you are going around and asking. It's only that people don't want to talk about it unless you do the sacrifices it wants. And I haven't asked up to the end, and so I cannot say what is true and what is not true. When Naa Nyaɣsi returned from the war, Naa Shitɔbu was at Bagli. And so Naa Shitɔbu was still alive when Naa Nyaɣsi became chief. Naa Shitɔbu gave the chieftaincy to Naa Nyaɣsi, and Naa Shitɔbu went to Bagli, and he remained there. Whether he died or he was there for some days or some time, we don't know. We only hear old Dagbamba say that he remained there. He didn't come back to Yendi. Whether he died or he didn't die, we take it to be same. Its way showed that he will not come back from that place to Yendi again. It is standing that anyone who goes there will remain there. And this Bagli, up till now, a child a Yaa-Naa gives birth to doesn't go to that place. That is the reason why a Yaa-Naa's child does not go to Bagli. It has turned to become a fearful place. Even a Yaa-Naa's grandchild will never agree to eat chieftaincy there.
And so this Bagli also has some talk. Old drummers talk about it and we hear. They said there is a room there. At that place, if night time comes, nobody can stand outside and lean against a house wall. We have been hearing this. And if you enter into the room, you don't stand against the wall. They said a chief can die and go there. In the night, they fetch water in a calabash and go and put it into the room. And nobody enters it. And a woman who has a husband doesn't fetch water into that room. They said that sometimes a chief will die and come and enter that room, and he will not be in agreement with the chiefs who have already died and are there. And as we know that some chiefs are bigger than the other, he heard that they will beat and sack him and he will go and enter a river behind there called Bioŋ. And at that place, where the dead people's room is, if a chief is about to die, then they will be sitting down, and then they will hear a drum beating Kulunsi at that place. And the drum will beat and come and enter into that house. If they have watchful eyes, it won't be long and they will hear that the chief died. And so they show that the chief has already come to enter that place, before he died. And so it is like a spirit or a ghost. That is why they fear the place. If somebody is dead and still alive, has he turned to a fearful thing or not? You go to bury him, and you come to hear that he's also at some place. At that time, will you fear him or not? We have been hearing it. And if a chief dies today, the people of Bagli will perform his funeral tomorrow. But that chief will still live for about two years in Bagli. And if a chief is going to die, the people of Bagli will know it, but when you see him, he will still be walking about as a living human being, but his spirit has already gone there.
And it is the same thing with Yɔɣu. When Naa Shitɔbu first came here, the Zɔhi-Naa, Balo-Naa, and the Yendi elders, they were all sitting at Yɔɣu. I told gave the chieftaincy to Naa Nyaɣsi and went to Bagli, and he was at Bagli when Naa Nyaɣsi went to war. And Naa Nyaɣsi's first-born was Naa Zulandi. The way that Naa Shitɔbu was alive and eating Yendi, and he removed the chieftaincy and gave it to his zuu, Naa Nyaɣsi, it was the same way with Naa Nyaɣsi. Naa Nyaɣsi also gave the chieftaincy to his zuu, Naa Zulandi. When Naa Nyaɣsi was going to die, he called his child and gave him the chieftaincy, and Naa Nyaɣsi went to eat Yɔɣu. And so what his father did and went to be the Bagli-Naa, Naa Nyaɣsi also did the same and was Yɔɣulana. And so at Yɔɣu too, they have built a similar room there. If the chief is going to die, they will hear Kulunsi there. And at Yɔɣu and Bagli, in the night, you don't touch walls around. And all the Yaa-Naas who die, if they don't go to Yɔɣu, they go to Bagli. And so Bagli is an old town, and when the Dagbamba came here, they also sat there for some time. And Naa Shitɔbu died at Bagli, and his grave is there. And Naa Nyaɣsi died at Yɔɣu.
And so there are many stories about Naa Nyaɣsi. I have also heard drummers say that when Naa Nyaɣsi was the chief, he built his house, and when they were collecting sand to build the house, the quarry turned into a river. The sand that was left over from the house, Naa Nyaɣsi knocked it with his walking stick, and one part of the sand became water, and the other one became a mountain. You can go to see the place. The whole place is surrounded by trees. And old drummers said that any time Naa Nyaɣsi was walking and he used his walking stick to knock the ground, it became a well. And anywhere his wives came and knelt down, it became a pond. This was what Naa Nyaɣsi did when he was the chief. When he ate the chieftaincy, after the wars, he went to Yɔɣu and sat there, and he died at home.
And when Naa Nyaɣsi died, the tindanas' line came to the same side as the chiefs. And it was that there was no rain. And the chiefs consulted a soothsayer, and the soothsayer told them that the chiefs have killed the tindanas, and the chiefs don't know how to make sacrifices to the gods. And even on the part of our old talks, we show that madness was attacking the chiefs. I have told you that madness attacked Naa Ʒirli. Naa Shitɔbu also entered madness, but they were able to treat him. And so I think that the time they were going around and killing the tindanas, it made our Dagbon not to stand well.
The tindanas Naa Nyaɣsi killed, their children or grandchildren were there. And they brought these tindanas' children and put them back in the towns. And the tindanas were showing the chiefs, and the chiefs said, “Truly, you will be going in front, and we will be following you. And we will leave your towns for you.” And as it is, the chiefs all get up and leave the tindanas. When the Gaa-Naa gets Karaga, he likes it, and when the Karaga chief gets Yendi, he wants it. But a tindana is from the town, and a tindana does not leave his town to go to be a tindana in another town. And so, it was after the war Naa Nyaɣsi waged to kill the tindanas that some of their children were brought to stay with the chiefs. They were what remained of the tindanas, and they are there every day. If they are not there, who will be in front and the townspeople will make the sacrifices? And the chiefs are still holding that way.
And the time I am talking about, the chiefs knew sacrifice; they did not know praying. It was Naa Zanjina who brought Islam to Dagbon, and I can say that from the time of Naa Zanjina up till now there are some chiefs who are good Muslims, but truly, the chiefs don't follow Islam all that much. Many of the chiefs were there before Naa Zanjina brought Islam to Dagbon, and their way of living is still there. And even Naa Zanjina is the grandchild of Naa Nyaɣsi, and Naa Nyaɣsi is from the bone of Naa Shitɔbu and Naa Gbewaa. And so this way of living cannot stop, because all the chiefs are from the bone of Naa Gbewaa. So when you see that our Dagbamba chiefs don't take Islam seriously, you should know that it comes from their starting. They like sacrifices and medicine, and you know, anyone who wants medicine has no time for religion, and he doesn't believe in God. When anything happens, he will say that it is the medicine that has made it happen. But we Muslims know that it is God who has made the gods and made the medicine, and it is God who has brought the Islamic religion too. But as for the chiefs, they sacrifice to the gods. And every chief sacrifices to the god in his town, and it is there like that up till now.
And so it was Naa Nyaɣsi who came out and made Dagbon. And those people he defeated have mixed and become Dagbamba, and this is how we came to sit in our land. And the talk I have talked to you is a big talk on the part of us Dagbamba. When I was given birth as a drummer, they showed me in the drumming that it is not all of a Yaa-Naa's sons who become Yaa-Naa. Only the one God likes. And they showed me that a Yaa-Naa's son has become chief of the Mamprusis, but a Mamprusi has never become chief of the Dagbamba. And a Yaa-Naa's son has become chief of Bimbila, but a Nanumba has never become a chief of the Dagbamba. And a Yaa-Naa's daughter has gone to the Mossi land and remained there, and the Mossis are her grandchildren. And those who are there again are the Walas and the Dagartis, because we take the name of a Dagbamba chief to praise them. In Wa, when the Damba month comes out and they are playing, the drummers are Dagbamba drummers. The Walas don't have lunsi-beaters. We go there to beat the Damba for them, and we praise them with Naa Zokuli's name. And so you see the Walas and the Dagartis: they are Naa Zokuli's people, because he left here to look for gold there, and he remained there. Old drummers said he was in a river, and there was gold, and he turned and became a crocodile, and one part of him remained a human being. That river is at the town of the Dagartis, and we call the town Gbano, and it is now on the French side. And so it was Naa Zokuli who went and remained, and he had towns there. I have not asked, but I think they are the grandchildren of Dagbamba, because they also speak how we speak.
And so we and the Mossis and the Mamprusis and the Nanumbas, we are friends. We call them our playmates, because we have the same grandfather and we can hear their language. If you like, you can say that the Gurumas are senior to all of us. It was a Guruma woman who gave birth to Naa Gbewaa. I told you that we came to Pusiga from Biɛŋ in the Guruma land. And so you can say that the people around Fada N'Gourma, they are the elders. They are followed by some people near Tenkurugu called Yaansi: they are a part of Mossi, but they also have their own language; when Naa Gbewaa came to Pusiga, some of them remained there. And so we have some talk with the Gurumas because we all came from their side.
Even if you can remember, I last told you that it was a Guruma man who came and showed our grandfather Bizuŋ how to beat the drum, and he made a drum for Bizuŋ. There is a village called Moglaa near to Savelugu, and going from Moglaa to Savelugu, there is a hill. It was beneath that hill that they were digging, and they found a drum. The drum they found was different from the type of drum we have now, but there are some drums like that at Kumbungu. When this Guruma man came to show Bizuŋ how to drum, this drum was the type they sewed. And I think before that, Bizuŋ was beating a calabash, and he came to make the giŋgaɣinyɔɣu, like the small drum we make with tin cans for children, and he was beating it, and the women who cooked were giving him food to eat. The Guruma man sewed it with one skin and left the other side open, and he gave it to Bizuŋ. And Naa Nyaɣsi said, “Do your work and give it to these children of mine, and some time it will come to benefit them.” It was after the time of Bizuŋ that his children thought to sew a drum on the two sides, but if you go to the Guruma land, they still have the drum with one mouth. And so it was the Guruma people who brought our drumming here. And so the talk the between us and the Gurumas is very old. We don't have the same grandfather, but our grandfather married a Guruma woman and gave birth to all of us, the Dagbamba, the Mossis, the Mamprusis, and the Nanumbas. We all passed through the Guruma land before we came here.
As for the Mossis, if you want to see our relationship, we have a custom with the Mossis when we celebrate the Fire Festival. During the Fire Festival in Dagbon here, a child will go to his grandfather or his uncle and collect a gift, and Mossis come to us to collect it. Because our daughter has married their grandfather, they are children of a Dagbana woman, and so they have become our grandchildren. And as for the Nanumbas and the Mamprusis, this is how it is and I say that we and the Mamprusis and the Nanumbas have the same grandfather. Ŋmantambu was the son of Naa Gbewaa, and he went and sat in Bimbila. And Tohigu was a son of Naa Gbewaa, and he went and sat at Nalerigu. I can even say that when the Dagbamba were coming, we fought and conquered the people who were there and then left them without people; and later these children of Naa Gbewaa went to their land and stayed there. If you want, you can even say that the Nanumbas and Mamprusis are Dagbamba, because it was Dagbamba who went and settled in those places. But it was a long time ago, and truly, we have separated. But what I was taught when I was starting to beat the drum is that we have family with them, and I was taught that it was a child of a Yaa-Naa who went and sat over them. So the people who are here with us now, those we are related to are the Mossis, the Mamprusis, and the Nanumbas. They are their own people, and they have their own chiefs, but we all have the same grandfather, and so according to our custom, we are all playmates.
As for the starting of the Mamprusis, if you are there with your mother's child, what as you going to do? You will enter into one another. And so we and the Mamprusis, we are just one, and we are used to one another. It is only the talking that is a bit different. And what brought it is that they went and settled inside the Talensi people and the Frafra people and the Kusasi people. And so the Mamprusis took Dagbani to that place, and the Dagbani changed. This is why their talk is now different. We were mixed with them at Pusiga. When Naa Shitɔbu got up and came here, Tohigu remained in the Mamprusi land. This is how we are with the Mamprusis. The Mamprusis say they are senior to us on the part of chieftaincy, and we the Dagbamba, we also say that we are older than them on the part of our chieftaincy. We have both used an old name to call our chiefs, that is, Naa Gbewaa. And this is why the Mamprusi chief and the Yaa-Naa don't know who is older than the other. But if you look at it, you will see that the Yaa-Naa is senior to the Mamprugulana because it was a Yaa-Naa's child who went and ate Mamprusi. And so the Yaa-Naa is senior. As the Mamprusis and the Dagbamba are one, I can even tell you that the Yaa-Naa and the Mamprugulana don't look at one another's face. The Mamprusi chief will take a thing and cover his face. And I think that it shows that if, say, you bring forth your child and your child becomes very fat, you won't want to be seeing him. and your child also will not want to be seeing you. If you always sit and see one another too much, you will come to see that your child's eyes will not have trust in you again. This is how it is when the Mamprusi chief comes: he take a thing to cover his face, and they all sit at the same place. This is how it is.
As for the people who are for the Mamprusis, I one time asked Namo-Naa about it, he said, “Truly, the Kusasis and the Frafras and the Talensis are from the Mamprusis.” It's not that they are the same. The Talensis and the Frafras don't trust one another; if you call a Talensi man a Frafra, you two will quarrel. But the Mamprusis are for all of them. And so to me, there is some relationship between us and the Upper Region people because we are related to the Mamprusis. These Mamprusis: some part of them is the Talensis, and another part is the Kusasis, and another part the Frafras. They are all the people of the chief of Nalerigu, and the Nalerigu chief's children go to eat their chieftaincies. And so we have some relationship to them, and whatever happens, if you trace our relationships, you will go up to there. Do you see the Kusasis? Their language is Kusaa. Kusaa and Mampruli: their talks are also one. And it is the Mamprusi chief's son who sits in Bawku and holds the Kusasis, and all the Kusasis in Bawku are from inside the Mamprusis. But since Nkrumah came they are now free, and the Kusasis, and the Frafras and the Talensis too, they all take themselves and stand in the place of the Mamprusis.
Apart from them, those who will talk and we will hear are the Tampolensis and the Kantonsis. Truly, the children of the Mamprusis are the Tampolensis, and whenever a Tampolensi man is talking, a Mamprusi man can hear it. As for them, they all just look like the typical Dagbamba. Truly, I think that these black Dagbamba and the Mamprusis are one. When you here them call somebody a black Dagbamba, he and the Mamprusis are one. That is how it is. The Tampolensis got up from Nalerigu and went to a place before Daboya, and the name of their town is called Kambonaayili. Formerly they were all under the Mamprusis. These Tampolensis, they and the Mamprusis hear the talks of one another. But they have their talk. And their talk also comes to enter into Mampruli. The Tampolensis and Mamprusis mix at Maankaragu. And again, there are the Kantonsis and the Zantansis. And where the Kantonsis are, they are to the western side of Walewale. Maankaragu is their town, northwest of Singa. The Kantonsis and the Mamprusis are one. And again, there are the Zantansis. The Zantansis are at Zantana; it is after Lungbunga and Daboya. They are their own people, but they are not many. They are also a tribe, because they are different and they haven't taken themselves to add to some other tribe. But it is the Yaa-Naa who gives them their chieftaincy.
And so we are all one: we and the black Dagbamba, Nanumbas, Mamprusis, Walas, Dagartis, Talensis, Kusasis, Frafras, Tampolensis, Kantonsis, and Zantansis. We all hear the language of one another. If you want, you will hear their talks. If they also want, they will hear your talks. But you will have a limit to the extent that you can hear their language, and they also have their limit of how they understand our language. And the Mossis, they hear some of our talks, and we also hear some of their talks. Although we have not gone there, when you listen to their radio and they are talking, you will hear some of their talks. But all the people I have counted, we are all one. And so we and the Nanumbas and the Mamprusis and the Mossis, together with the Dagartis and the Walas, and adding the black Dagbamba on the part of the Frafras, the Talensis, the Kusasis, the Tampolensis, the Kantonsis and the Zantansis: we are all one. We all hear the languages of one another. When they talk, we hear. All the tribes I counted for you, if they talk, we hear, and when we talk, they also hear.
And so we Dagbamba have some relation with the people in the Upper Region. Even formerly, in the Upper Region, it was the Mamprusi chief who was giving the Gurunsis [used generically to refer to Kasena and other Upper Region groups] their chiefs, but as for the Gurunsis, we don't have any relation with them, and we don't know anything about them. The Mamprusis are for the Kusasis. As for the Chekosis and the Bimobas, you cannot take them and join to the Kusasis. Chekosis and Bimobas: they are all from the same place. They came from the South. Some of the Bimobas are separated and they are in the French countries, and some of the Chekosis are also in the French land. The Chekosis in Ghana are not many. Where the Chekosis are, do you know? Chereponi, Wanchigi: these are where Chekosis are. We are not related to them, but the Yaa-Naa is the one who gives the chieftaincy of Chereponi. And the people around Tumu and Kanjaga, we have never heard that one of our grandfathers went there and sat with them. When the Gurunsis talk, we don't hear. The Builsas and the Lobis, we don't hear their languages. The Kotokolis are in Togo, around Sokode; the Dandawas are from Benin and Togo; the Zambarimas are from Burkina Faso: they hear the languages of one another. But we don't hear them. And they too, they don't hear our talk. The Bassaris and Chembas: they look as if they hear the talks of one another.
As for the Konkombas, they are in this Northern Region and they are also in the Upper Region. There are some Konkombas in Togo, too. At the Nanumba side, apart from Konkombas, there are no other tribes there, and the Konkombas there are under the Bimbila chief. To me, I think that the Konkombas are old. I have heard drummers say that the time the Dagbamba came here, all the area from Nanton and going was occupied by Konkombas; that is not the name we took to call them, but maybe the people who were there have become Konkombas. If you say that the Kaluɣsi people who were sitting here have become the typical Gonjas, then maybe some people from the east have become the Konkombas. The time that our Dagbon extended to that side, it was Konkombas we met, and there are many Konkombas who sit in the towns at that side, and our Dagbamba chiefs are holding them. The Konkombas were at Mion, and they called it Saambuli, and this Sambu is another name for the village where the Mionlana is sitting. Up to now, the name of the god at Mion is Saambuɣli. And where Yendi is, the Konkombas were there, and the name of the god there was Champuu, and the name of the market was Champuu. Even up to now, the market there is called Champuu, and it's on the way to Demon. But I haven't heard that the Konkombas and the Gonjas meet. How will the Konkombas and the Gonjas come together? And we don't group them with the Gurunsis. The Konkombas, the Bassaris, and the Chembas, they all hear the languages of one another, and we don't hear their languages.
But as for the Konkombas, I also think they are now the Yaa-Naa's people, because no one can count the Konkombas in the bone of the Yaa-Naa. As for the Konkombas, their daughters have given birth to some of our Yaa-Naas. I know that Naa Andani Jɛŋgbarga married a Konkomba woman and gave birth to Naa Yakuba, and so Naa Yakuba's mother was a Konkomba woman. Naa Zulandi married a Konkomba woman from Kpalba and gave birth to Naa Briguyomda, and so Naa Briguyomda's mother was a Konkomba woman. And so between the Dagbamba and the Konkombas, some Konkombas understand Dagbani, and some Dagbamba understand the Konkomba language. Truly, we came and met the Konkombas, and now I think that we and the Konkombas are one, because everything of ours, there is a Konkomba inside. What I know is that it is the Yaa-Naa who is for them. That is all I know about it. And again, Dagbamba marry their women, and they also marry our women. And there is a section of Yendi called Atakpaama, and they are Konkombas there. Up till now they are there. If you want to count the number of Konkomba towns that the Yaa-Naa is for, they are more than ten. If we and the Konkombas were not one, could they be under our chief? And this is what I know: we are holding them. That is why I am saying that we are one.
As for the Chemba people, it is now that some Dagbamba know them. There are many tribes the Dagbamba didn't know in the olden days, and now we know them. As for the Chemba people, truly, the Yaa-Naa is not for the Chemba people, and he is not for the Bassaris either. We and they don't know one another in any way. It's now that things are changing, and we have all gone to one another's place, and we know one another. And so we and they are not playmates. Apart from those I have counted, those who hear Dagbani are those who have learned it. As we are talking, some Konkombas understand Dagbani, and some Gonjas understand Dagbani. But as for the Bassaris and Chembas, and coming to add the Gonjas, we have no family relationship to them.
Truly, we and the Gonjas are not related. Our grandfathers are different. We don't have any relationship to the Gonjas except fighting. We fought them in a war, and we defeated them in a war. And now we are living as friends. But in my drumming I was taught that we are not related to them in any way. But you see the Gonjas: there are some Gonjas we call Zabaɣ' kparba — the typical Gonjas, or the black Gonjas. They are just Dagbamba: you can go to a black Gonja town and they won't hear any Gonja; they only hear Dagbani. As for such towns, I know them. And we call them black Gonjas. As for them, they have now become Gonjas. And they and the real Gonjas who came later, they have become one. As it is, it looks like the talk of the Dagban' sabli – the black or typical Dagbamba — and the real Dagbamba. And it is the same thing with them: the typical Gonjas and the real Gonjas are also the same. But we Dagbamba all hear Dagbani, and not all of the typical Gonjas hear the Gonja language.
When I was telling you how the Dagbamba came, I said that we met people who were already here. As for the Tiyaawumiya people, we didn't meet them. They were the giants I told you about. But the Kaluɣsi people I called, truly, I don't know if they were many. If I want to talk about their number, then I might tell you something that is not true. Whether they went to somewhere or whether they stayed here, I don't know. I think that the ones who stayed here became the typical Dagbamba. And so, according to my thinking, the people we came and met here in the olden, olden days, they were the typical Dagbamba, Dagban' sabli, or black Dagbamba. They are the ones we call Kaluɣsi, and I think that maybe some of the Kaluɣsi who ran away to the Gonja side are inside the black Gonjas.
And so the people who were here and the ones we drove away, this was all their land. Even this place, this Tamale, was their land. And they still have land. In this Northern Region, no one has more land than the Gonjas. But they are not strong. And so we came and drove them away, and we were sitting at Yiwɔɣu and Yaan' Dabari. As for the Kaluɣsi people now, they are not Dagbamba; they are Gonjas. They are not the real Gonjas, but they ran away to the Gonja land, and they are the Zabaɣ' kparba, or typical Gonjas. They are the ones we call the Kaluɣsi people. Now we call them Gonjas. Haven't you heard the name Kaluɣsi Dajia? He was the Gonja chief Naa Luro fought and killed. This name Zabaɣsi is the modern name for the Gonjas, but the original name we called them was the Kaluɣsi people. During the time the Dagbamba were driving them away and fighting wars with them, they ran to the edges of the towns in Dagbon, and they settled there. That was when we gave them the name Zabaɣsi, meaning that they are standing around the edges. And so on the part of the typical Gonjas, we call them Zabaɣ' kparba. They are the Kaluɣsis. And on our part, we don't have Dagban' kparba; we have Dagban' sabli. And so I think that those we call Zabaɣ' kparba, in the olden days, all of them were Dagbamba. They all hear Dagbani. And some of them hear Gonja, and some of them don't hear.
But as we hear their language, we are not one with them. The way of living in the Gonja villages is just by heart. They don't like farming. They just enter the bush and shoot guns. And those who are near the rivers, they will go and be catching fish. And so the Gonjas don't like farming. They have land, but they don't like farming. And they have bad thoughts, too much. If you just go there to search for something and come, there is no quarrel. But if you go to sit there to get something, the time you will be getting the thing, they will just take the mouth and enter into you, and it is quarrels and quarrels. If not that, they will take you and go and sacrifice to the god. That is how they are, and that is why we Dagbamba don't like sitting in their place. This is their way. And the tribes that are there with them, too, we don't have any relation. Do you know the Vagalas? As for the Vagalas, they are not inside Dagbamba; they are Gonjas, and none of their talks fall inside our talks. And so, truly, we have no relation to the Gonjas; we defeated them in a war, and now we are living as friends. And it is the same as how we are with the Ashantis, too, we quarreled with them, and now we are friends. That is how it is. We have many different types of people in Ghana, and we have relationship with some of them, and others are our friends.
And so among the different tribes I have counted, there are many of them who can hear the talks of one another. And so to me, the time the Dagbamba were coming, I don't think we were many. If we came in a large group, I think we would be talking a different language from the black Dagbamba. We came and met these tindanas and the people here, and we married their daughters and mixed with them. It came like that, from marriage. For example, if you yourself marry a girl from here, and give birth to children, and the children stay here and they don't go back to your town, they will speak Dagbani more than any other language. Or if you are a Dagbana, and you marry a different tribe's woman, and you bring her to your house in Dagbon, any child you give birth with that woman will not speak the mother's side language. The talks you are talking inside your house, that is what the child is going to take. And so it is marriage that brings the mixing of languages.
And so the ones whose talks enter our Dagbon talks more: the Mamprusis, and those the Mamprusis are for are the Frafras, Talensis, Tampolensis, Zantansis, Kantonsis. When they talk, we hear, and when we talk, they hear. And we hear the Nanumbas and the Mossis. Apart from that, there are the Walas and Dagartis, and the Walas are for the Dagartis. When a Wala talks, you will hear; when a Dagarti talks, you will hear. When we also talk, they hear. All these people I have counted: all of them hear one another's talks. And as I am saying that their talks enter our talks, on the part of comparing the way of living, you can go to their villages and stay with them, and the way you take to live with us Dagbamba, you can also take that way and live with them, and there will not be quarreling. But if it is on the part of customs, and comparing our talks and their talks, the talks just enter and go out. They look like Dagbamba, but they are not Dagbamba. And what I am saying is that even if you go to an Ashanti's town, we are not related to the Ashantis, but if it is following their custom, their making of the funeral looks like Dagbon here. They have separated small-small. And so there too it is also like that.
And I think in my heart that all black people in Ghana here, the Dagbamba's eyes are open more than all of them. The Ashantis say their eyes are more opened than ours, and we look at them as fools. They themselves know that. We know respect more than any other tribe. And we know again: “This is a stranger.” And all the tribes I have called, they don't feel shy of strangers. They don't fear stranger-shyness. But as for us, we fear stranger-shyness. And that is why we are more than them. And so when our talks come to enter one another, or when our works come to enter one another, whatever happens, we will come to go ahead of them. They are not going to see our work and take it and go and be doing. If you are going to collect your friend's work and do it, can you do it the same as your friend was doing it? If he is going to say that he has shown you all, he will show you and leave some. All of you are not just one.
Let me give you an example. I hear them say that the Kusasis perform funerals and it looks like our funerals, and I heard again that their performing of funerals also looks as if it is different again. Do you know the drummer called Issa? Issa told me that he went to Bawku yesterday: if a Kusasi dies, the day he dies they hire drummers, and they will go that day, and they will catch the beating of the drums. If he died in the morning, they will catch the drums and be beating. They will beat like that until they come to bury him. If he has children and they are about ten, and they are girls, all their husbands are going to search for drummers. And they all sit in their in-law's entering house and beat drums, and they will be dancing dances. If they finish burying, they will let the drummers go home. If they were brought from some town, the drummers will go to the town with them. If the in-laws are in the same town that the death happened, they will let the drummers go back to their town. Because it can happen that you give birth to your child, and your town's people will come to search for the girl, and another people from another town will come to search for her, and will search for another girl from you. And if you are not there, they will all gather. That is what they do. And as it is, have they not finished burying? And then they will cut days, say, two months, that they are going to perform the funeral. If that day comes, you will get a cloth, get a scarf, get cola, get money and add. And your wife will go there and boil pito plenty. And when your friends come, it is the drink they will be drinking. And they will cook rice and saɣim. The man will kill hens and guinea fowls, and add goats. And that one day, they will do all this. But they don't have the going round of the house. “Today we are going round the house”: they don't have it. They know: “This is what I have given my wife.” They know that. As it is, has it not entered into our talks? But as for the day of the death, it doesn't enter into us, because on the day of the death, we Dagbamba, if you are an in-law, you only bury: you will get some money and say, “This is my wife's burying.” And you will give some small money to your wife to give to the grandchildren. On the third day, you will gather again. As we go on the third day, that is the day you will hear when they are going to perform the funeral. If they are going to repair it in three months or a year, that day they will say it. And that is why we go on the third day or seventh day. But the Kusasis don't have it. The Ashantis too are like that: the day of the death, they dance and play. We also beat, but we don't beat it on the part of the in-laws. And it is not all deaths we go to beat. But as for the Ashantis, they take drums, and dala [congas]. They can leave the dead person for two days or three days, but we Dagbamba wouldn't do that. And again, they put their dead people in boxes. And somebody who is a Christian, they send the dead body to a church. And when they are performing their funerals, they don't cook as much food as we do, and they don't kill as many animals. They drink, and we drink, too, but we don't drink as much as they do, and we only drink pito. And so as it is, are our talks not separate?
And so I can say that we are more than all of them. It's not because I am a Dagbana that I am saying this. We know the respect of everything. This is how it is, and our talks have separated from them. If you are able to settle with Dagbamba, and you take the way of living of Dagbamba, you can still take that kind of life to settle with Walas, Dagartis, and the others. So there is no difference on the part of that sense. What I am saying is that their talks on the part of custom are not the same. Some of their talks resemble, and they enter our talks. And as they enter, they enter and go out. And so there are differences. And all these people I have called, I think it was only the Dagbamba who fought and came here and took over. But the Gurumas, Zambarimas, Kotokolis, Bassaris, Chembas, Dandawas, Hausas, all of them, their land is the same land it was formerly.
And so, the time of Nimbu and Ʒipopora and Naa Gbewaa, when the Dagbamba came, the tindanas were there, and we didn't know anything about chieftaincy. When Nimbu died, it was only Naa Gbewaa who was there. And the tindanas were in every town, because the tindanas were the people of the towns, and the Dagbamba were following them. I have told you that when the Dagbamba came, they met people and these people became Dagbamba. And so the tindanas also became Dagbamba, and a Dagbana tindana is a Dagbana. The tindanas have nothing that they say in their mouths which is not Dagbani. They have no tribe apart from the Dagbamba. The Gonjas, the Mamprusis, and the Gurunsis, too, all have their tindanas, and we have our tindanas. The Gonja tindanas speak Gonja, and the Mamprusi tindanas speak Mampruli, and that is how it is with every tribe that is here. But we know that the tindanas started a long time ago, and they were here when we came. Some of the people who are here with us now are from those people whom we met, and in the olden days, the tindanas were our chiefs. But after the war Naa Nyaɣsi fought, it was Dagbamba who became the chiefs of this our Dagbon. It was the junior fathers and brothers who became the chiefs, and that was how our chieftaincy started. Beemoni became the Karaga chief, and Buɣyilgu became the Sunson chief, and Yenyoo became the Savelugu chief, and Baatanga became the Nanton chief. These towns are old towns, and all of them started during the time of Naa Shitɔbu and Naa Nyaɣsi. And that is how it is.
When Naa Nyaɣsi died, it was his first-born son Naa Zulandi who became the paramount chief. I have told you that I have heard people say that Naa Nyaɣsi himself never gave birth to a son and all those we call his sons, they were only his brothers and junior fathers and the ones following him; and others say that Gaa-Naa Tuuviɛlgu was the first-born son of Naa Nyaɣsi. I have just now talked to you about how we call the children of Naa Nyaɣsi, and those who know say that Naa Zulandi was the first-born. These are the kind of talks I was telling you about that some people talk. If you hear someone talking something like that about Naa Nyaɣsi or Gaa-Naa Tuuviɛlgu, you should just step on it and throw it aside, and nobody will ask you about it later. It is not inside the custom like that, and so you should hold the way you learned the talk from your fathers. When we were children and learning to beat a drum and sing, we learned to count Naa Nyaɣsi's children. Gaa-Naa Tuuviɛlgu and Naa Zulandi were inside. All the children who learn how to beat a drum, they learn it like that. And when we were children, the old people who were teaching us never showed us that Naa Zulandi was not Naa Nyaɣsi's son. And so when Naa Nyaɣsi died, it was his first-born son Naa Zulandi who became the chief.
When Naa Zulandi was chief, he was sitting at Tolon Sabiɛɣu, and his first son Naa Naɣalɔɣu was sitting at Tali. That is how they call the praise of Tali-Naa: Naɣalɔɣu-Naa. And the day Naa Zulandi died, it was in the evening that Naa Naɣalɔɣu also died. And that is why we say that “His father died and he also died that evening.” I heard that when Naa Zulandi died, his first-born son Naa Naɣalɔɣu was at a war and he died there, and because he was at a war before he died, we call him a Yaa-Naa. And in the olden days, when a chief died, they would message and send to his child to let him know that his father is dead. And when the father died, and they were sending, they met the messenger from Naɣalɔɣu on the way. And they said they were going to message the first-born that his father was no more there. And this is the first-born's messenger too who is going to tell the father. And so Naa Zulandi's first-born Naɣalɔɣu was a Gbɔŋlana, but he didn't eat the chieftaincy, but they call him a Yaa-Naa. He was made the chief, but he didn't sit at Yendi because he was at a war when he died. If he had been alive, he would have eaten the chieftaincy, and that is why we take it to say that he had eaten the chieftaincy. And that is why we say that he sat on the skins and he remained in the chieftaincy, and it is because he and his father died on the same day. We the drummers, we count him inside Yaa-Naas.
I will count the chiefs of Yendi for you and show you who gave birth to them. And so listen well. When Zulandi was not there, it was given to Naa Daturli. We also call him Naa Dalgudamda or Naa Daturli. And Naa Dalgudamda became the Yaa-Naa. Naa Dalgudamda was a son of Naa Zulandi. When Naa Dalgu died, Naa Briguyomda became the chief. He was also a son of Naa Zulandi. And so three of Naa Zulandi's sons ate Yendi.
When Naa Briguyomda died, Naa Zɔlgu became the chief. He was a son of Naa Dalgu. After Naa Zɔlgu died, Naa Zɔlgu's four sons ate the Yendi chieftaincy one after the other. The first one was Naa Zɔmbila, or Naa Zoŋ. After he died, Naa Niŋmitooni became chief. After he died, it was Naa Dimani who became the Yaa-Naa. When he died, Naa Yenzoo became the chief.
When Naa Yenzoo died, it was Naa Dariʒɛɣu who became the chief. Naa Dariʒɛɣu was a son of Naa Zɔmbila. None of his children ate Yendi. He died in a war, and when he died, it was Naa Luro who ate Yendi. Naa Luro was a son of Naa Zɔlgu, and so he was the fifth son of Naa Zɔlgu to eat Yendi.
And so Naa Luro became Yaa-Naa after the death of his brother's son Naa Dariʒɛɣu. When Naa Luro died, four of Naa Luro's sons became chief one after the other. They are Naa Tutuɣri, Naa Luro's first-born. After he died, Naa Zaɣli became chief. The one following him was Naa Zokuli. And the one following Naa Zokuli was Naa Gungobli. Naa Gungobli's mother was a tindana's daughter from Kakpaguyili near Tamale here.
After the death of Naa Gungobli, it was Naa Zanjina who became the chief. He was the youngest son of Naa Tutuɣri. After Naa Zanjina died, it was Naa Andan' Siɣli who ate Yendi. Naa Siɣli was the son of Naa Zaɣli. Naa Siɣli had about ten sons, but after Naa Siɣli died, it was Naa Zanjina's first-born son Naa Jinli Bimbiɛɣu who became the chief. When he died, it was Naa Garba who ate Yendi. Naa Garba was a son of Naa Zanjina. And so two of Naa Zanjina's sons became Yaa-Naas. Naa Garba gave birth to many children, but when Naa Garba died, it was Naa Siɣli's son Naa Saa Ziblim who ate Yendi; he is also called Naa Saalana. When he died, the one who followed him was Naa Ziblim Bandamda. He was a son of Naa Garba. After him, it was another of Naa Garba's sons who ate. That was Naa Andani Jɛŋgbarga.
When Naa Andani Jɛŋgbarga died, Naa Mahami ate Yendi. He was a son of Naa Ziblim Bandamda. When he died, Naa Andani Jɛŋgbarga's son Naa Ziblim Kulunku became Yaa-Naa. When he died in a war, Naa Simaani Zoli became Yaa-Naa. Naa Zoli was a son of Naa Mahami. The next Yaa-Naa was another son of Naa Andani Jɛŋgbarga. That was Naa Yakuba.
Naa Yakuba's first-born son Naa Abilaai Naɣbiɛɣu followed him and ate Yendi, and when Naa Abilaai died, it was Naa Andani Naanigoo who became chief. Naa Abilaai was Naa Andani's senior brother, and they were both sons of Naa Yakuba.
After Naa Andani died, Naa Alaasani became the chief. He was a son of Naa Abilaai Naɣbiɛɣu. When he died, Naa Alaasani's eldest son Naa Abudu Setaŋ' Kuɣli became chief. When Naa Abudu died, Naa Andani's son became chief. He was Naa Mahaman Kpɛma, Mahama the Elder [Mahama Kpɛma]. When he died, the next Yaa-Naa was Naa Mahamam Bila, Mahama the Younger [Mahama Bila], or Naa Mahamambila. He was Naa Alaasani's son. After he died, the next chief of Yendi was Naa Abilabila, that is, Abilaai the Younger [Abilaai Bila], so we call him Naa Abilabila. Naa Abilabila was the son of Naa Mahamam Bila. And so the Naa Abudus are three: the first one was Naa Abilaai, Naa Yakuba's son. The second one is Naa Alaasani's son Naa Abudu. And the third one was Naa Mahamam Bila's son Naa Abilabila.
It was after Naa Abilabila died that Dagbon spoiled. We are now divided into two groups. There are those who follow Naa Andani's line, that is the Andani side. And there are those who follow Naa Abilaai's line, that is, the Abudu side. I Ibrahim, as I am sitting, I am following Naa Abilaai. And to me, the chiefs who have come these days are not chiefs. And we drummers, we don't take these present chiefs to be chiefs. When Naa Abilabila died, it was his son Naa Mahamadu who became chief. And the Andani people said that it was Naa Mahaman Kpɛma's son Mionlana Andani who should be chief, and they tried to install him as Naa Andani Bila, but he died before they could install him. And the time that soldier Acheampong and his people were ruling Ghana, they removed Naa Mahamadu. And they said that Mionlana Andani has been a Yaa-Naa, and it was Mionlana Andani's son Yakubu who should be the chief. And they removed Naa Mahamadu and made Yakubu the chief.
And we drummers on the Abudu side don't agree that Mionlana Andani was a Yaa-Naa. And we don't call Yakubu a Yaa-Naa; we call him the Force Chief, that is, he has been put there by force. And our reason is that since all the time that has passed, we have never heard that a Yaa-Naa has been removed. When such a thing happens, we just stand at our place. And those drummers who are following the present Yaa-Naa are just following him because of getting what they want. If a drummer tells you that Yakubu is a chief, you shouldn't take it seriously. Even they know that according to our Dagbon custom, he is not a chief. But to those who are following him, to them, it is true he is a chief. And to us, we say that our custom did not make him a chief, and so he is not a chief. If our custom didn't make someone a chief, then we don't call him a chief. That is our way.
The only one that is coming again is if there is a war and the Yaa-Naa runs away from Yendi: when he runs away from Yendi to die anywhere else, we don't call him a Yaa-Naa. There was one Yaa-Naa who ran away in a war. His name was Bukari Giya and he was called Naa Darimani or Kukara Djee: he was chief at Savelugu and when Naa Andani died, he became the paramount chief. It was during the time the Germans came and fought a war against Yendi that he ran away. He took all the chieftaincy things and ran to Tugu, and he died there. And Naa Alaasani was made the Yaa-Naa. Any chief who doesn't die at Yendi, if it is that he didn't die in a war, we don't call him a Yaa-Naa. And so we don't count Naa Darimani among the chiefs of Yendi.
And what I am telling you is that I am a drummer, and my fathers, my grandfathers, and my great-grandfathers were all drummers. And what I have told you today is the talk of drumming on the part of how Yendi started. It is we drummers who know the customs of Dagbon, and how they started, and those people who made Yakubu a chief didn't know the custom. Their fathers and grandfathers didn't know the custom. If they try to do the things which concern the custom, do you think they can do it? Will it work? It won't do. And so this present Yaa-Naa, it isn't that I dislike him. A drummer does not dislike a chief. But he was not made a chief in the customary way, and that is how it is. Those people who make the Yaa-Naa are there, and the soldiers just went round and collected all the things they use to make a chief, and they removed those people and brought the people they liked. And so we drummers are standing at our place, and the chiefs we have nowadays, they are sitting. And as I have told you that a drummer and a chief are one, we don't have that again. And I have told you that without a drummer, there is no chief. And so there is no chieftaincy in Dagbon today, and our Dagbon is now spoiled. And we don't know what will happen before it will be repaired.
And this is the talk I have for you on the part of how our Dagbon started and the tribes we have relation with. And how I have talked, I didn't think I could talk all this. Our drumming has got a lot of things, and tomorrow, if God agrees, we will continue, and I will tell you about the chief of Yendi and how he becomes a chief. There are a lot of customs we perform when a Yaa-Naa dies, on the part of how the Yaa-Naa dies and they bury him, how they perform his funeral, and how they get a new Yaa-Naa. And if I finish it, I will talk about the elders of the Yaa-Naa and about some of our big chiefs here, and I will tell you how some of these towns came out. And I will take it from the time we Dagbamba came and met the tindanas because many of these chieftaincies started from the time of the war Naa Nyaɣsi fought. And I will follow it and talk about the chiefs and how they stand in Dagbon here, and the work they do. And then we will move straightforward into the Samban' luŋa talks, and I will tell you more about the Yaa-Naas I have counted. And I think if we take it like that and follow it, it will be nice, and we will reach the extent we want.