The Piano and The Drums

Gabriel Okara

Gabriel Imomotimi Gbaingbain Okara (Emmanuel) 24 April 1921 – 25 March 2019 (Emmanuel) He was a Nigerian Poet, Novelist, and Playwright. (Emmanuel) He was known as the first renowned English Language black African poet and the first African modernist writer. (Emmanuel) Okara held the distinction of being the inaugural modernist poet of Anglophone Africa. (Emelike) During his lifetime, he attributed his flourishing literary career to his time at Government College Umuahia, where he encountered and drew inspiration from the works of William Shakespeare and other esteemed literary figures. 

He became well-known for his important novel called "The Voice" (1964), and people loved his poetry books like "The Fisherman’s Invocation" (1978) and "The Dreamer, His Vision" (2005). In his writing, Okara cleverly included African ideas, beliefs, stories, and pictures, which is why people called him "the Nigerian Negritudist." (Emelike) Brenda Marie Osbey, the editor of his Collected Poems, stated that,

“It is with the publication of Gabriel Okara’s first poem that Nigerian literature in English and modern African poetry in this language can be said truly to have begun.” 

Delving deeper into his works, Gabriel Okara's poem, "The Call of the River Nun," received an award at the Nigerian Festival of Arts in 1953. His poetry appeared in the literary magazine Black Orpheus, and by 1960, he had gained acknowledgment as a skilled literary artisan, with his poetry translated into numerous languages. One of Okara’s most famous poems is “Piano and Drum.” Another popular poem, “You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed,” is a frequent feature of anthologies. Aside from his poetry and fiction, Okara ventured into playwriting and contributed features for broadcasting. Unfortunately, many of his unpublished manuscripts were lost during the Nigerian Civil War. 

Awards:-

Awards Best All-Round Entry In Poetry at the Nigerian Festival of Arts, for "The Call of the River Nun" (1953) (Olatunbosun)

Commonwealth Poetry Prize, for The Fisherman's Invocation (1979)

NLNG Prize, for The Dreamer, His Vision (2005) (Gabriel Okara (1921-2019))

Pan African Writers' Association Honorary Membership Award (2009) 

Gabriel Okara Literary Festival (2017) 

Notable Works:-

The Voice (1964)

The Fisherman's Invocation (1978)

Little Snake and Little Frog (1981)

An Adventure to Juju Island (1992)

The Dreamer, His Vision (2005)

As I See It (2006) Collected Poems (2016)

Original Poem

When at break of day at a riverside

I hear jungle drums telegraphing

the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw

like bleeding flesh, speaking of

primal youth and the beginning,

I see the panther ready to pounce,

the leopard snarling about to leap and

the hunters crouch with spears poised.

And my blood ripples, turns torrent,

topples the years and at once I’m

in my mother’s laps a suckling;

at once I’m walking simple

paths with no innovations

rugged, fashioned with the naked

warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts

in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.

Then I hear a wailing piano

solo speaking of complex ways

in tear- furrowed concerto;

of far away lands

and new horizons with

coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint,

crescendo, but lost in the labyrinth of its complexities, it ends in the middle of a phrase at a daggerpoint

And I lost in the morning mist

of an age at a riverside keep

wandering in the mystic rhythm

of jungle drums and concerto.

Explanation of the Poem:

The poem opens by transporting the reader to a primal, natural setting at the break of dawn by a riverside jungle. The pounding of jungle drums emerges, described in visceral terms as a "mystic rhythm, urgent, raw" and likened to "bleeding flesh." This ancient, primordial drumbeat evokes visions of predatory animals like panthers and leopards poised to pounce, as well as hunters crouched with spears, all representing the inherent wildness and spiritual connection to nature in traditional African life.

As the drums' rhythm courses through the speaker's veins, they are psychologically thrust back through time and memory. The drums trigger an atavistic regression to the speaker's most primal origins - being cradled as a "suckling" infant in their mother's lap. The drums' cadence carries them along "simple paths" devoid of modern "innovations," paths forged merely by the "naked warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts." In this state, the speaker exists in harmony with the lush natural surroundings of "green leaves and wild flowers pulsing."

But this idyllic reverie is shattered by the jarring intrusion of a "wailing piano solo" that represents the complexity and foreign influences of the civilized world impinging on traditional African culture. The piano's music evokes "far away lands" and "new horizons" with its multi-layered "coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint, crescendo." However, the speaker finds themselves becoming "lost in the labyrinth" of the piano's complexity, which "ends in the middle of a phrase at a daggerpoint" - an abrupt severing of the musical ideas mirroring the violent disruption of cultural traditions.

In the end, the speaker is suspended between two worlds - the mystic primordial realm of the "jungle drums" representing their African roots, and the unfamiliar "concerto" of outside cultures. They are left "wandering" adrift, unable to fully inhabit either sphere. The poem laments this displacement and cultural upheaval brought about by colonialism and modernization's encroachment on pure, ancestral ways of life.

Through his poetic lens, Okara crystallizes the profound loss and sorrow felt as traditional African identity and cosmic unity with the natural world was shattered by the discordant "innovations" of foreign influences. The drumbeat's ancient "mystic rhythms" gradually subsumed by the piano's "complexities" stands as a powerful metaphor for urbanization's erosion of tribal cultures and environmental stewardship. Okara's poem gives searing voice to the painful ambiguities of embracing inevitable change while still yearning for a bygone primal wholeness.

Symbols:

The drums represent traditional African culture, values, and ways of life. They are associated with community, rhythm, dance, ceremony.

The piano represents European/Western cultural influence and modernization. It is associated with individualism, discordance, and loss of cultural identity.

Themes:

Cultural identity - The poem explores the tension between traditional communal ways of life vs modern individualistic society. There is a loss of cultural purity.

Colonialism/Imperialism - The imposition of Western culture on Africa is seen in a negative light, as it erodes traditional values.

Modernity - The arrival of modernization brings both good (education, technology) and ill (loss of cultural identity). This is depicted in the poem.

Structure:

The poem has two sections - the drums section reminisces about communal African village life. The piano section depicts the present-day of disruption and chaos.

Language:

Rhythmic and musical language mirrors the beating of the drums. This shifts to discordant with the piano imagery.

Strong visual imagery - the poet powerfully evokes the sights and sounds of an African village gathering.

The poem uses the highly symbolic drums and piano to cleverly explore complex themes of cultural change, identity, and colonialism's impact on Africa. The structured contrast shows the tension between past and present.