Jalabias, composed by Amon Tuk Kaal and performed by Otto Gwado Ayoker

A song, 38 seconds long, composed by Amon Tuk Kaal, and performed by Otto Gwado Ayoker. The time-aligned annotation includes the Shilluk orthography, translation, and comments by Otto Gwado Ayoker. Amon Tuk Kaal is from Oryang village, in the Mwomo region (the far north of the Shilluk speaker territory). He was jailed by the Chief of Mwomo for burning the grass in Mwomo plains and dividing it among the people who wanted to cultivate, including non-Shilluks. And when King Kur (1951-1974) went to Mwomo on a visit, Tuk Kaal presented his case in a song which he called Ogwal Ámag yi Ogwal, which means “A Frog Caught A Frog”. (That song is also part of the Collection of Shilluk narratives and songs, performed by Owacci Obwonyo Anay - datashare.is.ed.ac.uk.) The King then released him. Tuk Kaal did not stay in his village after he was released. He was afraid of the chief. So, he went to live in Melut, on the eastern side of the Nile. There in Melut, he became a Muslim. Amon Tuk Kaal was a composer, and his song, Ogwal Ámag yi Ogwal made him very popular indeed, because he was encouraging agriculture. The current song is about conversion to Islam. In becoming a Muslim, one must change one’s way of life, and be dressed in jalabia, Amon Tuk Kaal states. He urges the Shilluks not to wear the lawø, especially the 'áwaangkaajø'. 'Áwaangkaajø' is a (lawø) cloth worn on the shoulder but it is not big enough to cover the whole body. Tuk Kaal’s decision to become a Muslim was controversial; Shilluk people had fought with the Arab Muslims for a long time, resisting conversion to Islam. Tuk Kaal became a muezzin (the man who shouts calling Muslims for prayers); but he failed to convert Shilluk people to Islam. This item consists of a recorded Shilluk song (wav file), accompanied with annotation (in Praat TextGrid) and associated information: metadata, permissions and speaker questionnaire. The associated information is also summarized, in a spreadsheet. The TextGrid annotation includes Shilluk orthography, translation, and comments.