Just what is this “field” which the ethnomusicologist is to visit? In the days of idealized tribal life, we may presume that the field worker found out, by reading and hearsay, the location of a tribe, and that he went there by whatever means of transportation was available and then found his tribe, neatly clustered in its group of villages, untouched by any contact with the evil West and its conventional music; he made friends, asked them to sing and play, and turned on his recording machine. After his friends had assured him that they had sung all they knew, he folded up his materials and went home again, his field trip completed. Unfortunately, it rarely works this way.^[1]

To paraphrase Nettl, I found out the location of a tribe, flew and drove there and found the Anuak tribe, neatly clustered in villages, relatively untouched by contact with the West. I made friends with informants, both native and foreign, and met with the people, asked them to sing and play, and turned on my tape recorder, slide camera and movie camera. I left knowing that there was more to hear and see and went home to Addis Ababa, my field trip complete, but the work was just beginning. For me, it really worked this way.

Nettl states that, “The concept includes more than just a rather standardized visit to a primitive village.” This study does include a rather standardized visit, but it is standardized with the hope that there is consistency in its approach and that consistent investigative procedures will yield information that is truly illuminating.

This chapter, therefore, lays groundwork for the study by presenting the research design that was followed in the field work and after in the analysis of the material. A feasibility study is described, the investigative procedure and interview technique outlined, and the methods for recording Anuak musical and socio-cultural information are explained.

This chapter also presents the setting in which the study was carried out and in which the Anuak people live. The geographic and economic settings of the tribe are described and their impact analyzed. The Anuak are categorized as to their racial, physical, and linguistic character and placed within their Ethiopian and larger African setting. Though the Anuak do not possess the wheel, and most are unable to keep track of months and years, they nevertheless should not be considered primitive. It is hoped that the reader will find a people who are in many ways highly sophisticated, genteel in their own way, and worthy of knowing.

1. Research Design

The study of the Anuak tribe was an involved process demanding considerable preparation and considerable care in the choosing of assistants and methods of operation. Certain procedures were followed to assure the success of this venture. Several delimiting factors were used to guide in the choice of a tribe for study, and subsequent methods were used in the study of the tribe.

Preliminary to making this excursion, while in the United States during the summer of 1971, I met with Dr. Charles Leonhard and Dr. Bruno Nettl at the University of Illinois. After describing the nature of the study to be undertaken, Dr. Leonhard gave his approval to its pursuance. In a conference with Dr. Nettl, he made some suggestions and recommended several sources to consult in making the proposed study. Such sources were acquired and consulted in preparation for this study. I returned to Ethiopia and prepared for the subsequent project which occurred the following summer.

1.1. Feasibility Study

Dr. Donald McClure, an individual who had been in Ethiopia for over 25 years, was contacted and his advice was sought about contacting a tribal people who would yield a high degree of musical response. I presented several qualifications to McClure. The tribe in question should (1) be accessible, (2) have a body of musical expression, (3) be relatively unknown, and (4) have had little contact with the outside world. Dr. McClure urged that the Anuak tribe be considered. Acting on his recommendation, a feasibility study was undertaken to see if such an operation would be possible. A short excursion was arranged to meet with the people in the area, to gain some experience in material collection methods, to gain some understanding of the implications of relating to an alien culture, and to test out data collection devices.

Several delimiting factors have been stated to guide in the choice of a tribe for study. It has further been stated that the Anuak tribe seemed to meet these factors in greater or lesser degrees. To determine this, the following procedure was followed:

The tribe should be accessible.  The Anuak tribe was accessible from Addis Ababa by a DC 3 flight of about two hours. They were reachable from a home base in Pokwo, the Presbyterian mission compound. Food provisions were available in Gambela and Addis Ababa. Provision for medical attention and housing was available on the mission compound. Field notes describe these arrangements.

Touch down at Gambela at about 9:45 a.m. Met by Niles Reimer of the American mission. After details are taken care of at the airport regarding ID card and reason for being in the area, we leave for Gambela. We stop at the store which has limited supplies, expensive but available. We find that the proprietor (a Greek) will be leaving in two weeks, and therefore, the store will temporarily close. We then travel along the river to Pokwo by Land Rover, arriving by 2:00.

Niles Reimer makes suggestions about local villages to be visited. He suggests Tierlul which has a mission influence; Pokomo, a ten-minute walk down river; Nickqua, across the river; Ebago, down the river two miles; Illea, down river and quite accessible. Singing will also be heard on the mission compound. There have been and probably will be many village dances with the use of drums. It would be wise to hang around the villages for a while to have people get used to seeing us and then ask them permission for work with tape and camera.”^[2]

Further discussions were held on June 11th regarding food and housing. The guest house was made available and instructions were given regarding what goods and supplies to bring. Medical precautions were also discussed.

A preliminary interview was carried out with one of the authorities in the area, Marie Lustad. An open elicitation technique was applied, encouraging the subject to discuss those areas of information which were familiar and of interest. This experience showed the importance of preparing for greater structure in the interview technique.

Also, during this three-day period, an excursion was made downstream to Illea to visit a village and to talk with a chief to see if such a study would be possible and permissible. Our approach was as follows:

We entered the village area around 10:00 a.m. …and stopped first at the evangelist’s compound. Not finding him home, we left a note written by Niles Reimer stating the purpose of our initial and subsequent visits and then walked on briefly coming to a fairly large open area…we sat first under a large tree on skins of antelope and then were invited in after about fifteen minutes to the chief’s hut…the room was bare except for animal skins making flat piles in two places of the room over which was rolled mosquito netting. The chief was sitting on one pile of skins having awakened from a nap. He had a transistor radio playing.

He is a young man, perhaps thirty. We presented him the note prepared by Niles Reimer. He read it slowly, asking questions of our native accompanier and of Mark Reimer, who speaks Anuak quite well. He seemed satisfied with our answers and with the general idea, and so we settled down to talk with him about general things…He later asked more questions of me while there…and we made the point of asking permission to be in the area frequently this summer and to be able to bring in tape recorders and cameras. To these, he gave permission.

Tangible gains from this visit were the permission granted to visit and bring tape recorders and cameras. Also, the fact that we did visit, and therefore made our faces known, will make it easier the next time we come.^[3]

The tribe should have a body of musical expression. Dr. McClure assured me that the Anuak possessed a large body of music expression. The initial feasibility visit confirmed this. The first visit to the church congregation yielded these impressions.

The drummers traded off so that the principal drummer sat down and another took his place.  He made extensive use of elbows of either arm with downward thrusting motions on the center of the head. This gave a contrasting, higher pitched sound and was heard above the sound of the stick and hand. The drumming accompanying the congregational singing was rhythmic, complex, dynamic and ever changing. In general, there was an increase in complexity and power from one song to the next and within the song. A set of bells on a stick were also used in an accompaniment being played on even beats. Gentle hand clapping also accompanied the singing. Everyone sang and obviously enjoyed themselves. Songs were generally call and response with much overlapping and quite a degree of complexity. They have considerable length and seem to be pentatonic.^[4]

Further comments from Lustad confirmed the extensive amount of music in the tribe. She stated, “They have many songs. Dancing songs and others that are just sung. Children have little ditties they sing while playing. There are songs for the chief.”^[5] She also made reference to the instruments that the people play.  Therefore, initial conversation, preliminary conversations on the scene and personal experience led me to conclude that the Anuak have an extensive body of musical expression.

The tribe should be in an area with well-defined borders and of a known and limited size. Discussion with Reimer on the initial visit confirmed the size of the tribe of being approximately 40,000 (or 50,000 as later estimated). He was able to define the boundaries of the extent of the tribe and noted that they are bounded by tribes living next to them that have contrasting cultures. The Anuak are primarily farmers, raising corn and some other crops but with little evidence of cattle or goats. The Nuer living next to them are primarily cattle people in contrast. The Anuak live in communities, whereas the Nuer are nomadic. Therefore, it was determined that the third delimiting factor was met.

The tribe should be little studied. The need for the study speaks to this point.

Coupled with the basic lack of information about African music is a specific lack of information of the music of Ethiopia and especially the music of peoples not of the highlands…When one seeks for information about the focus of this study, the sources become even more scarce. Powne’s book does not touch on the area.^[6]

A few writings about the Shilluk and Dinka tribes are in existence and Lienhardt has written authoritatively about practices of the village headman. Some monographs exist by those living in the area. A recent study by Tippett over the Southwest Ethipian area is available. But generally speaking, very little study has been done about the social and cultural aspects of the tribe and virtually no mention can be found about their musical expression. The Anuak tribe is definitely little studied.

Acculturation should be minimal. The Anuak tribe is in a remote area accessible usually only by plane, boat, and at times, by Land Rover. For the most part, they are surrounded by tribes that do not share cultural affinity, i.e., the Nuer and the Galla. The age set society of the Anuak and the extreme conservatism evidenced by an egalitarian society predispose it against rapid change and in some cases no change at all. In the initial feasibility visit, Reimer spoke of certain acculturative influences, however.

The Amhara governs. Officials, police, etc., are Amhara. They previously were quite brutal in governing. The military felt free to enter villages and take what they wanted. Now that is not so. But the Amhara still lord it over the Anuak and Nuer. The Anuak now are becoming more aware of the central Ethiopian government through increased education possibilities and the influx of transistor radios. Radio Ethiopia is listened to but more so is a station from across the Sudan border which broadcasts two times a week in Anuak…in language and music. Comment is made that this station is greatly respected because of broadcasts in Anuak—a lesson for Radio Ethiopia.^[7]

Therefore, this delimiting factor was met for the most part.

The preliminary excursion answered its basic objective, that of meeting the delimiting factors. It also allowed the investigator to meet other objectives for the study.

1. Made sure that all credentials were in order. Identification cards were registered with the police authorities in Gambela. The police acknowledged and approved my presence and return to the Pokwo area for the summer months.
2. Arranged for supplies. It was determined what foods were available locally and what foods would have to be flown in. This was determined through consultation with the store owner in Gambela and with the missionaries in the area. Their advice was followed.
3. Arranged for shelter that is in the locale and yet will provide a measure of security and isolation. The guest house in Pokwo was made available to me and my family for the summer months. It was large and spacious enough to allow for privacy for the recording of field notes and interviewing, and safety for the storage of tapes and equipment.
4. Made careful allowances for medicinal needs. In consultation with the medical staff in Pokwo, precautions were taken for malarial control and preventative measures were practiced in food preparation.
5. Made all other arrangements for personal and family needs. Arrangements for wood for cooking, wearing apparel, sanitation, and water purification were made in consultation with those in the area. Regular servant help was difficult to find and water purification was a continual problem. Most difficulties were overcome with minimal hardship.
6. Made arrangements for transportation to villages. On many occasions, the visits made to neighboring villages were by foot. However, on several occasions, it was necessary to take a boat. On these occasions, the mission motor boat was made available at a nominal charge. The son of a missionary in the area, Mark Reimer, was contacted to navigate the boat and act as assistant for photography. He was able to accompany frequently and provided fine assistance in navigation and photography.
7. Met with authorities in the area. I sought to gain some initial impressions of the people and ask about the general social make-up and relationships of the tribe with outside influences and in general, determine the knowledgeability, experience, and openness of the foreign experts in the area. The missionaries were very sympathetic to the objectives of this study and through initial and subsequent interviews, provided insights into the characteristics of the Anuak people. Two or three extended interviews were conducted with each informant. The initial discussions with the four informants showed that they were very willing to assist in the study and were highly knowledgeable about the aspects of Anuak culture.
8. Made preliminary arrangements for informants. While in Pokwo, preliminary discussions were held with Niles Reimer regarding the procuring of an individual who would be available to regularly accompany me. He mentioned two individuals, Paul Abulla and Agwa Alemo, who were in school until mid-July in Addis Ababa. Carl Templin suggested Paul Nyinyoni Ojulo, the leader of the Anya Nya freedom fighters as a possibility. Nyinyoni was living near the clinic because of a respiratory ailment. The matter of an informant was not settled until later upon our return. Nyinyoni made himself available and a fee of $40 (Ethiopian dollar) weekly was agreed upon. The other two informants did not establish contact until after the work began in Pokwo. Paul Abulla and Agwa Alemo then became the backbone in the analysis of the verbal content of the music.

Upon returning from the field after the preliminary visit, I met with officials at the Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at the Haile Selassie I University. The intent was to register this project as a part of ongoing Ethiopian research. The nature of the project was described for the authorities there, but no further communication was received.

1.2. The Investigative Procedure

Each individual on the investigative team fulfilled certain functions. Mark Reimer piloted the boat and acted as photographer. Nyinyoni was head informant and accompanied on all visits. He arranged for the singers, the locale, and the time of meeting. He acted as interpreter, gave advice of where to go, and was the go-between, helper and advisor about historical background. He was asked to provide the name of the singer, home of the singer, type of song, age of song, and source of song. He was asked to clarify the situation in which a song would be sung, or clarify the action as it was unfolding. Nyinyoni was asked to provide advice about how much each performance was worth. An excellent command of English and a very good knowledge of tribal background and history allowed him to make authoritative responses.

Financial arrangements with all performers were in the hands of Nyinyoni. The general working arrangement with all soloists and larger groups was quite systematic. Before the singer began, he was reminded that if he worked well, he would be paid. If he did not work well, he would not be paid. The same was true in the villages. The men of the Jo Burra (village elders) were so informed early in the festivities.  In the individual situation, when the singer was finished, he was paid approximately one dollar per hour or two dollars per hour if he was also a composer or displayed a certain excellence. In the village situation, toward the end of the performance, Nyinyoni and I would meet with the Jo Burra and the chief again and pay the agreed fee which ranged from fifteen to thirty Ethiopian dollars. I gave the money to the informant who in turn gave it to the spokesman in the hut under the watchful eyes of the Jo Burra. The money was counted and argued about, but because the price had been agreed on, the amount was never changed. The Jo Burra then divided the money according to their plans for its distribution. Portions may go to the various leading participant or be divided among the age sets involved, or it may go for the expense of buying animals or making beer for a village celebration. The distribution of the pay was up to the Jo Burra to expedite judiciously. In all cases, the matter of pay was at the advice of the informant and given to him to be paid to the persons involved. (An Ethiopian dollar was equal to forty cents, American.)

I, as investigator, tape recorded the musical performances, did a large share of the photographing, and elicited responses from the participants through the chief informant. The singer determined the songs and their choice. The investigator acted as a receptor, recording as much of the occasion as possible through mechanical, photographic, and written means.

The translation of song texts was begun during the evenings while in Pokwo. By the second week in July, Paul Abulla and Agwa Alemo returned to the area and functioned chiefly as translators. On most evenings, they would listen to the tapes and would translate the word content of the songs. The songs were individually played through until the general picture of the song emerged. The tape was rewound and after two to four seconds of playing, the tape would be stopped and the informants would explain the content of the song and elaborate as they felt they should or at my prompting. Initially, comments were taken on a cassette recording. It was soon found more efficient to record their comments at the typewriter. This process was followed with every song. The activity of Agwa Alemo and Paul Abulla continued after returning from the field with Agwa being the most consistent informant.  Two to four hours of work every Saturday from August until the following June was spent in analyzing about 850 recorded songs. The process remained constant: a portion of the song was played; the tape was rewound and very small portions were replayed until the informant gave the signal to stop; the informant gave the content of the song, and it was recorded using the typewriter.

The other informants were four missionaries in Pokwo who were asked to elaborate on various socio-cultural aspects. Each missionary was visited at least twice for a period of one to four hours. Their comments were recorded on cassette and these were later transcribed by me. They did not participate in the village recording sessions nor did they translate textual content of the songs. Their function was to provide background observations in regard to racial, physical, social and cultural aspects of the tribe.

1.3. Interview Technique

A major concern was to develop a reliable and information- yielding interview technique. It was decided to use a combination of open-ended elicitation and structured elicitation techniques. Those areas of the culture with which the informant was conversant and authoritative were first discussed. Secondly, based upon the background of the informant and according to the relevance assumed by the investigator, major topic and subtopic areas were made the basis for questioning. These topic areas were chosen from the HRAF Outline of Cultural Materials.

The Outline has been found a useful aid in the field. It calls attention to a very wide range of cultural, social, and background phenomena, some portions of which are all too often omitted in descriptive accounts. It provides a useful system for the classification of field notes, bringing together data gathered at different times from different informants that would be widely scattered in a notebook, and thus drawing attention to inconsistencies and problems that demand clarification on the spot.^[8]

Therefore, I consulted the outline and carefully chose those areas of investigation that I deemed appropriate for a study of the social, cultural, racial, and physical attributes of a tribe, as well as those areas that would emphasize the musical and educational aspects of the tribe in depth. In addition, areas were chosen that would properly allow the classification of bibliography, location, and evaluation of sources. All informants were asked questions that would yield social and cultural information. Physical and racial aspects and matters of setting were derived from some informants, but not all. All of the above material was recorded on cassette tape and transcribed. Topic areas were assigned numbers (HRAF system). All materials were then transcribed on note cards and filed according to topic and number. All other material gained from informal responses by informants in transcribing music, from field notes, and from background reading and research were also ascribed HRAF numbers and filed and cross-filed accordingly. Materials so organized provided structure and proper emphasis to items of significance when preparing the report.

1.4. Recordings

Recording sessions were generally at the instigation of the informant, Nyinyoni, and at my request. Sessions fell into a random pattern and were for the most part determined by the informant. The only regular pattern of repeat performance was in the church situation. I regularly visited the Anuak church on the Pokwo mission compound. I was responsible for all recordings made, with the exception of one tape of hymns previously recorded by Marie Lustad. This was dubbed and comprises tapes 15A, 15B, and 16A. Little new material was derived from this tape except for the numerology of the Anuak hymn book.

Approximately forty-six separate recording sessions were held in nine villages. Thirty-five sessions were of a soloistic or small group nature; eleven involved large groups including, as far as can be determined, entire village populations. Thirty-five sessions were at my request or that of the informant. Eleven were natural setting occasions which I happened to attend. Forty-five five-inch reels of recording tape were used, recorded on both sides at 7 ½ speed. Over 850 songs were recorded. Exact numbers were impossible to state because of discrepancy among informants as to when one song ends and the next one begins. On several occasions the singing continued from one song to the next without break and native informants disagreed as to starting points. Each selection was accorded a number in the field at the cue of the informant upon replay. During transcription, each song was given a number based on Tape Number, Side A or B, number of the song on the side, and per counter setting. Therefore, Tape Number 5, Side B, Number 3, Count 132 becomes 5B 3 132.

Most data were gathered over a six-week period from June 13, 1972 to August 3, 1972 when the bulk of the recording and interviewing was carried out. I made a return visit from December 27, 1972 to January 16, 1973, hoping to have the opportunity to observe the teaching of a song and more village group performances. The visit yielded more songs similar to those heard in the earlier visit. I did not succeed in seeing large group activity during this time, but I was able to gather additional interview material and to see and record the teaching of a song in a typical teaching situation.

2. The Setting

2.1. The Geographic Setting

Ethiopia is a country of diversity and complexity, harboring within its borders as many contrasts of culture, belief, and practice as there are contrasts in climate, terrain, and wild life. Ethiopia extends for approximately 457,000 square miles between four degrees and eighteen degrees north of the equator. Kenya is on the southern border; Somalia is to the east and southeast; the Sudan is on the west and northwest borders; and the Red Sea borders Ethiopia for five hundred miles to the northeast. At its widest, Ethiopia is 900 miles across and, from north to south, about 1,000 miles long.^[9] Official 1972 population estimates of 25,500,000 people make Ethiopia one of the most populous countries in Africa.^[10]

2.1.1. Topography

Contrasts in topography are evident to anyone who has ever flown over Ethiopia and more so for anyone who has trekked by Land Rover, on foot, or by donkey to explore the rugged mountains, fertile plateaus, and hot and arid lowlands of this vast country.

Two-thirds of the country ae occupied by a huge mountain massif. This is sharply split by the Great Rift Valley which, with the Awash River and a chain of lakes, sweeps from the Red Sea down into Central Africa. The eastern plateau is inhabited mainly by Somali and Galla people. It is on the central and northern plateau that we find the people usually thought of as the true Abyssinians or Ethiopians…The traveler who attempts to cut from east to west across central Ethiopia faces formidable barriers. Crossing the coastal deserts and then the steamy lowlands of the rift Valley, he is confronted by a tremendous escarpment, jumping almost straight up six thousand feet or more and running for hundreds of miles north and south. At the top he is in a temperate climate, crossing fertile plateau that undulates pleasantly—except that every few miles it is jagged by river chasms fifteen hundred feet deep or more. To the north he can see the Simen peaks, rising to fifteen thousand feet and occasionally snow-clad. His path is blocked by the Blue Nile gorge, ten miles wide and over three thousand feet deep. Nearing the western edge of the plateau the land falls gradually, finally reaching a lesser escarpment dropping to the torrid lowlands of the White Nile.^[11]

2.1.2. Location

The western borders of Ethiopia area occupied by a Negroid people, usually known by highland Ethiopians as the Shankalla.

They are generally despised by the highland peoples, who invariably refer to them in derogatory terms, employing a word for black never used in describing the blackest Amhara. The Amhara refer collectively to all these Negroid peoples as barya which quite literally means “slave” or shankalla….^[12]

The Shankalla are most concentrated in a strip running along the western frontier for some 1,200 miles from the Eritrean border to Lake Rudolf. The area lies roughly between the Rift Valley lake chain and the international boundaries of the Sudan with Ethiopia.^[13] The Anuak is considered to be one of the so-called Shankalla tribes.

The Anuak tribe inhabits a territory in Ethiopia largely within the Gambela Awaraja, a part of Illubabor Province. The tribal area is bounded to the north by the Baro River; to the east by the escarpment a little above Gambela; to the west the area extends forty or fifty miles to Adujwoki, a seventy mile stretch on the Baro River; and to the south to the Akobo River, the Ethiopian border with the Sudan. The Anuak tribe extends beyond Ethiopia, south of the Akobo River into the Sudan to the Pochella area.^[14]

Gambela Awaraja is a broad flat plain dissected by four major rivers, the Baro, Aluro, Gilo, and Akobo. These have their origin in the highlands of Gore, Mocha, Awarajas to the east of Gambela. The Gilo and Akobo Rivers flow into the Pibor, the western boundary of Ethiopia which joins with the Baro to form the Sobat River, a tributary of the Nile. While the highlands are at an altitude of 2000 to 2500 meters, Gambela is at the foot of a steep escarpment at a little over 500 meters above sea level. The Awaraja slopes gently westward to an altitude of just over 300 meters at the junction of the Baro and Pibor rivers.^[15]

In Ethiopia, the Anuak population is mainly along the Baro and Gilo (Gila) Rivers, and a smaller population along the Akobo and Aluro Rivers. There are a few forest villages off the rivers, but aside from these, there is practically no population other than that along the rivers within this area.^[16] The 26,250 square kilometer Gambela Awaraja has a rural population density of about 3.1 persons per square kilometer living on land described as follows:

River land               0.5%

Marshland              4.5%

Upland savanna    65.  %

Forest land             30.  %^[17]

Because the Anuak dwell only along the rivers, this means a severe shortage of land. The average population density in the Anuak area compares with an average density of 51 persons per square mile throughout Ethiopia,^[18] and about 30 persons per square mile in Africa.^[19] Of course, there are wide variations in density from country to country in Africa and within countries. In Ethiopia, the lowland areas are generally more sparsely populated than the highlands.

Perham states, “It is clear that though its historic north faces the Red Sea and Asia, the bulk of the country is a part of tropical Africa and is, indeed, linked with some of the most barbarous and inaccessible regions of the continent….”^[20] Greenfield speaks of the “fragmented nature of the highlands…which have proved…almost insurmountable obstacles to the kings who sought to unify the country, to the invaders who sought to conquer it and to those who have sporadically attempted to develop its economic resources.”^[21] The lowland is quite the opposite. “Other than a number of abrupt volcanic outcroppings and gentle undulations of the land nearer the foothills to the west, this plain is virtually flat.”^[22]

2.1.3. Climate

Seasons in the Anuak area are characterized by the people as the times of rain or no rain.

They have rains beginning, and the rains, and the flood which is after the rains are over, and then the drying winds, the evaporating winds, and then the cold winds, and then the real hot winds.

The rainy season is the coolest time and it’s pleasant. During the rainy season, this coolish weather runs from June till about mid-September. Mid-September, October, and November are very humid. As the river drops and the swamps steam off, the heat doesn’t get too excessive. This runs through November. During December and January, we have a period called the North winds. A sort of trade wind blows down from Egypt and it gets really quite cold at night. This trade wind is not as pronounced here as it is in the Akobo area of the Sudan. I think the mountains around here cut it a little bit. It could get down to 60 degrees at night, which is terribly cold for these people, but that doesn’t happen too often. During this cold wind season, during the day time, it goes up to 100 degrees or so. So, you have a big fluctuation. After that period, the heat begins to build up… piles up till the rain breaks it again. So, February, March and April get pretty intolerable.^[23]

The area is widely flooded during the rainy season. The rain, which begins in May and ends in late September, creates marshes and pools and extensive flooding. By mid-October., the dry season sets in and land vehicles are not able to travel until December.^[24] Local rainfall is actually less than the rest of Ethiopia. The Anuak villager is influenced more by the highland rainfall because it affects the rise and fall of the river.

Rainfall records have been kept at Gambela station since 1906 and Pokwo since 1956. The average Anuak rainfall at Gambela is 1288 mm of which 50% falls between June and August and 78% between May and September…. Both the distribution of the rain and the total quantity are unpredictable.^[25]

2.1.4. Fauna and Flora

The vegetation in the Anuak area is chiefly grassland with large areas of scattered scrub forest. Occasionally, the forest becomes denser, especially along the water courses. The most dominant tree is a thorn type tree. Non-thorny wild fig trees can be found around the Pokwo area. The only significant fruit tree is the tho which is a sort of nut tree. “When the nuts are soaked, the children suck them and they are faintly sweet and faintly bitter. Something that would take a child to like.”^[26]

By February the tall Sudan grass has turned from vivid green to a golden brown. The Nilotics set fire to the prairies and for the next few weeks there is dense smoke and flames which light up the night sky with a splendor all its own. After the grass is burned off the animals move in. Large herds of tiang, roan antelope and cob graze on the sprouting grass. Ostriches, giraffe, buffalo, hyenas, and lions are seen from time to time. There is crocodile as well as edible fish in the streams. Birds with colorful plumage are plentiful….^[27]

2.2. The Racial and Physical Setting

Powne states that even though there are “at least seventy languages and two hundred dialects in the country… representing as many different tribes… we could not rightly call the country a museum of cultures as well… [because] most of the people have nothing that compares with the proper Ethiopian culture.”^[28] He asserts that the true Ethiopian culture is found among the Amharic and Tigrinya languages of the plateau, and the ancient Ethiopic language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, all of the same Semitic background. This point of view effectively limits his study and at the same time excludes a great wealth of cultural activity that occurs within the borders of Ethiopia. I prefer the view expressed by Doresse.^[29]

2.2.1. Racial Affinities

The Anuak tribe are of Nilotic origin. One may, with relative confidence, trace their ancestry back to the Luo tribe of Kenya, a Nilotic people of between 500,000 and 800,000 people.^[30]

The Luo people constitute the third largest tribal unit in east Africa and are by far the largest of the Nilotic speaking peoples. Their place of origin is the Nile Valley and through the centuries, by gradual expansion, by war and peaceful penetration, have migrated up the Nile Valley, through Uganda, into Kenya, along the shores of Lake Victoria. They have through their migrations, left behind other Nilotic groups in Uganda and in the Sudan.^[31]

The studies of Seligman in 1932,^[32] Butt in 1907,^[33] Lienhardt in 1954,^[34] Murdock in 1958,^[35] and Wilson in 1960^[36] are in general agreement about the source of the Anuak tribe.

Information of the migration of the Anuak comes from chief informant, Paul Nyinyoni Ojulo, which is confirmed by another expert, Rev. D. McClure. Nyinyoni reported:

After some conflict in Kenya or Uganda, part of the Luo kingdom broke away leaving the Luos behind. They followed the River Nile on their way to the White Nile. They left Achobi and Luo behind. The two tribes, the Shilluk and the Anuaks followed the River Nile as far as Malacal. The leader of the Shilluk, Nickon, remained around Malacal. Gilo, the leader of the Anuaks followed the Nile to the River Baro and they settled here. They settled on the junction of the Nile and the River Baro. Nickon, the brother of Gilo, went up the Darnar River to a place called Feshoda and established the Shilluk tribe there.^[37]

The comments by McClure correspond on all important points.

The Shilluk and the Anuak broke off from the Achobi many, many years ago. There were two brothers. One was named Nickon and the other named Gilo and they eventually separated. One hundred years ago they came into the Sudan. Nickon went up the Darnar River to a place called Feshoda and established the Shilluk tribe there. Gilo went up the Gilo River and established the Anuak tribe and gave the Gilo River his own name.^[38]

Nyinyoni states that, “The Shilluk do not respect the other tribes, but when they meet the Anuak, they are called according to their grandfather, the sons of Gilo. The Anuaks call them the sons of Nickal, their grandfather… And so, the Anuak are respected by the Shilluk.”^[39]  The information provided by Nyinyoni and McClure is further confirmed by an authority in the area: “The Nuer are related ethnologically to the Anuak but not nearly as closely related as the Shilluk, Luo and the Acholi of Kenya and Uganda who are more closely related linguistically to the Anuak. The Luo, Acholi, Boi, Shilluk, and Anuak are one family. The Nuer and Dinka are another family.”^[40] Howell summarizes this discussion.

The Shilluk are a Nilotic tribe who occupy a narrow strip of country mainly along the west bank of the Nile from Tonga to approximately Lat. 11 degrees North. They are clearly of the same basic stock as the Nuer and Dinka but have closer affinities with the peoples classified as Shilluk speaking, i.e., the Anuak, who live along the Baro and Pibor Rivers on the frontier of the Sudan and Ethiopia, the Acholi, Lango, Alur, Jopadola, Jaluo, who live as far south as the north eastern shores of Lake Victoria, and small groups living in the area of the upper waters of the Bahr el Ghazal. Their mythology suggests a common origin and their language is closely allied.^[41]

The Anuak present a striking appearance. Ullendorff says, “Their color is very dark, they are dolichocephalic and prognathous, and their hair is wooly.”^[42] Although Seligman states that he has no firsthand knowledge of the Anuak, he is quite accurate in his description of them.

All these tribes (Shilluk, Dinka, Nuer, Anuak) are tall, long headed, very dark skinned, and wooly haired, their skin showing no traces of the reddish or copper tinge found in the shorter, rounder headed folk living in the south of the Bahr el Ghazal province in the neighborhood of the Nile Congo watershed.^[43]

2.2.2. Population

Because the Anuak are a seminomadic people who periodically move back and forth across the frontier of Ethiopia and the Sudan and because of recent refugee displacement, it is difficult to get an accurate count of the total population. Generally speaking, about two-thirds of the Anuak population live on the Ethiopian side.^[44] Estimates of population range from 35,000 to as high as 95,000. Most sources estimate between 40,000 and 50,000. However, one source is significantly higher in its estimate.

Difficulties of accurate counting arising from poor communications are compounded by population migration… The central statistical office survey of 1968 calculated from a 5% sample, one village in five, one household in four, is certainly too low for some of the areas I visited. Since the sample villages were selected in Addis Ababa without any adequate map, inaccuracy is inevitable. There is no real basis for deciding which of the other estimates is closer to the truth. Until an accurate census is carried out, a round figure of 80,000 may reasonably be adopted. This is based on four sources: C. S. O. Calculations for Ministry of Interior, 1956 basic 18,136 updated at an annual growth rate of 2.7%; Compilation of Woreda governors estimates: 95,865 quoted in education survey, 1969; C. S. O. 5% survey 1968, 44,323, a 19% margin of error admitted; U.N. H.C.R. Gambela 75,000, basis of calculation unclear.^[45]

Compared with its neighbors, the Anuak are not very numerous. The Nuer tribe number some 250,000;^[46] Gallas total about nine million, the largest single ethnic group in Ethiopia.^[47] In fact, all of the Negroid peoples along the western borders of Ethiopia comprise no more than five percent of the total population of Ethiopia.^[48]

2.2.3. Life Expectancy

A low nutritional level, inadequate diet, famine, disease, and violent causes all contribute to a high mortality rate. About 50% die in the first three years and life expectancy is between 35 and 40 years. Reliable figures are not available for Ethiopia as a whole, but best estimates for the annual rate of population growth is slightly more than two percent.^[49] From personal observation, one could conclude that life expectancy among the Anuak is comparable to that of the rest of Ethiopia.

There is a lot of infant mortality because of intestinal diseases at the time the river goes down. I don’t know why there isn’t more. People who have been taught to boil water, at a time like that, they can’t. They can hardly get enough wood to cook their food. The women go out and bring in big stumps of wood to hold them through that period. But they need that just to cook their necessary food. The villages are unpleasant for a long time…for months. But the water would only be running deep like that for a couple of weeks. But they are unpleasant, swampy and muddy for a long time.^[50]

Because of modern drugs and inoculation programs, the size of families is increasing, and there are indications that the population as a whole is growing.^[51]

2.2.4. Language

The Anuak language is classified as Nilotic and is considered a member of the Achobi language area.  The Achobi language area includes the Luo, the Anuak and the Shilluk and constitutes one of the largest language groups in central Africa.^[52]  Westermann^[53]and Seligman^[54] state that the Anuak speak Shilluk or a Shilluk dialect.

The Shilluk language is not confined to one single territory, but is spoken in different parts of the White Nile region, some of which are situated at considerable distances from one another. There are, of course, dialectical differences, which are the natural consequences of the language being separated into locally different branches, so that each branch had its own way of development, and was in some measure influenced by its respective neighbor; but…they are to be regarded as dialects of one language.^[55]

Informants Agwa Alemo and Paul Abulla state that many tribes speak the same language: the Luo living in the Kenya side, and the Anuak, Shilluk, Acholi, Jur and other tribes. “These languages are similar but not exactly the same. One can understand each other.”^[56] Language similarities and the grouping of these into families is very difficult and confusing in this part of the world. Hess presents the problem.

All too little is known about the eastern Sudanic languages spoken along the western borders of Ethiopia. Baria, however, is known to be related to languages spoken along the Nile in the Sudan; indeed, ninth-century Arab chronicles place both the Baria and the Kunama, whose language has not been classified, in the neighborhood of modern Khartoum. The Berta of Ethiopia speak a single dialect, while other Berta in the Sudan speak a number of different dialects or languages. Nilotic languages are represented by the Anuak and the Didinga-Murle groups, both of which straddle the Ethiopian-Sudanese border.^[57]

Compared with Amharic, the highland language of the Amhara, the Anuak language tends to be more monosyllabic. There are more words that have only one syllable. Differences in meaning are made more by vowel changes rather than by consonant changes, as is the case with Amharic. Another significant linguistic factor is found in the verbal changes one finds in definite and indefinite verbs. A set of verbs is used to indicate that the emphasis is on the action. In other cases, the emphasis is upon the object of the action and a completely different set of verbs is used for this.^[58] Westermann comments further about the characteristics of what he calls the Shilluk language with some comparisons.

The Shilluk belongs to a clearly circumscribed group of African languages, which is usually styled, “Nilotic Languages.” It is difficult to give the characteristic marks of the languages belonging to this group, as sufficient materials of all of them are not available. Some chief points are:

1. Mute and fricative sounds are in some cases interchangeable, chiefly p and f are often so.
2. Many, if not all, of the languages have interdental sounds t, d, n. I have found them in Shilluk, Anywak, Nuer and Dinka, and according to some German authors, Masai and Ndorobo also have them.
3. The stem in most cases consists in a consonant, vowel, and consonant, generally ending in a consonant.
4. Stems with a semivowel between the first consonant and the vowel are frequent. The stem vowel is often a diphthong.
5. Probably in most of the languages, intonation plays an important role.^[59]

As Westermann indicates, the Anuak language is tonal, but only to a degree. Tone is not a major factor, but it is a factor linguistically. There are two tones, high and low. These are not specific pitches but are modifications according to the word position in a sentence. The tone is relative. The high and low is in relation to what has gone on before or after, rather than relating to any specific pitch.^[60] The language is a rich and living language that adequately describes the environment of the Anuak. There are many descriptive words for things that are important to the culture. There are names for every kind of grass. The colors of cattle can be differentiated with great accuracy into subtle shades. This allows the Anuak to accurately describe the animal they are named after and which is the object of their boasting and method of tracing their lineage. Some borrowed words are used. Arabic words are borrowed in the Sudan, and the Anuak borrow from the Galla and the Amharic in Ethiopia. If something new is introduced to the culture, words will be borrowed to describe it.  For example, the words for paper, pencil, and pen are from Arabic. Some words have been made up: canoe is jai. Airplane is jaimal or sky-canoe.^[61]  The language responds to the culture and is high in cultural viability and creativity.

2.3. The Economic Setting

2.3.1. Agriculture

The Anuak are an agricultural people and possess a few cattle. There are indications that they kept cattle in the past because of their very extensive vocabulary of cattle color names. But cattle do not accumulate as with the Nuer because the Anuak frequently slaughter them for feasts and other celebrations. In fact, an old Anuak folktale says:

When God created the world, he gave a cow to the Nuer, a cow to the Dinka, a cow to the Shilluk, and a cow to the Anuak.

The Anuak ate his…^[62]

They do keep a few sheep and goats. Some chickens are found and fishing is important. There is a moderate amount of hunting and gathering of wild fruits and seeds.

They are primarily agricultural, with fields commonly fertilized by river floods. Sorghum is the staple crop, but maize is also important, and millet, yams, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers, castor-oil beans, tobacco and sesame are also cultivated.^[63]

The Anuak are an experience-oriented people. As long as the task is there, there is anxiety as long as the task is uncompleted. To not finish a task continues the frustration and causes it to build up. When they have finished a chore, such as hoeing the chief’s fields, they will subside and relax again.^[64] Work patterns are also to some extent dictated by heat but more so by moisture. The rise and fall of the river determines the pattern for planting and harvesting.

Along the Baro River, most Anuak farmers cultivate one field only. They plant two crops a year on this field: one with the rains which they try to harvest before the river floods, and one after the rains as the flood recedes. The technology used is extremely simple for the only tool which most Anuaks have is a straight digging stick with a metal tip about 8 cm wide.^[65]

In some areas, it is necessary to migrate during the rainy season to find better soil to cultivate. During the dry season, they may be forced back to their own settlements.^[66] To avoid famine, many Anuaks periodically search for food. If an area has had a good crop, others will come in to buy up the surplus or the relatives beg it away. It is fortunate that the grain crop develops at different times in the various parts of the area, so if a person runs out, he can go to another area to buy grain or go to the relatives that visited him before. This search for land and grain is not a total migration. There is always someone left to guard the house.^[67] Other Ethiopian tribes suffer famine on occasion. Particularly hard hit are the nomadic tribes who try to eke out a subsistence in marginal or harsh lowland and desert areas. But the Anuak suffer shortages regularly before the harvest is ready. With more thought for the future and better growing methods, there need be no lack in the Anuak area.

The Anuak do not utilize animal power even in the areas where cattle are found. At the present time, no individual Anuak has enough wealth to be able to purchase or maintain modern agricultural equipment.^[68]

To prepare the land for growing, the tall grass that reaches over a man’s head must first be dug out of the field. They take their handheld hoes and dig this out of their field every year. One observer states that, “It’s superhuman what they do with their fields.”^[69]

For the first crop the trash on the field from the previous crop is burnt off in March-April and the maize is planted in May. Apart from weeding, the biggest job during the growing season is guarding the crop against animal pests: pigs, birds, and baboons and, especially in the case of sorghum, protection against birds which pull out the young shoots and later attack the heads. Raised platforms are constructed around the fields and boys or girls stand guard from dawn to dusk. No fertilizers, insecticides, or fungicides are used. Crop rotation is not practiced other than the alternation of maize and sorghum.^[70]

The very limited land area of the Anuak is occasionally threatened by area tribes. The Nuer, being cattle herding people, continuously search for grazing areas. A local authority states that every year, the settlements of Nuer come farther and farther up the river. But they are also limited from incursion into the Anuak territory because of the tse tse fly.^[71]

Traditionally the greater part of Gambela Awaraja was Anuak territory. Around the turn of the century, Nuer tribes from the Sudan are said to have overrun the northern part of the District as far as the foothills of the Ethiopian scarp, northwest of Gambela. But they were quickly driven back by the tse tse fly which attacked their cattle. Now the inhabitants of Gambela, Akobo, and Gok-Jor Woredas are almost entirely Anuak.^[72]

The Anuak live an uneasy existence with their neighbors, but they remain fairly stable and settled nevertheless because of the natural inhabitability of the land.

2.3.2. Settlement Patterns

The Anuak village is a very well-defined physical unit. Personal observation and the accounts of several sources provide a clear description of these settlements. When one travels up and down the river, either by boat or walking a bordering path, one comes to small clusters of Anuak huts long the banks of the river.

These houses had a definite architectural structure which I could thereafter conceptualize as Anuak. They were built of circular frames with upright posts of timber about three inches thick, which stood about five feet high, and walls made of the same river reeds as the fences. They carried conical roofs constructed on frames of six rings of bound reeds. The structures were from ten to twelve feet in diameter with mud floors built up eight to ten inches above ground level to keep folk dry. Some of the walls were plastered with mud and ornamented with designs produced by the fingers. A newly built house is quite attractive.^[73]

Field notes from June 13, 1972 yield a personal impression of a large and well-kept village and the construction of the huts of that village:

After breakfast, Mark Reimer and an Anuak fellow and I got into the motor boat and drove for half an hour downstream to the large village of Illea. This village is situated away from the banks of the river and about a five-minute walk to higher ground. Earlier, this village was on the river and would flood every year, making the rainy season quite miserable for everyone. Then the village burnt to the ground and so the village finally resettled on higher ground out of reach of the river.

We walked through rather high grown grassland. Some corn was in evidence. The major crop of this area is peanuts. I did not notice peanuts growing in the area we walked. We entered the village area around 10:00 a.m. and stopped first at the evangelist’s compound. (Evangelists are found in many of the Anuak villages. They are Anuak men who are educated to a degree and who receive religious training under the supervision of the mission.) Not finding him home (he was in his fields), we left a note…stating the purpose of our initial and subsequent visits and then walked on briefly, coming to a fairly large open area with a four-foot stump in the middle for holding the drums, this being the dancing floor. Directly beyond was the chief’s compound. We sat first under a large tree on skins of antelope and then were invited in after about fifteen minutes. We entered through a new very neat fence of upright grass, bound together tightly and neatly cut on top, onto a clean courtyard, swept clean. The hut was round, grass thatch, new. We stepped up over a decorated mud threshold into the hut. The interior was entered through a lattice type interior wall and then down into the main area where we met the chief. The room was bare except for animal skins making flat piles in two places of the room, over which was rolled mosquito netting. The chief was sitting on one pile of skins having awakened from a nap… After a brief time, he went into another hut and put on a shirt and then led us on a tour of the village.^[74]

The chief is the village headman, chosen from the dominant lineage of the village by the elders, the Jo Burra, usually from among their own number. Murdock comments:

He enjoys extraordinary respect and deference. The symbol of his office is possession of insignia: strings of bead, heirloom spears, and especially village drums. Despite its prestige, the office is exceedingly unstable, depending upon support of villagers and especially on generosity with food: local revolutions and expulsions are the rule. No one can become headman who is not a member of the local ruling lineage and the son of a former headman.^[75]

A part of the chief’s identity in the village is his homestead which may or may not be pretentious, but it will be superior to the homes of other villagers. Lienhardt provides a graphic description.

The homestead of a village headman has a distinctive arrangement of quarters on the same principle as that of the homesteads of nobles, though somewhat less elaborate. Its constituent huts are not usually more numerous than in the homestead of a prosperous villager, but they tend to be rather larger and more solidly constructed. What clearly marks the headman’s homestead from the others is a profusion of decorative posts which support its fence. These posts (dikweri, so called after the horns of the waterbuck) are erected and carved by the villagers. The carving, which appears on the part of the posts which rises above the grass of the fence which they support, consists only of deeply incised rings and notches, sometimes upon single supports and sometimes upon supports which branch like the horns from which they get their name; but in their profusion they are not unimposing. Upon them are placed the horns and skulls of beasts killed for feasts given by the headman to his people. Bits of elephant tail and hair from other large game found or killed on the headman’s land, are also attached to the posts, while the most up-to-date headman of the Anuak, whose village is near Akobo, had in my time decorated his posts with the discarded headlamps of a government vehicle.^[76]

I found Lienhardt’s description to be accurate. My field notes continue:

The village is neatly laid out, quite expansive, not tightly clustered, with the familiar huts, thin wall construction, open clean floor within the compound, with several smaller buildings for storage of grain and/or keeping of chickens. Several places had decorated mud walls, wavy finger type designs rather than descriptive drawings. After the brief tour of the village, we returned to the chief’s house where we sat down to wait for the return of the evangelist.^[77]

Generally, villages number from 50 to 500 inhabitants. The largest village that I visited was Illea, and it contained perhaps 300 individuals. In the past, it was common practice for villages to be walled against frequent fighting. These walls can still be seen in some areas, though not in the villages visited during this study.^[78]

Lienhardt provides a very accurate description of Anuak village settlements.

Each homestead consists of two or three sleeping and living huts grouped around a small central courtyard. Its principal occupants are likely to be a man, with his wife or wives and some of their children, with such other kin as may be temporarily or permanently living with them.

There is often a refinement in construction in the form of a fenced in veranda (agola) running around the hut. This is used for storing pots and gourds, and also as a shelter for visitors in rainy weather. It can be quickly removed to open a field of fire for the occupants, if necessary. In the courtyard, a small hut or shelter is erected for cooking. Huts and courtyard are screened by a grass fence, some five feet high, which is erected against the public paths of the village. The side of the homestead facing the gardens is often unscreened, but only members of the family, or enemies, would approach the home from that direction. The entrance to the enclosure is further screened, so that it is impossible for a passerby to see into the courtyard through its entrance, or in any other way than by conspicuously peering over the fence. This form of construction gives an Anuak family, though living at very close quarters with its neighbors, a measure of personal privacy which…no Dinka or Nuer expects.^[79]

2.4. The Impact of the Setting

Tippett has said that, “…the environment certainly affects the whole culture of a people.”^[80] This will be commented on briefly.

The Anuak is dominated by the river. He builds his settlements on the river. He depends on the river for food and for travel. The river limits his movements, isolates him, and separates him from contact with other villages. The river helps grow his crops, makes him miserable, and brings pestilence and disease in the steamy residue of flooding and in the chill that comes with the damp.

The river is very important. If it doesn’t flood, the fields don’t get their deposit of silt that’s bearing moisture for the crops they plant after the river recedes. If it floods too soon, it catches this crop before it’s ripe and destroys it. It’s a terrible mess when the rivers flood out. I have been in the villages during that time but I sure feel like a martyr. The one village I went to…each little homesite is up on sort of a toadstool of dirt. I just sat up on top of my little site and let people just come to me. They were stumbling around in water up to their knees in between these homesites. This village down here, the water runs swift between the homesites and that’s why they are tending to move back here for a while. The village of Illea used to be on the river bank but they moved back for that reason. They have a nice place now.^[81]

The hot climate dictates the daily life style of the Anuak. The day’s activities are affected by the oppressive heat that pervades.

The area in which the Anuak lives is flat and open to the movement of nomadic tribes that have come and gone through the area. At times the Anuak feels threatened. Surrounded on one side by the mountains of the escarpment, bounded by the river, and pushed toward them by peoples who are looking for grazing land for their cattle, the Anuak lives a nonpermanent existence.

The area is a lowland region. In the mind of the Ethiopian highlander, it is an area unfit for habitation. Therefore, in the eyes of the Ethiopian military and police, it is considered an area of hardship and punishment. Those in the military or the police who have been found to be difficult to handle, who are being punished, those who are out of favor, etc., are sent to the outposts of Gambela and other stations along the river. The inhabitants of the area form their impressions of highland Ethiopians from their frequently unfortunate contacts with the ruling local military and police representatives.

The Anuak area has cultural ties that are not affected by the highland areas of Ethiopia. Powne and others allude to this when they say that the Anuak people are not true Ethiopians but have their ties elsewhere. Though there is a free flow of culture among the lowland peoples, the impact of the highland has not come to these people. They do not worship according to Coptic traditions. They are not aware of national goals. They do not sing like the people of the highland. Their entire lifestyle, culture and patterns for living have developed differently. The Anuak are more closely tied culturally and demographically with the rest of Africa.

3. Summary

The research design has been described and included the following: A feasibility study which helped the investigator conclude that the Anuak tribe met the qualifications of (1) being accessible; (2) having a body of musical expression; (3) being in an area with well-defined borders and of a known and limited size; (4) being little studied; and (5) having been minimally acculturated. The investigative procedure described the function of the several informants, explained the combination open-ended and structured interview technique, and presented the recording procedure and schedule.

The setting for the study was broken into three suspects: geographic, racial and physical, and economic. The geographic setting described the topography, the location of the tribe along the Sudan and Ethiopian border, the hot lowland climate, and the fauna and flora of the region. The racial and physical setting clarified the Nilotic and Luo tribe racial affinities of the Anuak, and discussed the population, life expectancy and language of the Anuak. The economic setting described the agricultural nature of the Anuak economy, their dependence upon the river and the impact of the lowland locale.