"Gbanabom Hallowell is a poet
worth waiting for in future!"
--Syl Cheney-Coker, author of The Last Harmattan of Alusine Dunbar and The Blood in the Desert's Eyes
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“Gbanabom Hallowell's poems are evocative incantations at their best, moving with an hypnotic rhythm that, as Robert Hass says, is itself a political act in that all rhythm moves us. The lines keep shifting, in his characteristic way, between the large and the small, making each define the other. He explores subjects…that range from overtly political to the personal, oftentimes counterpointing one against another to create an emotionally powerful statement. A number of the poems deal with his mother, but also mother earth in a mythic way: indeed, Hallowell might well be described as a poet of powerful national myths, often using them to get at political and personal issues. In brief these are sophisticated poems of considerable accomplishment. I think he is a poet we will hear a lot from in the future.”
---Richard Jackson, award winning poet and author of Unauthorized Autobiography: New and Selected Poems
“When he is writing at his best, Gbanabom Hallowell combines the nomenclature of classic surrealism with a vivid and evocative portrait of his native culture; he also writes poignantly about the consequences of political upheaval and exile"
--David Wojahn, award winning poet and author of Strange Good Fortune
"The spirit of search pervades the whole collection with recurring images of the poet looking through windows into vast expanses of landscape and seascape, into the Lion Mountains of his country, into its trees, listening to the sound of its rivers, its birds and its people. [Gbanabom Hallowell] peers into the dark liquid of the calabash to discover clues to the way forward, but the calabash often gets broken and like the other recurring image of the mirror which looks inwards into the poet and outwards into the world, its broken fragments have to be painfully pieced together in an effort to present the whole picture of his vision.
He is always conscious of his responsibility as a poet to his country. He seeks to write “…the centrifugal poem that would outlive/the rogue politicians of my country.” The process is not without pain. Asked to write a poem for his country, his response is forty-two repetitions of the phrase “secretpains”. Fortunately, the poet is able to work his intense feelings with greater articulateness in the rest of the collection! Even in his young life, however, he sees comrades, fellow artists or young soldiers caught up in the war, fall in their prime. He himself often feels the despair of being the “Poet Unwanted”.
"The author tosses the reader back and forth to the diamond fields of Kono, the streets of
Liberia and Tripoli, to the geopolitical adventurism of Libya and its consequences in third world countries. In the jungles of kailahun, the author takes a psychiatric plunge into the psyche of a mentally deranged rebel leader, Corporal Boday Candoh. His greed, hallucination and delusion give the reader an insight into the mind of sick movements, as he himself puts it: "You know it all has to do with my visions. Only they are sometimes not clear to me—it is like there is something inside me doing the things I do---I don't have the power and desire to ignore it.
On the edge of the apocalyptic threat the author takes a leap into the second novella titled: "No Place called Freetown.” The leap has both a literary and an allegorical meaning. Above all it has a space and time dimension. On a literary plain the author deals with the theme of war casualties outside the theatre of war. The reader is reminded of John Pepper Clark’s poem, “The Casualty” written after the secessionist Biafra war in which he said the casualty are not only those who are dead or buried, the casualty are many outside the scenes of ravage and wreck.
Our generation mow has something to offer in the person of the author, Gbanabom Hallowell. On the whole, The Lust of Cain is more than just two novellas, it is a vindication of a generation."
Oumar Farouk Sesay's review of The Lust of Cain in For Di People Newspaper
"If Sierra Leone is microcosmic of the African continent, then Hallowell's poetic engagement is an unambiguous testament to the spectacular spectre of death that interminably haunts the continent under seige and savage sway of murderers and vampires who lust insatiably for blood.
In Drumbeats of War, Gbanabom Hallowell enlists his virile and viscera voice in the strident denunciation of a feckless and decadent national bourgeoisie that has wasted his nation’s patrimony through an avoidable sanguinary harvest of blood. Through the deft deployment of images, dexterous manipulation of tropes, accomplished mobilization of martial metaphors, and the creative husbandry of language with its sign systems, he moulds a poetic universe that is simultaneously down-to-earth, powerful and compelling. The entire collection peaks significantly at two levels: thematic appositeness and stylistic ebullience. This is a voice whose haunting richness and tremulous lyricism in the circumnavigation of a history of violence and violence of history cannot be ignored."
--James Tar Tsaaior, PhD, Lagos State University, Oyo, Nigeria
"Drumbeats of War is a powerful collection of poems. The effortless merger of public and private spaces, feelings, thoughts and lives, and the visceral evocation of “lived” lives and “living” selves is refreshing. [The poet] branches an aesthetic consciousness that is innovative in both the syncretistic blend of traditional, personalized and allusive poetic imagery and a strong individual poetic vision couched in “social eyes”.
Patrick K. Muana, PhD, Department of English, Texas A & M University
"Gbanabom Hallowell's Drumbeats of War is a serious reflection on the nature of human behaviour and historical circumstance, and how both relate to the pathetic human condition. Although Sierra Leone features prominently in this collection, through allusions and other strategies, the poems touch everyone in every corner. The pages of this collection are splashed with potent imagery; alliteration impregnates assonance, giving birth to syllables of dreams and memories. Sexual imagery abounds in the book; and it is a fitting imagery as it embodies a vision of the birth of a new human condition" devoid of sterility and aridity. In other words, the oasis must replace the desert, "public-ease" the "secretpain," so that Sierra Leone, and for that matter, the world, may not be "overrun by carbon dioxide."
I find Gbanabom's choice of symbols particularly striking. Some of the symbols he uses are, The Calabash, The Sea/River, The Drums, The Desert, The Oasis, The Omolankay, and The Human Body. The calabash, in African cultures is a space for the cementing of many social and spiritual bonds. For example, it holds the dowry during traditional weddings; it holds the rice flour and kola during religious rituals. When it breaks, the mores, values, etc. that hold society together are spilled, and what the poet calls "fratricidal relationships" are born. The broken calabash is therefore an apt symbol in a collection that talks about broken bonds and a broken national Mind. The Omolankay is also apt for it conveys the idea of the weight of rogue pot-bellied politicians ferried across pot holes by the cheap labour of poor and exploited citizens. The poet's Omolankay is broken, pointing to the collapse of even the most rudimentary of our "scientific inventions."
Oh no, it is not all sombre, or cerebral poetry. There are hilarious poems. One of such poems is, "In the Labyrinth of Hell." Here, the past leaders and the present, each present an argument as to why he should not be punished by Sia Leona. Quite an interesting read!!
Sheikh Umar Kamara, Ph.D, Department of Languages & LinguisticsVirginia State University
I just saw your website and it is great. Haven't seen you for a long time. Hope you are doing fine. I need to purchase a copy of Drumbeats of War. Please let me know how i can go about it.
Regards,
SGK (Comment this)
I went to consult his sources at the Puerto Rico General Archive (Spanish Governors' Fund. Public Safety Sub-Series Box 375). There I found all documents pertaining to the uprising, including the "Summary Exposition against the black Pablo, property of Francisco Cantero, involved in the in the uprising that took place in Toa Baja the night of 26 to 27 of march of 1843" [sic].
Pablo was the only rebel acquitted. The other eight that were captured where shot. In the trial as well as on the notes pertaining to the trial, Pablo and the other rebels were referred to as of "Nación Longoba", which basically means from the Longoba ethnic group. Of course during that time Spanish as well as other colonial authorities on islands belonging to other European powers could bunch up different ethnic groups under the same "Nación", even if all they had in common was their port of origin in Africa, such as it was it was with Africans referred to as Negros Carabalí, from Calabar.
However it seems that the Longoba involved in the uprising were members if not of the same ethnic group, from closely related ethnic or linguistic groups or families. This is an idea that could be derived from the correspondence island local authorities that concerned the search for an interpreter for the trial of Pablo. They could not find any in the city ( San Juan) or in the immediate area because most of the slaves were Nación Congo, not Longoba, and they could not find any Longoba men or woman in the capital or surrounding areas. They finally found one in a plantation nearby to the one from where the rebels took off (Cantero's plantation).
I'm not a linguist but from reading here and there I figured that ng in some African languages is a unit of sound, so basically I went all over the internet searching for Ngoba Nagoba, Nogoba, etc. I found that there is a chiefdom in Southern Province, Bonthe District called Nongoba-Bullom, led by a chief named Charles Tucker III; that's how I learned about the Sherbro and other linguistic related groups, such as the Kissi.
I also found an article by Venezuelan Anthropologist Alessandra Basso titled "The gangá longobá: the birth of the gods " published in Boletín Antropológico. Año 20, Vol II, Nº52, Mayo-Agosto 2001, ISSN: 1325-2610. Universidad de Los Andes. Mérida.
Basso works at the Centro de Investigaciones y Desarrollo de la Música Cubana (CIDMUC) LaHabana,Cuba, where she concentrated on the sole surviving community that call themselves Longoba in Cuba. In it she points out that that name gangá, together with a second denominator were given to ethnic groups of the West Atlantic and Mande ehtnologinguistic branches. She relates Ganga as a is a hidronimic that comes from the Gbangá Rvier in Sierra Leone or a toponimic that refers to the zone of Gbangbama, where that rivers comes into the sea. The second name, longoba, refers to a specific ethnic group. In Cuba there were more than 20 second denominators that accompanied ganga, such as: gangá golá o gorá; gangá kisi, quisi o quiri; gangá bay, fay o fag; gangá conú; gangá maní; y gangá longobá o nongobá, names that refer to or are related to ethnolinguistic groups and sub-branches in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
In this unpublished work Basso identified observances mostly related to the Sherbro such as reverence to the ancestors through pouring of palm wine and the presence of a single diety (Habaotoke for the sherbro, like Hala for the Kissy), which are not found in other ethnic groups that where brought over as slaves such as the Yoruba, who had a multi-diety pantheon. Thinking about it, just as you suggest, maybe they were not all Sherbro, but certainly shared linguistic or cultural similarities that led them to be identified as Longoba, not mende, Yoruba, etc. Even if they were some Mende, maybe the Sherbro were the majority and thus these were included as Longoba.
While it is true that the Sherbro where middlemen in some cases in the slave trade but it did not exempt them from being sold as salve themselves. Especially in the 1830's and 1840's when to circumvent the treaty where Spain agreed with Britain to suppress the trade, Spanish and local creole planters in Cuba and Puerto Rico financed (with the usual blind eye and open pocket of colonial authorities) independent slave trade expeditions. Most of these, as supported by the British Naval documents of the era, among others, were to Sierra Leona, in the area of Shebro Land and Gallinas (on the border with Liberia). They were probably carred out there because of the presence of notorious Spanish slavers such as Pedro Blanco, who had brokers in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Africa.
Anyway, about the barrage of info but this is a episode in our history I would really like to expand on. Once again if you can be of any assistance with Sherbro language, such as daily words, expressions, numbers, or point me towards source where I might find such info, I'll be more than thankful. I just want to make these men and women as alive as possible in the story.
Saludos y gracias.
Mario
(Comment this)
My name is Mario Belaval, from San Juan, Puerto Rico. I’m a psychologist and free lance writer, and what I guess you could call an armchair historian. I write to you in hopes that maybe you could shed some light or suggest some sources for some research I’m doing which binds Puerto Rico and Sierra Leone.
On the night of Sunday, 26 march 1843, some slaves from the plantations surrounding the town of Toa Baja, on the north coast of Puerto Rico and some 6 miles from the capital fled their plantations. These men and women managed to take over town hall and capture the weapons stored their by the town militia. While by mere chance they were detected and before they could ring the church bell to signal the start of a larger uprising, the rebels managed to give the Creole and Spanish militia as well as army a run for their money. They fought a running battle for more than 48 hours. The rebels were Sherbro.
To say the least for a year I’ve been typed my fingers raw rolling for info on Sherbro culture. I’ve managed to gather info from articles by Carol MacCormac, got a copy of the book THE SHERBRO OF SIERRA LEONE. A Preliminary Report on the Work of the University Museum's Expedition to West Africa, 1937.
by H.U. Hall Philadelphia , 1938; and basically all the aritlces I could get my hands on through JSTOR journal search engine (such as Mende and Sherbro Women in High Office, Carol P. Hoffer Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines.) However sources on Sherbro language are very limited; and about Sherbro daily life. Do you now any sources I could consult or anyone I could talk to.
My goal is to write an article about this uprising but to go beyond thae fact that they were Sherbro (or as the Spanish called them Longoba – which included Sherbro and Kissi, etc.) Local historians concentrate on the studies of these uprising to successfully dispel the centuries notions that slavery in Puerto Rico was more benevolent than in Cuba and other European colonies in the Caribbean. However I think this approach leaves the salves in the anonimity that slavery cast into. They were numbers on markson an invoice, then a Christian ame given by the owners, and then Longoba or Congo, etc.
By at least srtisving to indetify the ehtnci origin of the Africans, we can bring them back to life, and realize that their contribution to our culture, besides the oft repeted music and arts, etc, is also a moral and social one, for they passed on their values and bleifes to their children.
Many a books I’ve consulted talk about the impossibility of determining the specific ethnic or cultural origins of the salves, for sometimes they where lumped tighter, for example, from the port they depaorted from. However I fone is willing to take on the task we can follow clues that lead us to where they came from.
In his work "Rebel Slaves. Conspiracies and Uprisings of Slaves in Puerto Rico (1795-1873) " by Guillermo A. Baralt (Ediciones Huracán, 1985, 2007) he talks about the uprising in Toa Baja of 1843, referring to the rebels as of "Nación Longoba".
I went to consult his sources at the Puerto Rico General Archive (Spanish Governors' Fund. Public Safety Sub-Series Box 375). There I found all documents pertaining to the uprising, including the "Summary Exposition against the black Pablo, property of Francisco Cantero, involved in the in the uprising that took place in Toa Baja the night of 26 to 27 of march of 1843" [sic].
Pablo was the only rebel acquitted. The other eight that were captured where shot. In the trial as well as on the notes pertaining to the trial, Pablo and the other rebels were referred to as of "Nación Longoba", which basically means from the Longoba ethnic group. Of course during that time Spanish as well as other colonial authorities on islands belonging to other European powers could bunch up different ethnic groups under the same "Nación", even if all they had in common was their port of origin in Africa, such as it was it was with Africans referred to as Negros Carabalí, from Calabar.
However it seems that the Longoba involved in the uprising were members if not of the same ethnic group, from closely related ethnic or linguistic groups or families. This is an idea that could be derived from the correspondence island local authorities that concerned the search for an interpreter for the trial of Pablo. They could not find any in the city ( San Juan) or in the immediate area because most of the slaves were Nación Congo, not Longoba, and they could not find any Longoba men or woman in the capital or surrounding areas. They finally found one in a plantation nearby to the one from where the rebels took off (Cantero's plantation).
I'm not a linguist but from reading here and there I figured that ng in some African languages is a unit of sound, so basically I went all over the internet searching for Ngoba Nagoba, Nogoba, etc. I found that there is a chiefdom in Southern Province, Bonthe District called Nongoba-Bullom, led by a chief named Charles Tucker III; that's how I learned about the Sherbro and other linguistic related groups, such as the Kissi.
I also found an article by Venezuelan Anthropologist Alessandra Basso titled "The gangá longobá: the birth of the gods " published in Boletín Antropológico. Año 20, Vol II, Nº52, Mayo-Agosto 2001, ISSN: 1325-2610. Universidad de Los Andes. Mérida.
Basso works at the Centro de Investigaciones y Desarrollo de la Música Cubana (CIDMUC) LaHabana,Cuba, where she concentrated on the sole surviving community that call themselves Longoba in Cuba. In it she points out that that name gangá, together with a second denominator were given to ethnic groups of the West Atlantic and Mande ehtnologinguistic branches. She relates Ganga as a is a hidronimic that comes from the Gbangá Rvier in Sierra Leone or a toponimic that refers to the zone of Gbangbama, where that rivers comes into the sea. The second name, longoba, refers to a specific ethnic group. In Cuba there were more than 20 second denominators that accompanied ganga, such as: gangá golá o gorá; gangá kisi, quisi o quiri; gangá bay, fay o fag; gangá conú; gangá maní; y gangá longobá o nongobá, names that refer to or are related to ethnolinguistic groups and sub-branches in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
In this unpublished work Basso identified observances mostly related to the Sherbro such as reverence to the ancestors through pouring of palm wine and the presence of a single diety (Habaotoke for the sherbro, like Hala for the Kissy), which are not found in other ethnic groups that where brought over as slaves such as the Yoruba, who had a multi-diety pantheon. Thinking about it, just as you suggest, maybe they were not all Sherbro, but certainly shared linguistic or cultural similarities that led them to be identified as Longoba, not mende, Yoruba, etc. Even if they were some Mende, maybe the Sherbro were the majority and thus these were included as Longoba.
While it is true that the Sherbro where middlemen in some cases in the slave trade (as one historian suggested) it did not exempt them from being sold as salve themselves. Especially in the 1830's and 1840's when to circumvent the treaty where Spain agreed with Britain to suppress the trade, Spanish and local creole planters in Cuba and Puerto Rico financed (with the usual blind eye and open pocket of colonial authorities) independent slave trade expeditions. Most of these, as supported by the British Naval documents of the era, among others, were to Sierra Leona, in the area of Shebro Land and Gallinas (on the border with Liberia). They were probably carred out there because of the presence of notorious Spanish slavers such as Pedro Blanco, who had brokers in Puerto Rico, Cuba and Africa.
Anyway, about the barrage of info but this is a episode in our history I would really like to expand on, because it is essential to our puertorricaness. Once again if you can be of any assistance with Sherbro language, such as daily words, expressions, numbers, or point me towards source where I might find such info, I'll be more than thankful. I just want to make these men and women as alive as possible in the story.
Saludos y gracias.
Mario
San Juan, Puerto Rico
(Comment this)