Page 41 - 2020 SoM Journal Vol 73 No 1 FINAL_Neat

A Continuing Legacy of Song 33

Another familiar meme in Malawian asilikali songs is that of fire, not
merely in the military sense of that term, but more importantly reflecting the place
of fire as a widely recognized symbol among the peoples Central Africa,
41
particularly associated with processes of change. Though in Malawian oral
literature the treatment of fire was frequently “announced in strangely mundane
42
terms,” there was nothing understated about the self-assured askari of the King’s
African Rifles! Thus, it is understandable that into their accustomed pattern of
wartime marching songs, Malawian soldiers voiced - in this call and response
verse - their anxieties about the necessities they needed to grasp during their First
World War struggles:

I wanted to get some fire.
Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!
I wanted to get some fire.
Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!
Hurrah!
Who will accompany me?
War is raging.
I wanted to get some fire!
43
Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!

With such desires realised during their long and ultimately successful East African
Campaign, the asilikali sounded a much more optimistic—as well as
nationalistically self-possessed—tone in their lyrics:

Nyasaland is fire!
Fire!
Nyasaland is fire!
Fire!
Germans nothing!
44
Nothing.

The new lyrics came to reflect a clear appreciation of the changes their victories
had wrought.

41 J. M. Schoffeleers, “The Meaning and Use of the Name Malawi in Oral
Traditions and Precolonial Documents,” in ed. Bridglal Pachai, The Early History
of Malawi, (London: Longman, 1972): 97-100.
42 J. M. Schoffeleers and A. A. Roscoe, Land of Fire: Oral Literature from Malawi
(Limbe: Popular Publications, 1985): 29.
43 Aroni Muhoni, interview I-22 conducted 5 September 1972 by Solomon
Liwewe and Melvin E. Page at Old Soldier’s Home, Moyale Barracks, Mzuzu.
44 Khobviwa Juwa, interview I-32 conducted 18 September 1972 by Yusuf
Juwayeyi and Melvin E. Page at Old Soldiers’ Home, Cobbe Barracks, Zomba.