Tabloid journalist of The National Inquisitor, who calls himself Manfredi, and talented at creating multiple self narratives, experiences a Tizita competition at his regular ABC pub in Nairobi, bringing back memories of his first interaction with a Tizita during his time as a student of journalism in Boston. Triggered by the inexplicability of the Tizita and through his friendship with Miriam – owner of the ABC estimated to be in her 70s and herself having surprised Manfredi with her Tizita, he sets out to investigate what the mysterious Tizita of Ethiopian origin means. How does one translate a Tizita?
Through this journey, Manfredi gets to not only experience the complex lives of the Tizita musicians; he is also given the chance to delve into the complexities of his own life, having come from a family of well-to-do politically connected parents, whose expectations he may not have lived up to.
In this narrative, we get to uncover the beauty and uncanniness of the Tizita and of the human soul, but equally so, the extremes in the highs and lows of the musicians – without which the Tizita would not be born. The expression of which we experience in the form of vulgarity, sex and drunkenness. This reminds the reader that writers do not write to conform but to question and compel us to consider alternative perspectives while withholding judgment of the same.
In his determination to discover the meaning from all the participants of the competition, Manfredi gets a glimpse into the source of the Tizita, “ If it’s broken, it’s healing. I am talking trying to kill something in you that you know is good, and as you do, you realise you have to kill something you want to keep so badly,” explains the Diva, who also brings to Manfredi an appreciation that you can be many different things and still be the one and only you. “What I saw as a contradiction, she saw as existence, as life itself,” Manfredi says. Only one who has lived a life of wandering can sing a Tizita,” not just a memory but missing the pain that continues to connect you to what you lost, so that the pain and the love are inseparable. “It hurts to remember, but it is worse to heal,” his friend G, tries to explain.
The discoveries lead to a trip back to his parents to ask the difficult questions he had always had in his mind. But ultimately, does he find his answer? And who wins the final Tizita competition?
Unbury Our Dead With Song is both a soulful and earthly narrative, that takes one into the soul as well as into the body and our human needs in both realms. Written in light language that carries heavy tones.
This book was published by Jahazi Press in 2021. The author, Mukoma wa Ngugi, was born in Illinois where his well-renowned father Ngugi wa Thiongo, settled after his time away from Kenya in exile. Mukoma then grew up in Kenya before returning to the United States. He is currently an Associate Professor of English at Cornell University and has published other novels including Nairobi Heat, Black Star Nairobi and Mrs. Shaw.