Rarara: Anti-social poetry, invective and political contests, By Jibrin Ibrahim

During election periods, professional purveyors of vile language, musicians for the most part, are at the top of their game as they receive huge monetary rewards for insulting the opponents of their patrons. This point was well made in the essay “Rarara’s invective barbs: Innuendoes, body shaming and Kano politics”, by Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu. The artist Dauda Adamu Abdullahi Kahutu, with the stage name of Rarara has been seen for a long time as the master in the genre of the invective song in Hausa. Professor Adamu defines it as a literary device in which one attacks or insults a person or thing through the use of abusive language and tone. The objective is to generate negative emotions against a targeted person. Since 2010, Rarara has been a master of popular Hausa invective oral poetry. For a good price, he uses his skills to abuse, insult and body shame anyone he is paid to insult. Including of course former masters and associates.