Lali love poem

Poetry translated into Lali (Ibali Teke, Kiteke, Laali, Eastern Teke, Mosieno, Teo, Ambali, Teke-Ibali, Esingee, Ibali, Ngee, Tio, Bali, Tyo), a Téké group language, spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

An African poem, for the love of a Tio girl. Her Bantu language spoken by 250,000 people is one of the 12 known teke languages.

Among the nearly twenty Tékés dialects we find Lali (right bank of the great Congo River). To name a few others: ilaali, koukouya, engungwel, inzinzyu, etsyee, ifuumu, iyaa, iboô, tsaayi, tee, ityoo, iwuumu, keteye.

The Tekes (Lali, Tégué, Obamba, Koukouya, Tswar, Foumou, Tsaayi, Ndzinzali, Ngoungoulou, Nguengué, Mfinou, Tié, Ndzikou, Houm or Woum, Aboma, Akaniki) would have come from the North-West, and from the 7th century, founded a kingdom which extended over the current Gabon and DRC; a kingdom created long before the great kingdom of their neighbors the Kongos. The latter especially from the 18th century drove them north or absorbed them.

The Batékés are famous for their traditional wooden masks painted in dark colors.

For most of them, they were farmers, men hunted and fished, while women performed most of the agricultural tasks.

Matrilineal and patrilocal, they were grouped in villages that stretch along a track, autonomous politically they were subject to the authority of a council of elders. It consisted of the elders of each lineage.