Kaluta Amri Abeid

Kaluta Amri Abeid was the second Minister of Justice of Tanganyika and Minister of Development and Culture under President Julius Nyerere in 1963-1964, and the first African mayor of Dar es Salaam. He also was a seminal Swahili poet and translator.{{Cite web |last=Maina |first=Stephen |date=October 21, 2015 |title=Mwalimu J.K.Nyerere na Kaluta Amri Abeid |trans-title=Teacher J.K. Nyerere and Kaluta Amri Abeid |url=https://www.mwananchi.co.tz/Kombe-la-Dunia/maina/Mwalimu-J-K-Nyerere-na-Kaluta-Amri-Abeid/2655964-2923668-hpnadf/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127191610/https://www.mwananchi.co.tz/Kombe-la-Dunia/maina/Mwalimu-J-K-Nyerere-na-Kaluta-Amri-Abeid/2655964-2923668-hpnadf/index.html |archive-date=2020-01-27 |access-date=2024-12-24 |website=Mwananchi.co.tz |publisher=Mwananchi Communications Ltd., Nation Media Group |language=sw |quote=Kaluta Amri Abeid alizaliwa Ujiji Kigoma mwaka 1924. Alikuwa ni mtoto wa pili wa kiume katika familia ya watoto kumi. Mwaka 1930 alianza masomo ya madrasa kwa miaka mitatu na baadaye kujiunga na shule ya msingi. Alijiunga na shule ya Sekondari ya Tabora na baadaye alisomea ukarani hapa Dar es Salaam mwaka 1942 – 1943. |trans-quote=Kaluta Amri Abeid was born in Ujiji Kigoma in 1924. He was the second son in a family of ten children. In 1930 he started his studies at a madrasa for three years and later joined primary school. He joined Tabora Secondary School and later studied clerical work here in Dar es Salaam in 1942 – 1943.}}{{Cite journal |last=Arenberg |first=Meg |date=Fall 2019 |title=Tanzanian Ujamaa and the Shifting Politics of Swahili Poetic Form |journal=Research in African Literatures |publisher=Indiana University Press |volume=50 |issue=3, African Literary History and the Cold War |pages=11–12 |doi=10.2979/reseafrilite.50.3.04 |jstor=10.2979/reseafrilite.50.3.04 |quote=Kaluta Amri Abedi, in particular, would make an important contribution to the spread of traditional genres of Swahili poetry with the publication of his Sheria za Kutunga Mashairi na Diwani ya Amri (The Laws of Poetic Composition and Amri’s Poems)}}{{Cite web |title=Hivi viwanja vione tu, ni majina ya watu na mitaa |trans-title=Just look at these squares, they are the names of people and streets |url=https://www.mwanaspoti.co.tz/soka/Hivi-viwanja-vione-tu--ni-majina-ya-watu-na-mitaa/1799484-5316482-1mun41z/index.html |website=mwanaspoti.co.tz |access-date=2020-01-27 |language=sw |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127192415/https://www.mwanaspoti.co.tz/soka/Hivi-viwanja-vione-tu--ni-majina-ya-watu-na-mitaa/1799484-5316482-1mun41z/index.html |archive-date=2020-01-27}}{{Cite book |first=Farouk M. |last=Topan |chapter=Polemics and language in Swahili translations of the Qurʾan: Mubarak Ahmad (d. 2001), Abdullah Saleh al-Farsy (d. 1982) and Ali Muhsin al-Barwani (d. 2006) |title=Approaches to the Qurʾan in sub-Saharan Africa |editor-first=Zulfikar |editor-last=Hirji |location=Oxford, New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press, The Institute of Ismaili Studies |date=2019 |pages=163–187 |oclc=1059315430 |isbn=9780198840770 |series=Qur'anic studies series, 19}}

Abeid was a prominent member of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and led the national delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.Abedi, Cheikh Bakri (2016). Un diamant d'Afrique : vie du Cheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi (1924-1964)

Abeid was on the presidential commission to advise over turning Tanzania into a one-party state. However, he died in 1964 before the commission delivered its final report.{{Cite web |url=https://thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/news/national/how-tanzania-became-a-single-party-state-in-1965-2705076 |website=thecitizen.co.tz |access-date=24 December 2024 |title=How Tanzania became a single-party state in 1965 |date=November 1, 2020 |publisher=The Citizen, Nation Media Group}}

Like his fellow Tanzanian poet Saadan Kandoro, Kaluta Amri Abedi was an adherent of nationalist politics.{{Cite book |chapter=African literature |pages=209–232 |first=Eileen |last=Julien |title=Africa |edition=4th |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, Indiana, USA |date=2014 |editor-first1=Maria |editor-last1=Grosz-Ngaté |editor-first2=John H. |editor-last2=Hanson |editor-first3=Patrick |editor-last3=O’Meara |oclc=3120791 |isbn=9780253302106 |jstor=ctt16gh7ps}}

The Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium in Arusha was named after him.

A poetry fragment by Sheikh Kaluta using an extended utenzi form is:

{{verse translation|lang=sw

|

Uadui ukizi

Humpofusha maizi;

Ukamfanya hasidi

Mzushi na mchongezi;

Ukamfikisha hadi

Ya ujinga na uozi;

Mtu huadui mwezi

Akausema ni nyota.

|

Enmity

Blinds the mind;

It makes it envious

A heretic and a slanderer;

It leads it to

Ignorance and slander;

A person hates the moon

And calls it a star.

|attr1=Abedi, K.A.{{Cite book |last=Abedi |first=K.A. |title=Uongofu wa tafsiri ya Kurani Tukufu. Husuda ya Sheikh Abdullah Saleh, Upinzani Umejibiwa |trans-title=The conversion of the interpretation of the Holy Quran. The envy of Sheikh Abdullah Saleh, the opposition answered |date=1996 |edition=3rd |publisher=Jumuiya ya Waislamu Waahmadiyya |location=Dar es Salaam |oclc=66660399}} 42. Quoted in Cheikh Bakri Abedi (2016), p. 425.

}}

His publications include:{{Cite web |url=https://search.worldcat.org/nl/search?q=au=%22Abedi%2C%20Kaluta%20Amri%22 |website=search.worldcat.org |publisher=OCLC, Inc. |title=Showing 1-9 of 9 Results |access-date=December 25, 2024}}

• {{Cite book |last=Abeid |first=Kaluta Amri |title=Sheria za Kutunga Mashairi na Diwani ya Amri |trans-title=The Rules of Poetic Composition and Amri’s Poems |publisher=East African Literature Bureau |date=1954 |language=swahili |oclc=557822348}} Essay and poems. 148 pages.
• {{Cite book |first1=Julius K. |last1=Nyerere |first2=Kaluta Amri |last2=Abeid |title=Kilio cha Uhuru |trans-title=The Cry of Freedom |language=sw |publisher=National Print |location=Dar es Salaam |date=1970 |oclc=602596153}} Speech, 21 pages.
• {{Cite book |first1=Mathias E. |last1=Mnyampala |author-link1=Mathias E. Mnyampala |first2=Kaluta Amri |last2=Abeid |title=Waadhi wa ushairi |trans-title=Poetry lovers |publisher=East African Literature Bureau |date=1965 |location=Dar es Salaam |language=swahili |oclc=1014978246}} 87 pages.
• {{Cite book |veditors=Abeid, KA etal |title=African Conference on Local Courts and Customary Law Held in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, 8th September 1963-18th September 1963, Under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Justice of Tanganyika, Sheik Amri Abedi |location=Dar es Salaam |publisher=University College and Ford Foundation |date=1964 |oclc=3671394}} 143 pages.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Abedi |first=Cheikh Bakri |title=Un diamant d'Afrique : vie du Cheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi (1924-1964) |language=French |translator-first=Mathieu |translator-last=Roy |date=2016 |publisher=DL2A Buluu Publishing |location=Paris, France |isbn=9791092789263 |oclc=1130120643 |url=https://archive.org/details/9791092789263}} Biography by his son. 442 pages. This book contains French translations of many Swahili poems by Kaluta Amri Abeid, and quotes 16 lines in Swahili on page 425. Full-text on archive.org.
• {{Cite book |last=Abedi |first=Cheikh Bakri Kaluta Amri |title=Almasi ya Afrika : maisha ya Sheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi, 1924-1964 |trans-title=The Diamond of Africa: The Life of Sheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi, 1924-1964|language=sw |publisher=B.K.A. Abedi |location=Dar es Salaam |date=2010}} 245 pages.
• {{Cite book |last=Mulokozi |first=Mugyabuso M. |title=Kaluta Amri Abedi : shujaa aliyesahaulika |trans-title=Kaluta Amri Abedi: the forgotten hero|publisher=Tataki |location=Zanzibar |date=2011 |oclc=1101208939 |language=sw}} 16 pages.
• {{Cite book |url=https://www.asaiafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/A5_BOOKLET.pdf |title=The Intellectual Biography as an Entry Point for Literary and Epistemological Analysis. International Conference 10th to 11th of April 2024. |publisher=Department of Asia, Africa and the Mediterraneum, University of Naples L’Orientale |editor-first1=Cristina |editor-last1=Nicolini |editor-first2=Flavia |editor-last2=Aiello |chapter=Contextualizing the Post-Independence Socio-Cultural History of Kiswahili development through the Autobiography of Kaluta Amri Abeid |date=April 2024 |first=Aldin |last=Mutembei |access-date=6 January 2025}}

• {{YouTube |id=HrDQFMNYYhQ |title=Mtoto wa Sheikhe Kaluta Amri Abedi (Amiri Kaluta Amri Abedi) akieleza siri ya baba yake}}. Video duration 5m:24s. Sheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi's child (Amiri Kaluta Amri Abedi) explains his father's secret. Uploader: Mbiu Press, 2023. Swahili spoken.
• {{YouTube |id=iik7EHjX6cs |title=#TBC1: Miviga Afrika - Historia ya Kaluta Amri Abedi}}. Video duration 24m:02s. #TBC1: African Stories - The history of Kaluta Amri Abedi. Uploader: Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), 2024. Swahili spoken.
• {{YouTube |id=sofE6ynAZcc |title=Sheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi remembered in Tanzania}}. Video duration 4m:19s. Documentary. Uploader: MTA News 2024.
• {{YouTube |id=8wzOGuMbHs8 |title=Kaluta Amri Abedi's poem - Soum Ya Ua}}. Video duration 3 minutes 53 seconds. A sung Swahili poem by Sheikh Kaluta Amri Abedi of Tanzania. Uploader: Sheikh Bakri Abedi Kaluta (the poet's son), 2015.

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Category:1924 births

Category:1964 deaths

Category:Swahili poetry

Category:Tanzanian politician stubs

Category:Tanzanian writers

Category:Translators to Swahili

Category:Date of death missing

Category:Date of birth missing