The Gicandi is an ancient poem of riddles of the highest poetry. It is not sung by choirs and soloists, like other traditional Kikuyu songs, but only by a few rare singers, who had to memorise the numerous verses: they performed in markets in front of crowds, challenging competitors to see who knew the most verses and could explain them. Once a riddle was proposed, the other had to solve it and propose another in turn until one of the two failed to answer. The singer’s instrument is also called gicandi: it is a pumpkin rattle, filled with seeds or small stones, decorated with shells and inscribed with symbolic signs.
The tradition of challenging each other with riddles, ndai, reflects the relationship between the individual and the group: it is a moment of socialisation which, thanks to references to everyday life and the environment, expresses the participation of individuals in the community.
This gicandi is one of the rarest examples in the world.
