43 Spices and Wonders

Viungo na Maajabu

Zanzibar |

Tanzania

Swahili

Behind the scenes

The inspiration for this text came from thinking about Zanzibar, an island whose very name immediately evokes spices, fragrances, and tales of travel. The streets of Stone Town, with their carved doors, markets, and influences from Africa, Arabia, India, and Europe, sometimes give the impression of entering a mysterious and cosmopolitan city.

I wanted to write this text like a waking dream, where one wanders through a maze of streets, languages, and scents.

In the writing, I sought a particular rhythm: slower passages, almost suspended, followed by others that move more quickly, like spices lifted by the wind before gently settling again.

I also wanted to bring out a sense of wonder through all the senses: the smell and taste of spices, the light on the sea, the many sounds of the market, the touch of hands, and the noise of the crowd surrounding the narrator.

Echoes of the world

Little known worldwide, Swahili is nonetheless spoken by over one hundred million people in East Africa and often serves as a common language between different communities.

It belongs to the Bantu language family, which uses a distinctive system known as noun classes. Words often change their prefixes depending on whether they refer to a person, an object, a place, or an idea.

In the title of the text, viungo means “spices.” The word comes from the root -ungo, associated with the idea of assembling or mixing, and the prefix vi- marks the plural for objects.

Today, Swahili is written using the Latin alphabet, but it was long written in Arabic script, reflecting the historical trade networks of the Indian Ocean.