Kaluta Amri Abeid

Kaluta Amri Abeid (Kaluta Amri Abedi, Sheikh Amri Abeid Kaluta, Sheikh Kaluta, 1924–1964) was a Tanzanian Muslim cleric (Sheikh), civil servant, politician and poet.

Biography

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. 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.

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.

Like his fellow Tanzanian poet Saadan Kandoro, Kaluta Amri Abedi was an adherent of nationalist politics.

Honours

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

Swahili poetry quotation

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

Publications

His publications include:

• Essay and poems. 148 pages.
• Speech, 21 pages.
• 87 pages.
• 143 pages.

References

Further reading

• 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.
• 245 pages.
• 16 pages.

External links

• . 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.
• . Video duration 24m:02s. #TBC1: African Stories - The history of Kaluta Amri Abedi. Uploader: Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), 2024. Swahili spoken.
• . Video duration 4m:19s. Documentary. Uploader: MTA News 2024.
• . 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.