TAPS 0330: Mande Performance: Mande Dance, Music and Culture.
Semester II of 2013-2014
THE RHYTHM OF CHANGE FESTIVAL 2014
The Urban Body in Crisis: Art and Social Justice
www.mande2014.weebly.com
brownmande2014@gmail.com
Primary Instructor:
Michelle_Bach-Coulibaly@brown.edu
Room #10 Lyman Hall
Office Hours: Wednesday 12-2pm or appointment
(o) 863-3285 (c) 401-588-1688
Cultural Consultants:
Seydou Coulibaly / 401-588-2709
Moussa Traore / moussatraore@hotmail.com…617-970-5587
Teaching Assistants:
Alexx Temena / alexx_temena@brown.edu…707-246-4933
Gabe Spellberg / gabriel_spellberg@brown.edu…415-595-1224
Eliza Reynolds /eliza_reynolds@brown.edu …845-616-6793
Goldman, Emily/ emily_goldman@brown.edu…860-462-8721
Sara David / sara_david@brown.edu…718-710-9259
Raques McGill / raques_mcgill@brown.edu…843-615-8516
Required Meeting Times:
Core Class: T @ 6-8pm and TH @ 4-6pm
Movement Labs:
#1. TU @ 12-12:50pm (Eliza)
#2. TH @ 12-12:50pm (Sara, Gabe)
#3. FR @ noon-1pm (Emily, Alexx)
#4 FR @ 1-2pm (Raques, Gabe)
*Treasure Chest response writings: Thursdays 4pm
This course is mandatory S/NC:
Mande Proverb:
“So don ji don yeredon de nyogon te.”
While it is excellent to know how to ride a horse, wonderful to know how to
swim, nothing is better than to know oneself.
Course Description
As a research to performance course we will examine the vast contributions
made by Mande culture in West Africa and upon the contemporary art stage.
With an equal emphasis on theory and praxis we will examine embodied
Mande performance practices, and the cultural aesthetics that have shaped
those practices. The study of relevant musical genres, songs, art objects,
textiles, ceremonies, proverbs, and oral epic traditions will facilitate your
understanding of how these practices are placed in a contemporized
expression. You will be learning three dances with accompanying songs,
proverbs and choreographic concepts that are ennacted in all life-cycle
ceremonies of the Bambara, Malinke, and Maraka (descendents of
Soninke) groups of Mali, West Africa. Our work is to engage you in the
rigorous and detailed physical decoding of this vibrant tradition that
emphasizes concepts of youthfulness, brightness, luminosity, coolness,
stability, flexibility, strength, balance and communal healing. These
traditions demand that we build the necessary strength, flexibility, and
endurance needed to efficiently work in the style and vitality of West
African Dance, Music and Performance. Collaborative research, readings,
films, attendance at the Rhythm of Change Festival, and participation in
familial presentations will facilitate a heightened sense of communal
learning, Mande pedagogy, and cultural meaning.
REQUIREMENTS
To get a passing grade of S/NC or S-High Distinction, you must complete
and adhere to the following:
1. ATTENDANCE!!!
PARTICIPATION, RESPECT and COMMUNICATION are PRIMARY VALUES;
therefore NO more than two unexcused absences will be allowed. After two, you WILL
AUTOMATICALLY receive a warning from your TA, and asked to make up classes by
coming to two additional sections. Clear communication must come to MBC or TAs via
email if you are to miss class. If you do not make up classes and fall behind, you will fail
the class. These dances and concepts are complex and demand devoted practice. You are
accountable for the material given in class for the days you missed. If you miss a class,
you must make arrangements to make up the class material on your own time, and
documentation is required for illness or special circumstances with a Doctor or Deans
note. Sections are preferred. Two extra sections equal one class.
2. THREE IN-CLASS QUIZZES:
Required readings are on Website.
Nature of Quizzes: GAME SHOW COMPETITION.
Each family completes the assigned readings and comes up with one
question for the class. These must be submitted to TAs the previous day to
okay the questions. You must submit your sources for the question and an
informative answer to share with class. (NOTE CARD) Once the question is
given each family who has the right answer, will JUMP up to earn the right
to answer. Points are given for correct answers. If no one gets it right, the
family who gave the question will win the point. (TAs give class culture
questions)
February 11th
Niane, D. T. 1992 (1960). Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali.
Camara, Seydou: The Sunjata Epic
Conrad, David. Oral Traditions and the Perception of History
March 4th
Bird and Kendall. Mande Hero
Charry, Eric. Mande
Thompson, Robert F. An Aesthetic of the Cool
April 22nd
Banbera. Epic of Bamana Segu
Arnoldi. Wild Animals of the SOGOBA
Colleyn. Chi-wara
3. THREE DANCE TESTS:
Each rhythm and dance is taught as a highly codified and stylized body of
language. These three represent different cultural groups with their own
movement vocabularies and embodied dialects.
After we complete learning the basic material you will be tested on them
during class time. We will videotape these tests to help clarify how to retain
and work effectively in this style. Work to learn the order, stylistic aspects,
transitions, shifts, motif structures, doubling and tripling the beat, the
stance, clear communication and attention to the musical structure of
specific rhythms, focus on signals from the musicians, vitality, energy,
subtleties and nuances.
These tests will require that you meet with your family SACRED TIME to
organize spatial patterns for the dance. This helps you to remember and
begin learning spatial concepts, and group dynamic. You are not in it alone.
It takes a family to prepare for the test.
DATES OF THE TESTS:
a. Sounou: February 25th
The Sounou is considered one of the most beautiful of all dances from the
Mande cultural patrimony. It commemorates the end of the harvest season.
The young men and women who have been working the fields together
congregate for a large feast and celebration out in open village square. It is a
site for competition, praise and romance. The song is a love ballad that calls
forth ones beloved to join in the dance.
b. Somonodon : March 20th
Somonodon is the dance of fishermen and women. The motifs of the dance
exemplify the hard work of casting out nets, trolling the Niger and Bani
Rivers on pirogues, and pulling in the full nets. The song praises the worker,
with an invitation to celebrate.
c. Bamanafoli : April 24th
Bamanfoli explores the vast range of virtuosity and strength of the Bamana
people. Youthful courage, adherence to cultural values, and social cohesion
are maintained in this dance.
4. Thursday in-class response writings, entries and family process
CARDS.
These entries should be the processing vehicle for all experiences and
research being done through lectures, guest talks, readings, films,
interviews, concerts and group work. This is a great tool to help us distill
our experiences from readings, embodied learning and discussions. These
will be read periodically through out the semester in small and larger groups
to keep us focused upon the course material in relationship with the
collaborative process. These allow us to keep abreast of your experiences
and questions.
5. Collaborative research to performance presentations:
These projects will have two manifestations:
a. One 20 minute in- class lecture/ demonstration with a collaborative
paper that outlines and footnotes all research involved in preparing for
this presentation. It should indicate who did what research and what the
process of collaboration was for each group. Working collaboratively is
the goal of this assignment. All members are responsible for the overall
success of the group.
These presentations should include a cross-section of the following: songs,
reenactments of oral histories, enacted scenes written from stories, with
vivid descriptions of legends, children’s stories of heroes, tales of Kings and
kingdoms, moral lessons, recent developments in Malian culture, proverbs,
music examples with descriptions of the instruments used, live music, visual
arts: fabrics, textiles, pottery, body painting, piercing, rituals, ceremonies,
scarifications, mask work, sculpture, paintings, slides, videos, and films, as
well as DANCES, and FOOD for the class to eat while witnessing your
lecture/demonstration.
b. ART PIECES PUBLI CSERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
5-8 minute art pieces that will be performed for the final performance on
May 11th.
A frame or context for these presentations must be found for these
presentations.
For example: An important and outspoken member of the Sangare clan in
Mali is Oumou Sangare. Oumou Sangare has become a famous feminist
spokesperson for the “liberated” Malian woman. Her songs address social
issues, political debates, and a call for substantial changes in Malian society.
There is even a new automobile named after her in Mali. Her art-songs have
transcended local causes into global markets. One year the Sangare family
presented their material as if they were a Mali TV program where the words
to Oumou’s songs, interviews, cooking lessons, comedy channel, and sing
along happened. Another Sangare example: Even though there are few oral
histories about the Sangare clan, who are Wassalunke, there are a series of
recordings about the Women of the Wassalu region that could be of help.
MBC and TAs will meet with each family to help with the research aspects
of these projects. You should seek out someone from Mali with your family
name and interview them, hang out with them to learn their version of their
familial oral history.
DATES FOR PRESENTATIONS:
5. Social Engagement, Service Learning and Research Projects:
Each family will partner with their bantering family to engage in a service
learning
project in service to Mali.
coulibaly & dembele: freshwater well in jinijela
sangaré & camara: sophie shackleton's education fund for girls
sissoko & jara: farm animals for djibi
diabate & traore: papcoul and malian artists
kouyate & keita: malnutrition and women's community garden
tuesday, mar 11:
kouyate/keita presentation
thursday, mar 13:
diabate/traore presentation
tuesday, apr 8:
sangare/camara presentation
thursday, apr 10:
dembele/coulibaly presentation
tuesday, apr 15:
jara/sissoko presentation
Each team is required to do research on their topic, make and sustain contact
with their TA project coordinators, deliberate on the assessed need and
realistic perimeters for the project, identify a method of engagement (ex. the
creation of a radio play that addresses the need, write a song about the issue,
record it, assist in fundraising initiatives through performance and present
this research to the class, with a clear plan for how this project will utilize
performative values and creative expression. THIS IS PART OF YOUR 20
minute PRESENTATION
6. FINAL PERFORMANCE … MAY 11th
4:00 call/ 5:30 PERFORMANCE on SIMMONS QUAD
We will host a final evening performance of the dances, rhythms and songs
taught over the semester. This will be a costumed and rehearsed
performance open to the general public. The performance will include
choreographed and staged versions of the three/four dances taught in class
choreographed by the TAs as well as your own performance art pieces that
have evolved out of your family projects presented in class. You are
required to be in at least one of the three dances plus your own
presentation.
Rehearsals for these dances will be held in Ashamu. What dance you
are doing for the final is dependent upon which section you are signed
up for because many of the rehearsals happen during section times.
Each dance gets seven hours of rehearsal. (Schedule at end of syllabus.)
By the end of the semester you should be able to clearly identify,
understand, apply or perform:
REHEARSAL TIMES FOR FINAL
Friday April 25th:
12-1pm,
1-2pm
Saturday April 26th:
10am-1pm,
1pm-4pm
Sunday April 27th:
11am-1pm,
1:30-3:30pm
Tuesday April 29th:
12-1pm,
6-8pm
Thursday May 1:
12-1pm,
4-6pm,
6-8pm
Saturday May 3rd:
10am-12pm,
1-3pm,
3.30-5.30pm
Sunday May 4th:
10am-12pm,
5-7pm
Tuesday May 6:
12-1pm
6-8pm with DRUMMERS
Thursday May 8: WORK ALL DANCES W/O DRUMMERS, 5:30 start
Saturday May 10: full run dress rehearsal with drummers, 5:30 start
Sunday May 11: 4pm call 5.30 PERFORMANCE
IMPORTANT GOALS and OUTCOMES
1. Three specific Mande dance traditions with their accompanying
musical and oral performance traditions.
These dances and rhythms will be taught as highly codified languages, with
specific phrasing structures, spatial focus, and alternating centers. Each
movement and rhythm can be studied in respect to its slight variations of
intonation, and qualitative choice.
By learning selected songs, folktales and proverbs alongside Mande
physical traditions, we hope to engage each student in an embodied
approach to history, to assist you in understanding the high functionality of
Mande Performance, and encourage civic engagement and social justice
projects.
2. Mande culture aesthetics as they apply to your overall awareness,
kinesthetic intelligence, and respect for Mande pedagogy.
Notions of improvisation, spontaneity, “ephebisim”, and “getting down”
will be taught in light of their relevance to preserving and maintaining
cultural values. Form, Style and Stance are studied as symbols for social
interaction and spiritual growth, as are the conventions of call-and-response,
repetition, improvisation, syncopation, multiple meter, "coolness", and
balance. Dances will be studied as they correlate to concepts such as:
1. The transmission and maintenance of sentiments and traditions,
2. Theory of dance as a social safety valve,
3. The cathartic element or dances of derision,
4. Group exaltation and search for "the sacred",
5. Cultural and moral education,
6. as an agent of healing,
7. Elements of competition: theories of boundary display,
8. Dance as ritual drama and builder of "communitas",
9. as motivator in the work place,
10. The creative "other".
3. Concepts of movement that will be explored to assist you in decoding
the complexities of Mande movement:
Bio mechanical functions or bone actions: flexion, extension, rotation,
circumduction, inversion, eversion, pronation, and supination.
Spatial equations: the planes, transverse, points in space, spatial directions,
kinesphere, spiraling, the dimensions (one. two. three), carving/shaping,
weight shifts: under-curving/chase, over-curving/glissade, near, medium
and far reaching kinesphere.
Movement considerations: Adduction, abduction, sequential,
simultaneous, swing, fall and recovery, arched, spoke-like, peripheral,
gestural, postural, gathering and scattering, central initiation, multi-unit or
single -unit torso, bi-lateral, uni-lateral, folkloric dance, work motifs,
Contemporary Dance terms. REBOUND, DOUBLE and TRIPLE BEATS in
the body, Up-beat dancing/the lift, leaps: preparation, thrust and recovery.
The idea of heating up the step will be taught as we go to the drum.
Notions of marking the beat, maintaining one’s balance, displaying one’s
coolness: “hot on the inside and cool on the outside”, are taught as linkages
to cultural tenets. We will consider how the energetic flow initiates and
structures each step, our innate affinities, with reference to weight centers,
spatial focus, energetic flow, temporal considerations, motif structure, form
and function.
We will ask and explore WHAT DO THESE STEPS MEAN and how are
we giving meaning to them?
SELECTED TOPICS TO BE EXPLORED For Research: (examples)
I. The Meaning of “Mande”
a. Myth, Space, Place and Legend
b. Ethnic groupings and Regions.
While these cultural regions and groups have remained “fluid” through centuries of
empire building, wars, migratory shifts, religious movements and economic influences;
new technology and recent globalization have made an immense impact upon the survival
of traditions and cultural values.
Mali is divided into 8 major political regions as established by the French system of
governance. These groups are fluid but remain in association with certain regions to this
day.
Regions:
#1 Kaye: Khassonke, Soninke, Kagoro
#2 Koulikoro: Bambara
#3 Mopti: Dogon, Peul, Bambara, Bozo, Bobo, Marka, Songhay and Tukulor
#4 Timbuktu: Tuareg, Songhay, Maure
#5 Gao: Songhay, Tuareg, Maure, Peul
#6 Sikasso: Senufo, Bambara, Minianka, Dyula, Bobo, Wasalunke
#7 Segou: Bambara, Peul, Bobo, Bozo, Marka, Minianka, Maure
#8 City of Bamako: originally a small Bozo village, but now the most populous city with
all cultural groups.
c. Topography and environment
d. Mande Diaspora
e. Casted groups in pre and post-colonial society.
(Blacksmiths, woloso, horon, nyamkalan).
Pre-colonial Mande society organized itself into specific groups or castes. In the
established divisions the noble caste is called the horon. These sedentary agriculturalists
formed allegiances with great warriors and military strategists which evolved into a
ruling caste.
The second group, jonw, and woloso are now an obsolete slave caste, but still respond to
their pre-colonial status through the continuity and accumulation aspects of the dance.
Woloso were second generation slaves who were born in the house of the king, and were
at times in positions of great power through the jon kuru or jon futu associations that
represented the indentured servants to their masters. The third important “casted” group
we will be studying are the nyamakala group, or specialized professionals. Blacksmiths,
bards, and leather workers pass their arcane knowledge down endogamously, from one
generation to another. The bards or wordsmiths learn their trade over years and years of
mentorship and training, as well as in the occult practices to heighten the development of
their performance. Traditionally they have been referred to as “griots’, “jesere”, or”
“jeli”” jeliya”, “jeliw”. This group of hereditary bards or wordsmiths trained in the art
of negotiation, praise and flattery for their patrons, historical and anecdotal tales,
genealogies, historical documentation of great deeds and events, as moralizers and
counselors of disputes, and keepers of tradition. In pre-colonial times they wielded great
power to sway political action, as they were the voice of the kings and great noblemen.
Their services were of primary importance in sustaining, transforming, and spreading
Mande culture throughout all of West Africa through their power and authority of the
word. Like the “jeli” our research will be presented in a performative format similar to
Mande epic tradition heightened in energetic value. Contemporary counterparts still
exemplify the basic premises expounded in their written and performed texts. (example:
The Jata Band)
Page Nine
f. Clans and familial bantering relationships.
Example: “Traditionally each clan has bantering relationships with different clans.
These are called ‘senekun’ or “sinankun”, and exist as social contracts between people
that allow individuals to hurl insults back and forth in benign and often public settings.
Retribution takes the form of additional insults, and it is all done with great laughter and
applause.” (Patrick McNaughton). Many of these insults refer back to ancient acts of
either heroic or cowardly nature that have been passed down from generation to
generation. Satire and the hurling of insults between clans are the glue that keeps Malian
people together. Travel on the Durnees or Soutramans (taxis-buses), affords numerous
occasions for social interaction. A form of impromptu theatre evolves between the odd
thirty or so people who are crammed inside one of these buses. The fact that the buses
have peripheral seating with everyone looking at each other creates a circle of
possibilities. At any one moment you might hear someone ask what your family name is.
Upon answering, the insults begin and laughing takes over the entire bus as these insults
gradually become more outrageous. There are many jokes about the Coulibaly clan, as
well as all clans. As a “Coulibaly” you could be told that you are the best farmer of
beans, therefore a “bean eater” who blows a lot of hot air into the atmosphere. The “a
bad slave” jokes are endless and usually end in slamming one’s father: “your father has
sex with monkey faced-women”, or even more outrageous insults. NEVER INSULT THE
MOTHER. She is sacred, next to God.
II. The Nature and Relevance of Mande Oral Epic Traditions: (partial list)
a. The Sunjiata Epic: as it exists as literature, history and performance. (Keita, Kouyate,
Konate)
b. The Ghana Empire and epic of the Wagadu Kingdom. (Camara)
c. Hunters epics. Samory Toure, and the Songs of Seydou Camara. (Camara)
d. The Bamana Kingdom of Segou and Kharta (Coulibaly)
e. Askia Mohamed (Maiga)
f. Somono Bala
III. Life Cycle and Life-Crisis Ceremonies of the Bamana
a. Naming Ceremonies and Baptisms
b. Circumcision
c. Fiancée and Marriages
d. Jina-don healing ceremonies
e. Funerals
f. Agrarian ceremonies
g. Secret societies and Divination
h. Power Associations
IV. Bamana Masquerade. Yaya Coulibaly and Sogoba Tradition
V. Contemporary Festivals in Mali. The Biennale Festival of Art and Culture,
Festival in the Desert, Chi Wara, The Photography Biennale, Dogon Sigui, Sanga
Choreography Competitions.
VI. Women and Children’s Rights and Health Issues.
VII. Mande Dance and Music Traditions.
Commonality and CORE elements of Mande Dance and Music:
1. The percussive concept of performance where tonality, chord progressions and
temporal components are played with attack, energy and precision.
2. Multi-metric playing and dancing where ¾, 4/4, and 6/8 time signatures are “played”
simultaneously. The dancer responds and “plays” the multi metric rhythm with
corresponding architectures of the body.
One model: Articulations in various centers respond to the resonation of the particular
drum sound. (example: joun- joun corresponds to the feet, being the lowest register and
therefore grounding the dancers in keeping time and into the earth. The konkonee and
bass tone of the jembe respond to the pelvis action, while the tones and accompanying
jembe keep the heart center moving, and the slap sounds from the jembe respond to
jumping and high accents in the arms, head and peripheral gestures.
3. A-part playing and dancing
4. Call and Response
5. Dances of derision.
These ideas are explored in Farris Thompson’s article, “An Aesthetic of the Cool”.
VIII. Mande Film and Still Images
VIV. Contemporary Artists and the World Music and Dance Circuit. (Sangare,
Keita, Traore, all)
X. NGO’s and recent Globalization Issues.
Your job as a researcher begins today.
Read, question, and begin to keep abreast of what is happening in Mali through the
BBC/IRIN Africa web site.
Start watching West African or Francophile films about Mali, Senegal, Guinea or Burkina
Faso. (We can provide lists of films available. Several will be shown in class)
Read African Arts Magazine.
Go to local Haffenreffer museum “Believing Africa” exhibit at Manning Hall, and look at
Mande art.
Look up the Friends of Mali web site, or the Mande Society website.
Take West African Dance or Drumming classes other than ours. Maybe even go to an
African Drumming and Dance Festival either in Boston, Vermont or NYC. There are
many to choose from. Start listening to Malian music and take notice of the program
notes on the CD cases.
Calabash Music is a great place to download Malian Music. The Wadabo website is a
great source of information for African dance and music classes and performances in the
New England area.
Look in African cook books for recipes and make a few. The food is great.
Get maps of Mali and West Africa. Familiarize yourself with the topography and
geography.
Other readings:
Bamana Folklore
Conrad, David C. A State of Intrigue: The Epic of Bamana Society. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1990)
Courlander, Harold with Sako, Ousmane. Heart of the Ngoni: Heroes of the African
Kingdom of Segu. (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982) 178 pages
Music Traditions:
Charry, Eric. Mande Music: Tradition and Modern Music of the Maninka and
Mandinka of West Africa. (Chicago:University of Chicago Press)
Novels by Mande Diaspora Authors:
Sembene, Ousmane. God’s Bits of Wood. (Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1960)
This is a novel about the 1948 strike on the Bamako-to-Dakar rail line.
Ba, Amadou Hampate. The Fortunes of Wangrin. ( Indiana University Press). 1973.
Power Associations:
McNaughton, Patrick. The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge, Power, and Art in West
Africa. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988), 241 pages
Political:
French, Howard W. A Continent for the Taking. The Tragedy and Hope of Africa.
(New York: Vintage Books, 2005). 263 pages. Howard French is a former correspondent
for the New York Times, who witnessed firsthand some of West Africa’s most
devastating recent history. This will give you an interesting view of why Mali, like most
of West Africa, is still struggling with Neo-colonialism.
Aesthetics and Philosophy
Alphonse Tierou. African Dance is Life . A spiritual and philosophical look into the
nature of African Dance.
Thompson, Robert Farris. Flash of the Spirit. (New York, Vintage Books, 1983)
This is a great introduction to Mande aesthetics as they respond to music, textiles,
architecture, sculpture and dance.
Thompson, Robert Farris. African Art in Motion. (Los Angeles: University of California
Press, 1974) 275 pages.
This is the granddaddy of West African Art books. The ideas presented, while recently
disputed, are still of immense value in how to look at African art and it’s relevance to
embodied practices.
The Sunjata Epics
These three different versions will give you an overview of this important oral history.
Laye, Camara. Guardian of the Word. Trans. James Kirkup.NadiN (New York: The
Noonday Press, 1954)
Johnson, John William. The Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition.
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986)
Niane, Djibril Tamsir. Sundiata, an Epic of Old Mali. Trans. G.D. Pickett. (Essex:
Longman 1965)
SOMONO BALA"Conrad, David C. - Somono Bala of the Upper Niger. River
People, Charismatic Bards and mischievious Music in a West African Culture ,
"Cahiers African Studies [Online], 171 | 2003, posted February 15, 2007,
accessed January 22, 2014. URL: http://etudesafricaines.revues.org/1532
This book is the first of a new collection ("African Sources for African History")
launched by researchers from the Universities of Liverpool (Dmitri van den Bersselaar),
Groningen (Michel Doortmont) and Leiden (Jan Jansen), where it was first conceived.
2The purpose is the publication of unpublished sources (or whose existing edition is
truncated or defective) including manuscripts, drawings and photographs. The authors are
Africans, but the collectors of these sources do not necessarily, as is the case of the first
two books published. The original texts are transcribed in the vernacular and translated
into English or French. In addition, these sources must relate to a period prior to 1950. So
many reasons to welcome this excellent initiative, at a time when work on the history of
Africa emphasize the contemporary in the narrowest sense, and where the search for
sources is relegated to the background.
3Somono somono Bala is a fisherman named Bala, whose Jeli Laminigbé Bayo, narrates
and sings the gesture, Malinke, accompanying himself on a guitar.
4The source is operated very original: it is an audio cassette purchased on the market
Kankan (Guinea) by David Conrad. The recording was made at the request of merchants,
for commercial purposes. This type of source hitherto neglected merit analysis: here
the Jeli, as noted by Conrad does not know its audience and does not slip in his text with
references to this and can not therefore claim the status of some of his listeners with any
form of communication which is banned. One reference is made by the Jeli conditions of
issuance: indication of where it is performed.
5The story is told with verve. Bala hero fights with a whip for the love of a woman, and
dives to the bottom of the River Niger, where he meets a giant fish who gave him a magic
whip with which he will overcome his rival. Recited passages and alternate songs, Bala
and his dialogue with Jeli, kaba.
6The gesture Bala combines curiously very ancient myths related to "geniuses" of water,
reminiscent of colonial domination and its coercive force. The importance given to the
"geniuses" of water is common to Somono and other "people of the river", located further
downstream, and living like them fishing, Bozo and Sorko. However, in the adventures of
the hero Bala, loss of the mission order is a colonial capital event as a breach of interdict,
which says a lot about how colonization was seen.
7The oral text is reproduced in both English and Malinke (pp. 83-155), with notes. The
transcription, translation and analysis was conducted jointly by Conrad and Sekou
Camara. The latter, a native of Mali Wasulu is a true intermediary between two worlds:
he is the son of a famous specialist songs hunters musician and musician himself, but also
a teacher in secondary education (up 1995). We do not find his name at the head of the
book as co-author, although it has, moreover, signed one of the chapters.
8Following an overview of the history of Somono, whose identity is more related to their
socio-professional activity, fishing, just one ethnicity (one can become Somono, then you
do not become Bozo) has the "life story" of Jeli Lamininigbé Bayo, born into a family of
blacksmiths Upper Guinea, and the study of his music. Behind the epic Bala profile a
history of musical instruments and musical styles that have succeeded in Mali from 1960,
which occupies the following chapters. The authors have indeed been intrigued by the
fact that in this epic the Jeli staff Bala, which occurs each time to encourage the hero to
challenge the blows of fate and the treachery of women, a player dan instrument now
almost abandoned in favor of kamalen ngoni.
9So that oral source reproduced with the utmost care (only lack of musical notation),
remarkably commented and analyzed in its various slopes, which augurs well following
books announced by African Sources for African History.