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African Oral Epics

African Oral Epics. Mande peoples of West Africa. Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, north Cote d’Ivoire, north Liberia, south Mauritania share common cultural traditions: 2,000+ years of contact

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African Oral Epics

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  1. African Oral Epics Mande peoples of West Africa • Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, • north Cote d’Ivoire, north Liberia, • south Mauritania • share common cultural traditions:2,000+ years of contact • speak closely related languagese.g. Mandinka, Bambara, Jula, Khasonke, Wangara, Malinke • believe in common originstraced to • Sundjata, 13th c.hunter-warrior • epic founder Mali Empire

  2. African Oral Epics Mande culture • nyamakalaw:hereditary professional guilds • jeli (griot or bard, loremaster, praise-singer) • numu(blacksmith - great occult power, authority) • garankule(leatherworker) • kule(woodworker) • nyama:occult powers andprimal energies of creation and destruction; initiated members of nyamakalaw skilled artisans;wield and release nyama in practicing their professions.

  3. African Oral Epics Mande culture "Ka nyama bo!" • jelior griotmaster nyama & occult secrets of the spoken word, epic lore, genealogies, cultural wisdom, musical skills, poetic formulas & artful improvisation in oral performance. • history’s chronicler, analyzer, interpreter • artistic entertainer • advisor and conscience of patrons • preserver of social customs and values • mediator betw human parties, spiritual-human worlds

  4. African Oral Epics • performance art • Professional narrator or griot(jeli, jali, gewel, gawlo, mabo, gesere, jesere, etc • creates as recites using open-ended formulas(not just memorized and repeated) • supported by singers, musicians, patrons, audience respondents • adjusts content & performance(different audiences & occasions, local traditions & patrons, values & social conditions) “with the death of each old man, a library is burnt.” --Amadou Hampete Ba

  5. legends of great exploits in “prose” and poetry genealogy recitations songs, chants praise-names, praise-poems proverbs, prayers incantations, oaths, blessings, curses Long poetic narratives spoken & sung to music Heroic content: e.g. heroes attuned to destiny Model clan-social relations, build cultural unity, preserve customs & values Oral performance traditions African Oral Epics genre definition

  6. African Oral Epics genre definition • Narrative mode tells complexstory in episodes based on place of action • theme groups: genealogies,incantations, prayers, curses,ideophones, praise-names, proverbs, oaths • Song mode celebratesimportant plot events • Transitions between episodes (e.g. proverb) w/no break in performance Kora lute-harp

  7. The Epic of Son-Jara* griot Fa-Digi Sisoko, 1968 • Episode One: Prologue in Paradise [Praise Song, ll. 1-6] • Nare Magan Konate!* • Sorcerer-Seizing-Sorcerer! • A man of power is hard to find. • And four mastersingers (Indeed) • O Kala Jula Sangoyi!** • Sorcerer-Seizing-Sorcerer…. (Mmm) • *Sundjata **Legendary bard of Old Mali

  8. The Epic of Son-Jara* griot Fa-Digi Sisoko, 1968 • [Adam, the forefather, & his successors evoked, ll. 7-30] • I sing of Biribiriba*(Indeed) • Of Naran Magan Konate *!…. • Stump-in-the-Dark-of-Night*! • Should you bump against it, • It will bump against you. (Indeed) • [Transitional Proverb between episodes, ll. 944-945] • What sitting will not solve, • Travel will resolve….(True)*Sundjata

  9. The Epic of Son-Jara • From Episode 4: The Manden • [Elder woman gives newborn Son-Jara gets his first praise-name, ll. 1123-1145] • She lifted the edge of the cloth…. • From the very top of Son-Jara’s head,(Indeed) • To the very tip of his toes, all hair!(Indeed) • The old mother went outside.(Indeed) • She laughed out: “Ha! Birth-givers! Hurrah! • “The little mother have borne a lion-thief.”(True) • Thus gave the old mother Son-Jara his name. • ….Son-Jara, Nare Magan Konate.(Indeed) • Simbon, Lion-Born-of-the-Cat.(Indeed)

  10. The Epic of Son-Jara griot Fa-Digi Sisoko, 1968 • King Dankaran Touman’s mother [Sassouma Berete] hexes • Son-Jara and makes him crippled, ll. 1151-1159 • The Berete woman, • She summoned to her a holy-man, • Charging him to pray to God, (Indeed) • So Son-Jara would not walk. (Indeed) • And summoned to her an Omen Master, • For him to read the signs in sand, (Indeed) • So Son-Jara could not walk. (Indeed) • For nine years, Son-Jara crawled upon the ground. • Magan Konate could not rise. (Indeed)

  11. The Epic of Son-Jara* Arr. Griot Foday Musa SusoCD:Jali Kunda(trans. Griot family):Griots of West Africa & Beyond (1997, Ellipsis Arts) Track 1: “Allah l’aake” [God’s Will](recorded Kolda, Senegal)koras (21-stringed harp lute: cowhide stretched over large gourd), drums, & voice Track 2: “Sunjata” (recorded Tabato, Guinea-Bissau) balafon (wooden xylophone w/gourd resonators), drums, & voice

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