The Sunjata Story - Glimpse of a Mande Epic
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- čas přidán 8. 01. 2016
- The Sunjata Story: Glimpse of a Mande Epic
(Total runtime 20:01)
Producer - Dr. Marcia Ostashewski, Canada Research Chair in Communities and Cultures (Cape Breton University)
Artistic Director - Dr. Lucy Duran (School of Oriental and African Studies)
Director of Photography and Editor - Ely Rosenblum (University of Cambridge)
Courtesy Singing Storytellers Public Outreach Project
The Office of Dr. Marcia Ostashewski, Canada Research Chair in Communities and Cultures, www.cbu.ca/
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
The epic genre (fasa) of the Mande griots (jeliw) is probably the most vibrant and celebrated example of a living oral epic tradition on the African continent. The life story of Sunjata Keita, the prince who founded West Africa's greatest empire almost 800 years ago, has been passed down for generations through song, spoken recitation, and musical accompaniment on traditional Mande griot instruments such as the 22-key balafon. Most performances focus on only one or two episodes of Sunjata's life; it is rare for the whole story to be performed on one occasion.
This special performance features two master musicians from Mali: singer Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté accompanied on the balafon by Fodé Lassana Diabaté. Professor Chérif Keita (Carleton College) provides a poetic translation of the story along with the traditional performance. It was commissioned by the Singing Storytellers Symposium and performed in October 2014 at the Boardmore Playhouse, Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. Professor Keita, himself a descendant of Sunjata, collaborated with the two hereditary musicians and also with ethnomusicologist Dr Lucy Duran (SOAS, University of London) for this unique cultural exchange.
Her vocal ability 😍😍
Best attempt at Transcript. Reply with any corrections
[1:58]
He took his bow and arrow, the brave son of Sogolon
and conquered the savannah.
He took his bow and arrow, the master hunter, son of Sogolon,
the buffalo woman who gave birth to the lion king of Mande
[2:53]
This is the Sundjata Fasa the epic of the mande people
It is the story of great adversity that befell the people of old mali
This is how they survived a oppressive power seven centuries ago,
[3:46]
Soumaoro, the sorcerer king, entered the land of Mande.
He unleashed terror on his people.
The day he entered Mande, he was wearing a hat of human skin.
The day he invaded Mande, he was wearing a robe of human skin.
Shoes made with human skin-Oh what a frightful sight.
The people of Mande gathered a [...], their oldest village, to lament their plight.
[5:25]
The epic of Sundjata is a story of rivalry,
of ferocious rivalry between the two wifes of Nare Maghan of old Mali.
Sassouma Bereté, the first queen, was beautiful but mean spirited.
Sogolon, the second, was an ugly hunchback with a kind and generous heart.
Poligamy breeds competition
not only between the wives of one man but also among the children they bring into this world.
[7:10]
Who would be king, who would inherit king Nare Maghan’s throne?
Sassouma’s son, Dankaran Touman? Or Sogolon’s son, Sundjata?
Who would become the great savior the soothsayers predicted?
Is it said that the big tree grows out of a small seed
But patience is hard for human mortals
Sundjata’s destiny was a threat to his half brother and Sassouma cast a spell on him
Seven years after his birth Sundjata still could not walk
He became an object of much ridicule
[8:54]
“Today I will walk,” Djata [Sundjata] said “to fetch sweet baobab leaves for you my dear mother”
As he tore himself from the ground, stood on his feet and took his first step, Sogolon broke into song:
“Come out man and woman of Mande.
Come out witches and sorcerers, your spell is finally broken.
Sundjata is marching forward.”
Sundjata the master hunter, king of the savannah is called [...]
Sundjata told his mother, “gather your belongings.
Let’s leave the land of Mande for a while.
Exile is hard but it brings out your good character.
Let’s go to Mema in the north.”
[11:22]
The hero is not loved, except on troubled days the proverb goes
The Mande were suffering in the hands of Soumaoro, the sorcerer king
They said, “who will save us today.
Let’s go find Sundjata, the son of Sogolon.
He has become a brave warrior, we heard. His time has come.
His half brother, Dankaran Touman, drove him away, yesterday.
But today we need him to free his fatherland.”
[13:10]
Sundjata came back to unite his people against tyranny.
Who joined his noble cause?
Kamadia of Sibi. Prince of the Kamara clan.
[...] who defected from his uncle, the sorcerer king, to fight for justice.
Thus Mande was freed from oppression
Laughter and happiness came back to his people.
Sundjata the lion king, king of kings, was my ancestor.
He was called Kieta which means: “take your heritage,
make it greater before you pass it on to posterity.”
Sundjata became an emperor seven centuries ago
His memory rests with the griot or djeli that you see here with me.
Death will eat your flesh, swallow your bones but it has no power over what we call tooboo,
Your good fame that will live forever in your story and songs
Sundjata was so concerned about his own immortality that when he felt that his days were ending
He took his griot on his back and toured the length of his empire.
He told his people to take good care of the griots
So that they could perpetuate his memory-their memory.
Thank you for your wonderful job.
Thank youuuuuuuuu!
Thank you!
Thank You!!
Thank you
thank you for keeping our tradition alive.I feel goosebumps.very emotional.Europeans deprived us of our humanity depicting us as savages but we are the sons of Kings.Much love.Long live Africa the wise and humble continent of abundance.
I love the richness of African history.
Exactly 😊. Very rich
Beautiful! We studied some of Sunjata's reconstructed (or at least reputed) laws in uni, and I really love this tale and how the music speaks to me! Even though I understand not one word of Mandé ^^
ABAlphaBeta hi
Im fan
8:13 this is the part you used in your video right?
ABAlphaBeta hi!! Big fan
so this is how you get all your songs.
I will never get tired of watching this performance, my ancestors...proudly mandinka
The story as told by the song of the singer aka the griot includes a more complete rendition of the events that led to the epic than the lecture version of the man in blue; his version is a shorter narrative and rather a poetic version of the story; hers is a more complete one; a subtitle of her version would show the difference between her rendition and that of the man in blue who is professor Keita I guess.
I am a “Keita” too and I know very well the story of my ancestors as well.
where is the link?
This is absolutely beautiful.
So emotional . . . All the way from the South. 🇿🇦
wow. love it. very beautiful! 🙏🏽👍🏽
This is absolutely amazing this is the legendary epic of our ancestors.
Blessings be on to my ancestors from Mali. I'm from Liberian and we are the children of the Mendé empire ❤️
💚💛❤️🤝🏽 our hearts are one
Same bro my me and my family are direct decendants of the Mansa’s my family came from Queen Mansa Rico who was married one of the Kings, the last Mansa was a Mansa called Mansa Quoi from then my family name was turned into a surname name Massaquoi which means house of Mansa/House of Kings/Rulership
I was born in Sierra Leon I am a VAI-Mende man my name is Sandy Massaquoi my family rule kingdoms in both Sierra Leon and Liberia
So beautiful! This is how history is told, breathtakingly rich and everlasting. Thank you for sharing this with the world.
A wonderful performance and a gift to classrooms everywhere. Thanks for recording and sharing this.
Thank you so Much for this Great Epic of AFRIKA about One of Her GREATEST SONS: the Great Sounjiata Keita.
This is so beautiful🙏❤❤
Awesome. A wonderful African epic. Go Sunjata! A story and history for all times.
This is absolutely beautiful. I'm so overcome with emotion.
This is so beautiful!
Am a proud mandinka thank you sunjata kaika ❤️❤️
Magnifique 😍😍😍🇨🇲
Her voice is something else. Wao, I'm impressed and happy to hear this.
Respect from Italy!
Amazing
I luv that sound
currently studying this for history in university, first time i watched it i absolutely balled, could not stop crying tears of absolute joy and awe, this is so beautiful as a historical story stretching 700 years.
I can't wait to see a series about sundiata.. he was a mighty leader yet so peaceful ❤
The greatest and most advance empire in Africa #MANDE Mali empire lengends of Sundiata Keita Simbo.
Listening from The Gambia 🇬🇲
This is so beautiful I feel so proud to be from Mande!❤
Great !
Mesmerizing! Especially loved 6:17
Awesome
I am so happy to this
Powerful vocals
African culture and literature is very interesting... thank you for sharing this clip
You must put this in plurial : cultures ant literatures
Interesting? No, beautiful, yes!!!!!!!
Never got into African culture to listening to this is new to me
Gog blessed u
I'm fakoly proud to be mandenka jah bless my blacks
Only your blacks? What about the other blacks 😆
Thank you, this is really useful for my university class on French folktales and mythes; we are looking at the griot tradition in West Africa
Except that this isn't a French folktale. It's a Mande story about actual people.
Powerful
The great history of madin king sunjata keita we love you & we never forget you ⚔️♥❤💥☠️
Absolutely beautiful Africa is all our mother.Alkebulan
Sounjata Keita forte africaine
Professor Cherif Keita, I am taking a African history course at City College in New York City. I would be honored if you can send me your transcript in this video. I shall properly quote and cite you in any of my work regarding the epic of Sunjata.
Phillip Zeligier i am taking it at BC too! A fantastic story and video!
Why your interest in African history?
I don't think I ever heard of this man in history class
If I live long enough I'm going to make a comic book out of this
Unless it's already been done then maybe I won't
Please do that and may you live long! Also, do you know that the late master of the comic book, Will Eisner, did one a few years ago? Check it out; some copies are floating around on Amazon. I just tried to "explain" rather than translate it in my version so that outsiders can get a glimpse not only of the is fascinating story but also understand some social and cultural aspects of the Mande world.
Bruh. This is literally the story of the Lion King combined with Hamlet. Sunjata is Simba, that bad guy wearing the skin is Scar. And let’s say the dude that defected is Timone and/of Pumba
I would love to work with you on this
Coumba@africans-rising.org I have the story written for years. not satisfy with the illustrations i have got
And then a movie in the vein of Black Panther. Yes!
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Wonderful speak
Epic Moment Start At 8:00
Is a transcript of Dr. Keita's translation available? I enjoyed showing this video to my class before they read selections of Sunjata, but some students said that a transcript or subtitles would be helpful in the future.
What is your email contact?
subtitles would be wonderful. I show this to my class and it would help them understand the role of a griot even better.
I am going to show this to my 7th grade world history class this week. Truly wonderful.
Hey Laura did you ever get a transcript for this ?
@@fabbeyonddadancer ^
My 9th-grade students read this book every year. It's fantastic.
What version do you read? I'm interested in it.
D.T. Niane's version@@brokendownheroes
I always thought Aretha Franklin looked like the Mandinka women of Senegal, the Gambia, and Mali seeing distinctly the contours of this woman’s face and other craniofacial features I’ve seen among the Mandinka women confirms this for me.
@Gye Nyame Dragon That’s not true. Your perspective is almost like a eurocentric European. It’s also evident you don’t have much knowledge of African genetics as well as history. I’m assuming you’re speaking of Sub-Saharan black Africa, without North Africa in the picture. Yes, there are a measure of similarities across the board, but there are just as well a variety of differences. These differences enable geneticists to classify particular ethnic groups in categories what’s scientifically referred to as phenotypes. The black Sub-Saharan region has long even been distinguished for being the most genetically diverse region in the world.
During the Atlantic slave trade over 40 percent of Africans were brought through the slave port of Charleston, South Carolina, another nearby popular slave port was Savannah, Georgia. Coastal South Carolina and Georgia planters had a preference for slaves from Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, all locations where the Mandinka lived or had ethnic groups in which they had a long history of intermarriage with. I wouldn’t doubt someone like Aretha Franklin could have a gene pool inundated with Mandinka, or closely related ethnic groups from these locations.
@Gye Nyame Dragon You do sound very eurocentric and super colonized in mind, because even without knowledge of genetics and phenotypes even native Africans can acknowledge the differences. Yes, of course differences may diminish from region from region, but even within regions, at times there are ways to distinguish. Consider the stereotypical Fulani versus an Igbo, not only that you must consider people who live within close proximity of each other have intermarried cyclically. If there weren’t differences geneticists would have not them classified in phenotypical categories. Also your analogy was the worst, Senegal and South Africa, the variations become even larger. Yes, you said more or less, but on the contrary you unusually argued it’s not possible to distinguish any differences. Ha???? That’s arbitrary.
You think you’re afrocentric, by the way any form of ethnocentrism is unwise, but your afrocentrism is shaped by the fact you’re conquered and colonized.
@Gye Nyame Dragon Dude without geneticists even native Africans notice the variations. Even the well-known African American geneticist Rick Kittles who founded the company African Ancestry which boasts the largest database of African dna samples in the world distinctly talks about the varying Sub-Saharan African phenotypes, not solely within Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, but within regions. Also what’s wrong with white people having knowledge of African genetics. You’re indulgently using much of the technology they invented, void of paranoia, & communicating in their language English, probably ignorant of the fact that the medium of language you use greatly shapes your worldview Mr. Afrocentric. I’m sure you’re not scholarly enough to take the time to become fluent in one of the many West or West-Central African languages our ancestors spoke, especially widely spoken lingua franca like Hausa.
Yes, being able to consistently perceive the difference among people who live within close proximity is not always possible, but regionally for those with keen eye will notice(the difference). Of course 9 times out of 10 physical differences will be acknowledged between a Mandinka & Samburu, an Ashanti & a Nuer, a Khoi-San & a Bambara, an Oromo Ethiopian & a Fang, an Ndebele and a Tuareg, even a Zulu & a Fante most often. In saying all this, I cannot believe you said you cannot distinguish differences between Africans. Also you talked about how the resemble each other more or less. In cases of less, how cannot you indicate differences???? Between a Dinka of Sudan and a Bamileke of Cameroon, the less increases.
@Gye Nyame Dragon Dude anthropologists have long studied cranio-facial features, as well as bone morphology distinguishing differences between peoples. Genetic variations are often displayed through the outward expression of phenotypes. Something tells me above anything across the board your sense of observation is simply poor, and you probably have insensitive taste buds too. This may simply be a human trait of yours. When you revealed that you couldn’t denote a major difference between a Nilotic Dinka and a Bamileke, then that revealed to me all I needed to know. I hope you’re not in leadership anywhere, particularly where it has to do with anything African. You know what is quite hilarious, even several European slave traders and plantation owners of the New World could indicate these differences(character/physical) and actually attempted to specialize in it, since West and West-Central Africans were economic investments.
@Gye Nyame Dragon So sorry, not gonna tell you because you cannot even perceive the difference between such a so greatly different people like the Nilotic Dinka of Sudan versus a Bantu Bamileke. This would be like asking someone to read who cannot even differentiate the alphabet at first.
The translation does not match. Am confused
It's not word for word translation but context
Yes, because the translation is for tubabu like us who don’t speak Maninkakan or Bamanakan and are not already familiar with the basic plot of the story.
What instrument is the singer shaking?
Calabash is grown locally in mande. The other is balafon the oldest mandinka instrument. The piono is copy from it.
It's called Sasa. That's how it sounds and I believed that's the name.
History classwork
Anyway Wakanda forever
His translations of what she’s saying is incomplete. I am Mandinka ( dialect: Kuranko ). So I understand everything!
From Koinadugu I guess
Based
What?
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤Diatta❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
can someone summarize this
Translation??
The female jali name?
8:16 familiar....
Yed
salif keita
I dont understand this 😭😭and i have coz it's homework, pls somebody help 🙏🏾🙏🏾
ITS A RATTTTTT
CHRIS KINCAIDE
this story was boring af when i learnt it in class, nice performance though