Literatura De Cordel (“Stories on a String”)

Literatura de Cordel (“Stories on a String”) In marketplaces throughout northeast Brazil, local poets pub- lish their verses in pamphlet form. The pamphlets, called folhetos, are hung on clotheslines strung across the poets’ stalls. The poets recite their poems to passing shoppers, who enjoy hearing exploits of their heroes and local news events The literatura de cordel tradition incorporates many elements recited in verse. Called literatura de cordel (“stories on a of Brazil’s cultural heritage. Among the most important are string”), these tales told in verse are, according to anthropol- the Portuguese chapbook tradition, the oral Iberian balladry ogist Candace Slater, “the world’s richest and most varied tradition, and the Brazilian improvised verse dialogues or heirs to a centuries-old ballad and chapbook tradition once contests called desafios or pelejas, which evolved from the embracing most of Europe.” For over a century, folhetos have tenzone, a poetic form practiced by the troubadours. Other been the favorite reading material of the general public in influences are biblical stories, exemplum (tales that illustrate northeast Brazil. a moral point), and folktales (known as trancoso in Brazil). Some scholars have suggested that the cordel also may have The folheto is a little book, usually measuring four by six-and- been influenced by the African narrative tradition called akpa- a-half inches and numbering eight, sixteen, thirty-two, or lo, brought by enslaved Africans to northeast Brazil. sixty-four pages. Printed on newsprint, their covers illustrat- ed with woodcut prints, the folhetos are sold with uncut Further Reading pages. The author’s or publisher’s name (or both) usually appears above the title. Often the back cover has a photo- Slater, Candace. Stories on a String: Brazilian Literatura de graph of the poet. Cordel. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. 13 Ko ti kouna moko min do One who can not bear to experience Ko ti kela e yana Will not experience. Kouma ti kouna moko min do One who can not bear to experience the word Kouma ti fola e yana Will have nothing of value said in their presence. — Traditional Jali saying Jali Praise Poems Our epic poetry belongs to a time before colonialism when This is a special place as far as we’r e concerned. So when I “what was said was done, and what was done was said.” wrote the poem, I said, ‘This man is not only the son of There was a unity of words and action. Kamara and Mara, but he comes from the village of — Kewulay Kamara Dankawali at the foothills of the great Loma mountain, con- sidered to be full of spirits.’ Just to say that a person comes from that place means something to us — to come from a Before colonialism, Africa was ruled by kings. Each kingdom place where the Niger River begins — I mean this is a very had a family of poets and singers who provided music and special place, and so this is a very special man. poetry for royal occasions, including coronations, weddings, and funerals. The French colonialists called these singers and “All of a sudden you are part of something much much poets “griots,” possibly deriving the name from grigri, the greater, the land that you come from, the people that you magical ornaments worn by African healers, or from the verb come from. A child to be praised may be just a little boy — crier, to scream or shout. Today these singers and poets are but pointing out who his father is and who his grandfather is once again called by their African designations: jali (poet- in a praise poem elevates that person. It’s not saying that a musicians) and finah (poet-historians). person has made a lot of money or that he is the President of the United States, but that he is a father or a mother or a In ancient Mandeng society, the jalilu and finah enjoyed great grandfather or a grandmother — and that’s import a n t prestige, wealth, and status. Known as “people of the word,” enough. That elevates a person.” a designation passed down in their families, they were official chroniclers, mediators, healers, entertainers, ambassadors, Further Reading administrators, and spokesmen for the mansa, or king. Today the jalilu (a term that encompasses both jali and finah poets) Johnson, John William, Thomas A. Hale and Stephen still play an important role in African society, although the Belcher, eds. Oral Epics from Africa. Bloomington, Ind.: jali, who sings and accompanies his poems with music, often Indiana University Press, 1997. performs as an entertainer and is better known in contempo- rary communities. Finah still perform praise poems and serve Kamara, Kewulay. “Jaliya: The Living Tradition of the Word.” as masters of ceremony for important occasions. In New Routes: Traditional Music & Dance in America, The Newsletter of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. Some praise poems may take days to recite. For example, the Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 3-7, 10-12. well-known epic of Son-Jara, the thirteenth-century hunter- Niane, D.T. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. Translated by G.D. warrior who founded the empire of Mali, is more than 3,000 Pickett. Hong Kong: Longman, 1994. lines long. Not all jali praise songs, of course, are so long. Most begin by associating the protagonist with his or her par- Sisoko, Fa-Digi. The Epic of Son-Jara. Translated, with notes, ents and ancestors and the places he or she comes from. by John William Johnson. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Kewulay Kamara, a finah from Sierra Leone now living in University Press, l992. New York City, said, “Recently I wrote a praise poem for my brother. We are from Dankawali, situated at the foothills of Jali Kunda, book & CD. Roslyn, New York: Ellipsis Arts, 1996. the Loma mountains, the watershed of the great River Niger. (516) 621-2727. 14 Cowboy Poetry rodeo arena goes lights-out black: stark silent prayer for a cowboy crushed by a ton The life of the cowboy has developed into a distinctive of crossbred Brahma culture, with its own music, poetry, language, and crafts. What went wrong — Early in the twentieth century, John Lomax left Harvard too much heart behind a high kick, University and traveled out west to prove that America, like both horns hooking earth, the bull vaulting European countries such as Greece and Germany, had its a half-somersault to its back — own distinctive folk culture. He collected cowboy songs and each witness recounts with the same poems and in 1910 published Cowboy Songs and Other gruesome note: the wife Frontier Ballads, which helped to popularize the form. Soon stunned in a bleacher seat popular singers with little or no experience herding cows, like and pregnant with their fourth. In this dark Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, became “singing cowboys.” behind the chutes, I strain to picture, The real cowboys who herded cattle out west continued their through the melee of win with loss, own traditions, including reciting poetry. In 1985, a group details of a classic ride — body curled of Western folklorists began collecting and recording that fetal to the riggin’, knees up, poetry. They started the Cowboy Poetry Gathering, which has every spur stroke in perfect sync, become one of the most popular events in the American chin tucked snug. In this dark, West, bringing together many thousands of people and I rub the thick neck of my bronc, his pulse hundreds of cowboy poets each year in Elko, Nevada. rampant in this sudden night and lull. I know the instant The poems of cowboys are filled with the images, settings, that bull’s flanks tipped beyond skills, customs, and jargon of cowboy life. Today cowboy return, how the child inside poetry has a wide audience, but the traditional setting for fought with his mother for air sharing it was the bunkhouse or the campfire. and hope, his heart with hers pumping in pandemonium — in shock, Further Reading and Listening how she maundered in the arena to gather her husband’s bullrope and hat, bells Buck Ramsey — Rolling Uphill from Texas. Fiel Productions. clanking to the murmur of crowd (806) 791-3967. (old-time cowboy songs, Texas style) and siren’s mewl. Cannon, Hal and Thomas West, eds. Buckaroo: Visions and The child learned early Voices of the American Cowboy. New York: Simon & through pain the amnion could not protect him from, Schuster, 1993. through capillaries of the placenta, the sheer peril of living with a passion Book with CD. that shatters all at once Cannon, Hal, ed. Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering. Salt Lake from infinitesimal fractures City, Ut.: Gibbs Smith, 1985. in time. It’s impossible, when dust settling to the backs of large animals The Cowboy Poetry Gathering — Elko, Nevada. Rhino makes a racket you can’t think in, Records impossible to conceive that pure fear, World Beat. Available through Western Folklife Center whether measured in degrees of cold (775)738-7508. or heat, can both freeze and incinerate so much Lomax, John A. Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. in mere seconds. When I nod New York: Sturgis and Walton, 1910. and they throw this gate open to the same gravity, the same 8 ticks All This W ay for the Short Ride of the clock, number 244 and I (in memory of Joe Lear) will blow for better or worse from this chute — flesh and destiny up After grand entry cavalcade of flags, for grabs, a bride’s bouquet Star-Spangled Banner, stagecoach figure 8s pitched blind. in a jangle of singletrees, after trick riders sequined in tights, clowns in loud getups, — Paul Zarzyski queens sashed pink or chartreuse Used by permission.

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