ANSA

MANSA Meeting acquired a number of firm commitments of The twenty-first annual meeting of the Mande support as well as some tentative offers to be Studies Association will be held in San confirmed later: Francisco at the Westin St. Francis Hotel on 1. The Culture Director Rui Pereira Saturday, November 18th from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. responded that the Lisbon Town-Hall (Camara Municipal de Lisboa) is offering conference .,...International Conference on Mande participants a boat tour on the Tagus River (Rio Studies (Update) Tejo) with dinner on board. As unanimously and enthusiastically decided at 2. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of the 2005 annual MANSA meeting (see MANSA Lisbon has committed to funding the travel, Newsletter 58, p. 5), the 7th International accommodation, and a "per diem" for from two Conference on Mande Studies will be held in to six African colleagues coming from West Lisbon, Portugal, 24-28 June, 2008. Our Africa, conference coordinators in Lisbon are Jose da 3. The Foundation for Science and Silva Horta and Eduardo Costa Dias. Among Technology (FCf - Portuguese Science) has those collaborating with them on arrangements been contacted because "they usually support in Lisbon will be MANSA members Peter Mark this kind of international scientific event with an and Lucy Duran. Peter is well acquainted with average of 2500 euro" (official request for Lisbon, and our Portuguese organizers report sponsorship to be submitted September 2(07). that they are counting on him to help them "in 4. The President of the Board of Lisbon making the MANSA members' stay nice and University-ISCTE (Instituto Superior de stimulating." They also tell us that Lucy is well Ciencias do Trabalho e da Empresa) has acquainted with Mande musicians living in promised us use of the ISCfE facilities including Portugal who might perform for us, and that she two meeting-halls of c. 150 places. They include might help our colleagues with suggestions and a coffee break, and lunch will be partially contacts to possibly bring one or two musicians sponsored to give us a reduced price. from Africa, 5. There are two fine hotels a few minutes Jose da Silva Horta and Eduardo Costa Dias from each other and within walking distance of have already made amazing progress with the conference venue. The hotels are near the conference arrangements, certainly Metro with easy and quick access to the town accomplishing everything possible this far in historical center and nearby commercial areas. advance of June 2008. In recentup-dates The rate is 48 euro per night with breakfast Note submitted for MANSA Newsletter, Jose reports that the rate is for the room, not per person, so that Professor Costa Dias has been very active the price is the same regardless of whether the contacting various agencies, and that he has room is occupied by one or two people.

David C. Conrad, President, State University of New York-Oswego Kassim Kone, Vice-President, State University of New York-Cortland Laura Arntson, Secretary-Treasurer, USAID AdYisory Board Seydou Camara, Institut des Sciences Humaines, Bamako Barbara Hoffman, Cleveland State University P.F. de Moraes Farias, Birmingham University, U.K. Dolores Koenig, American University Allen Howard, Rutgers University Valentine Vydrine, St. Petersburg, Russia ~ International Conference in Lisbon Update seems, was mesmerized by the sound of the four (continued) strings of the ngoni, the Bamana lute. The ngoni 6. The following institutions have been is the special instrument of from Segu, a contacted, but they have not yet responded city of the Bamana people in central on the because our extremely efficient Lisbon organizers Niger. Few people outside Mali are familiar with are working so far in advance, and requests for Bamana music, but in Mali it holds a funding can only be made one year in advance: cherished place as symbol of Bamana Segu, one Camoes Institute (Instituto Cam6es - Lisbon) of the last of Mali's great pre-colonial empires. Luso-American Foundation (FLAD - Lisbon) The Bamana (Bambara) fiercely resisted both 7. During the conference, there will be a few Islam and French colonisation and practiced their local staff members on hand to help with details. own indigenous beliefs and cultural values. Professor Eduardo Costa Dias and Dr. Jose Bassekou and his group, Ngoni ba, a unique da Silva Horta are to be commended for already quartet of ngonis, not only recreate (and rescue) accomplishing everything that can be done this some of the classic old Bamana pieces, like far in advance of the conference. The pace of Bakari Jan, but they also play their own their activities will obviously pick up in compositions in the Bamana style, with a September, 2007, and that is when I will be thoroughly contemporary approach. issuing the official call for papers and panels. For over 15 years Bassekou's remarkable However, for those who plan to participate, it is ngoni playing has contributed to the sound of not too early to be thinking about paper and panel many musicians both Malian and from around the topics. (I've already heard from two or three world, but this is his first solo album and a people who are doing that) unique showcase for the stunning Bamana Lisbon will be a very popular venue, and I tradition and its instrument the ngoni, one of suspect that there could be an unusually large West Africa's treasures yet to be discovered by number of submissions. The usual guidelines will international audiences. be repeated with the the call to papers, but it On every national holiday in Mali, and at all should be stated at the outset that owing to times of political change or crisis, the music of experiences at earlier Mande conferences in both the great blind ngoni player from Segu, Africa and Europe, I am recommending to our Banzoumana Sissoko (d. 1987), is played all day MANSA officers and Advisory Board members on the radio. He was famous for his as well as panel organizers, that for this uncompromising and outspoken criticisms of conference we take particular pains to stress the Mali's post-independent leaders. An enormous importance of the following: (a) Maintaining high painting of Banzoumana hangs on the wall of scholarly standards, i.e., detailed abstracts will be Mali's concert hall, Palais de la Culture, the required and current and past board members will largest concert hall in West Africa. He is be asked to carefully screen all paper proposals. considered a national treasure, testifying to the (b) Making sure that no one is allowed to "crash" importance of Griot culture in Mali until today - the conference, i.e., presenting a paper without and he is Bassekou Kouyate's grandfather. paying membership and registration fees by the Bassekou Kouyate is descended on both his advance deadline (panel organizers are mother's and father's side from a long line of responsible for letting non-members know the griots who used to be attached to the Bamana requirements and verifying participant legitimacy rulers. He grew up in Garana, a village some 60 with Laura Arntson). kilometres west of Segu, where he and his brothers were steeped in the Bamana tradition, Feature Article: SEGU BLUE learning its vast repertoire of songs, dating A Ground-breaking CD of Bamana ngoni mostly from the Bamana imperial era and earlier; Music Produced by Lucy Duran and inheriting the gift of the ngoni. Though he Introduction to the album has lived in Bamako since he was 19, Bassekou "Juru nani fo" - play the four strings! This remains in close touch with his roots. song (track 4 on the album) is a version of a 200 The Niger has given rise to major year old song called "Bakari Jan", in honour of civilizations, with their own vibrant musical an early 19th Century Malian warrior, who, it cultures. One of these, the Bamana Empire

2 (1712-1861) with its capital at Segu, has long The death of Biton Coulibaly was followed captured the imagination of explorers, writers, by a period of anarchy (1757-1766) with and scholars. Mungo Park, the Scots traveller, successive rule by three former war captives until was the first to describe it when he visited in a fourth, Ngolo Diarra (1766-1787) founded a 1797 during the reign of Monson Diarra, son of dynasty that lasted until 1861. His grandson Da Ngolo (see below). In his book Travels ~nthe Monzon Diarra (ruled from 1807-27) was the Interior Districts of Africa (a diary of his journey most celebrated of the Segu rulers, remembered to track the course of the Niger), Park writes to this day in many griot songs. "The view of this extensive city; the numerous The griots played an extremely important role as canoes upon the river; the crowded population, advisor to the Bamana rulers; they inspired and the cultivated state of the surrounding warriors to be brave the night before the battle. country, formed altogether a prospect of Segu's music is haunting, visceral, sometimes civilisation and magnificence, which I little with driving dance rhythms, sometimes slow and expected to find in the bosom of Africa". bluesy, such as the tune Poyi, in honour of the The American anthropologist Harold greatest warriors (also called poyi). In Segu, a Courlander wrote down the epic tales of Segu in noble and fearless warrior could become a his book The Heart of the ngoni. The French captive at any moment - or maybe sold into Antilles author Maryse Conde's novel Segu is a slavery across the Atlantic; and the brooding kind of Gone With the Wind that begins with the melody of Poyi resonated throughout central reign of Monzon Diarra and ends with the fall of Mali, with versions as far north as Timbuktu and the empire in 1861. And historian David Conrad as far south as the wooded savannah of Wasulu. transcribed line by line the epic narration of one Maybe this is why Poyi is so close to the Blues, - famous bard, Tayiru Banbera, recounting the listen to the title track, Segu blue. stories of Bamana's great kings in his A State of The dance rhythms, fine melodies and raw Intrigue: The Epic of Bamana Segu. energy of Bamana music were adapted after Equally, music writers and scholars such as independence by some of Mali's powerhouse Sam Charters (The roots of the Blues: an African dance bands, such as the Super Biton de Segou, search), Paul Oliver (Savannah Syncopators), and by legendary women griot singers such as and Gerhard Kubik (Africa and the Blues), have Fanta Damba (who famously influenced a very all traced the roots of the blues to this part of the young Youssou NDour to make the trip to West African savannah. Bamako in the early 1980s and record one of her Segu Blue provides a window on the bygone tunes). But in the last couple of decades, the world of the Segu Bamana empire with its Bamana griot songs have been eclipsed by other gripping stories of intrigue, betrayal, sorcery, Malian musical traditions, and are fast fratricide, seduction and bloody battles. Founded disappearing from memory. by Biton Mamary Coulibaly ( 1712-55), the Nevertheless, the ngoni remains a popular Bamana empire was built on military conquest, instrument, an essential part of the sound of many with thousands of war captives that contributed to well-known artists from Rokia Traore to Salif a vast and productive slave population. As a Keita, Ali Farka Toure, Habib Koite, and military state, Segu's rulers were titledfaama. Toumani Diabate. Other instruments like , Their power was based on complementary , and guitar, have all borrowed from the spiritual and secular components: support from sound and playing technique of the ngoni. This the spirit world through control of the four great ancient lute of African origin is also ancestor of boliw of Segu (sacrificial objects containing vast the , and directly related to the gimbri, the quantities of nyama, the spiritual force required bass lute of the Gnawa religious brotherhoods in to rule), and secular authority to direct the Morocco. There are several different kinds of standing army and control internal political ngoni, from the large, four-string bass instrument factions through support of the ton, a voluntary of the Segu Bamana griots, to smaller higher- association comprised of men from all levels of pitched ngonis with up to seven strings that can society (noble to servile) who eventually became sound similar to a kora. The ngoni tradition of known as tonjonw ("slaves of the ton''') -although Segu is pentatonic and its music and playing they were not always allegiant to the faama. technique has strong links with blues guitar and

3 the Appalachian banjo. The ngoni player uses for me. The Europeans like Bassekou, America various techniques like bending, pulling, likes Bassekou, people of Africa like Bassekou. hammering, sliding, and vibrato, plus finger picking and frailing. As Bluesman Taj Mahal 3. JONKOWNI puts it: "Bassekou is a genius, living proof that Solo vocal: Andra Kouyate the blues comes from the region of Segu". Chorus: Ami Sacko & SCMIlIIIIIlIIO, .bdra There are very few albums released Kouyate & AIou CodbaIy internationally that are devoted to the Bamana Jonkoloni is inspired by a traditional song with style, and Segu Blue is the first to focus on the the same title recorded by Mali's famous ngoni ngoni as the key instrument. Bassekou not only player Banzoomana issoko (Bassekou' s continues the tradition of his grandfather, but he grandfather), in 1970 and released on the has played and recorded with Taj Mahal, Anthology of Malian Music. It is about the seizing Toumani Diabate, Ry Cooder, Bela Fleck, and of a village called Jonkoloni Dee Dee Bridgewater. Bono sang with him on a in the epic tale of the Segu Bamana empire as recent trip to Mali. Bassekou is the star ngoni told by the griots. Jonkoloni was a well-guarded player on Ali Farka's posthumous album Savane. fortress town some 200 kms northwest of Segu Anyone who sees Bassekou perform is "blown with a fierce army who resisted the authority of away" by his prodigious technique, his the Bamana ruler (jaama) Monzon Diarra and his musicality, and the way he effortlessly tonjon army. After Monzon's death, Monzon's reconnects Bamana griot music with global eldest son Da became ruler (1808-27), and vowed styles. to destroy Jonkoloni. He called on the supernatural powers of his sorcerers, and sent his NOTES TO THE SONGS soldiers (tonjon) to throw a bewitched black cat into the town well, in order to put the population 1.T ABALI TE (Everybody ends up in Segu) under a spell But the soldiers failed to do this, "All roads lead to Segu" was the refrain instead discarding the cat in the bush. The of a traditional song celebrating Segu as challenge was finally taken up by a Fula warrior the centre of the Bamana empire; but called Silamakan who threw the black cat in the Banzoumana Sissoko, Bassekou's well, decimated the population, killed the grandfather, gave it another twist when he ministers who ruled the village, captured the sang it as a criticism of President Moussa daughter of the most powerful of them (Joba) Traore's corrupt military regime. In this whom he took as his wife, and returned to Segu version, Segu becomes a metaphor for victorious. death. Bassekou explains: Bassekou learnt this song from his "Just as sooner or later everyone would end up grandfather, Banzoumana, and explains that it going to Segu, sooner or later everyone dies and was a warning to the people of Jonkoloni. The ends up in the other world. No one can avoid song says: death, even if you're rich and powerful, bear in Wake up - are you sleeping? Bad omens are mind that one day your time will end. Think around. Black cats are here. All strange things twice before you abuse your power in this are in Jonkoloni. The head of the village was world." caUed Ngilindi Ngolondo, his ministers were Jonkoloni Joba "the great warrior of jonlwloni"; 2.BASSEKOU Kabakunbilen, "Red-rock head" Samatula Lead vocals: Ami Sacko samakelen (the one elephant who is more A song in praise of Bassekou - powerful than all the rest); and Cekalatu "God has been good to Bassekou, Ami Sacko's Kamisibani, (ce kala is a kind of fibre used for Bassekou, Bassekou son of Mustafa, son of strong rope). Yakare.Your parent's prayers were answered, The griots called out to them: "Are you sleeping? your family's prayers were answered. Griot Even if your coffers are full of gold, you can't music goes well for Bassekou, takamba goes well avoid the war that's coming. The village well is for Bassekou, Fula music goes well for Basselwu. deep, it will betray you. Unite your people and Basselwu,father of Deli Oumou, play the ngoni fight. "

4

.",~. ""':.\" .., Bassekou adds a new verse as tribute to his The tonjon (slave army) of Segu, what has Bakari grandfather, who died in 1987: Jan done to you? Family ofSegu, what has "Banzoumana will never die, Banzoumana is a Bakari Jan done to you? Bakari Jan the ruler, the great man warlord of the Bamana! Hatred is a bad thing ... " You lived your life well, you left nothing shameful behind you 5.MBOWDI Banzoumana is a great man. Lead vocals and soku (one string violin): Zoumana Tereta 4. JURUNANI Mbowdi is a term for brave warrior (like Poyi; see Lead vocals: Kasse Mady Diabate Segu blue). During the time of the Bamana This is based on a famous epic song from the empire, there was a custom that if war was Bamana griot tradition, originally in praise of declared between two towns, the two warring Segu's most renowned warrior, called Bakari Jan armies would party together before they went to Kone. Another song learnt by Bassekou from his battle. The attacking army would set up camp grandfather Banzoumana Sissoko. outside the town walls the day before fighting Bakari Jan ("tall" Bakari) Kone was born was to start Then the town would open its gates, during the reign of the most famous king of Segu, inviting the army to join their own warriors in a Da Monzon Diarra (ruled from 1808-27). A massive pre-battle feast, ("maa nyanaje" in diviner predicted that Bakari Jan, the son of a Bamana) - with plenty of millet beer, roasted noble, would be more powerful than the meat, and music. One of the tunes played at these emperor's own sons, where upon Da Monzon big feasts was Mbowdi, one of the classic tunes became worried and jealous, and tried to plot in the region, a kind of proto-blues - it diffused against him, but to no avail. from Segu up into the desert area and down into There are many stories about Bakari Jan's Wasulu. strength and bravery, but the most famous is his Bassekou explains: "only those who've struggle with Bilisi, a person with superhuman survived battles or been killed in battle are called strength and occult power, who was terrorising Mbowdi. You can only mention the names of people in the Bamana lands. He had a strange proven warriors in this song. At the big pre-battle physical appearance - he had white arms and feast, it was played to incite warriors to be legs, (he may have been an albino), and an fearless. You don't know if you'll come back enormous, triangular-shaped head. Many alive, or maimed, or whether you'll be captured believed he was a water spirit or genie (jinn) from and become a slave; if you're killed, your brother the Niger. His name Bilisi, means devil, and no or even your slave will marry your wife." child or girl was safe if Bilisi was around, because he would capture them and sell them into 6. THE RIVER TUNE slavery, just for a drink. This is one of the most important tunes in the No one dared challenge Bilisi until finally repertoire of the ngoni from Gambia to Mali, and Bakari Jan challenged him to a fight outside the it comes specifically from Segu. It's the original walls of Segu. They fought bravely, both using version of Bajuru, one of the best known pieces occult power. In the end, however, Bakari Jan in the ngoni repertoire, and it used to be called Ba proved stronger, and he killed Bilisi and brought la bolo - meaning, "the branch of the river". his head to the king, Da Monzon. Bassekou explains how his ancestors, the The song says: Kouyates of Segu, came to play it: "A jinn (a Juru nanifo, "Play your four strings! The spirit) was playing the ngoni on the banks of a Bamana griots of Segu are playing the four branch of the river Niger. The griot, Jelimusa strings of the ngoni for Bakari Jan. Fula griots, Wulen Kuyate (one of my ancestors), came play the one string ngoni. Bakari Jan is the across the jinn playing a beautiful tune - this one. patron of the young griots. His time is over; life Jelimusa said to the jinn, ''I'm a griot. I have the lasts but a brief moment. Hatred between right to ask you for anything. What will you give brothers is a bad thing. If you hate your own me?". The jinn said, 'no problem - you can have flesh and blood brother, you are only hurting this ngoni and this piece of music'. So Jelimusa yourself. took the ngoni from him with great joy, and sat

5 down to play this piece by the side of the river, Bassekou explains: "This song tells the story of and he called it Ba la bolo, because he was by the just how far Bamana warriors would go, in order riverside. This was the first tune ever played on to prove their courage. There was a great warrior the ngoni. My father, Mustafa Kouyate, told me from Segu called Bala. He won the Wednesday this story." battle in Nyamina, and the Monday battle in Segu, which is market day there. So he took 7. ANDRA'S SONG many spoils from the market, which he gave to Lead vocals: Ma Soumano (Andra's wife) his griots, and that's why they sing for him. Bala Its better to look after your own affairs than to respects those who keep their word. meddle in other people's problems. "Bala's life came to an end like this. All the Let us do things properly in this world, do things warriors of Segu met in a village called Fooni. at the right time. before we seriously regret it. They began arguing, and insulting each other; A girl's youth will end, a boy's youth will end. finally they challenged each other to a fight, one You don't take your name into the afterlife - by one." (Fooni is one km from Do Dugubani, make your name for yourself now while you can, where Sunjata Keita's grandmother's tomb is, before you regret it. So let's live our life. and just near Garana, where Bassekou is from). Do things well. do things well. before "They called this fight Fooni zira bilen, (Fooni of we seriously regret it! Play the ngoni the red baobabs) because the fight was so terrible Bassekou, play the ngoni Andra, before even the baobabs shed bright red blood. This is we regret. where Bala died. Kuma koro soke was the name of the warrior who killed Bala. Kuma Koro is the 8. NGONIFOLA (The great ngoni player) name of a village, soke means' he fights with the Chorus: Ami Sacko & Ma Soomano power of a horse'. This song criticises the selfish nature of people Bala was strong and he killed many warriors, today. In the past, Malians cared for their then he went home to his own village, where the neighbours, while modem people live only for women were waiting for their husbands to come themselves, they mistreat each other. This affects back. They asked him "where are the others?" He all kinds of relationships - between husband and replied, "I killed them all". "How could you kill wife, between neighbours, or different cultures. all those warriors?" They didn't believe him, and We must be tolerant, accepting, compromise for they sang a song, saying "There are no witnesses, the sake of harmony. "The great ngoni player. so maybe Bala ran away from the fight". the lion of ngonis, has arrived to entertain us. so Bala had to prove his honour. He wanted to die we can enjoy ourselves. and not quarrel." with a good name. He went back to the place where they had fought, and took off all his 9. BANANI (The silk cotton tree) amulets that protected him in battle, and put them With guest Lobi Traore on vocals and electric on his horse, which he sent away. Then he tied guitar himself up with the reins. and other warriors A version of a well-known Bamana song often came and killed him." played by Lobi Traore who though not a griot comes from Segu. 11. SEGU TONJON I'm greeting my loved one, my friends. Lead vocal: Ami Sacko I'm greeting the big men of Mali, the women of Da Monzon Diarra (ruled 1808-27) was one of Mali, the young people of Mali, the children of the most powerful and famous of the Bamana Mali. my cherie, I'm thinking of those who farm. rulers (faama), remembered and admired by the I'm thinking of the blacksmiths. of the June griots for his generosity and his fearless slave (wordsmiths). army (tonjon), who had their own strange, So people of Segu, please forgive me. if I make grotesque dances, with jerky movements. There any mistakes. are several well-known versions of this song, otherwise known as Da Monzon. lO.BALA The song says: Lead vocals: Zoumana Tereta "If a poor person talks about Da Monzon. he'll Bolon: Habib Sangare sell that person for the price of one kola nut. Da

6 Monzon's children are unlike any others. An the great desert blues singer, the lion of the orphan always overhears the chatting of parents; desert. a woman with no husband always overhears the "The march of Death is relentless, like the steady chatting of a woman with her husband, a man walk of a trader" (Mande traders, called Mande with no wife always hears the conversation of jula, used to walk across all of West Africa, man and his wife. trading goods and spreading Mande culture and The tonjon, Da Monzon's soldiers, do no good. the word of Islam). "Toure, the warrior, the They wait until the men of a village are off Muslim, has gone cold. Asians weep over Toure's fighting, then go in and sleep with their wives. death, Africans cry for Toure, Europeans miss The tonjon eat salted dog's meat (a meat Toure. Americans also loved Toure. Oh death!!! forbidden to Muslims). If you put fresh peanuts in The march of death is relentless, like a trader's the pot, and you ask a leper to pull them out with steady walk. his fingerless hand, you're mocking him". 14. SEGU BLUE (poyi) 12.SINSANI Bassekou 's adaptation of Poyi, the original Lead vocals: Kasse Mady Diabate "Bamana blues", found in different versions Sinsansi (also known as Sansanding) is a along the Niger. In the days of the Bamana beautiful and historic town on the north bank of empire, with its glorification of war, the term the river Niger, about 60 kms from Segu, once Poyi denoted praise of warfare, violence, very wealthy as a trading post between the Sahara fearlessness. It used to be played to warriors and the Niger valley. This is where the Scots before they went into battle. Bassekou explains traveller Mungo Park first came across the Niger that it sounds like the blues because, as they in 1797, and "discovered" that the river flows listened, they would wonder if they would ever from west to east, - not the other way around as come back alive to their homes and family - or Europeans believed. would they be captured and sold into slavery, or Malamini Sisse was the ruler of Sinsani in lie dead in the battlefield, food for vultures? the last days of the Bamana empire. The griots remember him as a wealthy man who was All songs composed and/or trad/arr by Bassekou extremely generous and kind to them, so they Kouyate except Andra' s song by Andra Kouyate, gave him his own song which used to be a Produced by Lucy Duran, Recorded in the favourite among the griots, though it is not often Bogolan Studios, Bamako, Mali, June-July 2006, played any more. The Super Biton of Segu, one Mixed in Livingston studios, London, by Jerry of Mali's most important dance bands in the Boys and Lucy Duran, Mastered by Tom Leader. 1970s, recorded a version of this in 1970, and so Release date February 23,2007. did the woman singer Fanta Damba. For more information go to: outlhere rec at Kasse Mady sings: WOMEX / Bassekou Kouyate / Urban Africa "This is Malamini's praise song, Malamini the Club Sampler. holy man from Mande. There are four holy lineages from Mande - the Toures, the Sises, the Beretes, the Jannes. Malamini from Sisani treats Update on MANSA Members' Activities me well, he's good to me. If you boast about yourself, and Malamini hears about it, he'll slash LOUISE BEDICHEK (Honorary Member) has your mouth. If he hears bad words, he'll rip your finished her second three-year term in Conakry as mouth open. People should not disrespect others Director of the Centre Americain and will be - to each his own destiny, to each his own future. Country Affairs Officer for West Africa in the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of 13. ALl F ARKA'S LAMENT State in Washington D.C. until her retirement in Lead vocals: Ami Sacko September 2007. Ali Farka Toure died on March 7,2006, in Mali. GEORGE BROOKS retired on May 31 from Bassekou Kouyate was very close to him, and Indiana University after 44 years. As Professor played on the last album he recorded, the Emeritus he is currently engaged on completing acclaimed Savane. This is Bassekou's lament for the third volume of his "trilogy" on western

7 African history, the monograph to cover the immigrants in Lisbon in 2006-07. period c.1790-c.1840. MARIA GROSZ-NGA TE is now President of MAMADOU CISSE of the the Direction WARA and she plans to explore how that Nationale du Patrimone Culturel in Bamako and organization can collaborate with MANSA. who presented a paper at the Mande Studies BARBARA HOFFMAN, in the Department of Conference in Kankan on his archaeological Anthropology at Cleveland State University, has excavation at Gao, will be going to Rice been appointed Director of the Program in University in January to start graduate studies in Linguistics. archaeology with Susan Mcintosh. NICHOLAS HOPKINS retired at the end of the GRAEME COUNSEL in Melbourne, Australia, 2005-06 school year and is now Professor has been adding resources to his Radio Africa Emeritus of Anthropology at the American web site, Graeme CounselUMPAGraduate University in Cairo. His wife, FERIAL CentreUniversity of MelbourneAUSTRALIA GHAZOUL is still teaching in the English and [email protected] Comparative Literature Department, so Cairo will These include the Diembe and Mande Music continue to be their home base for the time being. Resource and Reference Page, MARLOES JANSON was back in The Gambia Discography of Malian Vinyl Recordings and from March to June where she conducted Discography of Guinean Vinyl Recordings. research into youthful participation in the Tabligh These discographies seek to list all Malian and Jama'at. Guinean vinyl recordings (78 rpm, 33.3 rpm and JOHN JOHNSON is retiring at the end of the 45 rpm discs). The discographies have involved current semester after 28 years at Indiana the efforts of collectors and musicologists around University and 2 years at Michigan State the world, and are about 95% complete. Counsel University, but will continue to teach one class reports that they are intended to serve as a and finish up his dissertation and thesis permanent resource for all those interested in committees. Mande music. He invites MANSA members to MOHAMED CHElAN KROMAH, our artist contribute to the discography by adding to it any who painted the Sunjata mural at the University material which is missing, and says your of Kankan during the 6th International Conference contributions will be acknowledged on the site. on Mande Studies, is working on a series of Other discographies maintained at the Radio commercial art projects in West African capitals. Africa web site, include the complete Syliphone He recently finished a commission in Banjul, is discography, the complete Bembeya Jazz now in Monrovia, and from there will go to National discography, discographies of the Rail Freetown before returning to his Conakry Band and Les Ambassadeurs, the Malian Kunkan residence in December. I label, the Tempo label, Salif Keita, and a list of CARLOS LOPES has been promoted by Kofi all Guinean orchestras of the 1st Republic. Annan to the position of Assistant Secretary MARK DAVIDHEISER spent two months General. during the fall of 2005 as a visiting scholar at the GREG MANN was promoted to Associate Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Professor at Columbia University in July. Halle/Saale Germany. In October at a special RODERICK MCINTOSH has left Rice colloquium at the Centre d'Etudes et de University and taken up a position in the Recherches Internationales, Institut d 'Etudes Department of Anthropology at Yale University. Politiques de Paris, he presented a paper, "Social TATIANA NIKITINA who is now at Stanford Organization and Disputing: Identities and University, is working on Mande syntax, 'Tradition' in Gambian Peacemaking." He then semantics and typology and is currently preparing went to West Africa for two months' research on a grammar and lexicon of Wan (SE Mande legal reform initiatives and on the conflict in language spoken in Cote d'Ivoire), Casamance. RYAN SKINNER will be in Bamako conducting ALMA GOTTLIEB has received a Summer doctoral fieldwork on postcolonial urbanity, Faculty A ward from the National Endowment for musical expression, and cultural identity from the Humanities to begin a new year-long October 2006 to December 2007 with funding fieldwork project among Cape Verdean from the Social Science Research Council IDRF

8 and Wenner-Gren Foundation. Ralph Austen. 2006. "Beyond History"': Two KRISTINA VAN DYKE was in Europe Films of the Deep Mande Past," [Yeelen and (including Amsterdam) during the summer, Keital : l'heritage du griot] in Richard exploring the topic of Malian terra cottas. Mendelsohn and Vivian Bickford-Smith (eds.). Black and White in Colour: African History on Screen. Cape Town: Double Storey Books, Film, Articles, Dissertations, Books. Special Issue Journals Ralph Austen. 2006. "Christianity Seen by an BOOKS African Muslim Intellectual: Amadou Greg Mann. 2006. Hampate Ba" in Benjamin F. Soares (ed.), Native Sons: West African Veterans and France Muslim/Christian Encounters in Africa. in the 20th century. Duke University Press Leiden:, Brill. (Series on "Politics, History, and Culture"). Ralph Austen. 2006. "Interpreters Self- Interpreted: The Autobiographies of Two Marie Miran. 2006. Colonial Clerks" in Benjamin Lawrance, Emily Islam, histoire et modernite en Cote d'Ivoire. Lynn Osborn, and Richard Roberts (eds.). Paris: Karthala. Intermediaries, Interpreters, and Clerks: African Employees in the Making of Ingse Skattum with John Kristian Sanaker Colonial Africa. Madison: University of and Karin Holter. 2006. Wisconsin Press. Lafrancophonie: une introduction critique. Mark Davidheiser 2005. "Culture and Mediation: Oslo: Oslo Academic Press. A Contemporary Processual Analysis." Ce livre se veut une introduction aux contexts International Journal of Intercultural Relations social, politique, litteraire et plus largement 29 (6). culturel du mond francophone hors de France. II Mark Davidheiser. 2006. "Joking for Peace: traite en particulier Ie role et Ie statut de la langue Social Organization, Tradition, and Change in franais - dan Ie passe (grandes decouvertes, Conflict Prevention and Resolution." Cahiers colonization) et dans Ie present. Pp. 276. Prix: 30 d'Etudes Africaines XLVI (3-4) No. 183-184. Eur + frais de transport. ISBN 82-7477-220-2 Mark Davidheiser 2006. "Conflict Mediation and Culture: Lessons from The Gambia." Peace HLM and Conflict Studies 13 (1). Barbara G. Hoffman (Producer) 2006. Mark Davidheiser 2006. "Harmony, Making Maasai Men: Growing Courage Toward Peacemaking, and Power: Controlling Circumcision 32 min. Color. 2006. Processes and African Mediation." Conflict Available as VHS and DVD Catalog #0153 Resolution Quarterly 23 (3). Price $225.00 Alma Gottlib. 2006. "Our Village Needs Chairs" One aspect of traditional Maasai culture that (coauthored with Philip Graham) in Bruce remains central to the passage from boyhood to Grindal and Frank Salamone (eds.). Bridges to manhood is circumcision. It is a physical and Friendship: Narratives on Fieldwork and psychological ordeal that Maasai boys look Friendship (Second, revised edition) Prospect forward to and also dread. This remarkable Heights, IL: Waveland Press. ethnographic documentary explores the complex Alma Gottlieb. 2006. "Ethnography: Theory and meanings of masculinity and Maasai ethnicity, Methods" in Ellen Perecman and Sara Curran and the place of circumcision and its attendant (eds.). A Handbookfor Social Science Field rituals in their cultural construction. For more Research; Essays & Bibliographic Sources on information go to: Research Design and Methods. Thousand http://www.berkeleymedia.com/catalog/berkelev Oaks, CA: Sage Publishers. media/films/anthropology world cultures/african Knut Graw. 2006. "Locating Nganiyo: Divination studies/making maasai men growing courage as Intentional Space." Journal of Religion in toward circumcision Africa 36 (1): 78-119. .

ARTICLES

9 Eugenia W. Herbert. 2005. "The Taj and the Raj: Entwicklung. Werkschau Afrikastudien 5. Garden Imperialism in India." Studies in the Munster: Lit. History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes. Claudia Roth. 2005. "Die eigenen Augen, der Jan Jansen. 2006. "Les archives nationals du Mali fremde Blick" in Ch. Beck et al. (Hg.). Fremde en transition." Afrique & histoire. Revue Freunde. Gewdhrsleute der Ethnologie. Edition intemationale no. 5 avril 185-188. Trickster. Wuppertal: Peter Hammer Verlag. Marloes Janson. 2006. ''The Prophet's Path: Claudia Roth 2005. Three Articles: (1) Tablighi Jamaat in The Gambia" IS1M "Conclusions: Ageing in Insecurity - Review: 44-45. Differences and Similarities / Conclusion: Jim Jones. 2006. "Background Information" and Vieillir dans l'Insecurite - differences et "Who's Who of Characters/Glossary of Places" similarites » (2) « Threatening Dependency: in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali by D. T. Limits of Social Security, Old Age and Gender Niane, translated by G. D. Pickett. Revised in Urban Burkina Faso / Dependance edition. Halow, England: PearsonlLongman menacante: limites de la securite sociale, vieil African Writers. age et genre en milieu urbain burkinabe » (3) Dolores Koenig. 2006. "Food for the Malian «A Donor Darling? Context of the Case Middle Class: An Invisible Cuisine" in Richard Studies / Le Burkina Faso: pays favori des Wilk (ed.). Fast Food, Slow Food: The donateurs? Contexte des etudes de cas » in Economic Anthropology of the Global Food Jong, Willemijn de, Claudia Roth, Fatou-mata System. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press. Badini-Kinda, Seema Bhagyanath (eds.). Dolores Koenig. 2006 "Political-economic Ageing in Insecurity. Vieillir dans l'insecurite. Change, Cultural Traditions and Household Case Studies on Social Security and Gender in Organization" in E.P. Durrenberger and J. India and Burkina Faso. Securite sociale et Marti (eds.). Rural Mali." Labor in genre en Inde et au Burkina Faso. Etudes de Anthropology. Society for Economic cas. Mtinster: Lit. Anthropology Monograph 22. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press. SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUES Marie Miran. 2005. "D'Abidjan it Porto Novo: Mande Studies 6, 2004 associations islamiques, culture religieuse Special Section: "Climates of the Mande" reformiste et transnationalisme sur la cote de Edited by Roderick J. McIntosh and Joseph A. Guinee" in L. Fourchard, A. Mary and R. Tainter Otayek (eds.). Entreprises religieuses Roderick J. McIntosh and Joseph A. Tainter transnationales en Afrique de l'Ouest. Ibadan: Palaeoclimates and the Mande IFRA and Paris: Karthala. Roderick J. McIntosh Marie Miran. 2006. "The Political Economy of Chasing Denkejugu over the Mande Islam in Cote d'Ivoire in M. Broning and H. Landscape: Making Sense of Prehistoric and Weiss (eds.). Politischer Islam in Westafrica. Historic Climate Change Eine Bestandsaufnahme. Berlin: Friedrich Robert Vemet Ebert Stiftung and Lit Verlag. Evolution du peuplement et glissement des Robert Pringle. 2006. "Mali's Unlikely isohyetes a la fin de la prehistoire et au debut Democracy." The Wilson Quarterly, (Spring, de l'histoire en Afrique de l'ouest sahelienne. 31-39). Hamady Bocoum Claudia Roth and Fatoumata Badini-Kinda, 2005. Rapports entre Ie potentiel forestier et "The social security of elderly women and men production metallurgique dans la vallee du in Burkina Faso" in Linda E. Lucas (ed.). fleuve Senegal Unpacking Globalisation: Markets, Gender Roderick J. Mcintosh and Work. Kampala: Fountain Press. Two Thousand Years of Niche Specialization Claudia Roth. 2005. "L'appauvrissernent and Ecological Resilience in the Middle Niger invisible des personnes agees au Burkina Faso" Joseph A. Tainter in A. Mayor, C. Roth, Y. Droz (eds.). Securite Comparative Responses to Climate Change sociale et developpement. Le forum suisse des General Articles: africanistes 5 - Sotiale Sicherheit und

10 Brahima Camara (Senegal) Le Tirailleur travers "Ancien combattant," un Martin Evans chant-recit de Idrissa Soumaworo Insecurity or Isolation? Natural Resources and Nicholas Hopkins Livelihoods in the Casamance A Circumcision Near Kita (Mali) in 1965 Jean-Claude Marut Kirsten Langeveld Les racines mondiales du particularisme Initiation Rituals as the Stage of Interaction casamancais Between Genders Wilmetta J. Toliver-Diallo Ryan Thomas Skinner The Woman who was more than a Man": Determined Urbanites: Diasporic Jeliya in the Making Aline Sitoe Diatta into a National 21st Century Heroine in Senegal Vincent Foucher Africa Today 52 (4) Summer 2006 La guerre des dieux ? Religions et separatisme Special Issue: "Memory and the Formation of en Basse Casamance Political Identities in West Africa" Ferdinand de Jong Edited by Rosa DeJorio (based on papers A Joking Nation: Conflict Resolution in presented at the Fifth International Conference on Senegal Mande Studies in Leiden, the Netherlands) Jordi Tomas Contents: La parole de paix n'ajamais tort. La paix et la Rosa De Jorio tradition dans Ie royaume d'Oussouye Introduction to Special Issue: Memory and the (Casamance, Senegal) Formation of Political Identities in West Africa Odile Goerg DISSERTATIONS Chieftainships between Past and Present: From Knut Graw. 2005. "The Emergence of the City to Suburb and Back in Colonial Conakry, Present: A Phenomenological Study of 1890s-1950s Divination, Time, and the Subject in Senegal and Alice Bellagamba Gambia." Department of Social and Cultural Before It Is Too Late: Constructing an Archive Anthropology, Catholic University of Leuven, of Oral Sources and a National Museum in Belgium. Independent Gambia Mary Jo Arnoldi Graeme Counsel. 2006. "Mande Popular Music Youth Festivals and Museums: The Cultural and Cultural Policies in West Africa." History Politics of Public Memory in Postcolonial Mali Department, University of Melbourne, Australia. Rosa De Jorio Politics of Remembering and Forgetting: The Joe Williams 2006. "Transmitting the Mande Struggle over Colonial Monuments in Mali Balafon: Performing Africa at Home and Sten Hagberg Abroad," Ethnomusicology Program, University The Transformation of Ritual Boundaries in of Maryland, College Park. Resource-Use Practices in Burkina Faso

Canadian Journal of African Studies - Revue RENEWED MEMBERS Canadienne des Etudes Africaines Akare John Aden Volume 39, Number 2,2005 Ralph Austen (sponsor) Title: Contested Casamance Tom Bassett Contents / Sommaire Robert Bellinger Ferdinand de Jong and Genevieve Gasser Sekou Berte (student) Contested Casamance: Introduction Stephen Buehnen (sponsor) Olga F. Linares Eric Charry (sponsor) Jola Agriculture at a Crossroads Maria- Luise Ciminelli Hassane Drame Graeme Counsel (student) . Organisations pays annes et dynamique de Mark Davidheiser changement en milieu rural casamancais Lucy Duran

11 Charity Ellis Department of State Alex Enkerli (student) 2121 Virginia Avenue, N.W. - room 8200 Henrike Florusbosch (student) Washington, DC 20037 Cornelia Giesing (sponsor) tel: (202) 663-0525 Fritz Goerling BedichekL [email protected] Janet Goldner Mark Davidheiser Walter Hawthorne SHSS/Maltz Building David Henige (sponsor) 3301 College Ave Eugenia Herbert Davie, FL 33314 Ylva Hernlund [email protected] Barbara Hoffman (sponsor) Issiaka Diakite John Hutchison (sponsor) 2959 Apalachee Parkway Apt D#27 Pascal Imperator (sponsor) Tallahassee, Florida 32301 Shigeko Izumi [email protected] Marloes Janson Knut Graw (PhD) Roderic Knight Africa Research Centre Dierk Lange Catholic University of Leuven Barbara Lewis (sponsor) Van Evenstraat 2A Pekka Masonen BE-3000 Leuven Tamba M'Bayo (student) Belgium Nathan McClintock (student) Walter Hawthorne Philip Misevich (student) Michigan State University Robert Newton (sponsor) Dept of History Daniel Reed 301 Morrill Hall Charles Riley (sponsor) East Lansing, MI 48824 Caroline Robion-Brunner (student) [email protected] Claudia Roth Rod McIntosh Molly Roth Department of Anthropology Victoria Rovine Yale University Patrick Royer 51 Hill House Avenuje Michael Schlottner New Haven cr 06520 Ryan Skinner (student) Phone: 203-432-6649 Tone Sommerfelt r.oderick. [email protected] Julie Strand (student) Nathan McClintock Cullen Strawn (student) North Carolina State University Carol Thompson 627 Manco Dairy Road Steven Thomson (student) Pittsboro, NC 27312 Monica Van Beusekom [email protected] Peter Weil (sponsor) Tatiana Nikitina Deptartment of Linguistics ADDRESSCHANGESmPDATES Stanford University Akare John Aden MargaretJacks Hall, Bldg. 460 Baxter Hall, Room 127, Wabash College Stanford, CA 94305-2150 Crawfordsville, Indiana 47933 [email protected] [email protected] Charles Riley (sponsor) Wenda Bauchspies 470 Prospect St., Apt. 76 Pennsylvania State University New Haven, CT 06511-2176 101 Old Botany Bidg [email protected] University Park, PA 16802 Vicki Rovine 8148653046 University of Florida Louise Bedichek Fine Arts Building C Bureau of African Affairs Box 115801

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..• Gainesville. FL 32601-5801 N-6425 MOLDE, NORWAY [email protected] [email protected] William Okrafo Smart Interests: History, culture, music of peoples of Peace House Western Mali, especially Khassonke, Mahnke, 50 Bell Green Lane Peul Sydenham London SE 26 5TE Submitting Articles to Mande Studies England The journal of the Mande Studies Association, Cullen Strawn Mande Studies, welcomes articles on all aspects 800 N. Union St. #206 of the Mande world and the peoples and cultures Bloomington, IN 47408 that compose it. Submissions will be peer- [email protected] reviewed before acceptance. The journal will Simon Toulou accept and publish manuscripts in English or Universite de Geneve - FPSE French. (For additional information on Mande Didactique des Langues Studies see the web page: 40-42, Boulevard du Pont d'Arve www.txstate.eduJanthropology/mansa 1211 Geneve 4, Switzerland Manuscript submissions should be typewritten Simon. [email protected] or computer-printed in double-spacing, and should be accompanied, if possible, with an NEW MEMBERS electronic version of the text on a diskette Ian B. Edwards (student, University of Oregon) (IBMlMS-DOS; Mac texts should be sent by e- 634 La Salle St., #2 mail). Authors must furnish any maps or Harrisburg, OR 97446 illustrations in hard copy suitable for [email protected] reproduction, and are responsible for obtaining Interests: Mali Wildlife; local agencies; any necessary permission. globalization; applied anthropology Colleagues from Africa without access to Ryan Durkopp (student, University of Pittsburgh) computers should send a typewritten manuscript, 205 North Dallas, Apt. #2 keeping a copy for their own use. Pittsburgh, PA 15208 Submissions may be made electronically to [email protected] Ariane Deluz ([email protected]) or to Interests: Interactions of culture and musical Stephen Belcher ([email protected]). expression; jeliya traditions, language, power, La revue Etudes Mande invite nos collegues a and gender presenter des contributions portant sur tous les Vera Flaig (student, University of Michigan) aspects du monde mande et des peuples et des 350 Highland Road cultures qui le composent. Les articles proposes Chelsea, MI48118-974O seront evalues anonymement avant d'etre retenus. [email protected] La revue accepte et publie des articles en anglais Interests: jembe and doundoun music, dance ou en francais. traditions in Guinea, North American & Les manuscrits soumis doivent etre saisis ou European drumming communities imprimes sur ordinateur en double Gunvor Jonsson (student, University of interligne, et devraient s'accompagner si Copenhagen) possible de la version electronique du texte sur Langagervy 3, l-tv disquette (format IBMlMS-Dos). Les textes 2500Valby DENMARK composes sur Macintosh doivent nous parvenir [email protected] commes fichiers attaches a un email. Les auteurs Interests: Kayes-region of Mali villagers' sont pries de fournir leurs cartes et illustrations conceptions of life in Western Europe and the sur papier, d'une qualite permettant la social significance of these conceptions; reproduction. II est de la responsabilite des particularly in relation to migration to Western auteurs d' obtenir toute permission necessaire Europe. pour la reproduction. Kjell Nyland (Music teacher) Nos collegues en Afrique d'ayant pas acces a Maarskrenten 24, un ordinateur sont pries d'envoyer un manuscrit

13 dactylographie, et de conserver un deuxierne exemplaire pour leur propre usage. Les articles peuvent etre soumis par voie electronique a Ariane Deluz (Ariane.Deluz@ehessJr) ou a Stephen Belcher ([email protected]). Dans Ie cas des articles envoyes par email, Ie texte ne doit pas etre envoye dans Ie message mais comme fichier attache au mail.

Joining MANSA and Renewing Membership Regular and institutional membership $25, sponsoring membership $40, students $10 (regular and sponsoring membership includes subscription to the journal Mande Studies). Make check out to MANSA and (if you are joining) send your institutional affiliation and a brief description of your research interests to: Dr. Laura Arntson 106 Walnut St., NW Washington, DC 20012 USA [email protected]

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