KELEFA SAANE His Career Recounted by Two Mandinka Bards Edited and translated by GORDON INNES Reader in West African Languages in the University of London SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Malet Street, London WCI E 7HP 1978 SCHOOL OF ORIENT AL AND AFRICAN STUDIES KELEF A SAANE His Career Recounted by Two Mandinka Bards KELEFA SAANE His Career Recounted by Two Mandinka Bards Edited and translated by GORDON INNES Reader in West African Langu,ages in the University of London SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Malet Street, London WCI E 7HP 1978 © Gordon Innes, 1978 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Suso, Bamba Kelefa Saane, his career recounted by two Mandinka bards. I. Kelefa Saane, in fiction, drama, poetry, etc. 2. Epic poetry, Mandingo I. Title II. Innes, Gordon III. University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies 896'.34 PL8591.7 ISBN 0-7286-0052-8 Printed in Great Britain at the Alden Press Oxford London and Northampton ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is with much pleasure that I record here the ready and generous response which I received from all those whose help I sought in the preparation of this book. The greatest contribution of all is of course that of the two bards, Bamba Suso and Shirif Jebate, who agreed to record their versions of Kelefa Saane. I am grateful to the then Director of Broadcasting Services for allowing me access, in 1969, to the tape library of Radio Gambia, for agreeing to my making a copy of Shirif Jebate's Kelefa Saane, and for making available to me tape-copying facilities and technical assistance. My debt to Mr Bakari Sidibe, who is now in charge of the Cultural Archives in Banjul, is immense. It was through him that I came to know Bamba Suso and other leading Mandinka bards and something of their art. Mr Sidibe transcribed the tapes, guided me through the translations and provided much of the information in the Notes. He generously allowed me to draw upon his wide knowledge of griot traditions, which he has built up over many years of active interest and investigation. On several occasions during the editing of these texts I sought advice on the musical accompaniment from my colleague Anthony King, and I deeply appreciate the unfailing good humour and patience with which he responded to the calls upon his time and his knowledge of Mandinka music. The musical accompaniment is an essential component of every bard's performance and as it is clearly desirable that even in a brief Introduction some account be given of the musical aspect, and as I have myself no competence in this field, it is with especial gratitude and pleasure that I acknowledge the section on music by Lucy Duran at the end of the Introduction. An important, though indirect, contribution to the publication of these texts is that made by my wife, who accompanied me on my visit to The Gambia. By assuming responsibility for all domestic arrange­ ments, she enabled me to make far better use of my time there than would otherwise have been possible, and for this I am deeply grateful. Finally I wish to record my thanks to the School for its continuing support of my work on Mandinka oral literature and in particular for making funds available, at a time of great financial stringency, to meet the total cost of publication of this book. CONTENTS Introduction The Music 16 Bamba Suso: Kelefa Saane 28 Translation 31 Notes 68 Shirif Jebate: Kelefa Saane 79 Translation 83 Notes 112 References 116 Discography 118 Maps 2-3 INTRODUCTION The Kelefa Saane of the title of this book is a mid-nineteenth century figure, a member of the warrior aristocracy of Kaabu, which was a confederation ofMandinka states whose influence extended from the River Gambia southwards as far as the Rio Corubal, but whose heart­ land was the state of Kaabu itself, which was located in the north-east of what is now Guinea-Bissau. Unlike several other nineteenth century figures who are remembered in bardic tradition, Kelefa Saane has been ignored by historians, and understandably so, for Kelefa had no influence on events in which he was involved and in no way affected the course of history. Yet, in The Gambia, the story ofKelefa's career is one of the best known and best loved items in the bards' repertoires. Some reasons for the popularity of the Kelefa story among Mandinka audiences are suggested later in this Introduction. It is hoped that the texts in this book will be of interest to readers not only as specimens of Mandinka heroic literature but in particular for the light which they throw on the very distinctive ethos of the Mandinka warrior aristocracy in the nineteenth century. The system of values shared by Kelefa and his fellow aristocrats suffuses both texts; though these were the values of a privileged sector of Mandinka society which believed that warfare was the only occupation worthy of a man, they are important for an understanding of the Mandinka's view of their own history, and they have relevance even today to the way in which an honourable man is expected to comport himself. The two texts which are presented here are transcriptions of two performances of the Kelefa story by two highly respected elderly Gambian bards, Bamba Suso and Shirif Jebate. It is hoped that the juxtaposition of these two versions of the same story, differing both in form and in content, will be of interest not only to students of Mandinka oral literature but also more widely to all those with an interest in techniques of oral composition and transmission. There is of course no question of one version's being more authentic than the other. For the Mandinka listeners, both versions are equally valid statements of Kelefa's career; they are different, but equal. Both versions are the work of respected bards of high professional competence, and one version is as acceptable as the other. N CASAMANCE ~, '-, I I I I 0 50 Km I'\ I II II I . ... .., I I I I I 0 25 Miles SENEGAL JOKADU BADDIBU Baria NIUMI • Dasilami• • Banni • •Bakang Barra Point Tambana K •• Essau • erewan Barra ~,njul~'"-J s River Gambia 5 10 15 Km ·~~------'---~~_j__~__J 0 5 10 Miles CASAMANCE It must be remembered that the texts printed here reflect only one aspect of the complex artistic creation which is a bard's performance. They merely record the words which were uttered, but not of course the manner of their utterance. Words on a printed page are dull and lifeless things compared with the living words upon the lips of a bard. A bard's performance has a musical as well as a vocal component, but in print the musical component is ignored, though it is essential for performance. In the training of a bard, it is the musical aspect of his professional training which takes precedence. He is trained in musician­ ship from an early age, usually by an older member of the family, and this training is often rigorous and intensive. By contrast, he is expected to pick up a knowledge of the vocal side of his art without formal training, but simply by listening to older bards performing. There is no voice training, for it is believed that one is born with a good voice, or one is not, and there is nothing that can be done about it. The main musical instrument of the Mandinka bards in The Gambia is the kora, a twenty-one-stringed harp-lute; much less common are the kontingo, a three-stringed plucked lute, and the xylophone. A discussion of the Mandinka bards and their place in society will be found in Innes, 1974: 2-7, and also in Knight, 1973, and need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that Mandinka society consists of 'noble' families and of three castes, the metalworkers, the leather­ workers, and the bards, or griots as they are usually called. Tradition­ ally each 'noble' family had its associated bardic family, and it was one of the duties of the bards to entertain their patrons from time to time with accounts of the careers of famous ancestors. Nowadays the patron families are no longer able to support their associated bardic families, and the bards have had to become freelance artists, making a somewhat precarious living by performing at social events such as weddings and child-naming ceremonies. The repertoire of historical narratives of the Mandinka griots falls into two main parts. 1 The first of these is the Sunjata epic, which recounts the career of Sunjata Keita, culminating in his defeat of his great adversary, Sumanguru, about the year 1235, and his establishment as ruler ofManding (or Mali), which expanded under his successors to become the greatest of all the mediaeval Sudanic empires. The second part of the bards' repertoire comprises accounts of the careers of various outstanding figures of the second half of the nineteenth century who were active in the Gambia valley and in the area stretching south from there into Guinea-Bissau. The two parts of the bards' repertoire For examples of items from both these parts, see Innes, 1974, and 1976. The Introductions to both these books should be read in conjunction with the present Introduction, since they contain information on such topics as the Mandinka bards and their art, the language, imagery, formulae, spelling, translation, the vocal modes and their musical characteristics, which is relevant to the texts presented here.