Category: West African epics

We Cover the Epic of Sundiata here, and the Epics of Ozidi, Dausi, and Askia Muhammad here. And now to the other great epics. Preface: A Map of Many Fires From the Sahel’s amber horizons to the green corridors of the forest and the salt breath of the Atlantic, epic song smoulders in many hearths.…

I. THE OZIDI SAGA Cultural and Historical Background Along the mangrove-laced creeks of the Niger Delta, among the Ijaw (Ijo) peoples, epic does not sit politely on a page; it walks, drums, dances, and wrestles with spirits in the open air. The Ozidi Saga belongs to this riverine world. It is a full-body performance tradition—mask,…

I. CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Long before “Mali” was a country on a modern map, Mali was an empire of memory stretching from the forest belt to the sand’s edge, its lifelines the Niger, the trade routes to the Sahara, and the stories sung in its towns and courts. In that world the Mandinka (Mandé)…

A NIGHT OF STORY AND SOUND Night gathers over the Sahel. The sun leaves a last golden seam on the horizon and the air cools enough for breath to feel like silk. People drift towards the compound: not in haste, but with the sure-footedness of those who know exactly where their history will appear. A…