African Oral Epic Poetry: Praising the Deeds of a Mythic Hero

323 Pages·2012·12.69 MB·English

by  Fritz H. Pointer

AFRICAN ORAL EPIC POETRY
Praising the Deeds of a Mythic Hero
by
Fritz H. Pointer
With a translation of The Epic ofK ambili
(as recited by Seydou Camara, the griot)
Translated from Mande into English by
Charles 8. Bird
with Mamadou Koita and Bourama Soumaoro
With a Foreword by
Daniel Kunene
The Edwin Mellen Press
Lewiston•Queenston•Lampeter
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pointer, Fritz H.
African oral epic poetry : praising the deeds of a mythic hero I by Fritz H.
Pointer ; with a translation ofThe epic ofKambili (as recited by Seydou
Camara) ; translated from Mande in English by Charles S. Bird, with
Mamadou Koita and Bourama Soumaoro ; with a foreword by Daniel
Kunene.
p.cm.
English, with English translation from Mandingo
Published in 2012, with Pointer rather than Byrd credited as translator, under
the title: A translation into English of the epic ofKambili (an African mythic
hero).
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-4087-6 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7734-4087-9 (hardcover)
1. Epic poetry, Mandingo. 2. Epic poetry, African. 3. Mandingo poetry
Translations into English. 4. Oral tradition-Africa, West. 5. Griots--Aftica,
West. 6. Heroes-Mythology-Africa, West. I. Bird, Charles S. (Charles
Stephen), 1935- ll. Koita, Mamadou. ill. Soumaoro, Bourama. IV.
Kamara, Seyidu. Kambili.Title. English. V. Pointer, Fritz H. Translation into
English of the epic ofKambili (an African mythic hero). VI. Title.
PL8491.7.P65 2013
896.345-dc23
2012038968
horssbie.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright ~ 2013 Fritz H. Pointer
All rights reserved. For information contact
The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press
Box450 Box67
Lewiston, New York Queenston, Ontario
USA 14092-0450 CANADA LOS 1L O
The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd.
Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT
Printed in the United States of America
I dedicate this book to my family who support and sustain me in
so many ways, often without knowing it:
Liziwe (Liz, Lizzie) Boitumelo Kunene-Pointer, my partner;
Aaron Elton Pointer, my brother;
Leona Dones-Pointer, his wife;
my sisters, Ruth, Anita and Bonnie and June Pointer;
my children, Shegun, Nandi, Somori and Thiyane Pointer
and my granddaughters,
Jadah Pointer-Wallace and Selina Pointer-Fox
AnAneedote
A three year old came up to his parents on the beach with his
sand bucket full of water. "Here's the Ocean, Daddy," he said.
That attitude is understandable in a three-year-old, but not so
much so when a thirty year-old comes up with a set of ideas and
says "Here is the 1ruth!" You want to say to him, "That may be
your ocean, brother, but there is a lot more where that came
from, and it's not in your bucket!"
Contents
Foreword by Emeritus Professor Daniel P. Kunene i
Preface iii
Acknowledgments xi
mtroouoooo 1
Chapter One-Some Background on the Epic ............ 3
Chapter Two-Griots and Griottes: Composers
and Performers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter Three-Kambili and History .................. 47
Chapter Four-The Hero of the Epic ................... 57
Chapter Five-Poet and Accompanists ................. 67
Chapter Six-Mooes and Methods of Composition
in K.ambili . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chapter Seven-Praise Songs, Traditional Religion
and Islam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Chapter Eight-Birth, Tasks and Triumph ofKambili 111
Chapter Nine-In Praise of Kambili Sananfila 123
Chapter Ten-The Story: A Synopsis 159
The Epic ofK ambili 163
Bibliography ..................................... 287
mdex. .......................................... 295

Foreword
Epic? What's that? European scholars have often gone to
cultures they sought to research with preconceived notions and
expectations ofw hat to find, often based on their own cultures. Till
recently, they understandably threw up their arms in despair,
declaring a "lack" of this or that feature they were mistakenly
looking for. But now things have changed quite a bit. Ruth
Finnegan stirred up the hornets' nest by coming up with a "lack"
regarding the epic in Africa in her Oral Literature in Africa! There
were protests and "proofs" galore that she was wrong. Some good
things were coming out of her audacious statement: Scholars rose
up in arms, and in the process found, or revisited, lots ofe pics that
needed to be revisited, exposed, translated, examined and
analyzed. One such warrior scholar was Professor Fritz Pointer
who researched the epic of Kambili. Though not the first to study
this epic, he nonetheless added his voice to the chorus that directly
or by implication declared Finnegan wrong. Among other things,
Pointer underscores the importance of John William Johnson's
declaration that The Greek [epic] tradition is only one ofm any. In
several places in Africa and elsewhere, living epic traditions can
be observed in their natural contexts. (Johnson, William John, The
Epic of Son-Jara-"A West African Tradition, Bloomington,"
Indiana University Press, 1986, p. 60) Great observation! But
Johnson just misses the nail's head, as long as he does not put the
original language of the epic at the very center of the "natural
i
ii
contexts," and make the translation secondary. There is no doubt,
however, that epic scholars are not only strongly aware of this
need, but that they are moving towards correcting it.
This is a wave that is getting stronger. It should be directed
towards the grammar, morphology, tonology, phonology,
semiology and other aspects of the original language, so we can
observe the prosody oft he original poem under discussion, and not
its translation. But there is no doubt that the energy in the
discourse about the epic in African cultures is moving in that
direction. No doubt when it reaches that point, Professor Pointer
will be there, either with Kambili, or some other African epic to
underscore the truth of this statement
Emeritus Professor Daniel P. Kunene
Department ofA frican Languages and Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Preface
Kambili, like Jesus, is a famous character who has an epic,
mythic, story dedicated to him; yet, he may have never lived; there
is no historical evidence, scholarly or otherwise; except an epic
poem, based on oral accounts, dedicated to Kambili's being. It is
amazing, quite amazing that a Kambili or Jesus, or Oedipus,
Theseus, Romulus, Hercules, Perseus, Zeus, Jason, even a Robin
Hood and Apollo who, as far as scientific research and scholarly
knowledge is aware, never lived can become famous. Jesus, the
Christian mythic hero, number three on the list that includes the
above noted epic heroes, meets nineteen of the twenty-two
indicators for heroic status, in Lord Raglan's tabulations oft ypical
hero incidents: The pattern is as follows:
1. The hero's mother is a royal virgin;
2. His father is a king (or god)
3. Often a near relative of his mother, but
4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and
5. He is also reputed to be the son of a god.
6. At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his
maternal grandfather, to kill him, but
7. He is spirited away, and
8. Reared by foster parents in a far country.
iii