The epic of Kelefaa Saane

222 Pages·2010·1.173 MB·English

by  Saane, Kelefa, Camara, Sirifo, Camara, Sana, Saane, Kelefa

African Studies
Sana Camara is Associate Professor of Performance/Literature C The Epic of
French at Truman State University. He a
m Kelefaa Saane
is editor of Wolof Lexicon and Gram-
a
r e
mar and editor of Sëriñ Muusaa Ka: a
Melokaani Roytéef [Sëriñ Muusaa Ka: Sirifo Camara
The Epic of
the example of a role model], a compila- Edited and translated by Sana Camara
tion of six Wolof poems about the life of
the spiritual guide of the Muridiyya
Kelefaa Saane This powerful and popular epic honors
brotherhood.
the legendary warrior prince of Kaabu
T and Mandinka cultural hero, Kelefaa
e Saane. A standard of the griot repertoire,
African Epic h
e the epic of Kelefaa Saane is customar-
Thomas Hale and
ily taught to young performers at the be-
John William Johnson, editors E
ginning of their careers. Sirifo Camara’s
p
A founding epic in masterful recitation was recorded in
i
c
the African praise poetry tradition Dakar in 1987. It has been transcribed in

o Mandinka and is translated into English
e f here for the first time. The epic, as it de-

K scribes Kelefaa’s life and exploits, relates
e what it means to be Mandinka. Kelefaa’s
“Historically and literarily important . . . an excellent teaching tool in
l extraordinary prowess and virtue derive
e
courses on African history, literature, oral tradition, and folklore.”
from the political, social, moral, and theo-
f
—Jan Jansen, University of Leiden a logical founding myths of the Mandinka
a
people. This beautiful and engaging per-

S formance provides a unique perspective
a on the intellectual and literary heritage of
a
West Africa.
n
e
Sirifo Camara
Jacket illustrations:
Bronze figurines of Mande musicians. Bloomington & Indianapolis Edited and translated by Sana Camara
Collection of the author.
www.iupress.indiana.edu
Photographs by Tim Barcus. 1-800-842-6796
THE EPIC OF
KELEFAA SAANE
African Epic Series
Thomas A. Hale and John W. Johnson, editors
THE EPIC OF
KELEFAA SAANE
Sirifo Camara
Edited and translated
by Sana Camara
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianapolis
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
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Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA
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No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
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any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution
on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
> The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Camara, Sirifo.
The epic of Kelefaa Saane / [performed by] Sirifo Camara ; edited and
translated by Sana Camara.
p. cm. — (African epic series)
Text is the English translation annotated from the original Mandinka.
In its written form, The Epic of Kelefaa Saane is a faithful transcription and
translation of the performance of Sirifo Camara. The epic was recorded in
the city of Dakar, Senegal, in 1987 by Boundiaye Jiite, an important patron of
Senegambian music.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35463-1 (alk. paper)
1. Saane, Kelefaa—Poetry. 2. Mandingo poetry. 3. Mandingo poetry—
Translations into English. I. Camara, Sana, 1959– II. Title.
PL8491.7.E65 2010
896′.345—dc22
2009040574
1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10
For Francis Abiola Irele, the cosmopolitan scholar.
To my Kaabunka parents, Boucary and Dieynaba.

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
Note on Spelling and Pronunciation xxxiii
THE EPIC
2
Annotations to the Mandinka Text 165
Bibliography 179
Index 181

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE EPIC OF KELEFAA SAANE is part of the repertoire that maintains
the memory of a legendary warrior prince of Kaabu, a kingdom in the
Senegambian area of West Africa, in the nineteenth century. He helped
rally the Mandinka people to defend their region against the threat of
an invasion. Today, the Mandinka jalóol (plural of jali, the Mandinka
word for the regional term “griot”), continue to identify him as a person
with extraordinary merits. Furthermore, every young jali by custom
must begin his instruction on the kora—a twenty-one stringed harp-
lute—by mastering Kelefaa baa, “Kelefaa the Great,” one of the songs
dedicated to the Mandinka cultural hero and one of the most popular
songs in the larger Mandinka repertoire.
In its written form, The Epic of Kelefaa Saane is a faithful tran-
scription and translation of the performance of Sirifo Camara. The epic
was recorded in the city of Dakar, Senegal, in 1987 by Boundiaye J iite,
an important patron of Senegambian music. The text in English, 3,202
lines long, is a linear translation of the jali’s performance, which lasted
two and a half hours. Neither an interpretation nor even a rewriting, the
story by the jali rendered here conveys as much as is possible in written
form the fl avor of the original narration. The introduction to the epic
and the annotations, which explain certain nuances of the text, clarify
the contextual and historic frame of this great epic work.
As “text,” the epic of Kelefaa represents the third published version
in English that describes the legendary life of Kelafaa Saane. The fi rst
version, by Bamba Suso, and the second, by Shirif Jebate, recorded by
Gordon Innes and fi rst published in one volume in 1978 (by the School
of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London) and re-
published in 2002 (by Routledge Curzon), are quite short (780 lines
and 533 lines, respectively). They are both out of print and contain far
fewer examples of the song and recitation modes typical of Mandinka
epics from the vast Mande region of West Africa than does this vol-
ume. It is this mode that gives the far more detailed 3,202 line narra-
tion by Camara stronger heroic resonances. For this reason, the epic
text presented here fi ts far more closely the epic tradition of the region,
has a heightened emotional impact on the Mandinka listener, is nearly
six times longer than the previous pair, and has more extensive anno-