For the first part of the Sahara series, see Birth and Evolution of a Desert. The harsh desert conditions of the Sahara, as we know it today, prohibited extensive contact between northern Africa and their southern neighbors for a very long time. Before the camel was introduced, people did undertake the journey on foot or …
The West African puppeteer lurches, leans and sways, giving himself over to the demands of his carved creation. He is at once ajogi, a Yoruba dancer of the wooden image, and nyamakala, a Malinke force-handler, as he pulls on the ropes and rods of some of the oldest and richest of Africa’s surviving puppetry traditions. …
For the second part of the Sahara series, see Crossing the Desert. Covering a vast area ranging from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, the largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara, is approximately the size of the entire United States or China. But its effects are felt well beyond its borders. Sand storms relentlessly …
Oju to ba ri oju to ba ri Gèlèdé ti de opin iran The eyes that have seen Gèlèdé have seen the ultimate spectacle In praise of awon iya wa, our mothers ― a Yoruba tribute to the spiritual powers of women The Gèlèdé, Through the Eyes of the Observer “The preliminary performances heighten the crowd’s excitement …
“Bogolan cloth is literally made of the earth, forests, rivers and sun of Mali.” ― Kandiora Coulibaly, Groupe Bogolan Kasobane And it was through the harnessing of natural materials ― the iron-rich mud of river-beds, the extracts of leaves, bark, and roots, and the energy of the intense West African sunlight ― that the Bambara …
Oral histories all agree that the Ashanti were originally part of a unified Akan clan that included the Fante, Wassaw and other Twi-speaking people. But it is in the specifics of its subsequent division that stories begin to diverge. In one legend, it is Fulani invaders, destroying the Akan’s crops and forcing them to forage …
Somewhere in the Futa Tooro region of Senegal, a Tukolor weaver, or mabube, reenacts an ancient ritual. He gathers his loom parts — pulley, wheel, shuttle, beater that have been carved for him and him alone — bringing them back, each and every day, to a framework that does not uniquely belong to him. Although he …
As the Mandika proverb goes, “the roof of a hut from one village will never fit a hut in a different village.” The same is true of language: the script of one will never perfectly fit the language of another. Thus, Souleymane Kanté created the N’Ko () alphabet in 1949 to suit the sounds of …
“Rhythm is the soul of life. The whole universe revolves in rhythm. Everything and every human action revolves in rhythm.” ― Babatunde Olatunji The Integral Nature of West African Rhythm So synonymous is rhythm with life and movement, that many sub-Saharan languages, like Igbo, Efik, Hausa and Yoruba, do not have a distinct, disambiguating, …
In most cultures, it would be rude to openly mock a complete stranger, absolutely insulting to call them a slave, and downright criminal to waltz into their home and steal their television. Within the context of joking relationships — or “cousinage”, sinankunya in Mali, rakiré in Burkina Faso — these things can be perfectly acceptable …