The unusually long version of West African Mande epic transcribed and translated for this book is an extravagant demonstration of the extremes to which Mande bardic artistry can be carried. The text presented here is the result of multiple recording sessions with an extraordinarily creative oral artist who augmented key episodes of the Sunjata epic that devolved to him from his own father, as well as previous generations of Maninka and Bamana griots of north-eastern Guinea and southern Mali. In marked contrast to versions of the Sunjata epic recounted by other griots, an essential part of this narrators performance-style is to season familiar episodes with cultural details and digress into explanations not usually offered by other bards.
List of Figures Notes on Nomenclature and Translation Major Characters
of the Sunjata Epic according to Djanka Tassey Condé Glossary
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Great Sogolons House - Contents by line numbers - Text
Appendices - Transcript of a performance by Mori Sanda Condé of Fadama from
the market cassette Union Mandeng - Last interview with Tassey Condé at
Fadama - Visit to Fadama for condolences on the death of Djanka Tassey Condé,
interview with jelikuntigi Mandjan Condé - Note from Babou Condé II - Fadama
Condé descent from Adam - Notice of the death of Babou Condé II by Djibril
Tamsir Niane - The Condé explanation of how they became jeliw - Evidence of a
possible blntigi succession dispute among the Condé bards of Fadama
Works Consulted Index
David Conrad received his Ph.D. in African History from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1981. He is Emeritus Professor of History, State University of New York at Oswego, and was President of the Mande Studies Association 1986-2008. His research is on oral tradition, indigenous religion and early kingdoms of the Western Sudan. Among his books are A State of Intrigue: The Epic of Bamana Segu According to Tayiru Banbera (British Academy, 1990), Epic Ancestors of the Sunjata Era: Oral Tradition from the Maninka of Guinea (University of Wisconsin, 1999), Somono Bala of the Upper Niger: River People, Charismatic Bards, and Mischievous Music in a West African Culture (Brill, 2002), Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples (Hackett Publishing, 2004), and the prize-winning Empires of Medieval West Africa (Chelsea House Publishers, 2010).
