Culture
Borders younger than the songs
A griot in Gabú sings a lineage that runs through three modern countries without pausing at any of them.
He begins with a name from the eighteenth century and works forward. It takes eleven minutes. He does not hesitate once.
Halfway through, the lineage crosses what is now the Senegalese border, then what is now the Gambian one, then comes back. The song was composed before any of those lines existed.
“The family did not move. The map moved.”
Field reporter
Amadou
Films and writes from the road. Travels between Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Mali, and brings back what he finds.
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