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bakari jan

Ministère de l’information du Mali. 1971. Première anthologie de la musique malienne: 1. Le Mali des steppes et des savannes: Les Mandingues. Barenreiter Musicaphon, BM 30L 2501.

(Bakari-Jan)

Tonjon of Segu
What has Bakari-Jan done to you?
Families of Segu
What is it that Bakari-Jan has done to you?
The griots of the West
Play the four-string Nkoni
For Bakari-Jan
The Peul (Fulani) play the one-string Nkoni
For Bakari-Jan, Bakari-Jan of Sankaran . . .

This Bambara song sings of Bakari-Jan, son of Jan Kone and commander-in-chief of Da Jara, King of Segu, at the time when the country of Segu attacked that of Macina.

Sissoko, Bazoumana. 1972. Musique du Mali. Vol. 2. Bazoumana Sissoko, le vieux lion II. Barenreiter Musicaphon, BM 30L 2553.

(Bakari Jan)

Tonjon of Segu
What has Bakari-Jan done to you?
Family of Segu
What is it Bakari-Jan has done to you?
The griots of the West
Play the four-string nkoni
For Bakari-Jan
The Peul play the one-string nkoni
for Bakari-Jan, Bakari-Jan of Sankaran . . .

This Bambara song sings of Bakari-Jan, son of Jan Koné and commander-in-chief of Da Jara, king of Segu, at the time when the country of Segu attacked that of Macina.

Durán, Lucy. 2013. "Poyi! Bamana Jeli Music, Mali, and the Blues." Journal of African Cultural Studies 25 (2): 211-246.

(Bakari Jan)

p. 221

Much of what we know about this late pre-colonial period of Mali's history comes from the recitation of oral epics by Bamana jeliw, published in numerous transcriptions and translations. These focus on the esoteric power of one or two rulers (especially Da Monzon Diarra 1808-1827) and warriors (such as Bakari Jan Koné). The most detailed of these is a line-by-line transcription of performances by Tayiru Banbera (Conrad 1990; Banbera 1998) and constitutes 'one of the longest epics recorded in Africa' (Johnson, Hale, and Belcher 1997, 34).²¹

p. 226

There are two main Bamana pentatonic scales, corresponding roughly to CDEGA (major pentatonic) (for example, as in the song 'Da Monzon') and CDFGB flat, sometimes described as minor pentatonic (because of its flat seventh) (for example, as in the song 'Bakari Jan' or 'Sarafo'). However, these scales are not tempered, and intonation of particular pitches can vary in both vocal and instrumental performance, especially the second degree of the scale, which may be either flattened or sharpened as to sound between a major and a minor third, once again strongly reminiscent of the 'blues third'.

pp. 226-27

The Bamana repertoire consists mainly of a series of accompaniments and pre-composed songs that relate to specific rulers and warriors of the Segu Empire, in particular Bambugu Nce Diarra, son of Ngolo Diarra; Da Monzon Diarra, who ruled from 1808 to 1827 (as discussed above); and Bakari Jan Koné, a warrior by that name who was a contemporary of Da Monzon (see Conrad 1990).

One of the difficulties of assessing the scope of the Bamana repertoire is that musicians may collapse the time span of these characters and sing about all of them in one song, moving from one tune and chorus to another without a break. This is the case, for example, of one of the best-known recordings of Bamana music, an LP dating from c. 1977 by the Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali, entitled Dah Monzon ou l'épopée bambara, played frequently on Malian radio.³³ It features a large ensemble with various Mande jeli instruments, a male speaker, a female chorus and a solo female singer, Hawa Dramé. Part 1 (side A) begins with a slow version of the 'Bambugu Nce' song, which, like many Bamana fasaw (praise songs), is a lament. Its chorus mourns the passing of several rulers, by saying that 'their (alcohol) drinking days are over'.³⁴ Then at 5'' 21 it goes into the tune for 'Da Monzon', which remains the accompaniment until 15''40, when it changes into a faster, minor tune known as 'Segu tònjòn'. Part 2, on side B continues with the story of Bakari Jan. After the first minute of Da Monzon's tune, (including the chorus 'Ask Da' as described earlier on), the ensemble play Bakari Jan's tune³⁵ (Figures 10 and 11).

pp. 227-28

One of the most often recorded of the Bamana jeli tunes is dedicated to the warrior Bakari Jan Koné. A kind of superhero with extraordinary strength, the song celebrates his victory against Bilisi, a monstrous and powerful sorcerer who caused terror in Segu with his disdain for human life:

When he [Bilisi] was on his way to the drinking house he would capture any child he happened to meet.
He would take him and give him to the brewmasters. He would sell him.
The next time he went out for a drink,
Whoever's virgin daughter he met,
He would capture and sell her.
(Tayiru Banbera in Conrad 1990, 271)

Bakari Jan is remembered not only for his prowess as a warrior but also for his love of the ngòniba—hence the opening chorus in his song, juru naani fò, jeliw be juru naani fò ('the four strings, the jeliw are playing the four strings'). The ngòni riff for this tune is in the minor pentatonic.³⁷