kulanjan
Ministère de l'information du Mali. 1971. Première anthologie de la musique malienne: 5. Cordes anciennes. Barenreiter Musicaphon, BM 30L 2505.
(Kulanjan)
After the great huntings this song, which is a compliment to the hunters, is still sung and danced in our villages.
Oh Kulanjan, you are indeed
A great hunter
May God grant you a long life...
Konte, Lamine. 1975. La kora: Les rythmes, les percussions et la voix de Lamine Konté. Vol. 2. Arion, ARN 33313.
(Koulandian)
Musique et danse de chasseurs en Guinée.
Durán, Lucy. 1995. "Birds of Wasulu: Freedom of Expression and Expressions of Freedom in the Popular Music of Southern Mali." British Journal of Ethnomusicology 4: 101-34
(Koulandjan)
p. 112
Two of the oldest and most important songs in the jeli's repertoire commemorate birds: Koulandjan (marabou stork), is a song in praise of hunters, and Duga (the vulture) is about bravery in battle.25
Kaba, Mamadi. 1995. Anthologie de chants mandingues (Côte d'Ivoire, Guinée, Mali). Paris: Harmattan.
(Koulandian1)
p. 22
Le vautour était l'oiseau sacré du Manding. Tout comme Koulandian, on lui dédiait des sacrifices et ses décisions étaient péremptoires et exécutoires.
pp. 62-63
KOULANDIAN1
Oh Bala Koulandian,
Tu es un vrai géant
Oh Sorcier puissant,
Je te souhaite longue vie !
Les lions se sont réunis
Pour se choisir un roi
Et quand tu leur donnas l'ordre
D'annuler leur réunion
Alors, ils se sont dispersés
Et leur réunion s'est terminée
En queue de poisson.
Les hybnes [sic] se sont réunies
Pour se choisir une reine
Et quand tu leur donnas l'ordre
D'annuler leur réunion
Alors, elles se sont dispersées
Et leur réunion s'est terminée
En queue de poisson.
Sur ton ordre, Oh ! Koulandian,
Les autres animaux ont annulé
La réunion qu'ils tenaient
Dans le même dessein.
Oh, Bala Koulandian !
Oh toi, hyène à jeun !
Toi, vipère à neuf têtes !
Koulandian, génie du fleuve,
Je te souhaite longue vie.
1 Ce morceau est chanté par le griot à l'adresse d'une haute personnalité en pays malinké. Le griot montre du doigt celui à l'intention duquel il chante. Parfois son chant est repris en choeur par des chanteuses. Ce chant a déjà été enregistré sur disque par l'ensemble [sic] Instrumental et Choral de Guinée. Mais dans cet enregistrement, le mot "Simbo", Sorcier-Chasseur, a été remplacé par le mot "semba", éléphant, symbole du Parti Démocratique de Guinée de Sékou Touré.
A l'origine, ce chant est dédié au simbo, c'est-à-dire au grand chasseur qui est toujours aussi le connaisseur des plantes et des animaux sauvages, le sorcier connu à vingt lieues à la ronde, respecté et craint de tous.
Mandeng Tunya. 1997. M’Fake. Mandinka Magic Music. U.S. cassette.
(Koulandjan)
Written for a great hunter named Bala Koulandjan, this song predates the kora and was composed on djeli ngoni by a man named Kawa. Although primarily a story/praise song, the traditional verson includes verses lamenting the disappearance of the old patterns of life, most notably hunting.
Charry, Eric. 2000. Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press.
(Kulanjan)
p. 66
Cissé believes that hunters' societies predate the formation of the "rigid structure of Malinke society" and the coming of Islam.
Finally, the great interest that the dosoto [hunters' society] presents for us is that it was able to guard almost intact the ancient foundations of Sudanese beliefs. By its songs, stories, and secular rites, it continues to vigorously perpetrate the most ancient myths of the Sudan, notably those relating to the vulture, snake, hyena, and kulãdyã [eagle], despite the continually growing and destructive influence of Islam in the Manding. (Y. Cissé 1964:176)
p. 82
Although Wasulu music has made a significant impact on a national Malian musical identity in the past decade, . . . Maninka simbi music has had a more far reaching impact on western African music, most likely because of the spread of Maninka culture. Three pieces in particular, commonly believed to have originated on the simbi, have gained widespread currency: Janjon, Kulanjan (Long-crested eagle), and Balakononifin (of Balakononinfin; Little black bird of the river.)19
. . . The vocal melodies that jelis use for Janjon and Kulanjan are not the same as those used by Bala Djimba Diakite. . . .
19. Kulanjan (or Kolanjan), from kulan (anvil) jan (long), has been defined as an "eagle with a long occipital [back of the head] crest" (Delafosse 1955:422) and as "Pelecanus rufenscens, Pelecanus onocrotalus"(gray or white pelican) (K. Kone 1995:228; Bailleul 1996:441). Y. Cissé (1994:134), who refers to the bird as a fisher eagle or royal eagle, provides an origin myth linking it to the primordial blacksmith’s anvil.
p. 83
The significance of ritual songs is still maintained in Mande society and widely respected.
. . . As for Kulanjan (Hunter-eagle), it belongs to hunters renowned for their skill . . .
Kulanjan, also known simply as Donso foli (Hunter's music), has no associations outside hunting as Janjon does. Janjon and Kulanjan form the oldest layer of the jeli's repertory.22
21. For transcriptions of lyrics to . . . Kulanjan, see Y. Cissé (1994:133–34, 353–57) and M. Kaba (1995:62–63) . . .
pp. 87–89
(See Charry, 2000.) (Simbi transcriptions w. discussion.)
p. 148
p. 149
The simbi is sometimes cited as the ultimate source of the jeli's repertory, contributing pieces such as Janjon and Kulanjan.
p. 152
Janjon and Kulanjan (also known as Donso fòli) belong to the oldest layer of the jeli's repertory.
pp. 183–84
(See Charry, 2000.) (Bala and simbi transcriptions.)
. . . Kulanjan, a signature piece of the hunter that comes from the simbi . . .
pp. 398–401 (Appendix C: Recordings of Traditional and Modern Pieces in Mande Repertories)
Simbi: Kulanjan
Ensemble Instrumental [Africain] de la Radiodiffusion Nationale (1970, Guinea Compilations 1998, vol. 1)
Batrou Sekou Kouyate and N'Fa Diabate (Ministry of Information of Mali, 1971, vol. 5)
Kandia Kouyate (Balassama, 198?)
Kasse Mady Diabate (1990)
Diaba Koita (mislabeled as Lelile-Mireille Gassama, 199?)
Moussa Keita (Mambi fassa, 1997?)
Bangoura, Mohamed "Bangouraké." 2004. Djembe Kan.
(Kulanyan)
From Mali and Guinea.
Kulanyan is also a song about the Manding people. This is a very old song and is very historical. It is a song about the people who are the leaders and who ruled the Manding village. The family names Camara, Souma, Fakolie, Kouyate and Dabo were amongst the most powerful of the Mandng. We still sing about these people.
Dioubate, Famoro. 2014. Kontendemi. Self-produced.
(Koulandgan)
This song is called kulanjan. Some people kind of say: "kulan." Kulanjan . . . kulan. It's a very old song in the Mande empire—for the hunter.
Transcription mine. (Adapted.)