—
In my view Plato and Africa are not
very far from each other.
History, men, have distanced them.
(Soulemayne Mbodj)
—
In this interview with Gastón Alzate, Souleymane Mbodj discusses several issues relating to the interweaving of performing cultures. These include the unity of literature and the performing arts in Africa; his views on African and Western philosophy; his experience playing Bach’s second prelude in C minor with Lebanese and Armenian musicians; the appropriation processes and cultural fractures resulting from colonization; and the essential value of black music in the Americas for African communities to recover cultural ties shattered by the slave trade. He shares his thoughts on the crossroads and divergences between Africa and the West regarding ways of thinking and conceptions of art. The interview took place in the context of the Kosmopolis International Literature Festival in Barcelona (March 24-26, 2011). Souleymane Mbodj performed alongside Nicolás Buenaventura and Marta Gómez in a show entitled Giving Birth: The Adventure of Thought. The original interview was in French; it was translated into English by Paola Marin.
Gastón Alzate: Why is it that storytelling and music cannot be separated?
Souleymane Mbodj: I was born in Senegal, West Africa.1 My mother passed on the stories to me. My mother and father used to tell me stories every day. I started to memorize them when I was five. My parents died early but left me many stories and a great desire to carry on this task. Also at five, I started learning percussion at home, always through stories and with stories, because each story has a rhythm. For example, if I have to learn a triple meter measure, such as the waltz, for me it corresponds to the antelope story because when the antelope runs it produces such a rhythm. When people say triple meter rhythm we say antelope. When we say lion, it is a 4/4 meter, because when the lion goes hunting it does so in 4/4 rhythm. This is how I learned both music and stories. There is a rhythm for every symbolic animal, a song, and a story. In Western music conservatories rhythm is studied through note reading, which is completely abstract. In Africa one learns rhythm along with words, by ear. When I tell stories I always play the music that corresponds to the tale. In Senegal we have a saying: “a story without music is like a plant without sun.” This is why in my stories there are always chants, rhythms, and melodies. Music for us is neither ornament nor decoration. Music in Africa is not an accompaniment. It does not exist separately. It is not an art that can be played for its own sake, just to be listened to. It is related to stories, animals, and the movements it generates in our bodies.
Gastón: Can you talk about the importance of music and storytelling for social life?
Souleymane: Sure. Before talking about my work, I must talk about storytelling and education in Senegal. In my country the key experiences for child development, what in the future will be the child’s moral and philosophical beliefs, are given to children through tales, proverbs, riddles, and sayings. It is a highly intellectual education because we must constantly discover and decipher the meaning of tales, and solve riddles and enigmas. Education through oral literature—tales, legends, and myths—is fundamentally a lesson in civics and morals. From the moment the child is able to differentiate his right hand from his left hand, he must learn to limit his whims and control his selfishness. Children must always be surrounded by adults and this is how we go from family life to collective life without even realizing it. From very early on children know they are part of a group that is constantly engaged in activities such as celebrations with dance, stories, and percussion. This is how I started to learn stories when I was five.
Listen to AUDIO I from interview with Souleymane Mbodj (G. Alzate, 2011).
Gastón: How did your relationship with French culture begin?
Souleymane: Immediately after I began learning stories from my family, I also started to attend a French school, because French is the official and mandatory language of Senegal. However, in my family we speak Wolof and Fulani, two languages widespread in West Africa and almost throughout the entire continent. Wolof is the native language of 40% of the Senegalese, and 80% of the people in the country speak it. Other languages are Peul, Diola, Mandinga, and Soniké. French arrived in my life along with my parents’ stories. Then, when I was eleven, I went to Dakar to study at what in France they call a lycée. When I was fifteen I went to drama school. In Africa, theater, dance, tales, and music are studied and produced together. We consider them the same art. They are not meant to be separated. This corresponds to the fact that Africans do not separate word, music, and the body. This is a huge difference from the West. This is very similar to what I saw in Colombia [Latin America]. Word and music are connected at the level of popular culture.
- Souleymane Mbodj was born in the Saint-Louis region of Senegal. As a child, he learned percussion and storytelling from his family. He studied drama and music in Dakar, after which he obtained a grant to travel to Paris where he graduated with a DESS (Diplôme d’Études Supérieures Spécialisées) in international economics. Simultaneously, he took courses in philosophy and the history of religion and studied classical percussion and jazz guitar at the Conservatoire International de Musique. He became a French citizen and currently lives in Paris. He is dedicated to the transmission of African oral literature, philosophy, percussion, and musicology. He has taught and lectured at several institutions and universities, including the CFMI (Centre de Formation de Musiciens Intervenants), Université Paris-Sud, Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres, and various conservatories. He frequently presents his storytelling in festivals, theaters, museums, television, and radio. Souleymane also plays jazz and contemporary music with various ensembles and orchestras, has recorded several CDs, and has published several books on African tales with Milán et Oskar Jeunesse editions. [↩]