Now to recap one or two points before I put up the 'video' montage of our next Salia song. I've argued that the song that was published in translation almost sixty-one years ago was sung by Salia.
Combine and recombine: Quite naturally, there're some differences between the translated published song and what I shall be putting up. But as I pointed out, that's hardly surprising with Salia. There's always some difference between various versions of Salia's songs. I have in my possession two versions of The Flight from the Wonde. One opens in Teyama (Taiama) and ends in Pewahun; the other version opens in Kono country, then goes through Mano Dasse, Teyama, and ends in Pewahun. I have three versions of Mende Gendei, and I'm sure there're more than three out there. This tells us that Salia, perhaps depending on circumstances such as who he was playing for, how tired he was, or how much of a hurry he was in to get to the next 'gig,' could lengthen or shorten his compositions, combine and recombine certain elements of his songs. But in the main, the song remains the same across versions.
Translations: And now I've to tackle the question of translation. Overall, it's unnecessary to argue whether Dr Little's translation was good or bad; we don't have the recording he did that day in 1947. Suffice to say, for me at least, it's good, the translation, I mean; and he thought a loose, or "free" translation would serve his purposes best. Anyone who's listened to Salia for a while, especially to that song, coming across Dr Little's translation would just straight away tell themselves- 'That's Salia, of course.' My translation has chosen to adhere as closely as possible to the patterns not only of the Mende language, but especially of Salia's lyrical use of the same. Salia always has a surprise in his usages, as if he's toying with your understanding of the various levels of meaning of a word or an expression. I've taken note of that. But as the saying goes, "the translator is a traitor." A 100% faithfulness is therefore out of the question. But Im pretty close, if I can say so myself! Let me know where and how you'd put it differently.
Editor's notes: In Little's article, one of the footnotes was at pains to point out the similarities between that Mende song and Giovanni Bocaccio's Decameron (1353), and Apuleius's The Golden Ass (2nd century AD), among others. But of course, all Salia's ballads are similar in "manner and incident" to the stories in The Decameron. As for Apuleius's novel, you'd have to listen to the ballad "Blow, Jinna Mangoe, blow" to be actually blown away by Salia Koroma. When, in the future, I put up that song I shall try to draw the (very minor) similarities (and the great gap)between the story in The Golden Ass and the one in "Feh, Jinna Mangoe, feh!" (Blow, Jinna Mangoe, blow.)
January 30, 2009
January 23, 2009
Defence Case: Exhibit B
{It's been over a month since the last post, a lifetime in the world of blogging. I missed the deadline I'd given myself to post the ballad I strongly believe Kenneth Little should've attributed to Salia Koroma. My apologies.}
Introduction: For the next piece of evidence pointing to Salia as the singer in Dr Little's 1948 publication, I'm going to depend on the article itself and other Salia songs. And I'm doing this in spite of the fact that Little had opted for a "free" translation instead of one that tries to be faithful to the original 'text.' I'm going to highlight some motifs in the translation and show that these are found throughout Salia's work.
In the second instance I'll point out what may be called discrepancies between the 1948 Man publication and the song I'll be putting up. Expect me to counter such an objection with concrete evidence showing there's no difference. I'll demonstrate, with two little snippets, that these kinds of 'discrepancies' are found in various versions of Salia's works, and that they don't point to different composers.
The personal is always a feature of Salia's compositions. His life was never out of bounds; the singer takes centre stage even when the stories he narrates show him in not very flattering light. In fact that's the case with all the ballads. In this story he runs away from a wronged husband; in another he's trying to put some distance between himself and a Koranic teacher and a poor Syrian trader, both of whom insist on going on the road with him; in another he's running away from an autocratic chief; in yet another, he's fleeing from a witch he had fallen in love with; or he's fleeing from the Wonde Society. The stories are countless, and in each it's his wit that ultimately saves him. In each song, he escapes to compose another song on another episode in "The Adventures of Salia Koroma." And they all have another feature that Little points out about the published song: the humour that runs through the narration
The Fast Woman-She's a permanent motif running through Salia's work, to the point that a paean's often sung to her wiles, her strength, and her insight. These unattached or ready women would've played a big part in Salia's life as a man on the road; at least his songs give that impression. Dr Little translates "poegbua nyaha" as "prostitute," but I believe that's pushing the meaning of that word. The nearest meaning would be "loose." "Poegbua" means to have an illicit affair, so that a married man or woman having an extra-marital affair would've "poegbuanga," had an affair. In the version of the song I shall be putting up, Salia calls himself a "poegbua hindo" (fast fellow) out looking for a "poegbua nyaha" (fast woman). He wouldn't be calling himself a prostitute looking for a prostitute, would he?
Patrol: This word came up in my first Salia Koroma song, Ko Sao. Here it is in Little's translation. It's a recurrent word in the Salia body of work. There's nothing more to say here.
Discrepancies? The song in Little's translation is arranged differently from the one I'll be putting up, but that's nothing new in Salia's work. As illustration, I'm putting up two abridged versions of the same song: "Fishing for Our Lord." The older version, transferred from a hissing 78 LP, has about 35 seconds of poetic prelude before going into the body of the song, the Fishing Expedition (a search for freedom). But scattered throughout that version are poetic lines. In the second version (playing first), recorded in 1980, Salia has gathered up all those lines and brought them to the fore to form 2 solid minutes of poetry. In the first version, the search lasts for 6 minutes; in the second version, it's 8 minutes. The fishing itself lasts longer in the older version. In the older version, the specific body of water he wants- njagbo- isn't defined and characterised until he crosses two rivers, whereas in the more recent version, we're told what the njagbo stands for in Mende cosmology before the slave wades into any water in search of freedom. The older version has three movements, viz: the reason for the expedition and the search for a specific but hard to find waterway; the catch or lack thereof; and the legend of Fawonde. The 1980 version, on the other hand, has four parts: the prelude; the reason, and the search; the frustrating catch; and the legend of Fawonde.
"Fishing for Our Lord"
In the illustration, there're only about two minutes each of the versions of "Fishing for Our Father." The older version plays second. My next post will include the Prelude to the Yohmie (with subtitles) that has made so much ink to flow over the past sixty years. You'll love it when I do.
Introduction: For the next piece of evidence pointing to Salia as the singer in Dr Little's 1948 publication, I'm going to depend on the article itself and other Salia songs. And I'm doing this in spite of the fact that Little had opted for a "free" translation instead of one that tries to be faithful to the original 'text.' I'm going to highlight some motifs in the translation and show that these are found throughout Salia's work.
In the second instance I'll point out what may be called discrepancies between the 1948 Man publication and the song I'll be putting up. Expect me to counter such an objection with concrete evidence showing there's no difference. I'll demonstrate, with two little snippets, that these kinds of 'discrepancies' are found in various versions of Salia's works, and that they don't point to different composers.
The personal is always a feature of Salia's compositions. His life was never out of bounds; the singer takes centre stage even when the stories he narrates show him in not very flattering light. In fact that's the case with all the ballads. In this story he runs away from a wronged husband; in another he's trying to put some distance between himself and a Koranic teacher and a poor Syrian trader, both of whom insist on going on the road with him; in another he's running away from an autocratic chief; in yet another, he's fleeing from a witch he had fallen in love with; or he's fleeing from the Wonde Society. The stories are countless, and in each it's his wit that ultimately saves him. In each song, he escapes to compose another song on another episode in "The Adventures of Salia Koroma." And they all have another feature that Little points out about the published song: the humour that runs through the narration
The Fast Woman-She's a permanent motif running through Salia's work, to the point that a paean's often sung to her wiles, her strength, and her insight. These unattached or ready women would've played a big part in Salia's life as a man on the road; at least his songs give that impression. Dr Little translates "poegbua nyaha" as "prostitute," but I believe that's pushing the meaning of that word. The nearest meaning would be "loose." "Poegbua" means to have an illicit affair, so that a married man or woman having an extra-marital affair would've "poegbuanga," had an affair. In the version of the song I shall be putting up, Salia calls himself a "poegbua hindo" (fast fellow) out looking for a "poegbua nyaha" (fast woman). He wouldn't be calling himself a prostitute looking for a prostitute, would he?
Patrol: This word came up in my first Salia Koroma song, Ko Sao. Here it is in Little's translation. It's a recurrent word in the Salia body of work. There's nothing more to say here.
Discrepancies? The song in Little's translation is arranged differently from the one I'll be putting up, but that's nothing new in Salia's work. As illustration, I'm putting up two abridged versions of the same song: "Fishing for Our Lord." The older version, transferred from a hissing 78 LP, has about 35 seconds of poetic prelude before going into the body of the song, the Fishing Expedition (a search for freedom). But scattered throughout that version are poetic lines. In the second version (playing first), recorded in 1980, Salia has gathered up all those lines and brought them to the fore to form 2 solid minutes of poetry. In the first version, the search lasts for 6 minutes; in the second version, it's 8 minutes. The fishing itself lasts longer in the older version. In the older version, the specific body of water he wants- njagbo- isn't defined and characterised until he crosses two rivers, whereas in the more recent version, we're told what the njagbo stands for in Mende cosmology before the slave wades into any water in search of freedom. The older version has three movements, viz: the reason for the expedition and the search for a specific but hard to find waterway; the catch or lack thereof; and the legend of Fawonde. The 1980 version, on the other hand, has four parts: the prelude; the reason, and the search; the frustrating catch; and the legend of Fawonde.
"Fishing for Our Lord"
In the illustration, there're only about two minutes each of the versions of "Fishing for Our Father." The older version plays second. My next post will include the Prelude to the Yohmie (with subtitles) that has made so much ink to flow over the past sixty years. You'll love it when I do.
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