Literature Three négritude poets can be said to represent the French-speaking literature in Madagascar: Jacques Rabemananjara, Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo and Flavien Ranaivo. During the colonial period, attempts were made to introduce French as a cultural language, but Malagasy’s position was strong; It is written language centuries ago, and a large amount of written text is available.… Read More »
Literature, drama and theater Like other African countries, Malawi has a living oral tradition. The first books, in the 1930’s, were written on chewa and tumbuka. In the 1960’s, Aubrey Kachingwe, David Rubadiri and Legson Kayira published novels in English with topics such as prostitution, political corruption and cultural contradictions. Dramat fused inherited mask games… Read More »
Literature Mali’s French-language literature has emerged mainly after 1945. The upswing came at the end of the 1960’s, when Yambo Ouologuem published his historical fresco “Le Devoir de violence” (1968; “Violence”). It was a parody of the traditional chronicle form that can be said to form part of the so-called songhai tradition, where the stories… Read More »
Literature The year 1954 is usually regarded as the birth year of French-speaking literature in Morocco. Then “Boite à merveilles” (“The ashes with wonders”) was published by Ahmed Sefrioui and “Le Passé simple” (“Past time”) by Driss Chraai. The former can be said to be examples of ethnographic literature, viz. the depictions of Moroccan everyday… Read More »
Music Professional musicians, known by the Moors as iggiw and by groups of Sudanese descent gawlo or gesere, are all comparable to griots (see griot). The instruments are usually of Arab origin, e.g. the edge-blown flute zaouzaya or the flute type nefara, both of which are used for entertainment purposes. Among the stringed instruments of… Read More »
Literature, drama and theater Since independence in 1968, English has been the official language. However, the French language has continued to be the most prestigious literary language. The first major author to write in French was Léoville L’Homme (1857–1928), belonging to the Creole population. During the first half of the 20th century, Robert-Edward Hart was… Read More »
Literature The Portuguese colonial power’s attempt to eradicate the indigenous cultural traditions became unsuccessful, and many who had been assimilationists returned to their African culture and found literary expression for it. The newspaper O Brado Africano founded by black journalists in 1918 (‘The African Protest Troop’) meant a great deal to national identity, as did… Read More »
Arts and crafts Like in i.a. Liberia and the Ivory Coast play an important role in the secret societies in society, and much of the traditional arts and crafts are linked to them. Particularly well known is the female company sandes black colored helmet mask in wood. But even the male company poros many different… Read More »
Literature From Senegal come some of the most important authors of French-language African literature, most notably the country’s president in 1960–80, the poet Léopold Sédar Senghor, who launched the significant nitrite movement. Also mentioned is Birago Diop, perhaps best known as translator of traditional oral literature, as well as Ousmane Socé and Abdoulaye Sadji, who… Read More »
Music Traditional music has remained largely unchanged. At the center of the music are ritual dances that include. depicts historical and mythical episodes; the most famous dance is ikinimba. The most important instruments include ingoma drums of various sizes, the large trough citra inanga, the musical bow (umuduri), the one-stringed string instrument inigiri, tumpiano (ikembe)… Read More »