(January 02, 2014) Written by Carmen McCain This week I have been teaching Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali re-told by D.T. Niane from the recitation by Guinean griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate. The epic is tied to the landscape and environment of the old Mali empire, stretching from current day Senegal to Niger Republic. “Listen to the story of the son of the Buffalo, the son of the Lion,” the griot recounts. The great emperor Sundiata’s mother is spiritually linked to the buffalo, and Sundiata inheri...

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