African historical literature was largely ignored until the 1960s. Since then, it has helped to fill in many gaps in medieval African history.
As an oral history, the Mande Epic of Son-Jara suffers from the same problem as Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon literature and The Song of Roland in French literature. Written down centuries after the fact (The Epic of Son-Jara was finally set down in print by Mandinka bard Fa-Digi Sisoko 1968), it recounts a tale that has been told and retold and polished and changed around a thousand times, much like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. However, unlike the Iliad and Odyssey, or Beowulf, we know for a fact that some of the figures in the Epic are historical, not mythical.
As this week's article shows, Son-Jara was a real king, the founder of the Mali Empire over a century later. We know this because the North African traveler Ibn Battuta mentions Son-Jara's victory over his enemies in the next century. As in The Song of Roland, the basic events appear to be true. This therefore makes some of the aspects of Son-Jara's story quite fascinating.
We can approach with considerable skepticism the claim in the Epic that Son-Jara (historically known as Sundiata) was descended from Bilal, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, through his father. However, a look at how Son-Jara survives childhood and builds up his power base against the occupying Susu King Sumamuru (also an historical figure) in the Epic explains why his descendants would make the claim. His mother is a powerful sorceress in her own right; she and Son-Jara's other female relatives bring their considerable and formidable family connections to his side in his revolt. In Son-Jara's society, family is everything. Though the society is becoming nominally Muslim, even Islam must bow at this point in Malian history to family ties and therefore, Son-Jara's connection to Islam in the epic must be familial to have any legitimacy.
Recent research indicates that the epic might have begun as a series of praise songs for Sundiata by his descendants. Praise singing is a quite old tradition in Africa that is slowly dying out. A traditional (i.e. pre-colonial) African leader's public image is largely based on the number, reputation and skill of his praise singers. Praise singers walk ahead of the leader, announcing his presence with epithets of praise. However, they might also list histories of his forbears along with descriptions of their main accomplishments. Hence the possible origins of the Epic of Son-Jara in songs of praise for his descendants.
Beverly Mack has studied praise singers (zabiya) of the Emir of Kano in northern Nigeria, and included some of their songs in an accompanying CD in her book "Muslim Women Sing: Hausa Popular Song" (2004).
