Bara is a rhythm originating from South-Mali. Dance of the ‘nobel’ people. Once a year a great feast is held at the village. The king comes to the village for this occasion. Nowadays also at mariages and other party’s. This is a version for two douns standing up (here named as sangban and kenkeni) , played with two sticks.
Heard during the dance class of Laye Diallo:
N’ganamo, N’ganamo, fantale warafama koumbafo
Koo tomatingeba fama yorode, dundunbara songa ye
Heard on track Segu Tonjon on CD Segu Blue
of Basekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba:
N’ganamo, N’ganamo, fandan de manafa ma koumafo
Koo doumatingjeba make bo-o ke woro koumba kele zongo ye
N’ganamo, N’ganamo, fantale manafama koumafo
Koo doumatjingeba make bo-o ke woro koumba kele zonge ye
In the CD-booklet it says: Da Monzon Diarra (ruled from 1808 – 1827) was one of the most powerfull and famous of the Bamana rulers (faama) remembered and admired by the griots for his generosity and his fearless slave army (tonjon), who had their own strange, grotesque dances with jerky movements. There are several well known versions of this song, otherwise known as Da Monzon. The song says: “If a poor person talkes about Da Monzon he’ll sell that person for the price of one kola nut. Da Monzons children are not like any others. An orphean overhears allways the chatting of parents; a woman with no husband allways overhears the chatting of a woman with her husband; a man with no wife allways overhears the conversation of a man and his wife. Da Monzons soldiers do no good. They wait untill the men of a village are off fighting, then go in and sleep with their wives. The tonjon eat salted dogs meat (a meat forbidden to muslims). If you put fresh peanuts in the pot, and you ask a leper to pull them out with his fingerless hand, you mocking him”.