Moribayassa is played and danced if a wish is fulfilled The person whose wish was granted, dresses in a funny way, where the (old) clothing is a mixture of all kinds of pieces that really don’t go together. He / she dances around the village for a number of times to express the joy about the wish being fulfilled. Children follow and sing the chorus. After the village has been traversed, the clothes are left outside the village at a cross-road(or burned under a tree). Mamady Keïta calls this a woman-dance. When a woman experiences great problems like illness in the family of childlessness she can (only for once in her life) take a vow: ”When these problems are over I will dance the Moribayassa!”.
Moribayassa hé Moribayassa,
Moribayassa [name] nada, koanye yassa fö,
Moribayassa ka yassa ko, – ka yassa mu, – ka yassa don, -ka yassa fö
Moribayassa hé Moribayassa,
[name] has come to play the Moribayassa ,
it’s the Moribayassa that we play,
we have to wash (/dress / dance / play) the Moribayassa ,