Poetry
Aube africaine
Not translated into English
Fodéba Keïta · 1965
Synopsis
The collection brings together narratives in rhythmic prose, punctuated by musical indications, rather than poems in the strict sense, drawn from events of the colonial period. In the text that gives it its title, Naman, a young man from a Mandinka village, goes off to serve in the French army during the Second World War, and the narrative leads him as far as the camp at Thiaroye, in Senegal. “Minuit” tells of the place of song, music and dance among the Mandinka.
Context
The collection was published by Seghers in 1965 and extends the Poèmes africains published by the same house in 1950. Keïta had recorded “Aube africaine” with his ensemble, as a Mandinka poem, and had brought it to the stage in 1957 in the form of a theatre-ballet. The book was reissued by Présence africaine in 1994, then by L'Harmattan in 2005, with two texts fewer and “Le Maître d'école” added.
Who it is for
For those who want to read about colonisation and the Thiaroye massacre as told by a Guinean poet and stage performer.
Prizes and reception
Présence africaine regards “Minuit” as a reference text of committed African literature, the only writing of the period banned in French West Africa.