The West African Research Center (WARC) is the overseas head office of the West Africa Research Association (WARA).

French version

West African Research Center (WARC)
Rue E x Léon G. Damas, Fann Résidence
PO Box: 5456, Dakar Fann, Senegal
Tel:(221) 33 865 22 77 / Fax: (221) 33 824 20 58
boukibluesfestival@warc.sn
Website: www.warccroa.org

The West Africa Research Centre Programme
The Peace Initiative in Africa

presents
Bouki Blues Festival 3

Dakar-Jiloor, 25-30 June, 2010

Theme: Cultural Patrimony and the Peace Culture
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"The song of your blood will conquer vast machine guns and canons
Your word exciting fallacies and lies
No hate in your soul without hate, no trick of your soul without guile.
O black Martyrs of the immortal race, let me say the words that forgive"

Senghor: "Assasination"

General Presentation

Bouki is the word for hyena in Wolof, traditionally called 'Soruku' by the Bambara people. Similarly to Anansi or Ananzé of the Akan tradition, Bouki's character is symbolic of the presence and persistence of the African culture in America. Bouki has a long history, having survived in tales throughout Florida, Louisiana, the Bahamas, Haiti and Santa Domingo. It is thus not so suprising that both Senghor and Sadji chose to introduce this character in the primary school teachings of Black Africa in " The Wonderful Story of Leuk-the-hare [1953],a book of well-known tales, cherished by many generations of Africans from Dakar to Tananarive. The Bouki Blues Festival serves as a quest and recognition of the African roots prevalent in the imagination of Afro- Americans today. This particular edition of "Bouki Blues" will rhyme in the minds of many as a hymn propelling virtues of peace and reflection for the resolution of conflicts.

The Operational Framework of the Joking Relationship

The joking relationship or kinship of joking, called "kal" in Wolof, "dendiraagal" amongst the Pularophone people and "sanankuyaa" by the Manding, is a powerful means of pacification universally recognized and religiously preserved in West Africa. The 'joking relationship' is also present in the history of tale telling throughout the forests and savanahs, in which the adventures of Bouki the hyena are particularly effervescent. In the inauguration conference for the second edition of the Bouki Blues festival, Feu Pascal Baba Coulibaly, Mali's ex-Minister of Culture, used Bouki's character as a vehicle for the promotion of education and social harmony.
"The hyena, for the large number of people in the Sahara region, represents the principle means of a traditional method of teaching through excellence, the virtue of human community. The fact is that in Senegal, Guinea , in the North of the Ivory Coast, in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, amongst the traditional tales of community and destiny, it is this particular tale which maintains its pivotal role in proclaiming African ethics and morality, the central vertebrates of African society. The tale is emblematic of this joking relationship, holding a prominent position of privilege in African society. In this sense, Bouki's tale functions as a type of communal "punching ball", Bouki bears the weight of the joke whilst also providing a viable means of collective teaching. ".

Venues of the festival

Dakar

The small village of Ndaqar, originally spotted by the Europeans in the eighteenth century from their position at Bel-Air, directly facing Gorée Island, has since the nineteenth century become a vast West African metropolitan city, known today as Dakar. A real opening onto the expanses of the Atlantic, Dakar was the first site for the Festival of Black Art providing and proving to be an ideal place to reconnect the African continent with its diaspora scattered overseas around Europe, Asia and America. Over many centuries, the city has become a real melting pot of peoples from Senegambia, West Africa, Central Africa and the Orient. The social constitution of Dakar makes it the certain place for the celebration of peace and the propensity of the human spirit.

Jiloor Jijaak

Jiloor Jijaak or Jiloor-Siin, is the childhood town of Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegal's first post- independence President. It is a village of just 1,000 inhabitants situated along the Siin river, between Simal and Ndangaan, sitting next to the Saluum islands. Indeed, its charm and rural appeal are being increasingly recognized for their touristic potential. The village itself is best understood in the deep rooted history which lies at the heart of Siin. 'Le terroir', a unique word which cannot be directly translated, denotes an intrinsic attachment between an emotional sentiment and the history of the land. This understanding of the 'terroir' of Siin, is naturally a recognition of its admirable past, one built upon through successive country meetings, of tolerance and of patience. In acknowledging the roots of Blues in the Sahel and the Sudan of West Africa, it is therefore only appropriate that on such occasions, to celebrate and recognize its discourse, the centrality of the countryside in the trajectory of progression and development of Blues, is not forgotten.

The Committee
Ousmane Sène, English Department, UCAD, Director of WARC : Supervisor
Ibrahima Seck, History Department, UCAD, secretary- general of AROA : Coordinator
Mame Coumba Ndoye SAMBA, Public Relations Officer WARC : Assistant coordinator
Mamadou Wane, President Timtimol Area Association: Production and Coordination
Aminata Diaw Cissé, Philosophy Department, UCAD
Ibrahima Wane, Department of Modern Literature, UCAD: Artistic Director

Ibrahima Thioub, History department, UCAD, President of Aroa : Scientific Director
Henri Pierre Koubaka, Journalist, Project Administrator : Communication
Wilma E. Randle, Journalist-Historian : Communication, Production.
Madièye Mbaye, Cinema Technician : Audiovisual Documentation
Jeanne Diaw, Medical Doctor
Abdoulaye Niang, WARC Accountant and Treasurer
Nadia Rodriguez, Psychologist, member of the Timtimol Area Association: Production and coordination

Members of the local Committee of Jiloor Jijaak
Maliam Diouf
Mamadou Mignane Diouf
Abbas Bakhoum
Pierre Ngor Bakhoum
Biram Senghor
Daouda Thiaré
Latyr Senghor
Khane Diagne
Sophie Diouf

Invited Guests and Artists

Vieux Mac Faye
Alias Diallo
Bah Moody
Dia Brothers
Saaku Thioro Saar
Traditional singers of Jiloor and Yaayeem
The Fimela Joola Group (traditional)
Idy Aw
Gabi Nakodjé

Arrival at Jiloor (BBF 2, January 2005)
Traditional wrestling: BBF 2, Jiloor, January 2005	Audience traditional wrestling: BBF 2, Jiloor, January 2005
Vieux Mac Faye: BBF 2, Jiloor, January 2005	Super Chikan (USA): BBF 1, Saint-Louis, January 2002

PROGRAMME

Friday 25th June 2010
4pm - 7pm : West African Research Centre : Press conference. Viewing of film, Sweet Home Chicago.
7pm - 9pm : Timtimol Area : Musical showcase (Dia Brothers).

Saturday 26th June 2010
9am : Leave for Jiloor Jijaak.
12am : Traditional welcoming at Jiloor and a prayer ceremony at Mbind Jijaak.
5pm - 7pm: Ceremony of traditional wrestling (live showcase)
9pm : Jiloor Jijaak. Traditional singers from Yaayeem and Jiloor, The Fimela Joola Group Saaku Thioro Saar, Alias Diallo.

Sunday 27th June 2010
10am-1pm : Mbind Jogoy : Music workshop.
5pm-8pm : Jiloor Jijaak. Traditional wrestling.
9pm : Jiloor Jijaak. Concert: Gabi Nakodjé, Bah Moody, Idy Aw, Dia Brothers, Vieux MacFaye.

Monday 28th June 2010
10am : Return to Dakar.

Tuesday 29th June 2010
10am-5pm :Mariama Bâ School, Gorée : Day Workshop : " Using the memory of slavery as a resource for teaching and tourism ".

Wednesday 30th June 2010
10am-12am : Blaise Senghor Cultural Center. Morning with the children and story-tellers. Musical showcase: Bah Moody (Senegal), Fou Malade (Senegal), Kader Pichinini (Senegal).
5pm-9pm : West African Research Center : Round table discussion : "The role of peace in political action, thoughts and poetry of Senghor". Musical entertainment and closing ceremony.

Note: in the run up to the festival, the following films will be shown from Wednesday 23rd to Friday 25th June at WARC: The Land where the blues began (Alan Lomax), Feet don't fail me now- New Orleans Jazz Parades (Alan Lomax), Sweet Home Chicago (Alan & Susan Raymond).

Papers presented on the occasion of the Bouki Blues Festival 2