Thoughts on Wolosso

[music]

I'm interested to hear thoughts and info on Wolosso, and Jonfoly. Players/teachers, rhythmic info, regions, purposes, etc. Just wanting to see what kind of info there is out there on the subject.

I have some info myself but would prefer to see how the conversation develops minus that initial stimulus, and then offer up my own experiences with the rhythms.

thanks

[Michel]

This is what I found on Wolossodon:

"Jondon/Wolosodon
Lots of misinformation is floating around about jondon/wolosodon: it’s about slavery; it’s about transatlantic slavery; the movements express the way captured Africans embraced during the Middle Passage.

Any discussion about this dance has to start with the structure of Mande society. Traditionally, three main groups existed: the freeborn, which included nobles and commoners; the artisans who worked with leather, iron and words and the slaves called jon or woloso. The jon were people who were enslaved, either because they were captives of war, or sold into slavery for some infraction such as a crime, while the woloso were domestic slaves who worked in the household or in the field. In the Mande system, the woloso – or household slave – had certain rights. S/he could farm property, and expect certain responsibilities from his/her owner.

Notice, I said traditionally. I don’t mean to imply that slavery still exists among the Mande people. But the Woloso have an important societal role; they can be the jesters who use bawdy language and jesting to diffuse conflicts, or provide commentary. Thus the dances jondon and wolosodon would dance performed by members to that social group. (Thanks to Prof. Barbara Hoffman of Cleveland State University for this explanation.)

When Americans hear slavery, they think about plantations and the South. However, Mande slavery differed from slavery in the United States in an important respect; the legal status of the slave. In the United States, a slave was property, much as a house would be today. Thus the slave was an asset that added to the slave-owner’s bottom line. Owners were taxed on the value of their slaves. Those same slaves could be sold of the owner needed to liquidate his/her assets.
For more information, visit this page on the Mandinka tribe from Access Gambia."

Website where I found it:
http://dance1400.wordpress.com/the-danc ... wolosodon/

I found the woloso still exists in Mande-areas. So nice political incorrect people still call each other slave. But as described here not always in the way we know slavery.

[bubudi]

great post, michiel. there certainly is a lot of misinformation about this subject. i've seen a couple of links before where people were claiming that jondon is the dance of slavery and wolosodon represented the breaking of the chains, so to speak. it's good to go into the history of mande to dig out the real story.

the mande epic and the constitution that was laid out after the mande empire was established (kurukan fuga), make references to the jon and woloso. as i understand it, woloso means 'born into the [master's] house' - so they are the children and grandchildren of jon. jon are different from woloso because they 'let' themselves become slaves - either they could not repay loans, or committed crimes, or were captured during war. woloso were born into this status and were treated better than jon.

the kurukan fuga makes a distinction between two types of jon: mina jon are those captured during war, and san jon are those that were bought and sold.

woloso could not be bought and sold. they would be employed by their masters until such time as they were freed. a great deal of woloso took their master's family names.

regarding jon and woloso as rhythms, most malian djembefolas i've asked have said that they are the same. abdoul doumbia has put them down separately in his book. it seems that the popular woloso foli is ternary, and the popular jon foli usually starts out binary. usually it ends up getting faster and turning ternary, like many other malian rhythms - and at that point it is woloso foli. so it appears some people are treating it as two related rhythms, while the majority treat it as one rhythm with 2 phases. however, there are regional variations. i'm hoping to get to hear some of those.

[Michel]

And here's even more: Just got Abdoul Doumbia's cd 'Denbaya' with the post. Looking for info on the Wolosodon rhythm he says:

"Wolosodon also called Jondon was danced by the slaves and their descendents. It was often used for begging. It took seven generations to become completely from slavery. The names of the seven generations are as follows: Jon, Woloso, Gawulou, Nambo, Koule, Chapurucha and Horon, the seventh generation which is made clean and becomes a noble (!). This version feature's Abdoul displaying his reknowned Jeli dunun skills."

That's interesting. It shows that your family won't be slave forever, at the end you even become horon.

[bubudi]

that's nice info there. however, there is an inconsistency between this info from abdoul (i.e wolosodon, also called jondon), and the info in his book, where he lists them as somewhat different rhythms. i will dig out his book shortly and add any extra info i find there.

[Michel]

I get inconsistent info from my teachers all the time...... I must have the book as well somewhere. Let's have a look. I have to dive into notations of rhythms though, not my favorite subject.

And don't you get curious at this point to hear which kind of information 'music' has on the subject?

[bops]

My experience is that Wolosodon and Jondon are different rhythms. I somewhat doubt that the info in the Denbaya insert is bullet-proof... also, like Michel said, it's possible to get conflicting info from the same teacher, or for two people to understand the information in slightly different ways.

Speaking of contradictory information, it seems to me that the above quotation is somewhat self-contradictory:

it’s about slavery; it’s about transatlantic slavery; the movements express the way captured Africans embraced during the Middle Passage.

Any discussion about this dance has to start with the structure of Mande society. Traditionally, three main groups existed: the freeborn, which included nobles and commoners; the artisans who worked with leather, iron and words and the slaves called jon or woloso. The jon were people who were enslaved, either because they were captives of war, or sold into slavery for some infraction such as a crime, while the woloso were domestic slaves who worked in the household or in the field. In the Mande system, the woloso – or household slave – had certain rights. S/he could farm property, and expect certain responsibilities from his/her owner.

I don't think either of these dances has to do with the trans-atlantic slave trade, but rather with the Mande caste structure, as described in the second paragraph.

I would also add that Wolosodon has taken on a new meaning as any type of sexually suggestive dancing done in a nightclub, similar to couper-décaler, etc.

[music]

I am really interested in this discussion. Unfortunately, it is hard to have the discussion in open and receptive terms. Slavery is a touchy subject.

I do know of a Wolossodon played by the national ballet, often linked to Dansa when they play it. The drummers in the ballet explained to me that originally they are not linked rhtyhms, but that they flow nicely together so they play it as an arrangement.

The differentiation between wolosso and jon that Barbara makes is the same I heard in Mali. Jon allowed themselves to become slaves and were regarded as the lowest element of society. Wolosso were born into it so, through no fault of their own, had become slaves. The only Wolosso rhtyhm I heard played was in Bamako, and when in Maninka villages in southern Mali, I did not find anyone who played it (save a few younger drummers who had been to Bamako and picked it up there).

The Jonfoly I learned was from the Bambara of Markala and was played by the bonkolo ensemble. It is drastically different from the Wolosso rhythm. Much more evident than the difference of the Korojuga played by the djembe ensemble and the korojuga played by the Bambara bonkolo ensemble (which are strikingly similar - even though they have a slightly different structure.) Just the fact they are both played in a 9/8 timing (considering there are few other rhythms in this realm).

Musically, beyond this, I cannot say anything about the rhythms because I encountered them nowhere else. The wolosso we played in Mali on the djembe was essentially the same wolosso I hear being played in the US by various teachers (many of you may have more info on this - I have not played with every teacher out there).

I have to say I am continually amazed when people try to differentiate between American slavery and African slavery. My only question: Do we look at the guy who gave his wife a black eye and a bloody nose any differently than we look at the guy who beat the bejeezus out of his wife? (sorry to use this example but it seems to get the point across for me). I don't think the slaves would have thought of it much differently. (many American slaves returned to their plantations to live out their years after the emancipation). Personally, I find any attempt to explain away or justify slavery to be somewhat insulting to my intelligence (not directed at anyone - just in general). Having seen how the lowest class of people currently live in many villages of Mali and how they are regarded by others, to think it was better for the slaves in the past seems to be somewhat silly. But none of us were there so we will never know the reality of it. I have heard many southern Americans try to downplay the severity of their association to slavery - could the same be happening with the Africans relative to their own enslaving history. Seems to be human nature to diminish the ills of our past.

I never heard the explanation given by Abdoul about the seven levels of disassociation. That is very interesting. As for the statement about "breaking the chains". Never heard that one in Mali before.

The term "slave" is commonly used in the sinakouya - the joking cousins that exists between certain familes, classes or ethnic groups. I never heard the term wolosso used in this context, only jon.

Thanks for your input. You can hear the Bambara bonkolo Jonfoly I speak of at http://www.malikan.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

The song equates the horon - who does not belong in the Jon foly to the sera (a bitter additive to a dish they eat - "toh") being put in the Dege (a sweet millet and cream porridge). The ydo not belong. I was told it was the opportunity for the jon to mock the horon in the only realm where they were freely allowed to speak through song. I witnessed many people from Horon families who were mortified at the thought of dancing the wolosso or jondon. Save the few artists who dance it as a professional pursuit.

I was also told the dances of the wolosso and jon are more risque than other Malian dance styles because the slaves have no shame, so they even may dance naked - when i asked why they have no shame they replied - "because they are slaves - why would they"

[bubudi]

the difference between mande jon and slavery is twofold:
1. jon had a choice in becoming slaves, even if that meant that their descendants would also be slaves for six more generations.
2. the rules under which jon and wolosso were treated. i also had not heard of the seven degrees of freedom, but by this account it seems that the rights and regard for slaves progressively improved.

it seems strange, though, that the seventh generation after jon will be horon. if that is so, any nyamakala or other caste could cause his family to become horon by choosing to be a jon.

[bubudi]

The differentiation between wolosso and jon that Barbara makes is the same I heard in Mali.

by the way, i'm bubudi, not barbara

[music]

It was in reference to Barbara Hoffmann having contributed the info Michel had stated earlier.

I do not believe that the jon had a choice - they were captured slaves. Maybe some of them owed debts, or had committed crimes - but I do not believe this implies choice. The others were captured through conflict. To assume that any of these people went willingly into captivity and servitude does not fit with any historical account that I have ever heard. To assume they were treated well, I believe, is somewhat far-fetched. There is no evidence of this - in fact there is much to support the opposite ( I would agree that Abdouls levels of slavery implies they are treated better as they move through - but considering how some horon families today often live in atrocious conditions - this too seems far-fetched). They may have had the ability to wash away a label and take a name, but nothing supports that they were treated any differently than other slaves around the world. In my mind, Michels reference to American slaves having been property would imply (by western ideals of "property") that they would have been somewhat cared for, as a protection of their investment and recognition of the monetary value - especially if they truly were businessmen. Now, we know this to not be true in most of the historical records we have on slavery. But, if I were to compare the life of someone who was enslaved through war in Africa, and someone who was regarded as property in the US, I would assume the latter had the better end of the deal.

Jon who had been captured or forced into slavery because of debts or crimes went willingly? They never tried to flee later? They were treated well when recaptured? The answers seem fairly obvious.

It seems the possible explanations for assuming that African slaves were well treated is either a romanticized view by outsiders of how Africans may have treated slaves, or an attempt by Africans to diminish the ills of their past.

[bubudi]

you make some good points, and i guess it would be hard to know the truth - even a lot of africans romanticise mande as a time of harmony, which i have trouble believing is true. i can only go by what i have heard africans say, and by semi-historical accounts (i.e written accounts of what used to be passed down only through oral means). while not saying that slaves were treated well (goes against the very definition of 'slave'), they did say there were some distinctions between the rights and regard of jon/woloso in mande and those of slaves elsewhere. i don't know if we can come to the conclusion of which one had the better conditions until we have more evidence.

i'm sure some jon didn't have any choice, for instance, those that were captives certainly didn't. but to go into debt (fully knowing the consequences of defaulting on the loan) is a choice, isn't it?

It was in reference to Barbara Hoffmann having contributed the info Michel had stated earlier.

haha ok, i missed that reference.

[michi]

To assume they were treated well, I believe, is somewhat far-fetched.

The notion of slaves that are treated well seems oxymoronic to me. If I'm a slave, I'm being denied fundamental human rights. I find it difficult to reconcile that with the idea of being treated well…

Michi.

[music]

Good point bubudi - yes, accepting a debt fully knowing the consequences of delinquency is definitely a conscious choice. Especially considering what I have seen about how Africans deal with their debtors - people go for months, or even years without reimbursing someone and the creditors seem to be very patient and understanding of a person's struggle. So the debtor must have been excessively delinquent.

Yes Michi, I agree. Although the concept of human rights must have been much different then, I believe we can safely assume that no person in any position of slavery or servitude has ever had it good, and one would take quite a risk to compare conditions of slavery between one culture and another.

Thanks for all of your input.

btw - bubudi - I am now logged in as "music" becuase my previous info did not seem to be working.

[music]

In my studies of Bambara culture and reserch into the Bonkolo drums I came across two old bonkolo players from Markala who recounted the stories their grandparents told them.

They said the Bambara went to war with the Maraka in the area that would now be the western part of the Segou state. They beat the Maraka, killed many men, took the women and children, as well as the weapons and musical instruments for themselves. ( I had to chuckle a bit at this point - possibly, only in Africa would warriors see drums as war booty - how funny).

Although the Mande emperors may have done a lot to unite a region and make it an empire, it seems fairly clear that the name of the game was still survival of the fittest. Wars and the slaughter of men, forced slavery, subjecting women and children to atrocities seemed to be alive and well up through the 19th century.