The legend of Mali Sadio takes place around the city of

Bafoulabé Bafoulabé is a town and rural commune in south-western Mali. It is located in the Region of Kayes at the confluence of the Bafing and Bakoy rivers which join to become the Sénégal River. Bafoulabé is the capital of the Cercle of Bafoulab ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

. It is presented as a factual story transmitted by oral tradition, although it has had several changes applied to it over time. There are several versions of the legend.

The legend

Generally, the story mentions a

hippopotamus The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extan ...

, which is called “mali” in Bambara, which carries on a friendship with a young lady called Sadio. In other versions, it is the hippopotamus that is called Mali Sadio (or just Sadio), a term which could have its origins in the Kassonké term ( in Bambara), which means “an animal of two colours”. This term is also used in a pejorative sense to mean a woman who has bleached her skin. In the end, the hippopotamus was killed. According to certain versions, it was killed by a local who, having fallen in love with the young lady, became jealous of the friendship. According to other versions, it is a French colonist called Cauchon who killed the animal. This legend is told and sung by griots and has been recorded by several Malian musicians. In 2005, the Dansa-Diawoura Festival ended with a day dedicated to the legend. That allowed several griots to present their versions. After the event, Doumbi Fakoly wrote a book that attempted to unify the many disparate versions of the legend. The Mali Sadio story is also common to the

Mamprussi Mamprusis are an ethnic group in northern Ghana and Togo. Estimates are that there are about 200,000 Mamprusis living in the Northern Regions of Ghana as of 2013, They speak Mampruli, one of the Gur languages. In Ghana, the Mamprusis live mainl ...

and

Dagomba people The Dagombas are a Gur ethnic group of northern Ghana, numbering more than 2.3 million people. They inhabit the Northern Region of Ghana in the sparse savanna region below the sahelian belt, known as the Sudan. They speak the Dagbani languag ...

of northern

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

, although is taken from the viewpoint of the one they claimed killed him, a local hunter called Tohadzie.

Musical references

Mali Sadio
by Toumani Diabaté et Mangala Camara
Mali Sadio
by the Mandekalou ensemble (formed by Salif Keïta, Kouyaté Sory Kandia,

Mory Kanté Mory Kanté (29 March 195022 May 2020) was a Guinean vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was best known internationally for his 1987 hit song "Yé ké yé ké", which reached number-one in Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, and Spain. The ...

Sidiki Diabaté Sidiki Diabaté is a Malian kora player, musician and music producer born in 1992 in Bamako, Mali. He is the son of renowned kora player Toumani Diabaté and grandson of Sidiki Diabaté. Diabaté belongs to the 77th generation of musicians in a l ...

, Sékou Batrou Kouyaté,

Demba Camara Aboubacar Demba Camara (born 7 November 1994) is a Guinean professional footballer who plays as a striker for Mouloudia Oujda. Career Camara made his Ligue 1 debut at AC Ajaccio on 21 September 2013 against Stade Rennais in a 2–0 away defeat ...

Kassé Mady Diabaté Kassé Mady Diabaté (1949, Kela, Kangaba, Mali – May 24, 2018, Bamako) was a Malian singer, musician and griot. His soft and particular voice with deep undertones – an atypical characteristic for a griot – earned him the nickname "The gol ...

Kandia Kouyaté Kandia Kouyaté (also known as Kandja Kouyaté, born in 1959 in Kita, Mali) is a Malian ''jelimuso'' (a female griot) and kora player; she has earned the prestigious title of ''ngara'', and is sometimes called ''La dangereuse'' and ''La grande ve ...

Sira Mory Diabaté Sira may refer to: Languages * Sira languages, a clade of Bantu languages ** Sira language, a Bantu language of Gabon Places Czech Republic * Sirá, a municipality and village India * Province of Sira, a historical Mughal province in southe ...

, Kadé Diawara and Kémo Condé)
Mali Sadio
by

Habib Koité Habib Koité ( bm, , Habib Kuwatɛ, born 1958 in Thiès, Senegal) is a Malian musician, singer, songwriter and griot based in Mali. His band, Bamada, was a supergroup of West African musicians, which included Kélétigui Diabaté on balafon. ...

Mali Sadio
by Mali Blues Trio
Mali Sadio
by Kouyaté Sory Kandia
Mali Sadio
by Cheick Niang Guitariste, Wally B. Seck and

Youssou Dieng Youssou is a Senegalese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Youssou Lo (born 1992), Senegalese footballer * Youssou N'Dour (born 1959), Senegalese singer, percussionist, songwriter, composer, and actor * Youssou Ndoye Youssou Ndoy ...

References in literature

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: ''Mali-Sadio, l’hippopotame de Bafulabé'', by Doumbi Fakoly, preface by Cheick Oumar Sissoko, published by Menaibuc, Paris *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

: ''Sadio et Maliba l'hippopotame'', by Aboubacar Eros Sissoko, published by L'Harmattan, Paris

References

External links

Mani Sajio
page sur l'histoire et sa place dans la musique malienne {{in lang, fr Hippopotamuses in popular culture Malian literature Animal tales