Soumaoro Kanté (also known as Sumaworo Kanté or Sumanguru Kanté) was a 13th-century king of the

Sosso The Sosso Empire was a twelfth-century Kaniaga kingdom of West Africa. The Kingdom of Sosso, also written as Soso or Susu, was an ancient kingdom on the coast of west Africa. During its empire, reigned their most famous leader, Sumaoro Kan ...

people. Seizing Koumbi Saleh, the capital of the recently defunct

Ghana Empire The Ghana Empire, also known as Wagadou ( ar, غانا) or Awkar, was a West African empire based in the modern-day southeast of Mauritania and western Mali that existed from c. 300 until 1100. The Empire was founded by the Soninke people, ...

, Soumaoro Kanté proceeded to conquer several neighboring states, including the

Mandinka people The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic gro ...

in what is now Mali. However, the Mandinka prince

Sundiata Keita Sundiata Keita ( Mandinka, Malinke: ; 1217 – c. 1255) (also known as Manding Diara, Lion of Mali, Sogolon Djata, son of Sogolon, Nare Maghan and Sogo Sogo Simbon Salaba) was a prince and founder of the Mali Empire. He is also the great-uncle ...

built a coalition of smaller kingdoms to oppose him at the

Battle of Kirina The Battle of Kirina, also known as the Battle of Krina or Siege of Karina ( c. 1235), was a confrontation between Sosso king Sumanguru Kanté and Mandinka prince Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita's forces roundly defeated those of Sumanguru Kant� ...

(c. 1235.), defeating the Sosso and leaving Sundiata's new

Mali Empire The Mali Empire ( Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl ...

dominant in the region.

Biography

Soumaoro Kanté is portrayed as a villainous sorcerer-king in the national epic of Mali, the Epic of Sundiata. After his defeat at Kirina, he flees into the mountains of Koulikoro, where he "disappears" after being shot with only weapon to which he is vulnerable - an arrow with a white rooster spur arrowhead. In the Epic of Sundiata, Soumaoro Kanté is described as owning a balafon with magical powers, which is stolen by Sundiata Keita's

djeli A griot (; ; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: , ''djeli'' or ''djéli'' in French spelling); Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. The griot is a repo ...

, Balafasseke Kouyate, and brought to Manden. This is the origin of the Manden djeli tradition of balafon playing. The balafon of Soumaoro Kanté is said to be kept by the

Kouyate family The Kouyate family is a dynasty of griots that is native to West Africa. It has been prominent since the 13th century, when its founder took part in the founding of the Mali Empire. History According to the Epic of Sundiata, Balla Fasséké was ...

to this day in the village of

Niagassola Niagassola is a town and sub-prefecture in the Siguiri Prefecture in the Kankan Region of north-eastern Guinea. It is located near the border with Mali. It has no electricity and three water pumps. The town is the home of the world's oldest b ...

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

. Soumaoro is viewed as one of the true champions of

Traditional African religion The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural ...

due to his reputation in the epic as someone possessing extraordinary magical powers. According to Fyle, Soumaoro was the inventor of the balafon and the ''dan'' (a four-string guitar used by the hunters and griots).Fyle, Magbaily, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'',

University Press of America University Press of America is an academic publisher based in the United States. Part of the independent Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the ...

(1999), p. 61,

/ref> As evidence of his supernatural powers, the griot Lansine Diabate notes, "At that time, owing to his magical powers, every fly which rested on the balafon of Soso he royal musician Sumaworo was able to find it out from a cloud of flies to kill it." Diabate goes on to say that it was when the balafon player first refused to play for the king that Soumaoro Kanté's demise was anticipated.

Notes

Bibliography

* Davidson, Basil. ''Africa in History''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. * Charry, Eric. ''Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Maninka and Mandinka of Western Africa''. Chicago: Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology, 2000. *Carruth, Gorton, ''The encyclopedia of world facts and dates,'' p 167, 1192 HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, *Stride, G. T & Ifeka, Caroline, ''Peoples and empires of West Africa: West Africa in history, 1000–1800,'' p 49, Africana Pub. Corp., 1971 * Editor: Senghor, Léopold Sédar, Éthiopiques, Issues 21-24, Grande imprimerie africaine, 1980, p 79 * Fyle, Magbaily, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'',

(1999), p. 61,

External links

Sundiata and Mansa Musa on the Web
web directory {{DEFAULTSORT:Kante, Soumaoro Susu people Senegalese royalty History of Mali History of Senegal Malian royalty Year of death unknown 13th-century monarchs in Africa Year of birth unknown Gambian royalty