Leisure Activities

Sources

Dance. Dance was an important part of West Africans’ social lives and was sometimes invested with the mystery and drama of the realm where matter and spirit meet. The people of the windward coast of West Africa (the area now occupied by the modern states of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia) expressed their religious feelings in music and dancing. The Dogon, an especially proud and independent people, were well known for their dancing. West Africans often incorporated traditional, non-Muslim ritual dances into Islamic religious celebrations. During his 1353 visit to Mali, Ibn Battuta described such a performance by masked dancers during an Islamic festival.

Music. In the royal courts of the West African empires, music was almost a constant element. During ceremonies in Mali, singers carrying golden and silver lutes preceded the ruler, who was followed by three hundred armed slaves. Court musicians of the king of ancient Ghana played on stringed instruments and sang songs of praise. Ewuare the Great (ruled 1440-1473), the most powerful oba (ruler) of Benin, invented a wind instrument similar to the fife. In some Wolof states, a gewel (griot, or bard) was the only person allowed to play a traditional instrument. His martial songs inspired the army, and he also entertained guests at court with performances such as playacting, acrobatic dancing, and storytelling. Long bronze trumpets and state drums with brass bells were played for the rulers of the Nupe. After Dagachi was deposed as ruler of Bornu during the first third of the fifteenth century, he is said to have introduced horse drums and trumpets (as well as flags and guns) in Kano, where he took refuge.

Magic. Performances of magic attracted great audiences in the kingdoms of West Africa. Magicians were adept at sleight-of-hand tricks, and some emitted smoke from their mouths. Sango, who ruled Old Oyo in southern Nigeria during the fifteenth century, often used such skills to increase his subjects’ dread of him. Indeed, magic was much more than entertainment for most West Africans. Like religion, it was inextricably linked to all aspects of daily life. Magic was considered an important survival tool for protecting oneself from evil and the machinations of enemies. Superior magical powers were often a determining factor on the battlefield. Accounts of the decisive Battle of Kirina (circa 1235) between the armies of Susu ruler Sumanguru (ruled circa 1203 - circa 1235) and Malinke king Sundiata (ruled circa 1230 - 1255) describe it as a struggle between two powerful magicians. Whenever Sumanguru shouted, he was said to become a magical warrior with eight heads rising above his own, and his warriors were treated with a substance that was believed to help them withstand any wounds made by iron weapons. Sundiata, however, had learned Sumanguru’s weakness. One of Sundiata’s lieutenants threw a spear armed with a white cock’s spur at the Susu leader while Sundiata shouted, “This is the spear of him who knows the ancient secrets!” When the spear struck Sumanguru, he was said to have disappeared, never to be seen again. Traditional magic, like customary religious rituals, also became linked to Islamic belief and practice.

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Sources

J. F. Ade. Ajayi and Ian Espie, eds., A Thousand Years of West African History: A Handbook for Teachers and Students (Ibadan, Nigeria: University of Ibadan Press / London: Nelson, 1969).

Anthony Atmore and Stacey Gillian, Black Kingdoms, Black Peoples: The West African Heritage (London: Orbis, 1979).

Naomi Mitchison, African Heroes (London: Bodley Head, 1968).