It is a goog tribute. I hope Jalang picture will be in our national records, baboucarr Sey <[log in to unmask]> wrote:Hi Oko what of Kebba Fatty of Sukuta Barass, Araba and 404? he Cheers Mbye sey Oko Drammeh wrote: The Wrestler Jalang is dead. This is a tribute to a great man and a great tradition. by Oko Drammeh www.OkoDrammeh.com GAMBIAN WRESTLING THE GREAT ANCIENT ART Unoficial and unedited version ( In pieces ) by Oko Drammeh A tribute to Jalang The man Jalang was a formidable wrestler from The Gambia he died a week This writing is inspired by his great art. May his soul rest in Peace. Wrestling in The Gambia Wrestling in the Gambia was a big family sport event for a cultural family-day out.Our mothers and fathers enyoyed the art of wrestling.It was peaceful and elegant sport. On a wrestling day,the young male wrestlers dance around with their spectalcular hair styles and showing off thier strenght making the mode and tention of the occation.The outfits were colourfully assembled and sewed with beads, hands wooven cotton dala's are modeled across the Sand Ring "The Gew".This was like the arena in Rome.The coners of the wrestlers jammed with master drummers who are from all age group and tribal village connected to the family cult will be present to sing and dance in sequence,drummers drumming for luck and charms.Here I wish to remember the great Omar Mumbai, Jali Kitimba of Albion street and Jali Sankung of Serekunda.These drummers would escort these fancy dancers so clourfully paraded like a Brazilian carnaval parade across the arena singing songs of pride,couintless defeats and narrating the battles they won,over lapped with the roar of the fans.Each side has a massive force of fans who collecvt funds to and give a lot ofthe money to the waelfare of the wrestlers.This was the insurance and this was very respected and well supported.There Umpires and judges and winners can become huge public figures. This tradition is dated back to the time of the kingdoms of the nile. The Gambian Tradition is Ancient.Black Egyptian Nubia had been a colony of Egypt for more than hundreds of years.when the decendants of the nubian slaves usurped the throne of the pharaohs.As rulers they brought fresh momentums to the egyptian empire and gave it an unmistakable African lustre. The cultures of Nubia and Egypt had became intetwined long before the 12th dynasty between712-656 bc(extention of way before The Asian Mongolian king Gengis Khan conquired Persia and came to Egypt and the captured soldiers Persians intermarried with the Black Nubian women and gave us this dark twisted mustace New -Arab, the new Arab.The Africans wrestlers used to wrestle for the king in the valley of of the kings and throughout the Kingdom of the niles.The Black.Pharaoh Taharq'a was a wrestling enthousist.This has been illustrated in carvings and art works on wrestlers at his templewalls.The pharaohs were fond of the great sport as what Atheletics is to us today.When Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon in Ancient Isreal she took with her magicians, dancers, musicians as well as wrestlers.The ancient art of Africa WRESTLING was then intergrated in the arena sports of Julius Ceaser's Rome.The Romans did not wrestle often with African wrestlers in Ancient Rome,they would therefore buy slaves (as wrestlers) from the Sudan and would take then to Egypt and then to Rome for huge sums of money to wrestle in big Arenas with lions,nile- crocodiles, tigers and all forms of wild beasts.The African werestlers in Rome were slaves from Africa but they have there history in books of Roman history like The great Spartacus. The migration of the Fulani wrestlers in the field force At the end of the second world war many returning officers decided to stay in the colony instead of going back up country and also the british kept them in camps(just incase) in Busumbal and in the barracks around Banjul. and this has started the re-settlement of our communities, many tribes were not mixed and now have to share neighbourhoods with new settlers than the rural family -to-family traditional village life.Some joined the British regiment and stayed at the Police depot in Bakau,some with commissioners in divisional capital villages and others became cooks for british colonels and british administrative officers and the intergration of the Gambia really started to kick in. Now people started living in mixed neighbiourhoods and competition starts to take steam.This also add a visicious dimention to the wrestling compititions that sometimes ends in absolute fights.The fulani was a loyal soldier and were the first soldiers who were thought how to use the gun.They were riflemen. The Wrestling contests on Sundays Many different migrating tribes settled in the Gambia around the capital.They joined the royal British regiment(RAF) and went to fight in Asia from the Gambia.Some of these tribes were from Guinea and Mali. They also organised teams of wrestlers and entered the competition league at Aren Dodou Mbye Yard.(now new Primet Street).The Malians were not good wrestlers it was only the Guinean Fula man who was has the wrestling tradition.Now all the the different tribes started to meet and to compete, this becames a weekend festival showdown. The Undisputed champions Foday Busu Bah vs Dodou Baka Sarr Pa Dodou Mbye ( Stanley street) ,Omar Gaye Nyang (Hagan Street), Buray Weleng, Pa Gaye of (Albion street) the father of Bye Gaye,Ousman and Tegah- bu Rafet "Karr"(Mbye Gaye) organised the first grand Association wrestling contest introducing The greatest Western Sudanese Fula wrestler of all time The great "Foday Busu Bah".Foday was so tall and big that no one would wrestle him. He was a celebrty of tremendous popularity.Foday meet with the little jola wrestler Ndama Jola ,infact Ndama challanged Foday Dusu Bah.Foday was a giant and he picked Ndama with his finger and tossed him in the air and landed him saftly.This was the talk of Sene-gambia for years!.His main opposition was the great Dodou Baka Sarr.the line of Dodou Baka Sarr is now what reigs in Senegal.The line of Mbye Gaye (Tiger du Fass( and presently Tyson.Dodou Bakar was a Serere from Ngor.He was sponsored by the Lebanese tycoon Antione Koury ,the richestman in Dakar.These were the warrior titans.of our time. It was after this this Falay Baldeh stayed in the Gambia to teach the youth the traditional style of risk free wrestling. The Rhythms of The Drums There is a beat the balantas always play to stay their day of work as wrestlers and the drum beat is named after Fodu Dusu bah,"Sa beer bu rei bi",Even in your sleep,this beat never leaves you..This was the rhythm,this was the blood and bone of my roots Every friday morning I wake up with this beat in my head and it means that today is a wrestling-day.I would finish school eat my launch,skipped mosque and at 4pm I am at the house of Kebba Njie (Social security) at Albion dstreet.This was were the balantas lived.I would take the washing bowls of my mom and the buckets and fill them with water and also take okra leaves with me (from 66 Dobson street) so thst I could take it in for the wrestlers to bath in slippery water and also fresh clean water.This was my entry ticket.From Fridat to Sunday each week there was a contet.Most Sunday wrestling were done in Sere kunda,Arena Latri Kunda also in Bakau at times in a small arena behind the PWD Modou Mbass -Kat came from Bakau. The Jola Wrestlers They had the legend Jalang, Ampa Gaye, Gabardine, Erkil .The Jola drummers played two small and one lead drummer also with pulsaasive whislting melted in loud toy gun firing by the famous Bura Weleng and the magnificient dancing of Alieu Jatta (seven Ton).He had this easy to dislocate arm that took him out of the ring too soon.He was a great dancer.The Jola team also had Halissi Gaug'e, Modou Bailo,yes Modou Bailo(Ingram street) and the flambouyant James brown of Gambian werstling Cha cha cha of Brufut. He was a mandingo siko player but he wrestled for the jolas just like Jabang Manneh Massanneh.Cha cha cha was the one who broke the arm of Bolong Jaatta(balanta). Dodou Mbye Yard Foday Dusu Bah came back to the Gambia years later and introduced the young Falay Baldeh to the Gambians were he wrestled for years before going to fight- wrestling in Senegal. Falay Baldeh brought us Pateh,Bala and Karamo as well as a line of wrestlers After the visit of Foday Dudu Bahat Box Bar and the sport was in full swing, the wrestlers had to give way (again) to the football season and the wrestling sport had to find a home.There was a salted unused land next to the foolball stadium that was used to start a professional wrestling arena called :DODOU MBYE YARD" This Arena was named after the owner.Pa Dodou Mbye. The Balanta Wrestlers Aren-Dodou Mbye brought us the superstar wrestler Number- One. He was the one who came to Banjul to re-enforce the status of Fula wrestling after Dusu Bah and Falayi Baldeh.He came with 13 wrestlers from Bissau and they all in numbers.This is new for The Gambia ,no.7 was Sadaka Mbori who later Married to Yama Njie(The famous tune for the couple) the acrobatic There were also the Batantas who also came from Cassamance they had the great Aba Njie,Sadaka,Ousman Balanta,Bolong Jatta (the guy who broke the neck of the amature jola wrestler at Dodou mbye yard), they had Awufa, Opa Jatta, Abiti and team of young wrestlers.These young wrestlers would start the contest with warm up matches to gain recognition.The big champions always wrestles last.This is always at sunset and after the match there is absolute silence. Then the night takes over. Jabang Manneh (Massaneh) Jabang was the first radical wrester.He smoked weed a broke up with every group he was a lone star sponsored by Libanese businessman Seyban Madi.Jabang Manneh was the only wrestler in the history of the Gambia that nailed down all the foreign visitors to the Gambia.He was the first wrestler who become a dock worker and spend most of his time with the dockers at government wharf (now Costoms dept). The Wrestlers as political vangaurds Later I slowely see how the dock yard became a means of lively hood for the foreign wrestlers.They were what the political prties used as security duning election campainging time and civil strikes.The wrestling dockers were a political force.They are the only ones who can chased the police and their baton.Whenever there was a teachers strike,students strike and mass demonstration it was the wrestlers and the dockers who procted the masses and battle it out with the police and field force. Like Spatacus,the gladiator......They wrestled for us! As in Culture,So in life. Oko Drammeh ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let modesty be the rule of observance. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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