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This book describes the remarkable culture of jeliya, a musical and verbal art from the Manding region of West Africa. Using an embodied practice as her methodology, the author reveals how she and her music teachers live "in between" local and global cultures. Her journey spans 20 years of fieldwork presented through personal and intimate stories, first as a student of the balafon instrument, then as a patron of the music. Tensions build in both the music and in social relations that require resolutions, underscoring the differences between two world views. Through balafon lessons, the author embodies values such as patience, courage, and generosity, resulting in a transformative practice that leads her to better understand her position vis-à-vis that of her jeli teachers. Meanwhile, jeliya itself, despite having been transmitted from teacher to student for 800 years, is currently in peril. Jelis cite modern globalized culture and people like the author herself as both a source of the problem as well as the potential solution.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Sweetness in the Gambia.- 3. Moving with Gambians.- 4. Doing Time: The Balafon Workshops, United States.- 5. Direct Transmissions: Going with the Flow.- 6. At Home: Lessons in Respecting Time.- 7. Enchanting Cosmopolitan New York.- 8. Manding New York: Jeliya Bara Bang.- 9. Patronage: Becoming a Jatigi.- 10. Living "in between" Cultures.- 11. Paris 2015-2021.-12. Duniya: Weaving Pasts and Futures.
About the author
Lisa Feder is an American anthropologist with fieldwork experience in Brazil, France, New York, and West Africa. She has been a lecturer at the Academy of Art University, USA for over a decade. She currently resides in France and is the founder of Manding Grooves, a company that supports jeli music and culture worldwide.
