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Listen "Mandjou—jeli singer, dancer, jembe drummer and bala xylophonist—growing up in West Africa!"
Episode Synopsis
Mandjou—singer, dancer, jembe drummer, bala xylophonist—growing up in a jeli family in West Africa—from the celebration of her birth to a magical event that transformed her into a renowned singer-master jembe drummer!
Overview Filmmaker Taale Laafi Rosellini filmed Mandjou Kone, her siblings, her family and extended family as she was growing up in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Here, Taale interviews multi-talented artist Mandjou Kone about her childhood. Mandjou reflects on what it was like, her challenges, her dreams, the every-day struggle for survival and magical moments captured on film, real heart-warming scenes of her childhood, from the award-winning documentary film Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music—filmed over a span of two decades and produced by African Family Film Foundation. Order the DVD of Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music, 104 minutes, with 84 chapters, available on African Family Film Foundation website: www.africanfamily.org/films
This is Part 1 of a series of podcasts on Mandjou Kone, and her renowned jeli family of singers, musicians and carriers of the cultural history of West Africa.
Reviews of Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music and African Family Films:
“This is the most compelling and instructive documentary filmmaking I have seen in many years…a monumental accomplishment…invites the viewer into a magical world of colors, sounds, music and utter joy. Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music beautifully portrays the relationship between elders and children and the transmission of cultural knowledge. Through a child’s eyes, it presents an insightful picture of an African family which takes pride in their music, oral history and personal adornment and it’s infectious!”—Leasa Farrar Fortune, Education Specialist, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art.
“Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music is clearly one of the best documentaries ever done on Africa…thoughtful, sensitive and beautifully captured. I have watched the film perhaps ten times now and not only does it continue to hold my interest, but it gets better each time.” —Doran H. Ross, Director, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.
“The film focuses on an African family, emphasizing the education of motivated and perceptive children who learn through the example of their parents. This family directs itself toward dynamic sociocultural activities in preserving traditional values of its society.” —Sembene Ousmane, internationally acclaimed author and filmmaker. Films: Mandabi, Emitai, Xala, Ceddo, Faat Kine.
“I believe Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music has educational and sociological lessons for the world, and will lead to a greater understanding of and appreciation for the peoples of West Africa.”—David Yohn, Filmmaker and Professor of Theater Arts, San Jose State University.
"...an interdisciplinary approach in film where art, music, culture and daily life meet and are not separated...a departure from traditional anthropological documentaries which too often...lose the element of warm human interaction." —Dr. Manthia Diawara, Director of Africana Studies, New York University.
“I believe that the ultimate contribution of the film will be its contribution to humanity.”—Kamari Clarke, Anthropologist, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Overview Filmmaker Taale Laafi Rosellini filmed Mandjou Kone, her siblings, her family and extended family as she was growing up in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Here, Taale interviews multi-talented artist Mandjou Kone about her childhood. Mandjou reflects on what it was like, her challenges, her dreams, the every-day struggle for survival and magical moments captured on film, real heart-warming scenes of her childhood, from the award-winning documentary film Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music—filmed over a span of two decades and produced by African Family Film Foundation. Order the DVD of Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music, 104 minutes, with 84 chapters, available on African Family Film Foundation website: www.africanfamily.org/films
This is Part 1 of a series of podcasts on Mandjou Kone, and her renowned jeli family of singers, musicians and carriers of the cultural history of West Africa.
Reviews of Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music and African Family Films:
“This is the most compelling and instructive documentary filmmaking I have seen in many years…a monumental accomplishment…invites the viewer into a magical world of colors, sounds, music and utter joy. Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music beautifully portrays the relationship between elders and children and the transmission of cultural knowledge. Through a child’s eyes, it presents an insightful picture of an African family which takes pride in their music, oral history and personal adornment and it’s infectious!”—Leasa Farrar Fortune, Education Specialist, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art.
“Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music is clearly one of the best documentaries ever done on Africa…thoughtful, sensitive and beautifully captured. I have watched the film perhaps ten times now and not only does it continue to hold my interest, but it gets better each time.” —Doran H. Ross, Director, Fowler Museum of Cultural History, University of California, Los Angeles.
“The film focuses on an African family, emphasizing the education of motivated and perceptive children who learn through the example of their parents. This family directs itself toward dynamic sociocultural activities in preserving traditional values of its society.” —Sembene Ousmane, internationally acclaimed author and filmmaker. Films: Mandabi, Emitai, Xala, Ceddo, Faat Kine.
“I believe Great Great Great Grandparents’ Music has educational and sociological lessons for the world, and will lead to a greater understanding of and appreciation for the peoples of West Africa.”—David Yohn, Filmmaker and Professor of Theater Arts, San Jose State University.
"...an interdisciplinary approach in film where art, music, culture and daily life meet and are not separated...a departure from traditional anthropological documentaries which too often...lose the element of warm human interaction." —Dr. Manthia Diawara, Director of Africana Studies, New York University.
“I believe that the ultimate contribution of the film will be its contribution to humanity.”—Kamari Clarke, Anthropologist, University of California, Santa Cruz.
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