Kuukoy Must Pay! (Joor Be Kuukoy!)
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| Title | Kuukoy Must Pay! (Joor Be Kuukoy!) |
| Author or Owner | El Hadji Cheikh Touré or Al-Hajj Shaykh Tuure (author), Ibrahima Bayo (owner) |
| Subject | Politics, Coup Attempt, The Gambia, Senegalese Military, President Abdou Diouf, President Dawda Kairaba Jawara, Kuukoy Samba Sanyang |
| Content | This poem is a summary of Kuukoy Samba Sanyang’s 1981 attempted coup in The Gambia and the misery it brought to the country and people. It lists a few of Kuukoy’s actions during the coup and highlights the suffering it brought for Gambians. It then shows the events that led to his downfall and the return of President Jawara. It specifically thanks and praises the Senegalese military for their assistance in ending his coup and restoring Jawara to power before discussing Kuukoy’s escape into Guinea Bissau and arrest three days later. It discusses the author’s journey to Banjul after the coup to join in celebrating Jawara’s return and lists a number of local social elites, religious scholars and political figures that the author met during the celebrations. The final section gives a glimpse of Banjul’s social scene, youth culture and cosmopolitanism. The first two pages are in Mandinka Ajami, but the third and fourth pages switch to Arabic in the poetic style known as faʿūlun. |
| Genre | Poem |
| Language | Mandinka |
| Script | Mandinka Ajami and Arabic |
| Manuscript condition | Very good, four pages. |
| Type | Handwritten |
| Publisher | Unpublished |
| Provenance | Sedhiou, Senegal |
| Source Reference | British Library: https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP1042-26-6; Ngom, Fallou, Castro, Eleni, & Diakité, Ablaye. 2018. African Ajami Library: EAP 1042. Digital Preservation of Mandinka Ajami Materials of Casamance, Senegal. Boston: Boston University Libraries: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/37266 |
| Access condition and copyright | These materials are subject to copyright and are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. For use, distribution or reproduction beyond these terms, contact Professor Fallou Ngom (fngom@bu.edu). |
| Contributors | Fallou Ngom, Ablaye Diakite, Bala Saho, Daivi Rodima-Taylor, Ousmane Cisse, Eric Schmidt, Martin Aucoin, Marie Binta Badji, Alison Parker, Frank Antonelli, Shawn Provencal, and Mark Lewis. |
| Required citation information | Fallou Ngom (PI), Ablaye Diakite, Bala Saho, Ousmane Cisse, Martin Aucoin, Daivi Rodima-Taylor, and other contributors. 2022. “Kuukoy Must Pay!” https://sites.bu.edu/nehajami/the-four-languages/mandinka/mandinka-manuscripts/joor-be-kuukoy/ |
Manuscript
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Transcription and Translations
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Multimedia