Hi Oko what of Kebba Fatty of Sukuta Barass, Araba and 404? he
Cheers
Mbye sey
Oko Drammeh <[log in to unmask]> 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
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