Abdurahman Diallo - The Bambado of ADO village ( The Griots of Fouta Toro)

Abdurahman Diallo is the griot (Bambado in Poular) of the village of Ado. Abdurahman lives modestly, along with his son and daughters and their children too, all under one roof. When we met, goats were roaming freely and the smoke was still going from the hot coals the family heated coffee with. He came out of his house wearing a Boubou that I knew well, is worn for a special occasion only. It’s shiny fabric contrasted with the mud and straw buildings around him in a way that gave me a strange knot in my chest. In a world of having so little, there was so much dignity and pride in one’s culture, that I never had a pleasure to experience personally. Playing praises is how a griot makes a living, but Abdurahman sensed exactly the importance of our cultural exchange. He was welcoming me into his world with respect and open mind, which made me sort of sad, pondering on how African people are welcomed outside their continent in return. Abdurahman had a true wiseman aura about him, although the village of Ado, beautiful and sunny as it was, seemed like the most isolated place I have ever witnessed. A horse cart and a taxi away, you can leave this place, it’s mud houses, the goats and the shepherds, but you will also leave some sort of magic behind, something that only people like Abdurahman can embody. And me, I can just bask in his beams for a minute, listening to the history of his people, and of his rich culture, spoken by him along the hypnotic riff of his Houdu. “This is all we have, and this is all we welcome you with”. Instagram - @blind.in.1.eye