Ode to Patriarchy: The Fine Line between Praise and Criticism in a Popular Senegalese Poem

Abstract

The essay focuses on a popular Wolof poem that emerged in Senegal in the late 1960s or early 1970s and saturated the national radio. It is generally known in Senegal as “Fatou Gaye’s Song”; as result of that, I chose to title the poem “Fatou Gaye.” The poem was delivered in Wolof and probably written in Wolofal, and all translations unless otherwise stated are mine. Although when the poem was written is not clear, according to Margarite Thiam, a retired journalist at the Senegalese National Radio where it was initially recorded, it was between 1965 and 1968. For several years, the author of the text was anonymous. As a result of this fact, there was a plethora of stories about his identity and where he lived. Most of those stories turned out to be unfounded, for in the winter of 2007, I had the luck of finding in the archives of the Senegalese National Radio the only recorded interview that the author had ever done. The journalist who conducted the interview was the late Eladji Mada Seck, who was known for his interest in Senegalese folklore. According to Margarite Thiam, Seck was also the one who facilitated the initial recording of the poem on cassette. At the end of the interview, Seck confirmed that the person who read the poem was Ablaye Gaye Thiadiga, a cousin of the author.