Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa
Māllī (Mali)
Title
What the Sultan did about the prayer on the Feast days
Short description
Sultan's audiences on the Feast days accompanied by music. Tamari (1998) reports that bows are no longer mentioned in later accounts and that at this time they might have been related to the farārīs' use of saluting the king with their bows.
Text on source
ويجلس السلطان في أيام العيدين بعد العصر على البنبي، وتأتي السلحدارية بالسلاح العجيب من تراكش الذهب والفضة والسيوف المحلاة بالذهب وأغمادها منه ورماح الذهب والفضة ودبابيس البلور، ويقف على رأسه أربعة من الأمراء يشردون الذّ باب، وفي أيديهم حلية من الفضة تشبه ركاب السرج، ويجلس الفرارية والقاضي والخطيب على العادة، ويأتي دوغا الترجمان بنسائه الأربع وجواريه وهُنَّ نحو مائة عليهن الملابس الحسان، وعلى رأسهن عصائب الذهب والفضة فيها تفافيح ذهب وفضة، ويُنصب لدوغا كرسي يجلس عليه ويضرب الآلة التي هي من قصب، وتحتها قريعات ويغني بشعر يمدح السلطان فيه ويَذْكُر غزواته وأفعاله ويغني النساء والجواري معه ويلعبن بالقِسِيِّ ويكون معهن نحو ثلاثين من غلمانه عليهم جباب الملف والحمر وفي رءوسهم الشواشي البيض، وكل واحد منهم متقلد طبله يضربه [ص. ٤٩٣]
English translation
On the two Feasts the Sultan sits on the banbī after the afternoon prayer. The armour bearers come with splendid weapons, quivers of gold and silver, swords ornamented in gold, as are the scabbards, spears of gold and silver, and maces of crystal. Four amīrs stand by his head driving off the flies; in their hands they have a silver ornament like a stirrup. The farārīs, the qāḍīs, and the preacher are seated according to custom. Dūghā the dragoman comes in with his four wives and his concubines, who are about a hundred, in fine clothes; on their heads are gold and silver bands with gold and silver apples attached to them. A chair is placed for Dūghā, where he sits playing an instrument made of reeds [qaṣab] with tiny calabashes [qurayʿāt] underneath. He sings poems praising the Sultan and recounting his campaigns and his exploits. His wives and concubines sing with him and play with the bows [qisiyy]. With them are some thirty slave-boys dressed in tunics of red blanket-cloth with white skull-caps on their heads. Each one of them has his drum [ṭabl] hung from his neck and beats it
Folios/Pages
961
Date
1353 circa
Observations on the events description
The author mentions an instrument made of reeds and calabashes of the type of balafones; women singing and playing bows (musical bows?); and around 30 slaves each one playing a drum with a bandolier.
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
No other participants in this event description.
How to quote
Pintimalli A., "What the Sultan did about the prayer on the Feast days" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 07 18.doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.130
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
