Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa
Māllī (Mali)
Title
Ceremony taking place when Sultan reaches the audience hall
Short description
The ceremony taking place when Sultan reaches the audience hall including music with lute-like instruments.
Text on source
ويَخْرُج السلطان من باب في ركن القصر وقوسه بيده، وكنانته بين كتفيه، وعلى رأسه شاشية ذهب مشدودة بعصابة ذهب لها أطراف مثل السكاكين رقاق، طولها أزيد من شبر وأكثر لباسه جبة حمراء موبرة من الثياب الرومية التي تسمى المطنفس، ويخرج بين يديه المغنون بأيديهم قنابر الذهب والفضة، وخلفه نحو ثلاثمائة من العبيد أصحاب السلاح، ويمشي مشيًا رُويدًا، ويكثر الثاني وربما وقف ينظر في الناس، ثم يصعد برفق كما يصعد الخطيب المنبر، وعند جلوسه تُضرب الطبول والأبواق والأنفار ويخرج ثلاثة من العبيد مسرعين فيدعون النائب والفرارية فيدخلون ويجلسون ويؤتى بالفرسين والكبشين معهما، ويقف دوغا على الباب وسائر الناس في الشارع تحت الأشجار [ص. ٤٩٥-٤٩٦]
English translation
The Sultan comes out of a door in a corner of the palace with his bow in his hand, his quiver between his shoulders, a gold skull-cap on his head held in place by a gold headband with points like thin knives, longer than a span. He is mostly dressed in a hairy, red tunic of the European cloth called muṭanfas. He comes out preceded by singers with gold and silver qanbaras [qanābir]. He is followed by about three hundred armed slaves. He walks slowly and often pauses, and sometimes stands still. When he reaches the banbī he stops and looks at the people. Then he climbs up it slowly as the preacher climbs the pulpit. When he takes his seat the drums [ṭubūl] are beaten and the coiled trumpets [abwāq] and straight trumpets [anfār] sounded. Three slaves come out running and summon the Sultan's deputy and the farārīs, who enter and sit down. Two horses and rams are brought. Dūghā stands at the gate and the rest of the people are in the street under the trees.
Folios/Pages
959
Date
1353 circa
Observations on the events description
The instruments mentioned here as "qanābir" correspond to Moroccan "guimbri", also called "sintir", typically used in Gnawa music, according to Gibb (Vol. IV., p. 959, n. 51), Mauny (1966) and Dozy (1845).
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
Name
Role
Notes
Edit
Delete
Keita, Sulayman
Viewer
King
How to quote
Pintimalli A., "Ceremony taking place when Sultan reaches the audience hall" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 07 29.doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.130
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
