Epic of Sundiata

Sunjata (/sʊnˈdʒɑːtə/; Manding languages: ߛߏ߲߬ߖߘߊ߬ Sònjàdà, also referred to as Sundiata or Son-Jara) is an epic poem of the Malinke people that tells the story of the hero Sundiata Keita (died 1255), the founder of the Mali Empire. The epic is an instance of oral tradition, going back to the 13th century and narrated by generations of griot poets or jeliw (djeli). There is no single or authoritative version. Material pertaining to the epic first began to be collected during the early 20th century in French Sudan, notably by the French elite school École William Ponty, resulting in the "modern" version of the tale as considered standard today, based on the oral account by Djeli Mamoudou Kouyate, a griot or traditional oral historian, translated into French by Djibril Tamsir Niane in 1960.