DESCRIPTION:
This beautiful song from the Kaso country in Mali tells a beautiful story about the love a hippopotamus felt for a young girl. Were there ever seen two beings more different?
Mali Sajo was a man who was suffering greatly from the shame of a forbidden love affair. He vowed to drown himself in the river, but when he attempted to, he instead turned into a spirit being in the form of a hippopotamus. The people befriended him, but unfortunately, he was attracted to a beautiful woman, and re-transforming himself into the form of a man he would go and visit her. He told her the secret of the transformation, whereupon she betrayed him to the colonial office and arranged to have him shot.

Hippopotamus of Bafoulabe
How hard absence is;
Your absence oppresses me,
Hippopotamus of Korojube...
It is a favourite with many musicians because of its melancholy and lyrical melody. The subject of the song is a lengendary white hippopotamus in the upper-river area in Mali called 'Baa Fula Beng' (literally, 'meeting point of two rivers'). Being of a peaceful nature, the hippopotamus allowed people to approach him; gradually the people from the area grew to love and trust him. One day, however, a European hunter came and shot the hippopotamus, occasioning much grief among the people.

Makoy Jobarteh (vocals)
Jali Sherrifo Konteh (kora & vocals)
Ben Paley (fiddle)
Filmed by Vic Smith in Sherrifo's compound in Brikama Jamisa, The Gambia on 8th March 2014 under the mango tree which Vic & Tina had the foresight to plant on the day that Sherrifo moved into the compound that he was developing in 2005.