Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

Electronic music to try to save the language from 4,000 speakers

  • Beni Fadi is his artistic name, Senegal is south-eastern and has started making electronic music in Menik. According to data from 20 years ago, 3,375 people speak this language, since then it has not been recounted and is about to disappear. "I had to do something to try to save our language," The Guardian called the piece about this artist. At the attention of the international media, he denounced that the French imposed language on their people and banned menic in schools.
Beni Fadi, youtubeko bere bideo baten kaptura.

Benoît Fader Keita is its true name, is 36 years old and is part of a diminished town in south-east Senegal. His mother tongue, Menik, is on the black list of 2,500 dying languages of Unesco. Its name is Bandafassi, the most important people of this people.

In a way, its history has attracted the attention of some international media: These links from The Guardian, Washington Post and Courrier International are an example of this.

Bandafassi is located in southeastern Senegal.

Keita counts in The Guardian when Dakar went to study the capital of Senegal, which was deeply surprised because no one knew his people. "No one spoke my language. Nobody knew anything about Meniks, most people didn't know we existed. What was happening in our own country and that led me to become aware and want to do something."

From reggae to electronics

Although he started making reggae, he's doing electronics in recent years. In addition, it has been successful in your country. He has published a four-track EP with Electrafique and RISE stamps. The word of Arco means chameleon in Menik language. That's the title of the record.

One of the founders of the Electrafrique collective says in The Guardian: "I went to his hometown in 2020 and I got his story and what I was trying to do right away. I really liked the versatility of the voice."

France responsible for the disappearance of its language

As has already been mentioned, Fader Keita has drawn the attention of many media internacionales.Reportaje of video made by Washington Post in which he denounces the French attacks on his people. "The French were not able to say well the name of our people, Menik, and therefore Bedi called us. (...) At that time we could not speak our language at school, only the French language", he denounces.

At the end of the report we present how the linguistic oppression looks: "If you lose your language in exchange for another, you will be a slave of that second language or culture. I am not obliged to change my language to explain my ideas. That's why maintaining my language has become the most important thing in my life."

Reporting under Washington Post.

Below are some of her songs:

 


You are interested in the channel: Hizkuntza gutxituak
Burial of Mister Spanish

Marfa, 1954. At Blackwell Elementary School in this Texas desert village, children were forced to participate in a peculiar ceremony. The teachers distributed pieces of paper to them and asked them to write: “I will not speak Spanish, neither at school nor at rest.” They put... [+]


2024-05-15 | Cira Crespo
From the view of minority language speakers
Accomplices of the Basque Country in Vitoria
The protagonists of this report reside in Vitoria-Gasteiz and speak in minority languages such as the Amazon, the Galician, the miracle and the Guarani respectively. Soumia Berkani Ben Yahia, Toni Cid Armanda, Altaf Hussain, and Sonia and Delcy Godoy Bizzozzero. Do they have... [+]

2024-05-13 | Cira Crespo
After a ukulele I found Hawaii

Her daughter learns to play the ukulele. He once acted with Somewhere over the rainbow notes. The author of this version was Israel Kamakawiwo?ole. As you see, Mr Israel’s last name is quite special to us. So special that “Cira, this is not an English surname, maybe behind... [+]


Minority languages: review of emerging discourses
On April 23, the Basque Socio-linguistic Day 2024 was held in Vitoria-Gasteiz, organized by the Socio-linguistic Cluster. In recent years they have focused on the speeches that have been shown for and against Euskera and Catalan. Around the Basque country, Onintza Legorburu, Xan... [+]

Judith Bilelo Biachó
"The institutions will not help us unless we get us to speak in our language"
Judith Bilelo Biachó was with us last autumn in the framework of the Expert Crane Programme. Born in Equatorial Guinea (Malabo, Bioko, 1975), he is part of the Bubi ethnicity, a speaking Bubier and a language militant. It speaks of the present as well as the past, looking to... [+]

Carolina Gandulfo, PhD and Guarani Researcher
“The children were ‘silent’, in Spanish, not in Guarani, but this language was not useful”
Dr. Carolina Gandulfo. Born in Argentina, professor at the Faculty of Humanities at the Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Last fall Garabide made an invited stay between us and told us about the Argentinian Guarani. It tells the experience of a college. They began to be... [+]

2024-03-04 | Cira Crespo
SMALL EUROPEANS
Linguistic richness (II)

A few years ago, I wrote a little book about Tene Mujika, which is called Udazken Argitan. When I started doing that biographical essay, I met our protagonist today, Mr. Watson Kirkconnell. In 1928, Kirkconnell published a nice book of European Elect anthology, which included... [+]


Euskera is the third most widely used language on European streaming platforms
Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ use only five languages accepted by the European Charter of Minority Languages. Catalan dominates by far between the five. It is followed by Galician, Basque, Luxembourgish and Scottish Gaelic. The research has been led by the Nor Research Group... [+]

2024-02-19 | Cira Crespo
SMALL EUROPEANS
Linguistic richness (I)

A few months ago, I read a very interesting book. National thougth in Europe. A cultural history, by Joep Leerssen, in Catalan version (El pensament nacional Europa, Editorial Afers, 2019). It explains how Europe developed national thinking or, in other words, the national... [+]


2024-02-05 | Cira Crespo
SMALL EUROPEANS
Marginal

The mystery of the origin of the Basque country has intensified with the hand of Irulegi. For me, the discussions on this hand are being nice, because we reiterate that history sometimes flees from the logic we establish from the present and is as human as the people who... [+]


María del Pilar Casamachin Yule and Luis Evelio Velasco Nuskwe
Entrepreneurs Nasayuwe in the Cauca of Colombia
Casamachin Yule and Velasco Nuskw, indigenous of the Nasa people, have appeared as language activists. They work in the revitalization group of the Nasayuwea in Colombia, in the municipality of Toribío, in the Cauca region. The population is 37,166 inhabitants, 96 per cent of... [+]

Carlos Santiago Moreta Cachiguango. Quechua speaker
"What identity is that without your own language?"
Quechua Carlos Santiago Moreta is currently speaking. He was born in the Ecuadorian town of Otavalo, province of Imbabura. He entered the Kitxua Youth Association of Imbabura when he was young. There he realized the importance of language. The indigenous did, but did not speak... [+]

2023-11-20 | Cira Crespo
SMALL EUROPEANS
Occitany (II): meat and blood

Two weeks ago we left the Occitans preparing their people for war. It wasn't any war. During the 13th century, the sieges were ruthless in the territory of Occitania and suffered unforgettable violence.

We said the Crusade was, in fact, heraxial anti-cataract. The world of... [+]


2023-11-06 | Cira Crespo
SMALL EUROPEANS
Occitania (I): songs and light verses
Occitany, in the time of modern Europe, seems to me to be a black hole. And I'm in doubt whether we're not falling and falling down that black hole. Joxe Azurmendi devoted a chapter to this issue in his recent publication "Europe as old as Europe", in which he pointed out that some... [+]

Eguneraketa berriak daude