Description:
In this book-length epic poem set in northern Nigeria, Saddiq Dzukogi blends the personal with the mythical, part prayer and part praise song, expanding the griot tradition of Bakandamiya, a poetic form from northern Nigeria popularized by Mamman Shata.
Review Quotes: "Saddiq Dzukogi's first book was one of my favorite debuts in quite some time, so I was wondering what might come next. Bakandamiya does not disappoint--this work is incredible in how it blends epic breath and lyric impulse, a timeless meditation . . . that knows 'night is the truce between the battles of spirits.' A conversation with sources as various as the Qur'an and Dante, Eliot and Gibran, here is a choral gathering of the tribes that's unafraid to reach for the truth. . . . This is a voice worth listening to."--Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic