20 min
Interview
Connecting with the Ancestors
Twenty minutes on the place of the dead in Dagara practice.
About the teacher
Malidoma Patrice Somé
Writer and teacher of the Dagara tradition (1956–2021), born in Dano in Burkina Faso and taken at the age of four to be raised by Jesuit priests. He later studied in the West and spent most of his adult life teaching ritual and initiation in the United States and Europe.
Talks & videos
Watch.
Short introductions and longer conversations, to hear this teacher in their own words.
61 min
Interview
On Ancestral Wisdom
An hour on what traditional teaching still carries, and what is lost when it is not passed on.
44 min
Talk
The Forgotten Art of Drowning
A conference talk on grief, on being undone, and on why a community needs to witness it.
119 min
Talk
An Evening with a Dagara Elder
Two hours at CIIS on ritual, ancestors and what the Dagara tradition asks of a person.
Path
The wider context.
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Drum, song and the ones who came before
Traditions of Africa & the Diaspora
Ifá, Candomblé, Haitian Vodou, Santería, Gnawa, zār and mbira: traditions in which drum, song and ceremony bring the spirits and the ancestors near.
Explore the path →
