LALO KEBA DRAMÉ - Massaneh Ceesay

This tune is an eponymous song. Its main subject is a certain Massana (literally "great lord") Cissé who lived in the village of Bitang in Gambia near the Niger river that the Gambians call "Bolongo"; hence the beginning of the famous refrain: "Bitang Bolongo, Massana Cissé ..."
puce Massana Cissé had a considerable fortune and appetites which were no less so. He fell in love violently with the fiancée of a poor farmer and forced his parents to break off the engagement in order to marry her.
But on the wedding day, as his future bride approached him, he felt a mortal languor; when she was near him, he had expired.
puce This tune is played to encourage the Greats to measure up. It also reminds us that at every moment we give in to our passions, we come a little closer to the end of our common destiny: death. We find many of the words of the chorus in several songs including Dakan or Mani Sajio.