No. KERSALE2024-001
Gan sᴐrᴐ initiation bullroarer
Southwest Burkina Faso · Loropeni Department · West Africa
Restricted
sᴐrᴐ
Source term: rhombe sᴐrᴐ
sᴐrᴐ: Gan name shared by the spiritual entity, the boys’ initiation, and its bullroarer; glossed “direction, path, toward.”
Sᴐrᴐ is the Gan spiritual entity whose name also names the boys’ sorgo initiation and its bullroarer; the word is glossed “direction, path, toward.” Initiators whirl the sᴐrᴐ above the boys, and its roar is understood as Sᴐrᴐ’s voice. Anyone not initiated into the rite must hide when it sounds.
planchette oblongue attachée au bout d’une ficelle
an oblong slat attached to the end of a string
Patrick Kersalé, GeoZik, Le Royaume Gan et sa musique 3/3, Rhombe sᴐrᴐ
Particulars
- Object
- Oblong slat tied to the end of a string, freely whirled; the string twists and the slat reverses.
- Function
- Boys' sorgo initiation; the sound is Sᴐrᴐ's voice and non-initiates hide.
Source
Patrick Kersalé, GeoZik, Le Royaume Gan et sa musique 3/3, 'Rhombe sᴐrᴐ,' field-information reconstruction