«Before, the struggle was only tradition. Our grandparents, after the harvests, organized tournaments to celebrate the right season. Everyone took their champion. That’s the story», Says with nostalgia Demba Ka, a passionate of traditional struggle.
For him, these games were first of all a matter of transmission, community pride and social ties.
Among this day’s stars, the wrestler Ségue Ndakaru caused a sensation. Proud representative of his neighborhood, he insists on the initiation value of the struggle. “”Traditional struggle is the basis. This is where you become champion. Here, we organize tournaments between neighborhoods, with fairly important bets. And above all, we respect the whole tradition: mystical baths, songs, rites … It is our sport, our pride.»
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But behind this fervor, a reality is essential: the professionalization of the traditional struggle has transformed took over the ceremonial character which has prevailed for centuries.
«Today, everything is business. The wrestlers no longer manage anything themselves, it is the staff who decide. There are sponsors, promoters, sellers. A whole ecosystem has developed around the struggle”, Regret Benba’s.
If the traditional struggle has changed, oscillating between sport, business and culture, it remains, in Tivaouane Peul, as elsewhere, a crucible of identity, a popular passion theater.
And in Tivaouane Peul we promise that as long as there is a drum, a circle of sand and two champions ready to measure itself, the tradition will live.
Par Moustapha Cissé (Dakar, Correspondence)
05/01/2025 at 10:02 am
