Boo go a Kontukonde

Saamaka folktales, recorded by Richard and Sally Price

Lead time:

1 to 3 days

Between 1966 and 1968 Richard and Sally Price lived in Dangogo on the Pikilio river. With a tape recorder they twice recorded people telling kontu, traditional folktales, at a house of mourning. Later they listened to the tapes again and wrote the stories down exactly as they were told. These tales appeared earlier in English (Two Evenings in Saramaka) and French (Deux soirées de contes saamaka). This book brings them into Saamaka, so that people today can read how the ancestors told kontu. Vinije Haabo helped make the Saamaka text as accurate as possible. The stories are full of songs and interruptions, and the book includes photos of many of the people who were there. Recordings of most of the tales are available online, so you can listen while you read. The book is written in Saamaka (Saamakatongo).