Fakoli

Fakoli, surnamed Koroma or Doumbia, is one of the most vivid of the epic's warriors, remembered for a head so large that it holds a formidable concentration of occult power. Nephew and chief general of the sorcerer-king Soumaoro of Sosso, he is bound to his uncle until Soumaoro seizes his wife, the celebrated cook Keleya, whose single pot could feed an army; the outrage drives Fakoli to desert Sosso and throw his strength behind Sunjata. His defection is a turning point in the war, and his war-sorcery contributes to Soumaoro's defeat at Kirina. The Koroma, Doumbia, and Kourouma clans claim descent from him, and he figures widely in hunters' songs as a paragon of occult martial power.

Domains

• warfare
• sorcery

Powers

• carries the occult power gathered in his great head

Epithets

• Fakoli kunba — Fakoli of the great headBird, Charles S. (1974). The Songs of Seydou Camara, Vol. 1: Kambili. Bloomington: African Studies Center, Indiana University. (secondary)

Relations

• ally: Sunjata KeitaDeserts Sosso to fight for Sunjata's coalition.Conrad, David C. (2004). Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. Indianapolis: Hackett. (primary)
• enemy: Soumaoro KantéHis uncle and former overlord, who provokes the breach by seizing Fakoli's wife Keleya.Conrad, David C. (2004). Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. Indianapolis: Hackett. (primary)

Sources

• Fakoli is the great-headed war-leader and occult adept who abandons his uncle Soumaoro to join Sunjata, and is claimed as ancestor by the Koroma and Doumbia.: Conrad, David C. (2004). Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. Indianapolis: Hackett. (primary); Belcher, Stephen (1999). Epic Traditions of Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (secondary)