History and Culture in Andre Salifou’s la Valse des Vautours

Cited among the personalities related to Zinder commune, Professor Andre Salifou is a famous historian before being a playwright, a writer, a politician and diplomat. A privileged observatory of African political life in general and Nigerienne in particular, he has decided, according to him, “to do with the public management, and also with the intrigues woven by leaders on power and around them, the main theme” (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/zinder) of his novel entitled The Waltz of the Vultures. This novel which depicts a real person nonetheless is the fruit of the author’s imagination that extols or eulogizes the mechanisms through which these characters take their decisions and react positively or negatively. The choice of this theme history and culture in Andre Salifou’s The Waltz of the Vulture is not only linked to the fact that Zinder presents a rich patrimony made of history, traditions, architecture and objects but also, the historian, the man of drama art and the novelist has attempted to sweeten this novel with stories and legends extracted from Nigerienne oral literature. Stories of Chipkaw, natural son of Malam Makana; Arzika, the craftsman with golden brilliance, the King Sololo, personification of jealousy, are edifying. Andre Salifou has said that “these stories and legends have been broadcast in Zindir area”, his native city, “by late Malam Dan-Goujoungou, a blind practicing and moralist Muslim, who used them to illustrate the multiple sermons that he pronounced in the evening.” Through a historical and literary approach, the role of culture seen by a historian will be put in epigraph.

Keywords: history, culture, Zinder.