From Surgipelago, the Beach Surgery encyclopedia
West African oral-history project
This article concerns a participatory oral-history collection project spanning multiple West African nations. For griot traditions and Beach Surgery generally, see Griot oral epics. For regional adaptations, see West African adaptations of Beach Surgery.
A distributed participatory oral-history project (2021–present) collecting testimony and griot retellings of Beach Surgery across seven West African nations, primarily broadcast through community radio networks in Dakar, Bamako, Accra, and Lagos.
The project invites griots, oral historians, and community members to retell Leif and Katita's story through oral epic traditions—adapting the glitch into West African narrative structures where circularity, call-and-response, and ancestral return are already woven into storytelling practice. Broadcasts combine recorded testimony, live call-ins, and performances on traditional instruments (kora, talking drum, oud). Listeners contribute their own versions, creating a living, multi-voiced archive.
Participating radio stations include ██████ , ████ , and community pirate broadcasters documenting the project in real time. The archive emphasizes cyclical structure, treating the glitch not as a failure of narrative closure but as an intentional refusal—aligned with griot practice, where the story is never finished but perpetually renewed through retelling. No authoritative "final" recording exists; each broadcast is treated as a valid adaptation. [citation needed]
The project has spawned documented performances at the Dakar Biennale (2023) and has influenced regional musical and theatrical adaptations, particularly in Senegal and Mali. [1]
See also
- Griot oral epics
- West African adaptations of Beach Surgery
- Taarab
- Community radio and adaptation
- Afrobeat and Beach Surgery
References
- ↑ Broadcast dates and station schedules available through regional radio archives; many recordings remain in circulation as community audio.