Nearly illiterate and suffering from leprosy, Eyí Moan Ndong (1928–2000) learned to play the mvet, an ancestral string instrument made from cane tube. It was one meter or slightly more in length and usually had up to three calabashes as sound boxes. While he was admitted for 12 years in the Mikomeseng leprosy settlement, his mvet sessions for the sick and their caregivers became famous. The Spanish colonial authorities did not have a bad opinion of him, but they also did not take him seriously. To them, he seemed to be merely a folkloric clown. After leaving the leprosy settlement, the bard would travel to villages and perform at funerals. It provided a sense of dignity to have him as a performer. Eyí Moan Ndong barely spoke Spanish. He composed verses in the Fang language, usually at night, as one more of the rituals in the House of the Word, where the Fang—the majority ethnic group in Equatorial Guinea—ate, rested, played akong (a board game), made baskets with melongo, debated issues that affected the community, and listened to their bards. Eyí Moan Ndong called himself “the people’s entertainer.”
His art with the mvet began with a song, often humorous. Then Eyí Moan Ndong went on to tell stories of the Ekang, the first immortal inhabitants of the Earth. He interspersed songs (also an autobiographical poem, the Onvaga) in his tales, which could last all night. This depended on the response of the audience, who accompanied the performance with bamboo drumsticks to mark the rhythm, and metal bells or bottles to make the harmony. Famous for knowing countless epic poems by memory, Eyí Moan Ndong was also great at improvisation. He is the last great performer of this tradition.
I owe being able to read five epic poems by Eyí Moan Ndong to transcripts published by Dr. Ramón Sales Encinas and the translator Domingo Elá Mbá, which I discovered thanks to the book Sobre la épica fang by Jorge Abeso. I have tackled a sixth epic in a bilingual edition (Fang/Spanish) made by Professor Julián Bibang, published in the book Érase una vez el país del son del tambor y de las tumbas. There is a seventh (El leopardo al acecho del mundo) transcribed by Verónica Ñengono in her doctoral thesis, still unpublished. And even now there are non-transcribed recordings circulating (Ngara Bikieñ, about an android) as well as unpublished transcripts (El accidente de circulación entre Nnang Ondó y Ekieñ Ndong Elá) of more epic poems.
I spoke with Professor Alberto Montaner, who directs the doctoral thesis on Eyí Moan Ndong by researcher Filiberto Abeso Micha Monayong. In his opinion, “the plot of Fang epic poems is somewhat surreal, but they should be understood from a deeply magical world view.” In the Western epic there is nothing comparable. Although the Fang bard shows parallels with the Greek aoidos, medieval troubadours, and even with The Storyteller by Vargas Llosa, their epics are more reminiscent of fairy tales. A summary of some plots will suffice to confirm this.
From the great beyond, a mother sends her son to a river from which you can pull out fish that are wrapped and cooked with hot sauce, salt, and onion (El extraño regalo venido del otro mundo). Accused of killing his first cousin, Akoma Mba is taken by an angel to a divine court (Akoma Mba ante el tribunal de Dios). Several Ekang groups try to defeat and capture a giant cannibal in order to take it to old Ayomongang, who wants to eat it (Mbuandong, el antropófago). A young man visits his mother’s hometown for the first time and finds the inhabitants there terrorized by a monster (Mondú Messeng).
The giant can be seen as a Fang image of Homer’s Cyclops (The Odyssey). The hand that writes the summons for Akoma Mba is reminiscent of Belshazzar’s feast (the Book of Daniel). Nevertheless, the similarities with the Western tradition are minimal. In fact, the most striking and original aspect of Eyí Moan Ndong is his retro-futuristic style (long before Wakanda). On the one hand, the bard dates back to a mythical past of immortal beings who use amulets, cast spells, and make use of a large variety of magical animals: In Akoma Mba…, an elephant takes care of all the agricultural and domestic tasks (cutting firewood, pulling weeds, cooking vegetables, etc.); in Mbuandong … a goat defecates an edible fat that feeds an entire village.
On the other hand, one would expect to find a primitive lifestyle in the mythical land of Engong. But the immortal Ekang have many technological gadgets: phones, cars, trucks … and flying saucers! In fact, the “Mivulú” takes on the role ships have in the Greek epic, allowing the characters to move quickly from one place to another (for example, to hunt down Mbuandong, the giant cannibal). Eyí Moan Ndong moves smoothly from a magic mirror (Eyom Ndong, el buscaproblemas) to glasses that let you see things kilometers away (Mbuandong, el antropófago), a gadget not even James Bond has. The first mechanism refers to the fairy-tale genre, already mentioned; the second, to science fiction.
Therefore, the art of the mvet is hybrid, not only for the elements it combines (story, song, music, dance, theater) but also for the literary genres it shares. In this sense, Eyí Moan Ndong believed that variety was the key to holding the attention of his audience, which in Equatorial Guinea was large. In fact, his work remains popular not only in his own country but also among the Fang populations in Gabon and Cameroon. And it deserves to cross more borders.
Given its importance and universality, it is essential to preserve the legacy of Eyí Moan Ndong. We cannot recover the lost epic poems, but it would be wise to translate, annotate, and publish the non-transcribed recordings in bilingual editions (Fang/Spanish). Their study should also be encouraged. It is enough to consult literature on the mvet to verify that almost everything comes from French-speaking Africa. Let’s follow their example and promote the exegesis of these epic works also in Spanish. Likewise, it is also a priority to encourage teaching of the mvet. There are schools dedicated to this instrument in Gabon and Cameroon, but not in Equatorial Guinea. Encouraging that it be learned would help conserve the tradition and inspire new talents.
Since I discovered him, I have spoken about Eyí Moan Ndong with the same admiration and respect I use when I refer to Homer or Vargas Llosa. And it is not necessary to have previous knowledge of Fang or the mvet to enjoy him. For those who want to read him in Spanish (splendidly annotated), the five epic poems edited by Ramón Sales Encinas and Domingo Elá Mbá are difficult to find in bookstores but are available online: El extraño regalo venido del otro mundo, Akoma Mba ante el tribunal de Dios, Mbuandong el antropófago, Eyom Ndong, el buscaproblemas and Mondú Messeng.
