Chapter 2

Seydou Samake

Musician

The Great War devastated Europe and swept up peoples and nations, one after the other.

From the four corners of the earth,
millions of people came to die in the trenches
and on the battlefields.

When Lara told me about the Memorial to Muslim combatants in Verdun, I immediately wanted to see it.

Naturally, I was already familiar with the fields of white crosses in French military graveyards, but to see hundreds of Muslim headstones, was really impressive!

Then I went to see the citadel of Verdun and fort Douaumont. I can hardly bring myself to imagine what the soldiers there must have undergone in these passages dripping with moisture, with the terrifying din of explosions and shells.

Then there’s disease, swarms of rats,
head lice so itchy you want to tear your hair out!
To think that my great-grandfather, Ousmane Samaké fought here.

He was a Senegalese ‘tirailleur’.
At home, he was a totally harmless story-teller, surrounded by musical instruments which he played constantly – a bit like me, in fact!

He had for intance a strange-looking kind of bagpipe and a small accordion which now belongs to me.
I still play it sometimes – just like he did, surrounded by his brothers in arms behind the frontline.

He also played music in the countryside, in Belgium.
In 1917 he was captured by the Germans.

Before being brought to a prisoner of war camp,
he had to work on the harvest.
He was even able to learn a few traditional songs from the area.

I feel that although this time was short-lived,
it offered him a little respite.

However, once the harvest had been gathered in,
things became decidedly less pleasant.

The prisoners were sent to Germany
to work in the coal mines of the Saarland,
near the Luxembourg border.

This industry was a major one
in this region.

From that time my great-grandfather preserved a collection of musical sheet published in Saarbrücken. And it’s in that book that I found the last picture of him in Europe. Of course, he poses with his accordion in front of the camera!

In fact, I fully intend to play some of this music for the film that I, Lara and others are making.

Next Chapter

Camille Brissard