Customer Reviews

A Mixed Medicine Bag: Original Black Wampanoag Folklore

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Mixed Medicine Bag by Mwalim is a combination of urban and Black Wampanoag folklore reminiscent of Aesop's fables minus the morals provided at the end. Mwalim conveys his tales and allows the readers to draw from them what they need to; be it a lesson or simply a funny story.

In `Three Locks of Hair', readers learn of Faruq's rise to his place on a throne by outsmarting those that were against him but you also are fed with the underlying message that knowledge is priceless. Mwalim also introduced me to the `Backwoods People' while he chanted:

IT'S ALL THE SAME AND IT'S ALL GOOD, IN THE BACKWOODS!!

He explained that Backwoods people had a different way of living but it worked for them. It was similar to back in the days when you could ask your neighbor for what you needed and it was given to you with no problems or expectations. Everybody knew everybody and life was simple and enjoyable. In this tale, which has a couple of parts in the book, messages of acceptance, unity, and change scream from the pages.

A Mixed Medicine Bag is a good tool for bringing back qualities that seem to have become secondary in our society like peace, justice, friendship, and common sense. It can be read by children, teens, adults, and elders and each group is guaranteed to re-evaluate their priorities, even if only momentarily. The book has a natural flow and most of the characters from each tale are re-introduced in other stories leaving you with a feeling of connectedness. Mwalim is an excellent storyteller and I recommend A Mixed Medicine Bag to all readers, even those who claim to dislike folklore. I look forward to reading his future works.

Reviewed by Darnetta Frazier

APOOO BookClub

Folklore - The traditional beliefs values, stories, customs, and wisdom of a community, passed on by word of mouth. --MWebster

A MIXED MEDICINE BAG is a gathering of fifteen original Black Wampanoag folk-tales. Embracing his Eastern Native American, West Indian, and African-American heritage, MWALIM shares his gift, as a young griot, to maintain an age old storytelling tradition.

MWALIM gives his original lore to audiences at every occasion from powwows to festivals, in colleges, churches, community centers, and theaters. Intent on sharing his gift to reach people in all walks of life, he has even shared his skills and talent on street corners, in coffeehouses and jails. With MWLAIM, one of the central paradoxes of communication is that what is said, what is heard, and what is meant, rarely ever match. This leaves a tremendous gap in human communication. To him allegory and lore are still the best ways to preserve and communicate our beliefs and values.

A MIXED MEDICINE BAG takes readers on a vicarious journey when folklore was authentic, and to a time when people actually believed in them. This book makes for very interesting reading.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

I've always been a huge fan of fables from all over the world and this collection is a real treat.

His voice varies from story to story, taking on one aspect in the parables of the animals of the woods, another in the tales of the backwoods people, and yet again another voice as he relates a story about the legacy of a jazz musician. Mwalim captures the sense of the spoken word on each page, giving the reader the experience of being with him as he tells his tales.