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The Ringtone and the Drum: Travels in the World's Poorest Countries Paperback – October 16, 2012

by Mark Weston (Author)

4.6 38 ratings

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Tucked away in a remote, volatile part of West Africa, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso, three of the world's poorest countries, are in the throes of great upheaval. Globalization has shown their people that a more comfortable life is possible, but as they strive to attain it, climate change, the population boom, the tyrants of the old guard and the firm grip of tradition block their way.

The clash between old and new is explosive: civil wars erupt without warning, with drugged up rebels fighting over blood diamonds, gold or a humble bowl of rice; Al Qaeda has infiltrated Burkina Faso and threatens to extend its jihad across the region; Colombian drug gangs have overrun Guinea-Bissau; and Christian and Muslim fanatics battle for African souls, preparing their converts for Armageddon.

In The Ringtone and the Drum, Mark Weston dives into this maelstrom. In an often-unsettling adventure, he travels around the three countries and immerses himself in local life. Combining the remarkable stories of those he meets with his deep knowledge of Africa's development, the book sheds new light on a neglected but increasingly important corner of the globe.

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This is a courageous book, which sheds much-needed light on a corner of Africa that rarely gets media attention. Weston's first hand reporting and analysis will help anyone seeking to understand how poor countries work and poor people live. -Seth Kaplan, Author of Fixing Fragile States

A wise and compelling book, which offers a real picture of what daily life is like in West Africa. Weston is a brave and resourceful traveller, who has entered the heart of some of the most fascinating and least visited parts of the world. --Toby Green, Author of Meeting the Invisible Man Secrets and Magic in West Africa

The Ringtone and the Drum is high-energy food for wanderlust. Teeming with interesting facts, it turns Weston's perspicacious eye on some of the least visited countries on earth. The result is an accessible, unique and enchanting account. But beware: it will tempt even the least daring to pack their bags for West Africa! --David Bloom, Professor of Economics and Demography, Harvard University

Fuses the traditions of great travel writing with a deep and sophisticated knowledge of the fast-changing politics and cultures of West Africa. The result is a truly engaging and informative book that provides a rare tour of one of the world’s poorest and least understood regions. --Doug Saunders, Globe and Mail, Canada

‘The Ringtone and the Drum reminds us of our affluence and privilege as well as taking us on a fascinating journey through West African history and geography.’ Julia Manning, Daily Mail

‘A fascinating and very readable book.’ Alex Cobham, Head of Research, Save the Children

'The book is full of rich detail and interesting historical anecdotes (as well as a surprising amount of political economy shout-outs) about a part of the world that most readers will never see, but its real value lies in Weston’s success at communicating exactly what he set out to discover: “a better idea of how the world’s poorest people make it through the day.” Worth a read.' Wronging Rights

From the Author

The book covers Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso in detail, and Senegal in passing.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Zero Books (October 16, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 343 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1780995865
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1780995861
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.45 x 0.76 x 8.44 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #9,012,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,870 in General Africa Travel Books
- #18,096 in Human Geography (Books)
- #25,192 in Travelogues & Travel Essays

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4.6 38 ratings

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SRS

Transports you

Reviewed in the United States on December 25, 2012

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Great read. Weston transports the reader to a dynamic region of Africa that gets sparse attention despite a rich history which is intertwined with the cultural development of Europe and the Americas. Weston weaves a wonderfully readable narrative uncovering thick histories and spectacular cultural beauty in a region that has had so much taken from it and made its imprint on all corners of the Atlantic.

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EnJay

You travel with the author.

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2017

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Good portrayal of the countries described. Depressing but realistic.

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John P. Jones III

Beyond the third world...

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2012

Once upon a time... the earth was divided, very roughly, into three "worlds." The "first" world was the developed countries of the West, which also included Japan and Australasia. The "second" world was the Communist countries, and the "third" covered everything else, from India to Singapore, Chile, Congo et al. The "deck" continues to be reshuffled, there are new winners and, alas, those in decline. New classifications are developed, usually by various academics, in an effort to define this motion. A few countries were (and are) considered so dysfunctional that various labels, from "fourth world" to "failed states" have been applied. They are the "lumpen-proletariat" of countries. Reporters rarely go there, and thus not much is known in the West about them. Mark Weston, and his wife, Ebru, selected three, for extensive visits, utilizing (usually painfully) the local transportation, taking the time to talk with the people that serendipity provided, and continually confronted (also painfully) the grinding poverty and desperations of the lives of the inhabitants. The three countries are Guinea- Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Burkina Faso. And in the process have produced a remarkable and profoundly informative book.

For example, how many people outside Guinea-Bissau know that it has not had a functioning electrical power grid for TEN years? Small, gas-powered (when it is available!) generators produce electricity locally, and only intermittently. Weston had done his "homework" before arriving, and weaves the country's history into the narrative of his travels. Amilcar Cabral led the independence struggle against Portugal into the `70's, and was killed in dubious circumstances. Joao Bernardo Vieira, "Nino" ruled the country for 23 of 35 years after independence, was assassinated, and Weston quotes one of the fighters for independence: "his rule was worse than the Portuguese." Guinea-Bissau was pushed into cash crops, like cashews, and suffers the vagaries of the "global economy," usually on the down side. Alcoholism is rampant. Weston tells the tale of "Mame", living on the coastal islands, who had two husbands, numerous children, and is "shell-shocked" (though he does not use that term) as a result. Mainly the only other whites in the country are evangelical missionaries, rightly called "fundamentalists" by Weston, seeking to harvest souls, with their "closed-loop logic." Weston also provides a scathing portrait of the slave trade which very heavily impacted this area, and draws the conclusion that much of today's dysfunctional society is a result. The United Nations has declared the country the world's first "narco-state," since South American drug-runners have developed the country into a convenient way-station to their European markets.

The roads and the security situation are so bad that an overland trip to Sierra Leone is ruled out. They backtrack to Senegal, and fly. Once again, Weston provided me much history I did not know. Sierra Leone was founded by the British, as a home for the American slaves who had fought on their side during the American Revolutionary War. For ten years it was racked by civil war, led by Sankoh within the country, and supported by Charles Taylor in neighboring Liberia. It was a war of savagery so severe that British troops eventually intervened and ended it. Diamonds are their natural resource "curse," as the author says. He and his wife visit the "wild East" of the country, and describe one of the diamond operations. Along the way, he talks with a Lebanese businessman, of whom many have been the "engines of commerce" in the region (and naturally are involved in the illicit profits that diamonds can provide). "Juju," that old, proverbial "black magic" is a pervasive power in all these countries, and the most primitive forms and beliefs co-exist within the most Westernized of natives. The author and his wife spent over a month in the capital, Freetown.

Finally, there is Burkina Faso, formerly "Upper Volta." Again, the reader is treated to a national history that few are probably aware of... Thomas Sankara, who tried to be, and perhaps was the only African national leader who eschewed personal aggrandizement in the interest of his country. Weston refers to him as a Che Guevera... I thought more of Ho Chi Minh. Sankara was murdered by his best friend, Compaoré...who has ruled, unloved, like the step-father, for 33 years. Weston visits Sankara's unkempt grave. The author also relates the unmitigated savagery of the 1898 "pacification" campaign of Paul Voulet, a true "Kurtz," as in Conrad's Heart of Darkness .

Also woven into the book are the observations of others travelers, journalists and social critics including Frantz Fanon, Ryszard Kapuscinski, Mungo Park, Shiva Naipaul and Graham Greene. The book is well-written, with fresh prose and original observations such as entering a town through "a moat of black plastic bags." Mark Weston is a perceptive and empathetic observer, who prescribes no easy nostrums. Observing the grinding poverty, and being constantly confronted with a completely different frame of reference (like attributing so many events to "juju") does have a personal impact that the author describes, from doubting one's own rationale, Western beliefs to a paranoid episode in Senegal (were the drug-runners from Guinea-Bissau after him?). Eventually Weston succumbs to a form of the "soudanité" a French word used to describe the impact of the harsh physical and human environment on Europeans, and departs Burkina Faso prior to the scheduled time.

For my Amazon reviews I have developed a special category for books that are superlative on all "axis" from the writing style to the information conveyed, and are also "must" reads for an educated reader. Such a book is this one. 6-stars.

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DAVID BRYSON

'A MORE CONSTRUCTIVE PURPOSE'

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2012

This is a first class piece of work by a whole range of standards, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly. I can recommend it for the quality of the writing: I can recommend it for its vividness and readability: I can recommend (if that's the word) the author's humane and compassionate cast of mind: I can only admire the dedication with which Mark Weston and his wife stuck out their researches under conditions that would have defeated many of us within days: I can recommend the thoughtfulness and balance of the political judgments, which of course is not to imply that Mark Weston sits on the fence where the ratio of right to wrong is glaringly obvious; and above all I can recommend it as a lesson in contemporary history and international politics. I am quite sure that after all that you know that there's a `however' coming up; and indeed there is.

Weston is asking for this `however' when he explains that he was uncomfortable with being so comfortable (so to say) in his privileged western surroundings, writing about West African nations. He needed to get in closer, to understand better from genuine first-hand experience how this segment of the brotherhood of man live, and to bring the story back to the rest of us. This is what he calls `a more constructive purpose'. The trouble is that, in the poet's words, `the news is news/that men have heard before'. The BBC for one has a fine record of unvarnished documentaries about this very area. I had a fair idea already about the drugs economy of Guinea-Bissau from television, and also about the crippling drought in Burkina Faso, the erstwhile Upper Volta. As for Sierra Leone, I imagine most of us wish we knew less about that, or more accurately that there was less to know.

The question in my own mind is just how much a book - any book, however good - can contribute to the alleviation of the conditions in West Africa. When Gore Vidal was asked whether his political tracts had affected public attitudes he replied no because `nobody reads in America.' We have the same issue with this fine book: most people likely to read it will be from the ranks of the politically aware, who understand the matter to some extent already, and who are full of sympathy but neither willing nor, realistically, able to do anything about it. The book contributes greater depth of understanding for some of us, but, inevitably, it is going to be thought of as literature rather than as sociology or social criticism, much less any kind of call to action. This is a topic where pictures are worth more than words in the clichéd ratio of 1000 to 1. Mark Weston must be a strong man and even a brave man to have seen this project through, but in the last analysis it is bound to be chiefly for his own benefit. He felt the need to understand better, and also the need to write about what he witnessed, because writing is what he is good at.

In other words, this is a problem that the book creates for the reader precisely because it is such a good book. The pitiable conditions are memorably described indeed, and without mawkishness or sentimentality. Unlike, say, Peter Hessler's books on China, this is not a piece of autobiography, which is what makes Hessler's formula so successful. It is an honest, humane, sympathetic and courageous bit of reporting, beautifully crafted and mercifully without what I might call `school prize essay' padding or gush. However it is not virgin-territory exploration either, in the manner of Herodotus or of Mungo Park. It is a fine example of a familiar genre. The author would have found the bar set high in any event, but in this case he has, perhaps inadvertently, set it a little higher for himself.

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Mixedupkid

You know you're reading a good book when it haunts you for days!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 12, 2012

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This is not the type of book I would ordinarily seek out but was given a copy as I know Mark socially (we play soccer together on a regular basis) For me it was unputdownable! He has a way of educating the reader on a range of topics that is somehow entertaining, well that's perhaps not the right word as this is often harrowing stuff. After reading it I certainly felt I had a better understanding of the complexities of what makes these fascinating countries what they are today. He really gets under the skin of some of our planet's poorest regions and helps you to understand how they got to be like this. As a travel writer he takes you there vividly, his observations are candidly honest (he could have easily left out the very personal struggles and mental anguish that curtailed the trip by a month) and sometimes unbearably funny (check out his thoughts on the West African bus services!) His insights on dealing with 'in your face' poverty on a massive scale and the guilt he felt being a privileged westerner who could get out whenever he chose were well handled. So too were subjects like the evangelical Christian and Muslim clerics' struggle for people's souls with the dark shadow of Ju Ju never too far away. I must admit to being skeptical on the subject of witchcraft (as probably the author was too before his trip) but in the context of the book the reader can see how it can still maintain a hold on people and not just West Africans - at one point Mark himself wonders if he is not the victim of some juju spell! His 'how to' guide for wannabe African dictators/despots would almost be funny if the outcomes weren't so blatantly tragic. He also graciously acknowledges his wife Ebru as the unsung hero of the book, a demonstration I think of the writer's humanity which, by the way pervades this splendid if challenging book.

4 people found this helpful

allwillbewell

A lesson in how to write a travel book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2015

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Recently I have been on a travel book reading splurge, and obviously some of the books have been better than others. As a genre, it has become a bit infested with gimmickry: it is not enough to travel, you must travel on a unicycle or follow some eighteenth century route in a powdered wig. This is a totally honorable exception. Mark Weston seems without ego: he travels through some harsh, desperately poor places in a spirit of pure curiosity, sympathy and patient observation. The historical background details regarding countries like Sierra Leone are quite shocking to those who do not already know them. The Westons' capacity for tolerating discomfort without whining is humane and touching. They never once feel like privileged tourists looking at the local people as if they were an anthropological study: they are always fellow humans, living among people they often warm to and care for. This is a fascinating, touching and deeply humane book.

One person found this helpful

Kathleen Reid

What a journey!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2020

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This ‘branco’ bumped along on the trucks, buses & ferries with Mark & Ebru. I visualised the food on the vendors stalls and breathed in the humid air. I sighed with relief when they found a generator that worked & even enjoyed a glass of Cana with them. The description of the hawkers made me smile, I rolled my eyes at the devout religions, jujus & herbalists. The pain of history and the cruelty of poverty made me flinch!
Thanks for letting me jump on board I feel like I have visited Sierra Leone, Guinea Baddau & Burkina Faso, what a journey, I loved it!

Alex

Gripping travelogue

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2013

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I knew next to nothing about this part of the world before reading this honest and gripping travelogue. I found Weston's knack for combining personal details with wider political history really engaging - he has a grasp of the big picture without ever making it seem dry or abstract. At times, it reminded me a little of Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia, in its cast of unique, haunting characters - from sad bicycle-riding waiters to pragmatic juju practitioners on market stalls - and vivid physical descriptions that put you right there with the author and his wife - endless, uncomfortable taxi rides, phantom assassins and unbearable, inescapable heat. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

Mr. A. L. Hosking

Superb book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2015

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An extremely interesting read about three of the poorest countries in the world. Weston interviews a lot of people that he meets and throws light on the poverty of the countries and their history and throws light on why people from such areas risk everything to travel to Europe. It was written before the Ebola crisis, but it is not hard to see from this book why the disease has been so hard to control in one of the countries. I'd recommend it thoroughly to anyone with an interest in the area.

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