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Overview

Dubabi is identified as a son of Dodo Ibrahima, the water ruler also called Sarikin Kabbi. Tremearne says his functions and dance resemble his father’s. The adjoining water-spirit description uses a brought calabash and repeated head movements as a means of ending possession. The stated restriction distinguishes Dubabi personally: he must not dance before his father without permission, and only then with his head covered by cloth.

The song addresses him as the son of the King of the Waters and describes departure to Jan Gari, a person seeking him, and a headache associated with sitting near water. This is a named relationship and ritual role within the historical account, rather than a separately identified crocodile species. His sister Ba-Kabba receives a different performance description in the following notice.

Son of Dodo IbrahimaWater-spirit functionsPermission to dance before fatherCovered-head requirement
01

Origins & earliest records

A. J. N. Tremearne combines interviews and descriptions of bori performances with comparative interpretation. These selected notices do not consistently name individual speakers; printed attributes are distinguished from his conjectures.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected spirit notice in chapter XXVIII, printed pp. 385–386; adjoining chapter context read.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Ban of the Bori: Demons and Demon-Dancing in West and North Africa

    A. J. N. Tremearne, collector and colonial-era interpreter · 1914

    XXVIII. Spirits of the Forest, Waters and Grove, pp. 385–386; ritual representation and attributed explanation.

Family, evolution & connections

Named water-spirit generations in Tremearne

Tremearne’s selected 1914 historical Bori notices, pp. 385–386.

Prose states Sarikin Rafi → Dodo Ibrahima → Dubabi; Ba-Kabba is expressly Dubabi’s full-sister. Ba-Kabba’s paternal branch follows the explicit full-sibling relation; no mother is named. Kadda and Baddo similarity is not converted into extra children. Rain and crocodile associations are performance/belief context, not zoological ancestry. These are attributed historical religious relationships, not biological phylogeny or a universal contemporary doctrine.

Tremearne, The Ban of the Bori (1914), pp. 385–386

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Digitized historical ethnographic accountTremearne — DubabiResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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