Karifala Bérété
1932 – 1976
>Karifala was a contemporary to the [founder of N'Ko](https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL5017146A/%DF%9B%DF%8E%DF%AC%DF%9F%DF%8B%DF%AC%DF%A1%DF%8A%DF%AC%DF%A3%DF%8A%DF%AC_%DF%9E%DF%8A%DF%B2%DF%95%DF%8D%DF%AB). He was born in 1932 at Bate Nafadji, some 35 km. north of Kankan in Guinea. His family was of modest means; like all members of his clan, he attended Koranic school in his own village of Nafadji, first under Karamo Daye and then later under the learned Elhadj Sanassa Madi Kaba, before moving to Kankan, the metropolis of the Guinean savanna. In 1956 he left Guinea to pursue his study in Egypt; his travels took him through the French Soudan (now Mali), Niger, Chad, Sudan, and finally to Egypt, where he studied in Cairo. Three years later, he returned to the country of his birth, having become literate in N'ko through an N'ko-Arabic syllabary that Kanté published during the 1950s. After his return, he continued his tuition with Soulemana Kanté, by correspondence, and settled in his home village. In 1962, he moved to Lorombo, near Dabola, on the border of the Futa Djallon. There he devoted himself to the propagation of Islam, and established a *medersa* in which he taught Arabic and N'ko. He lived there until his death in 1976. He is respected for having spread N'ko through all the west of Upper Guinea. He is probably one of the great poets of N'ko; Soulemana Kanté considered him his intellectual heir. His early death, at age 44, grieved the founder of N'ko. Unfortunately, many of his works have been lost. - [Ibrahima Sory 2 Condé](https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL11854563A/%DF%A3%DF%9D%DF%8A%DF%AC%DF%96%DF%8C%DF%AB_%DF%9B%DF%8F%DF%AC%DF%99%DF%8C%DF%AC_%DF%9E%DF%90%DF%B2%DF%98%DF%8D%DF%AB%E2%80%8E), "The Emergence of N'Kophone Literature: From Poetry to the Novel"
