The Fula are pastoralists, originally a nomadic people, who have settled across the whole of the Sahel in Africa. In Mali, in the Massina area, the « omphalos » of Fula culture, several poetic genres are to be found, among which two stand out more prominently – because they correspond to the two main elements which define Fula identity, cattle breeding and Islam : jammooje na’i, or « cattle praise-singing », and a mystical poetry inspired by religion. The latter obeys strict rules and follows a fixed form borrowed from classical Arabic poetry, whether in terms of prosody, metrics or rhymes. But the former also obeys another type of stylistic rules which are just as constraining : the criteria they rely on are linked this time to the deep socio-cultural significance of their poetic creations which are performed before audiences during transhumance festivals.