A unique feature of the current war in northern Mali is the fact that music is a central issue. No society is so centered around music at every major event in public and private life. An entire caste, called djelilu, (singualr djeli) are considered born to the profession, although people of other castes are now taking up the profession, like Salif Keita, born into the royal class, but shunned because he is an albino. After an earlier rebellion among the Tuareg, one faction, intent on totally re-integrating with the rest of the country, opened up the annual gathering of Tuareg musicians at Essakane, near Tombouctou, to the world. Imagine what the world would have been like had Woodstock become an annual event. It is, unfortunately, cancelled for the foreseeable future. The Salafists are intent on wiping out all secular music, and removing any musical instruments from their religious music (anasheed.) This is unacceptable to the people of Mali, and one more reason that music lovers around the world should want to see the intruders dislodged from Mali. [video=youtube;NnZbqENidrQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnZbqENidrQ[/video] Now musicians throughout Mali fear for their lives because there is the fear that terrorists might target them for the role they play in rallying the people to resist Salafist expansion to the south. [video=youtube;cqzCoQmETlg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqzCoQmETlg[/video] Fatoumata Diawara, a rising star in Malian music, once a backup singer for the Malian diva Oumou Sangare, put together a group of the stars of Malian music to rally people to the cause of national unity. It is a bit chaotic, but it is a good example of the richness and variety of Malian music. [video=youtube;eUO66d8WvCY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUO66d8WvCY[/video]
Among the most important Malian musical groups among world audiences is the Tuareg band Tinariwen. Since it began, they were the headliners of the Festival in the Desert. [video=youtube;ulJx1XXQw4U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulJx1XXQw4U[/video] The largest ethnic group in Tombouctou and environs are the Songhai. Their characteristic dance style, the takamba, had begun to gain popularity across Mali. It is a very dignified dance, one that even old, out of shape people can still do and look totally cool. Khaira Arby is considered the leading diva among the Songhai. [video=youtube;Di9KKhBag5E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di9KKhBag5E[/video] Muscians of other ethnic groups have picked up on the tradition as well. Sometimes, they make heavy use of modern instruments, such as this example by Babani Kone. Although it is guitar-based, it still keeps pretty much to Malian traditional sounds. [video=youtube;su2mq_2WTyI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su2mq_2WTyI[/video] The takamba beat may be to this war as psychadelic rock was to the Vietnam War.
It seems I got two URLs confused. That first Tuareg group is actually Timikrest. This is Tinariwen ("The Desert Boys" in Tamasheq.) [video=youtube;4-t6-XY7C7A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-t6-XY7C7A[/video] Some of you may have noticed that I recently changed my avatar in honor of a cultural hero, Bassekou Kouyate, the master of the ngoni, and an advocate of both traditional and modern Malian music. [video=youtube;wpu5qxAfFHQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpu5qxAfFHQ[/video] He is also an innovator, having changed the way that the ngoni is used, primarily as an accompanying instrument, to form an orchestra of ngonis, as well as tricking them out a bit. [video=youtube;zNW1uIWMydI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNW1uIWMydI[/video] The last three minutes of this clip are amazing.
I really enjoyed the music in the first and third from the last video. An amazing variety of incredibly gorgeous powerful vocals being showcased in the third. The Fatoumata Diawara interview was really interesting also. The others I kind of skipped through a bit but thank you for posting this
