The Music of Mali: Part 1
An introduction from someone who doesn’t know much about Modern Mali
Mali’s a country in Western Africa. It was once part of French Sudan, the collection of France’s West African colonies, and home to a city that, at least since the 16th century, has been synonymous with a mystical place — the city of Timbuktu.
The country’s home to over 18 million people, and was once a major regional hub. But like most colonies, esp. African ones, the legacy of Europe’s scramble to dispossess has left Mali poor and stricken with political and military strife. The most recent of the country’s many conflicts is the ongoing armed insurrection by jihadists in Northern Mali. Before that too, the country suffered coups and general unrest and instability.
This Azawad conflict, as the battle for northern Mali is called, is closely related to a major feature of French — and most European — colonisation, esp. in Africa. Mali is occupied by several peoples who historically had identities completely separate from one another, sometimes in direct opposition to one another. The north is home to the nomadic Tuaregs and the Moors, who are Saharan nomads of Berber and Arab descent. The south, where most of the population lives, is home to many Sub-Saharan peoples, chief among whom are the Bambara, other Mandé peoples, Fula peoples, and Songhai peoples. The slipshod drawing of borders during decolonisation seems designed to plunge most colonies into a period of post-independence uncertainty with which most ex-colonies are still coming to terms.
But that’s not what this piece is about. I don’t believe I’m qualified to discuss the politics of the country. What I will discuss is the music of Mali, and the impact the country’s diverse cultures has on its music.
Tinariwen: Poet Soldiers of the North
Easily the most famous of all Malian bands are Tinariwen. Tinariwen began as a band of rebels (not of the rock-n-roll sort). They’re Tuaregs, whose families were, in the 60’s, involved in a rebellion against Mali and its neighbours. As a result of the bloody uprising, many were packed into rebel camps in Algeria, Libya, and Morocco. It was here that they got together and started playing music together. Somewhere along the line, they got trained by the Libyan military and returned to Mali to once again rebel against the Malian government. After a peace agreement was signed between the belligerents, the members who make up Tinariwen dropped their weapons and picked up where they left off as musicians.
From a musical perspective too, I know this is going to sound like a cliché but it’s true, Tinariwen are bands. The band isn’t static, in that the band’s composition is constantly changing. Their influences come from all over the place — Algerian rai (remember Sting’s Desert Rose?), Arabic and Berber music, the blues, West African guitar music, etc.
Their seemingly unreal backstory plus their singing in an unfamiliar tongue (Tamasheq) juxtaposed with their use of familiar instrumentation (e.g. the guitar as opposed to the kora) has meant that theirs is a sound that’s truly unique but not entirely alien. This has seen them become darlings of the west, playing with bands like RHCP, at festivals like WOMAD, and at indie mainstays like KEXP and NPR.
I hope to continue writing this and make it into a series.
