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The music of Mali is dominated by forms derived from the ancient Mande Empire. The Mande people make up most of the country's population, and their musicians, professional performers called jeliw (sing. jeli, French griot), have produced a vibrant popular music scene alongside traditional folk music. Influences also come from the hundreds of ethnic groups surrounding Mali, as well as Moorish and European musical forms. A griot (pronounced gree-oh) is a West African poet, praise singer, and wandering musician, considered a repository of oral tradition. ...
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Master Kora maker Alieu Suso in the Gambia The kora (French: cora) is a 21 string harp-lute used extensively by Mandingo peoples in West Africa. ...
Wassoulou is a genre of West African popular music, named after the region of Wassoulou. ...
The Central African Republic includes many different cultures and musical forms. ...
Describing the music of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is difficult, due to vagaries surrounding the meanings of various terms. ...
Allegory of Music on the Opéra Garnier Music is an art form that involves organised sounds and silence. ...
The Mali Empire or Manding Empire or Manden Kurufa was a medieval West African state of the Mandinka from 1235 to 1468. ...
Mande refers to: the Mandé people of western Africa the Mande or Mandinka people of western Africa any of the Mande languages the Mande or Mandinka language This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...
This page is about the West African poets. ...
This page is about the West African poets. ...
Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ...
Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and for the common people. ...
Moorish Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I of England The Moors were the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula including present day Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal) as well as the Maghreb and western Africa, whose culture is often called Moorish. ...
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[edit] Mande music The Mande people are divided into three groups based on language. They all claim descent from the legendary warrior Sunjata Keita, who founded the Mande Empire. The Maninka, Mandinka and Banmana languages are spoken in Mali and in parts of surrounding Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Senegal and The Gambia. Mande music was a very important aspect of the Mali culture. Sundiata Keita or Sunjata Keita (1190? - 1255?) is a semi-historical hero of the Mandinka people of West Africa and is celebrated in the Epic of Sundiata as founder of the Mali Empire. ...
Maninka is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo languages. ...
The Mandinka language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo, is a Mandé language spoken by some 1. ...
Bambara, also known as Bamanankan in the language itself, is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people (including second language users). ...
[edit] Bamana Banana-speaking peoples live in central Mali; the language is the most commonly-used one in Mali. Music is simple and unadorned, and pentatonic. Well-known Bamana performers include the first female musical celebrity, Fanta Damba. Damba and other Bamana (and Maninka) musicians in cities like Bamako are known throughout the country for a style of guitar music called bajourou (named after an 18th century song glorifying ancient king Tutu Jara). Bamana djembe drumming has become popular since the mid 90's throughout the world. It is a traditional instrument of the Bamana people from Mali. A great online resource for Malian djembe drumming is Rootsy Records. In music, a pentatonic scale is a scale with five notes per octave. ...
Fanta Damba (born in 1938 in Segou) is a Malian jalimusolu known to her fans as La Grand Vedette Malienne. ...
View of Bamako Bamako district Bamako, population 1,690,471 (2006), is the capital of Mali, and is the biggest city in the country. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
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(17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...
[edit] Mandinka The Mandinka live in Mali, The Gambia and Senegal and their music is influenced by their neighbors, especially the Wolof and Jola, two of the largest groups in Senegal. The kora is the most popular instrument. The Wolof are an ethnic group found in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania. ...
The Diola are a people living in The Gambia, Senegal (Casamance), and Guinea-Bissau. ...
Master Kora maker Alieu Suso in the Gambia The kora (French: cora) is a 21 string harp-lute used extensively by Mandingo peoples in West Africa. ...
[edit] Maninka Maninka music is the most complex of the three classifications of Mande cultures. It is highly-ornamented and heptatonic, dominated by female vocalists and dance-oriented rhythms. The ngoni lute is the most popular traditional instrument. Most of the best-known Maninka musicians are from eastern Guinea and play a type of guitar music that adapts balafon-playing (traditional xylophone) to the imported instrument. In music a heptatonic scale is a scale (music) with seven (hepta) degrees. ...
For other uses, see Dance (disambiguation). ...
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. ...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
The balafon is a pentatonic or heptatonic resonated frame xylophone of West Africa. ...
The xylophone (from the Greek meaning wooden sound) is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated in Indonesia (Nettl 1956, p. ...
[edit] Jeliya (Griots) The jeliya (sing. jeli, fem. jelimusow, French griot) are a caste of professional musicians and orators, sponsored by noble patrons of the horon class and part of the same caste as craftsmen (nyamakala) like blacksmiths. Because the jeli class is endogamous, surnames are caste-based; thus, certain names are held only by jeliw. Common jeli surnames include Kouyaté, Kamissoko, Cissokho, Dambele, Soumano, Kanté, Diabaté and Koné. This page is about the West African poets. ...
This page is about the West African poets. ...
Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ...
A family name, or surname, is that part of a persons name that indicates to what family he or she belongs. ...
Jeliya are supported by their noble sponsors. Their job is complex. They recount genealogical information and historical family events. They also laud the deeds of their patron's ancestors and praise the patron himself (for the patrons are always male), as well as exhort them to behave morally to ensure the honour of the family name. They also act as dispute mediators. The position is highly-respected, and jeliw are often trusted by their patrons with privileged information because the caste system does not allow the jeliw to be a potential rival of the nobleman.
Few non-jeliw have taken music as a profession, though Salif Keita remains an extremely prominent example of a noble-born Malian who became a singer, adopting traditional garb and styles. He has, however, made it clear that he sings as an artist, in order to personally express himself, and not as a jeli. Amens album cover Salif Keita (born August 25, 1949) is an internationally recognized Afro-Pop singer and song writer from Mali. ...
The jeli repertoire includes several ancient songs; the oldest may be "Lambang", which praises music. Other songs praise ancient kings and heroes, especially Sunjata Keita ("Sunjata") and Tutu Jara ("Tut Jara"). Music is typically accompanied by a full dance band, often using electric instruments in recent years. Songs are composed of a scripted refrain (donkili) and an improvised section. Improvised lyrics praise ancestors, and are usually based around a surname. Each surname has an epithet used to glorify its ancient holders, and singers also praise recent and still-living family members. Proverbs are another major component of traditional songs. Sundiata Keita or Sunjata Keita (1190? - 1255?) is a semi-historical hero of the Mandinka people of West Africa and is celebrated in the Epic of Sundiata as founder of the Mali Empire. ...
Sunjata is the protagonist of the Sunjata Epic narrated in West Africa. ...
For the music piece by Steve Reich see Proverb (Reich) Look up proverb in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The political and historical aspects of the jeli's task fall within the male jeli's realm, as does the playing of instruments. Their work is considered to be a form of speech, whereas the work of the jelimusow, which is to sing praises and exhortations, is viewed as song.
[edit] Traditional instruments The kora is by far the most popular traditional instrument. It is similar to both a harp and a lute and can have between 21 and 25 strings. Ngoni (lutes) and balafon (xylophones) are also common. Master Kora maker Alieu Suso in the Gambia The kora (French: cora) is a 21 string harp-lute used extensively by Mandingo peoples in West Africa. ...
The harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ...
A medieval era lute. ...
Xalam, also spelled khalam, is the Wolof name for a traditional stringed musical instrument from West Africa. ...
The balafon is a pentatonic or heptatonic resonated frame xylophone of West Africa. ...
The kora is believed to have come from what is now Guinea-Bissau, and is known to have existed by 1796, when Mungo Park, a Scottish explorer, reported seeing one. There are two styles of playing the kora. The western style is found mostly in Senegal and The Gambia, and is more rhythmically complex than the eastern tradition. The most well known player of the western style is the Gambian musician, Jaliba Kuyateh. Eastern kora-playing is more vocally-dominated, and is found throughout Mali and Guinea. Respected players of the kora include Sidiki Diabaté, Toumani Diabaté, Djeli Moussa Sissoko and Batouou Sekou Kouyaté. Year 1796 (MDCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ...
Mungo Park Title illustration of (1859) Mungo Park (September 10, 1771 – 1806) was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. ...
Toumani Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) is a Malian kora player who has gained international acclaim for his music. ...
The ngoni is known to have existed since 1352, when Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan traveller reported seeing one in the court of Mansa Musa. It is believed to have evolved into the banjo in North America after Mande slaves were exported there en masse. Battuta also reported the existence of a balafon, which is a complex xylophone popular especially among the Susu of western Guinea. Events June 4 - Glarus joins the Swiss Confederation. ...
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta (Arabic: أبو عبد الله Ù…Øمد ابن بطوطة) (born February 24, 1304; year of death uncertain, possibly 1368 or 1377) was a Berber[1] Sunni Islamic scholar and jurisprudent from the Maliki Madhhab (a school of Fiqh, or Sunni Islamic law), and at times a Qadi or judge. ...
Mansa Musa depicted holding a gold nugget from a 1395 map of Africa and Europe Mansa Musa[1] was a 14th century king (or Mansa) who ruled the Mali Empire between 1312 and 1337. ...
A four-string banjo For other uses, see Banjo (disambiguation) The banjo is a stringed instrument of African American origin. ...
Susu may refer to: the Ganges and Indus River Dolphin the Soussou, an ethnic group in Guinea the Sosso Empire, a twelfth-century Takrur kingdom of West Africa the Southampton University Students Union the susu account, a saving scheme for poor people in Ghana This is a disambiguation page...
Mande percussion instruments include the tama, djembe and dunun drums. Tama is: 1089 Tama, an asteroid Tama may be a person or being: Tama Chan, turtle mascot from Ken Akamatsus anime and manga Love Hina Sam Fatu, a professional wrestler, uses this name amongst others Tama Janowitz, an American writer Tama Nui-Te-Ra, the solar deity in Polynesian...
A traditional djembe An acousticon shell djembe A basic djembe A djembe (pronounced JEM-bay) (the Bamanakan translation breaks down like this . ...
12-18 inches big ...
[edit] Popular music The end of World War 2 saw the guitar become common throughout Africa, partially resulting from the intermixing of African, American and British soldiers. Dance bands were popular in Mali, especially the town of Kita's orchestra led by Boureima Keita and Afro-Jazz de S´gou. Imported European dances were popular, especially rumbas, waltzes and Argentine-derived tangos. By the 1960s, however, the influence of Cuban music began to rise. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Kita is a town in western Mali. ...
Rumba is both a family of music rhythms and a dance style that originated in Africa and traveled via the slave trade to Cuba and the New World. ...
The waltz (G.: Walzer, It. ...
A couple dances Argentine Tango. ...
The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ...
The Caribbean island of Cuba has been influential in the development of multiple musical styles in the 19th and 20th centuries. ...
[edit] Post-independence After independence in 1960, Malians saw new opportunities for cultural expression in the burgeoning media of radio, television and recorded music. Under President Modibo Keita, orchestras were state-supported, including the first electric dance band, Orchestre Nationale A, as well as the Ensemble Instrumental National, comprising 40 traditional musicians from around the country and still in operation today. Other influential dance bands included Rail Band and Pioneer Jazz. Cuban music remained popular in Mali throughout the 1960s, and remains popular today. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...
List of Heads of State of Mali Affiliations:- ADM = Adema Alliance pour la Démocratie en Mali-Parti Pan-Africain pour la Liberté, la Solidarité et la Justice (Alliance for Democracy in Mali-Pan-African Party for Liberty, Solidarity and Justice) -centrist CCD = Coalition for Change and Democracy PARENA = Party...
Modibo Keita (or Kéïta; b. ...
The Rail Band is one of the most popular musical groups in the history of Malian music; the band was later known as Super Rail Band, Bamako Rail Band or, most comprehensively and formally, Super Rail Band of the Buffet Hotel de la Gare, Bamako. ...
Pioneer Jazz was a Malian band from the 1960s, one of the most popular of the era. ...
[edit] Roots revival With the coming to power of Mali's second president, Moussa Traoré, however, Cuban music was discouraged in favor of Malian traditional music. Biennale festivals were held to encourage folk music. Old dance bands reformed in many cases, under new names, as part of this roots revival. Especially influential bands included Tidiane Koné's Rail Band du Buffet Hôtel de la Gare, which launched the careers of future stars Salif Keita and Mory Kanté, and Super Biton de Ségou. Moussa Traoré (born 25 September 1936) is a Malian soldier and politician. ...
The name Biennale is Italian and means every other year, describing an event that happens every 2 years. ...
A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. ...
The Rail Band is one of the most popular musical groups in the history of Malian music; the band was later known as Super Rail Band, Bamako Rail Band or, most comprehensively and formally, Super Rail Band of the Buffet Hotel de la Gare, Bamako. ...
Amens album cover Salif Keita (born August 25, 1949) is an internationally recognized Afro-Pop singer and song writer from Mali. ...
Mory Kanté (born February 24, 1950 in Kissidougou, Guinea) is an acclaimed vocalist and player of the kora harp. ...
[edit] Bajourou Bajourou music also became popular, beginning with Fanta Sacko's Fanta Sacko, the first bajourou LP. Fanta Sacko's success set the stage for future jelimusow stars which have been consistently popular in Mali; the mainstream acceptance of female singers is unusual in West Africa, and marks Malian music as unique. ...
Fanta Sacko is a Malian musician, whose debut, self-titled LP launched the bajourou music genre. ...
[edit] Mid-70s diversification Not all bands took part in Traoré's roots revival, however. Les Ambassadeurs du Motel formed in 1971, playing popular songs imported from Senegal, Cuba and France. Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band were the two biggest bands in the country, and a fierce rivalry developed. Salif Keita, perhaps the most popular singer of the time, defected in 1972 to Les Ambassadeurs. This was followed by a major concert at which both bands performed as part of the Kibaru (literacy) program. The audience fell into a frenzy of excitement and unity, and the concert is still remembered as one of the defining moments in 1970s Malian music. 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ...
World literacy rates by country The traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write, or the ability to use language to read, write, listen, and speak. ...
The mid-70s also saw the formation of National Badema, a band that played Cuban music and soon added Kasse Mady Diabaté, who led a movement to incorporate Maninka praise-singing into Cuban-style music.
In 1975, Fanta Damba became the first jelimuso to tour Europe, as bajourou continued to become mainstream throughout Mali. 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...
Fanta Damba (born in 1938 in Segou) is a Malian jalimusolu known to her fans as La Grand Vedette Malienne. ...
[edit] Exodus Both the Rail Band and Les Ambassadeurs left for Abidjan at the end of the 1970s due to a poor economic climate in Mali. There, Les Ambassadeurs recorded Mandjou, an album which featured their most popular song, "Mandjou". The song was a major success, and helped make Salif Keita a solo star. Many of the biggest musicians of the period also fled Mali, moving to Abidjan, Dakar, Paris, London, New York or Chicago. Their recordings remained widely available, however, and these musicians-in-exile helped to bring international attention to Mande music. Salif Keita and Mory Kanté, for example, moved to Paris.
Although internationally, Malian popular music has been known more for its male artists, within Mali itself it has been completely dominated by female singers such as Kandia Kouyaté since at least the 1980s. Their music is ubiquitous on radio and television and at markets and street-corner stalls. The singers are closely followed by their wide fan base for the moralizing nature of their lyrics, the perception that they embody tradition and their role as fashion trend-setters. Kandia Kouyaté is a Malian jelimuso (singer, a female griot); she has earned the prestigious title of ngara, and is sometimes appellated La Dangereuse. ...
During the 1980s, Les Ambassadeurs and Rail Band continued recording and performing, under a variety of names. In 1982, Salif Keita, who had spent time recording with Les Ambassadeurs' Kanté Manfila, left his band and recorded an influential fusion album, Soro, with Ibrahima Sylla and French keyboardist Jean-Philippe Rykiel. The album revolutionized Malian pop, finally eliminating all traces of Cuban music but incorporating new influences from rock and pop. By the middle of the decade, Paris had become the new capital of Mande dance music. Mory Kanté saw major mainstream success with techno-influenced Mande music, becoming a #1 hit on several European charts. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Jean-Philippe Rykiel is a French composer, arranger & musician, primarily a keyboard player. ...
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan during the mid-1980s with influences from electro, New Wave, Funk and futuristic fiction themes that were prevalent and relative to modern culture during the end of the Cold War in industrial America at that time. ...
In addition the Keita's modernization and the numerous artists who followed in his wake, another roots revival began in the mid-1980s. Guinean singer and kora player Jali Musa Jawara's 1983 Yasimika is said to have begun this trend, followed by a series of acoustic releases from Kanté Manfila and Kasse Mady. A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. ...
The 1980s refers to the years of 1980 to 1989. ...
1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Ali Farka Touré also gained international popularity during this period; his music is less in the jeli tradition and resembles American blues. Ali Ibrahim Farka Touré (October 31, 1939 - March 6, 2006) was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continents most internationally renowned musicians. ...
The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on the use of the blue notes and a repetitive pattern that typically follows a twelve-bar structure. ...
[edit] Wassoulou At the end of the 1980s, public support for the Malian government declined and praise-singing, with its assumption of support for the status quo and for political leaders, became unfashionable. The region of Wassoulou, south of Bamako, became the center for a new wave of danceable music also referred to as wassoulou. Wassoulou is a region in Mali, close to the border with Guinea. ...
Wassoulou is a genre of West African popular music, named after the region of Wassoulou. ...
Wassoulou had been developing since at least the mid-70s. Jeliw had never played a large part in the music scene in Wassoulou, and music was a more democratic field there. The modern form of wassoulou music is a combination of hunter's songs with sogoninkun, a type of elaborate masked dance, and the music is largely based on the kamalengoni harp invented in the late 1950s by Allata Brulaye Sidibí. Most of the singers are women. Oumou Sangaré was the first major wassoulou star; she achieved fame suddenly in 1989 with the release of Moussoulou, both within Mali and internationally. // Recovering from World War II and its aftermath, the economic miracle emerged in West Germany and Italy. ...
Oumou Sangare (born 1968 in Bamako) is a Malian wassoulou musician, sometime referred to as The Songbird of Wassoulou. ...
1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
[edit] 1990s to present Since the 1990s, although the majority of Malian popular singers are still jelimusow, wassoulou's popularity has skyrocketed. Wassoulou music is especially popular among youth. Although international audiences have come to view wassoulou performers like Oumou Sangaré as leading feminists for criticizing practices like polygamy and arranged marriage, within Mali they are not viewed in that light because their messages, when they do not openly support the status quo of gender roles, are quite subtly expressed and ambiguously worded, thus keeping them open to a variety of interpretations and avoiding direct censure from Mali's more conservative members of society. The term polygamy (many marriages in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology and sociology. ...
An arranged marriage is a marriage that is established before involving oneself in a lengthy relationship, and often involves the arrangement of someone else other than the person getting married. ...
[edit] Tuareg Music Thought to be the first Tuareg electric band, active since the '70s, is Tinariwen. Here to go the their website at the time of writing. They played at the Eden project stage of the Live8 concert in July 2005. Tinariwen Tinariwen (Tamashek for empty places) is a musical band formed in 1982 in Moammar al-Qadhafis camps of Tuareg rebels. ...
[edit] References - Duran, Lucy. "West Africa's Musical Powerhouse". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 539-562. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
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