As the Humanitarian Crisis in Mali Worsens, Kathryn M

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

As the Humanitarian Crisis in Mali Worsens, Kathryn M ° mali crisis ° As the humAnitAriAn crisis in mAli worsens, KAthryn m werntz tAlKs to mAliAn musiciAns united in their desperAtion to speAK out About their plight And the threAt of being silenced by Al QAedA hen Malian rapper Amkoullel Could the world have known more, done more, if released his song ‘S.O.S.’ in following the March 2012 coup Amkoullel had been Rapper Amkoullel whose song ‘S.O.S’ October 2011, he could not have able to sing out? was censured by the governent of Mali imagined that a few months later Months later, the world began to learn a bit more following the March 2012 coup it would be censured by the through scant media coverage about the non-existent governmentW of Mali, an African country with relatively government, and the public stonings and destruction of liberal press. But immediately following the coup in shrines in the north. To some, the chaos in the north is March 2012, Amkoullel received a letter of criticism no surprise as, since the 1970s, Touareg musicians have owing to his lyrical depiction of the country-wide been singing about the tensions there – raising corruption and the chaos in the north of Mali. He was awareness with their political lyrics, while wowing us told that it was “not the moment” to sing these lyrics: with their desert blues-rock fusion. ‘This is an S.O.S. We are in a state of emergency. The Now, however, even Touareg music is banned in people are outraged, their dreams are dead. Lies rise, the Azawad where al-Qaeda-linked rebel groups have truths are buried. People have no more hope. We would imposed sharia (strict Islamic law) in Timbuktu, Kidal not be surprised, if it all just explodes.’ and Gao, which among other degradations of human The kibosh on Amkoullel’s ‘S.O.S.’ was clearly rights, bans the listening to and playing of music. relevant. Just two weeks later, the situation in the north Were Amkoullel, the Touareg rockers, and other took a turn for the worse. The Touaregs (a nomadic musicians going to sit back and take this? ethnic group), who had staged an insurgence to claim After being so impressed with the activities of the the north as a sovereign nation (named Azawad), were political musical group Y’en a Marre in Senegal in usurped by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists. Since then, 2011-2012 [see #83], I waited for the Malian musicians » incredible unrest, terror and famine have hit Mali. to come forth and fight for justice as their Senegalese 32 Songlines November/December 2012 www.songlines.co.uk Songlines 33 ° mali crisis ° AlgeriA Amkoullel pushes the idea of musical messenger Amkoullel speaks about some of the difficulties, even further: saying that musicians must actually including the frictions between the older and younger denounce what is going on in the north, not just sing generations of musicians – both in terms of musical about it. He instead calls for a “liberation from the style and awareness-raising approach. Being quite al-Qaeda-linked terrorists.” well-educated himself, Amkoullel is adamant that the MAuritAniA With complete respect to their role as messengers – main role of a musician – and the first step to peace – is MAli and denouncers – I ask, is there more that we can to educate the population. Educate them about what is kidal expect a musician to do, given their powerful reverence going on in their own country, about non-violent timbuktu among people of all social classes in Mali? solutions, and about healthy democracy. But for this to gao Habib, laughing, says, “Well, money is always good to happen, I insist, don’t the musicians need to speak, or kobenni give.” And indeed, Salif Keita organised a fundraising sing, in a united voice? This is where it gets tricky. concert for refugee relief, a Malian artist association One may think it easy, non-controversial and niger oursi sent supplies to the north, Touareg musicians raised apolitical to come together and sing simply for ‘peace in niamey money for Touareg refugees with the album Songs Mali’, but peace has many interpretations. The situation Bamako ségou BurkinA fAso for Desert Refugees [reviewed in #87], and a few in the north of Mali is a disaster bred by history, sélingué Senegalese musicians, including Thione Seck, colonialism, religious and cultural differences, a grab for have helped out. natural resources, and regional struggles in North and But why is there not a more concerted effort among West Africa, all set among conspiracy theories of » musicians to address the situation in the north? Western and Chinese military interests. So, when one hAbib explAins thAt A The annual musiciAn’s role is to gathering of Touaregs at the Festival in the rAise AwAreness And Desert in the region of Timbuktu is be A vehicle of reAlity clearly under threat Singer-songwriter and UNICEF’s ambassador to Mali, Habib Koité neighbours did. But weeks passed, the humanitarian wooden bangles on her arms jangling along with her situation in the north worsened, and I wondered, expressive speech. “Where the heck are they?” So, I set off to find out. When I ask Oumou what the role is of a musician in My first stop was Münster, Germany, where Habib a humanitarian crisis, she tells me, “We sing about what Koité was playing for an auditorium of quiet the politicians will not say. We must sing for those toe-tapping Germans. Exuding humility and people who have no voice.” authenticity, Habib explains that a musician’s role is to Oumou, who was on a plane to Europe when Mali raise awareness and be a vehicle of reality. Personally, he started unravelling, returned home immediately and insists that he is not, and does not want to be, a recorded and released a song in April 2012 called ‘Paix politician. Still, after exuberantly explaining the work he au Mali’. What inspired her to get that done so quickly, does as UNICEF’s ambassador to Mali, I ask Habib his all by herself? opinion about the current crisis. For the first time, the “The situation was so incredible, someone had to do gentle giant loses his smile and hangs his head something,” she explains, “and the government did solemnly, saying the situation is so terrible now in the nothing. So I had to get the message out quickly: stop north, he is not yet able to write about it. He will write the war! We must stop the war!” about it when it is over, which he says will be soon. He By June, Oumou had released a video for the song. repeats this several times in French, “Ça va passer. Ça Also around that time, JeConte & the Mali Allstars va passer vite.” Our eyes do not meet, we both know it came together with Khaira Arby, Vieux Farka Touré and will most likely not be over anytime soon. Bassekou Kouyaté to record a song for peace – as did Unfortunately, the situation only worsened when a Black Nega with other international artists – and few weeks later I catch up with Oumou Sangaré, the Malian rappers formed the political singing group, Les ‘Songbird of Mali’. Oumou meets with me just a few Sofas de la République. And Amkoullel? When we hours before stage call with Béla Fleck in another small catch up on Skype, he tells me he continues to listen to German town. She speaks animatedly about Mali, the the people, to write, and to be censured. 34 Songlines November/December 2012 www.songlines.co.uk Songlines 35 ° mali crisis ° “the touAreg people Bombino, a Are A people of pride... rising star on Mali’s Music the Touareg it’s not A culture music scene of resistAnce” Festivals The two biggest music festivals in Mali remain defiant and plan to proceed in 2013. Festival sur le Niger February 12-17 2013, Ségou, Mali In the attractive riverside town of Ségou, next year’s line-up includes local hero Bassekou Kouyaté, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Vieux Farka Touré, Khaira Arby and many more. On February 14 the ‘caravan des artistes’ from the Festival au Desert rolls into town (see below). As usual we are planning a Songlines Music Travel trip, see p27 for details. festivalsegou.org/new/en.html Festival au Désert February-March 2013 The site of the festival in Timbuktu has been sacked and equipment looted. More seriously there has been destruction of the city’s historic shrines and mausoleums. The Festival will take place as a peripatetic ‘Caravan of Artists for Peace and National Unity’ with concerts in Kobenni, Mauritania (Feb 8/9), Ségou (Feb 14), Bamako (Feb 16) before arriving at Oursi in Burkina Faso (Feb 20-22) for a three-day festival says peace, peace for whom? “The Touareg are a people of pride and it’s not a culture on a site similar to the dunes of One of the conflicts has been the desire of the of resistance. Our culture is our guide and it has given Essakane. The caravan returns to Touareg people, or Kel Tamashek, to have sovereignty us the strength to survive centuries of the harsh desert Mali for the Festival International over their land in the Sahel (they are not the only ethnic of the Sahel. We wish only to live in peace with our of Sélingué (Mar 1-3). “The brutal group living in this area). For years, they have been own customs and do not wish to cause conflict or to sound of weapons and cries of singing about this not just in their villages, but onstage suffer from conflict.
Recommended publications
  • Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger a Dissertation Submitted
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology by Eric James Schmidt 2018 © Copyright by Eric James Schmidt 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger by Eric James Schmidt Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Timothy D. Taylor, Chair This dissertation examines how Tuareg people in Niger use music to reckon with their increasing but incomplete entanglement in global neoliberal capitalism. I argue that a variety of social actors—Tuareg musicians, fans, festival organizers, and government officials, as well as music producers from Europe and North America—have come to regard Tuareg music as a resource by which to realize economic, political, and other social ambitions. Such treatment of culture-as-resource is intimately linked to the global expansion of neoliberal capitalism, which has led individual and collective subjects around the world to take on a more entrepreneurial nature by exploiting representations of their identities for a variety of ends. While Tuareg collective identity has strongly been tied to an economy of pastoralism and caravan trade, the contemporary moment demands a reimagining of what it means to be, and to survive as, Tuareg. Since the 1970s, cycles of drought, entrenched poverty, and periodic conflicts have pushed more and more Tuaregs to pursue wage labor in cities across northwestern Africa or to work as trans- ii Saharan smugglers; meanwhile, tourism expanded from the 1980s into one of the region’s biggest industries by drawing on pastoralist skills while capitalizing on strategic essentialisms of Tuareg culture and identity.
    [Show full text]
  • Oumar Konate
    OUMAR KONATE PRESS: • “a tumultuous, constantly morphing six-beat Malian rhythm with raw vocal incantations and plenty of wah- wah.” Jon Pareles, NY Times, 19 July 2019 • “a kaleidoscopic primer for West African music… Konate really deserves to be as big a star on the international stage as he is at home” Nigel Williamson (****), Songlines Magazine #151 • "The man is a swirling amalgam of instrumental and vocal emotions." Pieter Franssen mixedworldmusic.com • "(Konate’s) modern mix of blues and afrorock is unmistakably one of the best that comes to us from Africa today." Eric van Domburg Scipio popmagazineheaven.nl #30, 2019 • "...powerful, groovy and often superfunky sound with haunted vocals..." Pieter Franssen (****½) in the Dutch music magazine Jazzism #5 2019 about Oumar Konate's album 'I Love You Inna'. • “His boldfaced chops, ceaseless energy and unmistakable star power yield an African guitar album that very much knows how to rock.” Dennis Rozanski, Bluesrag mojoworkin.com Winter 2019 • “Among the ever-growing pantheon of Mali’s global stars.” Jim Hickson, Songlines • ”Smoldering electric guitar” Rob Weisberg WFMU-FM • “A master on the western electric guitar” Ruud Siebons, Studio-Globe, Broadcast 1357 • “(Konate) will inspire fans of modern African music as well as blues rock fans." Willi Klopottek, Luxembourg magazine Woxx.lu March 2018 • “Intricate close work and headlong shredding.” The Wire, April 2018. • “Whining, lightning fast and exciting.” -Kees van Wee Heaven Magazine #5 2017 • "Great punchy production and blistering playing." - John Bates, WTJU-FM May 2017 • “…full on rock with long screaming guitar solos on full sustain backed by bass and drums.
    [Show full text]
  • Terrorism in Africa Extremist Groups Threaten Security Across the Continent
    New Strategies Turn the Tide Against Terror PLUS A Conversation With Lt. Gen. Robert Kibochi of Kenya IGAD Opens Center to Counter Extremism Reclaiming the Digital Terrain VISIT US ONLINE: ADF-MAGAZINE.COM VOLUME 12 | QUARTER 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS features 8 By the Numbers: Terrorism in Africa Extremist groups threaten security across the continent. 14 Reclaiming the Digital Terrain Radical groups have flourished online. They can’t be silenced, but they can be defeated. 20 ‘Sharpening Our Arrowhead’ Kenya’s vice chief of Defence Forces looks to finish the mission in Somalia and secure the homeland. 28 The Threat at Home ISIS fighters leaving Iraq and Syria may not pose primary threat to Africa. 34 Extremism Roils Northern Mozambique Mystery surrounds an insurgency’s leadership and ideology as violence persists. 40 Center Rallies East Africa Against Extremists An Intergovernmental Authority on Development facility will use research and engagement to counter violent extremism. 44 Protectors or Outlaws? The CJTF of Nigeria shows the benefits and challenges of working with civilian security actors. 50 Group Refutes ISIS Beliefs An anti-extremist organization says the ISIS “handbook” is based on distortions 44 of the Quran. departments 4 Viewpoint 5 African Perspective 26 6 Africa Today 26 African Heartbeat 56 Culture & Sports 58 World Outlook 60 Defense & Security 62 Paths of Hope 64 Growth & Progress 66 Flashback 67 Where Am I? Africa Defense Forum is available online. Please visit us at: adf-magazine.com ON THE COVER: This illustration shows the tools used by extremist groups for violence, recruitment and indoctrination. It illustrates the challenge of fighting terrorism while highlighting the new strategies needed to defeat it.
    [Show full text]
  • Music, Identity and National Cohesion in Mali: the Role of Music in the Post-Colonial Era by Samantha Potter
    Music, identity and national cohesion in Mali: The role of music in the post-colonial era by Samantha Potter This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Abstract This article analyses the function music has played in the construction of identities in Mali, arguing that these constructions have directly impacted the process of national cohesion since independence in 1960. The link between this idea and the implications of the 2012 crisis - involving the prohibition of music under Shari’a law - will then be explored. The absence of music, a crucial mechanism for social cohesion, contributed to the complete breakdown of social relations and brought into question the concept of a “Malian” identity. Therefore, amidst ongoing Islamist activity, music’s ability to reconstruct national cohesion has been impaired. Keywords: music, constructivism, fundamentalism, Islam, Mali, cohesion Introduction Despite being a small and landlocked West African nation regarded as one of the poorest in the world (UNDP, 2015), Mali is internationally renowned for its rich musical culture. The country has produced such famed artists as Ali Farka Touré, Tinariwen and Oumou Sangaré, each of whom have been Grammy Award winners. As testament to this, when in April 2012 an ethnically motivated conflict evolved into a religious one as Islamists captured Mali’s Northern Region, reports of the crisis in international media centred on narratives of musical loss (Skinner, 2016, p. 155). Music was banned under Shari’a law and the country’s vibrant musical culture was silenced, as it became a target of religious attacks. The uniqueness of this specific target in a situation of conflict merits analysis as to why music was perceived as a threat by the Islamic fundamentalists, thereby entailing an evaluation of the historical role of music in Mali since its independence in 1960.
    [Show full text]
  • Mahfouz Ag Adnane.Pdf
    1 Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo Mahfouz Ag Adnane Movências tamacheque além-fronteiras: conexões, performances em narrativas insurgentes em festivais culturais saarianos (2001-2017) Doutorado em História São Paulo 2019 2 Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo PRPG - Secretaria Acadêmica da Pós-Graduação Mahfouz Ag Adnane Movências tamacheque além-fronteiras: conexões, performances em narrativas insurgentes em festivais culturais saarianos (2001-2017) Doutorado em História Tese apresentada à Banca Examinadora do Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em História da Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, como exigência parcial para obtenção do título de Doutor em História sob a orientação da Profa. Dra. Maria Antonieta Martines Antonacci. São Paulo 2019 3 AUTORIZO A REPRODUÇÃO E DIVULGAÇÃO TOTAL E PARCIAL DESTE TRABALHO, POR QUALQUER MEIO CONVENCIONAL OU ELETRÔNICO, PARA FINS DE ESTUDO E PESQUISA, DESDE QUE CITADA A FONTE. Catalogação da Publicação Sistema para Geração Automática de Ficha Catalográfica para Teses com dados fornecidos pelo autor AG259 Ag Adnane, Mahfouz Movências tamacheque além-fronteiras: conexões, performances em narrativas insurgentes em festivais culturais saarianos (2001-2017) / Mahfouz Ag Adnane. -- São Paulo, 2019. 370p. il.; 210 × 297 mm. Orientador: Maria Antonieta Martines Antonacci. Tese (Doutorado em História) -- Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em História, 2019. 1. História da África. 2. Festivais culturais. 3. Kel Tamacheque. 4. Saara.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sahel Calling Project Musician Gallery
    12 The Sahel Calling Project Raising the voice of the silenced. Musician Gallery Musicians who were interviewed for the short film Ben Zabo (Arouna Coulibaly) Ben Zabo’s lyrics are political and personal, denouncing corruption and calling for democracy in Mali. Sung primarily in his native Bwa language, Ben’s music is a fusion of afro beat, blues, rock, reggae, and funk. He acted as the Sahel Calling field producer in Mali and accompanied the film team to refugee camps in Burkina Faso. “Everyone must know what democracy is and how to make it”. Photo Credit: John Bosch/Peter Buntaine Disco Disco is the lead singer of Tartit, a Tuareg band formed in a refugee camp in Mauritania over 20 years ago. “Musicians are the ambassadors of the people.“ Photo Credit: http://www.festivalpresenzedafrica.eu/GliArtisti.htm Tiken Jah Fakoly Tiken Jah Fakoly is a world-famous reggae artist from Ivory Coast, who has been living in his adopted country of Mali since the war in his home country in 2003. He is extremely political in his music and now has a club and studio in Bamako. He released videos in Spring 2012 denouncing the situation in the north. “The revolution of peace will only happen through better education. We can do this through music.“ Photo Credit: John Bosch/Peter Buntaine Baba Salah Baba Salah is a composer and guitarist who comes from Gao, though has been living in Bamako for many years now. He was one of the first musicians to denounce the situation back in March 2012. He played for years as Oumou Sangaré´s guitarist.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Media That Has Been Shared, This Is an Option That Must Be Selected in an Individual’S Software Settings; Sometimes Files Are Downloaded Automatically
    UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7pq4x0x5 Author Schmidt, Eric J. Publication Date 2018 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology by Eric James Schmidt 2018 © Copyright by Eric James Schmidt 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Rhythms of Value: Tuareg Music and Capitalist Reckonings in Niger by Eric James Schmidt Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Timothy D. Taylor, Chair This dissertation examines how Tuareg people in Niger use music to reckon with their increasing but incomplete entanglement in global neoliberal capitalism. I argue that a variety of social actors—Tuareg musicians, fans, festival organizers, and government officials, as well as music producers from Europe and North America—have come to regard Tuareg music as a resource by which to realize economic, political, and other social ambitions. Such treatment of culture-as-resource is intimately linked to the global expansion of neoliberal capitalism, which has led individual and collective subjects around the world to take on a more entrepreneurial nature by exploiting representations of their identities for a variety of ends. While Tuareg collective identity has strongly been tied to an economy of pastoralism and caravan trade, the contemporary moment demands a reimagining of what it means to be, and to survive as, Tuareg.
    [Show full text]