May, Mali and Music
May is the month to celebrate music from Mali. This month, the Ultimate Ears Artist to Watch program features some of the biggest names in World Music including Vieux Farke Touré, Amadou & Mariam and Issa Bagayogo. We also feature new music from global sensation Natalia Clavier as well as retro-pop band, The Secret Handshake.
And while I can go on forever about the virtues of Mali and music, I figure it is best to let Vieux Farke Touré explain it all. The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Vieux himself. Enjoy!
Can you please tell us a bit about the rich musical traditions of Mali?
Everyone these days seems so impressed with the musical richness of Mali. I guess that’s normal, there are lots of great Malian artists out there these days! You know, there are over 500 different dialects in Mali, and it’s not like they are just differences in language – they represent , each one, a whole different culture . Imagine, each dialect has its own musical rhythms and tones and techniques; its own dances; its own customs; its own expressions in so many different arts. Mali is not only a huge country in geographic terms, but it’s full of this amazing crazy quilt of all these different traditions. And they don’t exist in a vacuum, they feed off each other. So although they are rooted very deeply in traditions thousands of years old, they evolve constantly.
What role does music have in Mali?
Music is a constant in our lives, it's present everywhere, all the time. My foreign friends are always so freaked out when they come to Bamako, for instance ...people have live music in the street in front of their house, stopping traffic, and the whole neighborhood is there, clapping, dancing – and this can be for a wedding, a baptism, a birthday. And it can be at 3 in the afternoon, or at 2 in the morning. Nobody would ever think to complain...
Is music storytelling?
Of course this is part of what I was saying above. A large part of our history is told in music, is carried over generations by the music. So we can’t ever be distant from it ; the music and history are part of us, always. If you listen to the songs on my new album, for instance, there is a traditional piece called “Wale” . It tells the story of the married women in Timbuktu. But then even my most recent composition, “Souba Souba” also tells a story, a story about having to choose in life , having the RIGHT to choose. I don’t think I could write music without telling a story...
What does music mean to you?
I live to play music. I am happiest when I walk on that stage, plug in the guitar and hear that music that makes people smile or move or dance...whatever. My music, it just doesn’t exist if I don’t have an audience. So actually I rarely just play for myself, there has to be somebody else in the room , somebody I am playing FOR.
And while I can go on forever about the virtues of Mali and music, I figure it is best to let Vieux Farke Touré explain it all. The following is an excerpt from a recent interview with Vieux himself. Enjoy!
Music and Mali with Vieux Farke Touré
Can you please tell us a bit about the rich musical traditions of Mali?
Everyone these days seems so impressed with the musical richness of Mali. I guess that’s normal, there are lots of great Malian artists out there these days! You know, there are over 500 different dialects in Mali, and it’s not like they are just differences in language – they represent , each one, a whole different culture . Imagine, each dialect has its own musical rhythms and tones and techniques; its own dances; its own customs; its own expressions in so many different arts. Mali is not only a huge country in geographic terms, but it’s full of this amazing crazy quilt of all these different traditions. And they don’t exist in a vacuum, they feed off each other. So although they are rooted very deeply in traditions thousands of years old, they evolve constantly.
What role does music have in Mali?
Music is a constant in our lives, it's present everywhere, all the time. My foreign friends are always so freaked out when they come to Bamako, for instance ...people have live music in the street in front of their house, stopping traffic, and the whole neighborhood is there, clapping, dancing – and this can be for a wedding, a baptism, a birthday. And it can be at 3 in the afternoon, or at 2 in the morning. Nobody would ever think to complain...
Is music storytelling?
Of course this is part of what I was saying above. A large part of our history is told in music, is carried over generations by the music. So we can’t ever be distant from it ; the music and history are part of us, always. If you listen to the songs on my new album, for instance, there is a traditional piece called “Wale” . It tells the story of the married women in Timbuktu. But then even my most recent composition, “Souba Souba” also tells a story, a story about having to choose in life , having the RIGHT to choose. I don’t think I could write music without telling a story...
What does music mean to you?
I live to play music. I am happiest when I walk on that stage, plug in the guitar and hear that music that makes people smile or move or dance...whatever. My music, it just doesn’t exist if I don’t have an audience. So actually I rarely just play for myself, there has to be somebody else in the room , somebody I am playing FOR.
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