Music
A guitar tuned like an n’goni: Habib Koité and Bamada
Habib Koité, from a lineage of Khassonké griots, developed a guitar style that tunes the instrument to a…
Mali
Music
Forced out of the north by a music ban: the story of Songhoy Blues
Songhoy Blues formed in Bamako after its members fled northern Mali, where the jihadist group Ansar Dine banned…
Music
A diplomat’s daughter who made Malian music modern: Rokia Traoré
Rokia Traoré, born in Mali in 1974, travelled widely as the daughter of a diplomat and blended Malian…
Music
Actress, street theatre performer and Grammy nominee: Fatoumata Diawara’s Malian journey
Fatoumata Diawara, born in Côte d'Ivoire in 1982 to Malian parents, began as an actress in films such…
Arts + Culture
Seventy-one generations of griots, one kora: Toumani Diabaté, who died in 2024
Toumani Diabaté, the Malian kora master from a long line of griots, won Grammys with Ali Farka Touré…
Arts + Culture
Oumou Sangaré sang against polygamy and forced marriage. Mali made her a star anyway
Oumou Sangaré, the Malian singer known as the Songbird of Wassoulou, became a star in 1989 with Moussolou,…
Arts + Culture
They met at an institute for the blind in Bamako. Amadou & Mariam took Malian music around the world
Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind and became the duo known…
Arts + Culture
They learned guitar in rebel camps in Libya. In 2012 Tinariwen won a Grammy
Tinariwen formed in the late 1970s among Tuareg exiles in Libya and Algeria, playing electric guitar songs about…
Arts + Culture
A descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, cast out for being albino, became Africa’s Golden Voice
Salif Keita is a descendant of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire. Born with albinism and rejected…