Mali, landlocked country, is probably best known in the West for the prodigious output of music. Here are some of our archives of music from Mali.
Tuareg Drone
Issawat by Idassane Wallet Mohamed There are two worlds in the Northern country. If there is any global access to Tuareg culture, it is a window into the city life: the Tuareg who live in places like Kidal, ride motorcycles, swap songs on their cellphone, and dance at the guitar…
in the mix
Troubling news in Northern Mali right now with former colonizer France bombarding the North - that's the sh*t I don't like. For some of the globalization that we do like, here are a few recent mixes I compiled for Okayafrica and Dublab Radio. Keep on keeping on. OKAYAFRICA's "Africa in…
Kickstarting – Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2
Music from Saharan Cellphones Volume 2 is coming! Last year, we rolled out Music from Saharan Cellphones, a vinyl compilation of popular music circulating on the unofficial cellphone music exchange networks of West Africa. In the preceding years, I've located more artists via internet tools like Facebook profile searches and…
do the right thing
Pheno S. is a young rapper from Gao, Mali. I first heard Pheno's songs drifting about as mp3s through cellphones and memory cards (one track was included on a mixtape Saharan Cellphones Vol. 2 and on the upcoming LP). The standout track was labeled "FENOMENAL MIX", a slick produced autotuned…
imzad
Coubala (or Rokia Wallet Wakina) is one of the few living players of imzad, the monochord horsehair violin that once provided the melodies of the evening in the nomad camps. Coubala's imzad is cobbled together using a metal bowl in lieu of the calabash. Imzad has largely disappeared but for…