Oumou Sangaré - "Kamelaba" - (Mali, West African singer video, information, and comments)

AfrikafestivalHertme, Jan 10, 2018

The Malinese diva, Oumou Sangaré, returns to the Africa Festival in Hertme after 24 years. After years of silence she is back: West African diva Oumou Sangaré is celebrated for her bright voice, her fresh, sensual songs and her power.

On her 18th, she still sang on the street in Bamako, Mali, but three years later Oumou Sangaré celebrated her great international breakthrough with her energetic, danceable songs. The success of her 1990's debut album Moussoulou ("Women") was partly due to her lyrics, which were openly taboo-breaking.

In 1993 she was a 25-year-old young woman at the stage in Hertme.

Anno 2017, Oumou Sangaré is a diva and a role model for women in Africa. She dares to challenge controversial subjects such as polygamy and female circumcision, but she also denotes female sensuality. With her bright voice and her unique, fresh approach to traditional music from hunters from the Wassoulou area, she also enjoys enchanting a Western audience. Beginning 2017, her new album will appear on the French label Nø Førmat!

[...]

Oumou Sangaré, lead song

Guimba Kouyaté, guitar

Elise Blanchard, bass guitar

Kandy Guira, background song

Jon Grandcamp, drums

Abou Diarra, Camel n'goni

Emma Lamadji, background song

Alexandre Millet, Keyboards

[…]

Song: Kamelemba

Artist: Oumou Sangaré

Album: Mogoya

****

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of Mali, West African singer Oumou Sangaré.

Information about Oumou Sangaré is  included in this post along with a few comments from this video's discussion thread.

This post also include information the meaning of the Mandé language name "Boubacar" and the meaning of the Arabic name "Ali" as well as a few selected comments from the discussion thread of this showcased video.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, educational, entertainment, onamastic, and aesthetic purposes. 

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Oumou Sangaré for her musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

****
ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ABOUT OUMOU SANGARE 
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oumou_Sangar%C3%A9
"Oumou Sangaré (Bambara: Umu Sangare; born 25th February, 1968 in Bamako) is a Grammy Award-winning Malian Wassoulou musician, sometimes referred to as "The Songbird of Wassoulou". Wassoulou is a historical region south of the Niger River, where the music descends from age-old traditional song, often accompanied by a calabash.

[…]

Sangaré recorded her first album, Moussoulou ("Women"), with Amadou Ba Guindo, a renowned maestro of Malian music. The album was very successful in Africa, with more than 200,000 copies sold.

With the help of Ali Farka Touré, Sangaré signed with the English label World Circuit. At the age of 21, she was already a star.

Oumou Sangaré is considered an ambassador of Wassoulou; her music has been inspired by the music and traditional dances of the region. She writes and composes her songs, which often include social criticism, especially concerning women's low status in society.

Since 1990 she has performed at some of the most important venues in the world, such as the Melbourne Opera, Roskilde Festival, Gnaoua World Music Festival, WOMAD, Oslo World Music Festival, and the Opéra de la Monnaie.

Many of Sangaré's songs concern love and marriage, especially freedom of choice in marriage. Her 1989 album Moussoulou was an unprecedented West African hit. In 1995, she toured with Baaba Maal, Femi Kuti, and Boukman Eksperyans. Other albums include Ko Sira (1993), Worotan (1996), and a 2-CD compilation Oumou (2004), all released on World Circuit Records. Sangaré supports the cause of women throughout the world. She was named an ambassador of the FAO in 2003 and won the UNESCO Prize in 2001 and was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters of France in 1998.

Sangaré is featured prominently in Throw Down Your Heart, a 2008 documentary about world-renowned American banjo player Béla Fleck, and his exploration of the relatively unknown relationship between his instrument and the musical traditions in Africa.

Sangaré contributed vocals to "Imagine" for the 2010 Herbie Hancock album The Imagine Project, which also featured Seal, P!nk, India.Arie, Jeff Beck, Konono Nº1 and others."...

****
WHAT THE NAME "OUMOU" MEANS
Oumou is Mande languages form of the Arabic name  "Umm".

Here's information about the Arabic name "Umm" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_(given_name) 
"Umm (أمّ) means mother in Arabic. It is a common Arabic feminine alias, and used to be a common feminine given name, with the masculine counterpart being Ab or Abu. "...

****
MORE COMMENTS ABOUT THE NAME "OUMOU"
From https://themeaningofthename.com/oumou/

[Pancocojams Editor's Note: The following two comments were written in response to this statement from the editors of that website]
..."Oumou is not a popular first name. It is more often used as a girl (female) name.

People having the name Oumou are in general originating from France.”…

Comment #1: Maryam Sy,  28 March 2016
"Oumou is not a French name. It's popular in France because of the Muslim African and Arabic population. Oumou or Umu for Arabic folks means "Mother Of" for exemple Umu Ahmad means Mother of Ahmad. In a more general meaning Oumou means mother , the one who nurture, the one who keep the family together.”

**
Comment #2: Oumou Bah, 11 August 2017
"Not popular because you are using the American/Western frame of reference where anything outside of the norm is foreign and odd. If you look at the prevalence of the name in Guinea (where my family is from) or Senegal, Mali, etc you will find it to be relatively common. By the way, the meaning translated to Arabic is "mother." Other variations of the name can be found in Arab countries: Oumia, Umia, Umu, etc. Pronounced: Ooo-Moo "

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWCvQxkmPY0&ab_channel=AfrikafestivalHertmeAfrikafestivalHertme

[Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. Kadiatou Konate, 2018
"La Diva du Mali👏👏👏👏"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
Mali's Diva.

**
2. Chumza, 2019
"I'm from south Africa i don't know what she saying but she bring tears in my eyes i played this song a 100 times"

**
Reply
3. Doussouba DIAKITE, 2019
"Chumza she talks about the love of unfaithful men who still runs to other women after they finish their job, that love hurts times because for some of the badboy men these just to joke and play.  she asks forgiveness to these men if he has crossed not to joke, play and fall, she asks for the blessing of her mother and are father so that today she falls on this kind of guy if not at risk of destabilizing her by  big these what she says in her song"

**
Reply
4. Minata Coulibaly, 2020
"She is talking about men who give false  expectations to women. The woman is complaining about this men."

**
5. Mamadou DAO, 2019
"Oumou Sang c'est mon artiste préféré au Mali"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"Oumou Sang is my favorite artist in Mali"

**
6. Youkoulé Coulibaly, 2019
"I love you Mother oumou sangaré , tu es la fièrté de notre Maliba
-snip-
Google translate from French to English
"You are the pride of our Maliba"
-snip-
"Mali ba" = "great Mali" [one Source for this translation: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/mali-ba-great-mali.html#translations

**
7. Jordan Ford, 2020
"have listened to this on repeat the last few days, this is giving me life"

**
8. L King, 2020
"During these troubled times this is just what I needed. I’m blasted this through the house. Peace and Blessings !"

**
9. Dramane Coulibaly, 2021
"La Diva au top fier d'être africains , Oumou je t'aime"
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"The Diva at the top proud to be African, Oumou I love you"

**
10. Tigistu Siba, 2021
"An amazing and spiritual music!  As I feel It, this music is  is a peace and love message."

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Boubacar Traoré & Ali Farka Touré - "Duna Ma Yelema" (Mali, West African guitarists/singers video, information, & comments)

NoBorders Campos, May 8, 2013

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of Mali, West African guitarists/ singers Boubacar Traoré & Ali Farka Touré.

Information about Boubacar Traoré and Ali Farka Touré are included in this post along with a few comments from this video's discussion thread.

Information the the meaning of the Mandé language name "Boubacar" and the meaning of the Arabic name "Ali".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, educational, entertainment, onamastic, and aesthetic purposes. 

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Boubacar Traoré and Ali Farka Touré for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THIS VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4-uq8cTF7o&ab_channel=NoBordersCamposNoBordersCampos

(Numbers are dded for referencing purposes only) 

1. James Agyen, 2019
"Far away from that. This is what I found from the Reddit about the song Duna Ma Yelema:

Duna ma yelema, bi ma de yelema la

the world has not changed, it is the people of today have changed

Ni kokè mousso mi yé , o bi maflé nalomayé

if you do something for a woman, she thinks you're an idiot

Ni kokè tié ba mi yé , o bi maflé fiyentoyé

if you do something for a man, he thinks you're blind

oh Na , Duna ma yelema, bi ma de yelema la ....

oh mother , ...
-snip-
2. Yacouba Diankha, 2021
"Good translation 👍🏽"

** 
3. J Lynch, 2019
"I can hear the foundations for blues but also reggae, especially when they play the off-beat guitar strokes. Just wow"

**
4. Abdoul Raouf Cisse, 2019
"They just saying in the song : the world didn't change but people changed. ( Dunia ma yelema, bi ma de yelemana)"

**
5. Nyambati Kwamboka, 2019
"They must have some bantu thing going on in their blood because dunia is in Kiswahili back home...I love African music...it resonates everwhere with many other Africans...so lovely my people...so lovely...God bless you my people! God bless you! ☺"

**
Reply
6. Hawkeye, 2019
"Dunia  is also in Arabic."

**
Reply
7. Khaya Mwelase, 2019
"Aaahhh man! Thank you for translation"

**
Reply
8. Athanasios Tsagkadouras, 2019
"Damn we use the word "dunia" in my home country GREECE to say " the world " haha that's funny. It seems like it's arabic, and we say it as we got affected by the Ottoman empire in the past through some language word exchange."

**
Reply
9. mustafa juventino, 2019
"@Athanasios Tsagkadouras  is it some kind of a dialect?"

**
Reply
10. Athanasios Tsagkadouras, 2019
"@mustafa juventino  actually its mostly used in villages and not at big major cities in Greece. Thanks for asking!"

**
Reply
11. saveasav1, 2019
"@Athanasios Tsagkadouras  In Hindi too. And many other languages, which I just found out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunya"

**
Reply
12. Zoë Wilms, 2019
"In Malagasy too Donia [doonia] = Dunia"

**
Reply
13. Abdoul Raouf Cisse, 2019
"Mali is 95 percent Muslim,  so we have many words from the Qur'an that influenced our dialect. In fact they are two people from different regions,  boubacar is from the south which has some vegetation and Ali farka is from the north in the region of Timbuktu which is the desert. Islam came through the north of the country to the south. Plus lot of people in Mali say the northern people originally come from Yemen, a country that speaks Arabic 🤷🏽‍♂"

*️*
Reply
14. DaltonCulture, 2019
"Dunia also means the world in Bahasa, the Indonesian language"

**
Reply
15. Alem Ghebreab, 2019
"@Nyambati Kwamboka  The word Aladunya in Arabic which means the world and is the root for both Kiswahili (which is a mix of African and Arabic). Mali is also influenced a lot by Arabic speaking people there."

**
Reply
16. Arc, 2021
" @Nyambati Kwamboka  check out how yelema changes to yelemana. The Niger Congo language root structure alive and kicking."

**
Reply
17. Twinkle Arora, 2021
"What language is this that they sing in?"

**
Reply
18. Arc, 2021
"@Twinkle Arora  Bambara"

**
Reply
19. Joshua Ntuen, 2021
"Duniya is also the Hausa world"
-snip-
Written another way:“Duniya” is the Hausa word for “world”.

**
20. Moriarty, 2019
"Two of the most astounding pillars in the pantheon of guitar heaven"

**
21. London Logan, 2021
"Amazing. African blues. The origin that our ancestors brought over."

****
INFORMATION ABOUT BOUBACAR TRAORE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boubacar_Traor%C3%A9
"Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in Kayes, Mali) is a Malian singer, songwriter, and guitarist.[1][2]

[...]

Boubacar figures in the book Mali Blues (Lonely Planet, Australia), by Belgian writer Lieve Joris. The book inspired Swiss film director Jacques Sarasin for the 2001 film Je chanterai pour toi ("I'll Sing For You") about Boubacar, released on DVD in 2005.

Along with several blues artists, he appeared in the film Blues Road Movie (Au Coeur du Blues) by Louis Mouchet (2001).

Boubacar then released Kongo Magni (Marabi, 2005), produced by Christian Mousset, director of the Festival Musiques Métisses d'Angoulême (Angoulême Cross-Cultural Music Festival), who would also produce his Mali Denhou (Lusafrica, 2010). Kar Kar made up for lost time with acclaimed live performances around Europe and then the United States and Canada. Mbalimaou (My Brothers) was released in February 2015, followed by Dounia Tabalo in November 2017."...

****
INFORMATION ABOUT ALI FARKA TOURE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Farka_Tour%C3%A9
"Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré (31 October 1939 – 6 March 2006)[1][2] was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians.[3] His music blends traditional Malian music and its derivative, North American blues[4] and is considered a pioneer of African desert blues.[5] Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"[6] and number 37 on Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[7]

Biography

Touré was born in 1939 in the village of Kanau, on the banks of the Niger River in Gourma-Rharous Cercle in the northwestern Malian region of Tombouctou. His family belonged to the Arma community and moved to the nearby village of Niafunké when he was still an infant.[8] His father died serving in the French Army in 1940.[9] He was the tenth son of his mother but the only one to survive past infancy. "The name I was given was Ali Ibrahim, but it's a custom in Africa to give a child a strange nickname if you have had other children who have died",[8] Touré was quoted as saying in a biography on his record label, World Circuit Records. His nickname, "Farka", chosen by his parents, means "donkey", an animal admired for its tenacity and stubbornness: "Let me make one thing clear. I'm the donkey that nobody climbs on!"[8] Ethnically, he was part Songhai, part Fula.[8]

As the first African bluesman to achieve widespread popularity on his home continent, Touré was often known as "the African John Lee Hooker".[10] Musically, the many superpositions of guitars and rhythms in his music were similar to John Lee Hooker's hypnotic blues style. He usually sang in one of several African languages, mostly Songhay, Fulfulde, Tamasheq or Bambara[8] as on his breakthrough album, Ali Farka Touré, which established his reputation in the world music community.”….

****
WHAT THE NAME "BOUBACAR" MEANS
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boubacar
"Boubacar is both a surname and a given name. It is the West African adaptation of the Arabic name Abu Bakar."
-snip-
"West African adaptation" here largely refers to Mande languages:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mande_languages
"The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples and include Maninka, Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Dioula, Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are "60 to 75 languages spoken by 30 to 40 million people",[1] chiefly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and also in northwestern Nigeria and northern Benin."...

**
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_(name)
"Abu Bakr (Arabic: أبو بكر‎) was a sahabi, one of the companions of Muhammad and the first Caliph of Islam. He was also Muhammad's father-in-law through Aisha. His real name was Abdullah or Abul-Kaaba and Abu Bakr was his kunya.

 The name, meaning "Father of young camel" (Abu meaning 'Father of' and Bakr meaning 'young camel'), is widely used by Sunni Muslims.[1] Other transliterations include Abu Bakar, Abu Bekr, Ebubekir, Aboubacar Abubakar , etc. The two parts of the name can be written together, hyphenated, or separately."

****
WHAT THE NAME "ALI"  MEANS
From https://quranicnames.com/ali/
"Ali is a direct Quranic name for boys that means “high”, “exalted”, “superb”, “sublime”. The word Ali is used in many places in the Quran and it forms one of the names of Allah when it is prefixed with an al, as in al-Ali. It is a common name among Muslims out of love for Ali bin Abi Talib, cousin of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah upon him and his family and companions."...

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Fatoumata Diawara - "Timbuktu Fasso" (Mali, West African actress/singer's videos, lyrics, and information)

mediasanctuary, Oct. 25, 2016

Stellar Malian actress/songstress Fatoumata Diawara performed with her band at The Sanctuary for Independent Media on April 28, 2016 and brought down the house.

[...] 

Here she sings her powerful lament about the ancient city of Timbuktu, under assault by religious fundamentalists:

THIS IS MY LAND

This is Timbuktu, my home land,

Where the children are mourning from gloom,

This is my land, Timbuktu «the Maliba»,

The land of love,

The land of warmth,

The land of dignity,

Here is my Nation…

Why are we crying?

Why are the children crying?

Why are the young crying?

Cause of unfairness,

Cause of violence,

Fearing the future…

Here is my home

Stop crying

Cause no matter what, Timbuktu will remain

****

Universal Music France, Dec 12, 2014

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two videos of Malian actress, singer, and songwriter Fatoumata Diawara performing "Timbuktu Fasso".

Information about Fatoumata Diawara is included in this post along with information about Mandé languages, and information about the city Timbuktu which is located in Mali, West Africa.

 Infomation abou tthe meaning of the name "Fatoumata" is also provided in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, educational, entertainment, onamastic, and aesthetic purposes. 

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Fatoumata Diawara for her musical legacy and thanks to all those who are featured in and associated with these videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT FATOUMATA DIAWARA
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatoumata_Diawara
"Fatoumata Diawara (Bambara: ߝߊ߫ߕߎߡߕߊ ߖߊ߯ߥߙߊ߫, romanized: Fatumta Jawara, born 1982 in Ouragahio, Ivory Coast) is a Malian actress, singer-songwriter and guitarist[1] currently living in France. She received two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album for her album Fenfo and Best Dance Recording for Ultimatum in which she was featured with the English band Disclosure.[2]

Biography

Diawara was born in the Ivory Coast to Malian parents. As an adolescent, she was sent back to their native Bamako in Mali to be raised by an aunt. When she was eighteen, Diawara moved to France to pursue acting. She briefly returned to Mali for a film role, but fled back to Paris to avoid being coerced into marriage by her family.[3]

Diawara later took up the guitar and began composing her own material, writing songs that blend Wassoulou traditions of southern Mali with international influences.[4] She has said that she is "the first female solo electric guitar player in Mali".[1]

Film and theater

After moving to France, Diawara appeared in Cheick Oumar Sissoko's 1999 feature film Genesis, Dani Kouyaté's popular 2001 film Sia, le rêve du python, and in the internationally renowned street theatre troupe Royal de Luxe. She also played a leading role in the musical Kirikou et Karaba.[5]

Simultaneously with pursuing her musical career, Diawara has continued her cinematic activities, with numerous roles, appearances, and musical input in multiple feature films, including in Timbuktu, which won seven César Award nods and an Academy Award nomination in 2014.[6]

Music performance and recording

Noted for her "sensuous voice,"[7] Diawara sings primarily in Bambara, the national language of Mali, and builds on the tradition of "songs of advice" from the culture of her ancestral Wassoulou region."...

****
MEANING OF THE NAME "FATOUMATA"
"Fatoumata" is a Mandé language form of the Arabic name "Fatima"; Here's information about the name "Fatima":
"Fatima is the name of Prophet Muhammad’s daughter, peace and blessings of Allah upon him and his family and companions.  The meaning of Fatima is a child who has been weaned off breast milk. The linguists of the Arabic language aren’t certain why this word is used as a name. It is not mentioned in the Quran, whether directly or indirectly. But since it is the name of the Prophet’s daughter, Muslims consider it a high-status name". https://quranicnames.com/fatima/

-snip-
Here's information about Mande languages:
*From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mande_languages
"The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples and include Maninka, Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Dioula, Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are "60 to 75 languages spoken by 30 to 40 million people",[1] chiefly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and also in northwestern Nigeria and northern Benin."

****
INFORMATION ABOUT TIMBUKTU
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbuktu
"Timbuktu… is a city in Mali, situated 20 km (12 mi) north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali. It had a population of 54,453 in the 2009 census.

Timbuktu started out as a seasonal settlement and became a permanent settlement early in the 12th century. After a shift in trading routes, particularly after the visit by Mansa Musa around 1325, Timbuktu flourished from the trade in salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. It became part of the Mali Empire early in the 14th century. In the first half of the 15th century, the Tuareg tribes took control of the city for a short period until the expanding Songhai Empire absorbed the city in 1468. A Moroccan army defeated the Songhai in 1591 and made Timbuktu, rather than Gao, their capital. The invaders established a new ruling class, the Arma, who after 1612 became virtually independent of Morocco. However, the golden age of the city, during which it was a major learning and cultural centre of the Mali Empire, was over, and it entered a long period of decline. Different tribes governed until the French took over in 1893, a situation that lasted until it became part of the current Republic of Mali in 1960. Presently, Timbuktu is impoverished and suffers from desertification.

In its Golden Age, the town's numerous Islamic scholars and extensive trading network made possible an important book trade: together with the campuses of the Sankore Madrasah, an Islamic university, this established Timbuktu as a scholarly centre in Africa. Several notable historic writers, such as Shabeni and Leo Africanus, wrote about the city. These stories fuelled speculation in Europe, where the city's reputation shifted from being extremely rich to being mysterious.

[…]

Hundreds of thousands of manuscripts were collected in Timbuktu over the course of centuries: some were written in the town itself, others – including exclusive copies of the Quran for wealthy families – imported through the lively booktrade.

[…]

During the occupation by Islamic extremists the citizens of the city embarked on a drive to save the "best written accounts of African History." Interviewed by the Times the local residents claimed to have safeguarded the three hundred thousand manuscripts for generations. Many of these documents are still in the safe keeping of the local residents who are reluctant to give them overs to the government-run Ahmed Baba Institute housed in a modern digitalization building built by the South African government in 2009. The institute houses only 10% of the manuscripts[97] It was later confirmed by Jean-Michel Djian to the New Yorker that "the great majority of the manuscripts, about fifty thousand, are actually housed in the thirty-two family libraries of the 'City of 333 Saints'". He added, "Those are to this day protected." He also added that due to the massive efforts of one individual two hundred thousand other manuscripts were successfully transported to safety[98] This effort was organized by Abdel Kader Haidara, then director of Mamma Haidara Library, using his own funds. Haidara purchased metal footlockers in which up to 300 manuscripts could be securely stored. Nearly 2,500 of these lockers were distributed to safe houses across the city. Many were later moved to Dreazen.
[99]”…

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

One Of Former President Obama's Favorite Songs Of 2018: Malian (West African) Singer Fatoumata Diawara - "Nterini" (information, video, lyrics, & comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the song that is performed by Malian (West Africa) singer

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the composer of this song and thanks to for her musical legacy. Thanks to Aida Muluneh from Ethiopia for directing this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara's 2018 song "Nterini" is included in former USA President Barack Obama's favorite songs of 2018.

Click https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/12/28/1822227/-Barack-Obama-shares-his-favorite-books-movies-and-songs-from-2018 "Barack Obama's favorite books, movies and songs from 2018—a man of intellect, culture and diversity" by Leslie Salzillo; December 29, 2018 for a complete list of former President Obama's favorite songs, books, and movies for 2018.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Fatoumata Diawara - Nterini



Fatoumata Diawara, Published on Mar 9, 2018
-snip-
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatoumata_Diawara
"Fatoumata Diawara (born 1982 in Ivory Coast) is a Malian singer and songwriter currently living in France."...

****
LYRICS: NTERINI ((My love/friend/confident)
From http://sacksco.com/notes/fatoumata_diawara_lyrics.html
"This song is about the heartache felt by two lovers separated by distance. My love and my confidant has gone far away and has not sent any news back to me. I love him despite everything and I miss him every day. I want to hear from my darling; otherwise I cannot sleep well at night.

My love has gone far away and may never come back
He has left his family and friends behind and gone away
He may never come back
What am I to do? He was my friend and my confidant
How is he? Just let me know how you are
You have gone to a faraway land
I miss you greatly
You have always been my guide
And I love you with all my heart

My love has taken off
Who knows when he will come back?
My darling has gone far away
And may never come back again

He has gone to live in a faraway country
He has not told me anything
It was not the rough morning weather
That prevented me from seeing him
Nor the heat of the midday sun
Not even the dangers of going out at dusk
Because I could not sleep well if I didn’t see you"
-snip-
Fatoumata Diarara sings in the "Bambara" language.

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These comments are presented in relative chronological order with the oldest comments given first. Numbers have been added for referencing purposes only.

1. Idontknow Iknow, 2018
"Purely wassulu. I realised that a lot of this singing style has been stolen by more international mainstream artists. They will not tell you where they got inspiration from but we connoisseurs know it is here: wassoulou!!"

**
REPLY
2. Eloo Dpx, 2018
"But she already told it before lol (you can even see it written on her Wiki page).
She uses modern beats + jazz/blues and the typical wassoulou.
And it is not stolen, especially when the artist comes from Mali which was one of the three nowadays countries where the ancient Wassoulou empire was established haha"

**
REPLY
3. Idontknow Iknow, 2018
"Eloo Dpx the beat is a mixture ok if it makes u feel happy. Fyi anybody can add anything in her wiki page. Not very reliable.
The core of this beat is wassoulou. The singing which overshadows the beat is only wassoulou
Almost everybody in wassoulou can sing and they all do sound like this. If u move to another region within they sing differently.. That is how that country is, a country of very diverse voices
Go there you will see people in villages who sing like what you call blues and believe me they never stepped a foot in america, they never heard of the usa."

**
REPLY
4. Scott Ross, 2018
"She has been around for years. It seems petty and mean-spirited of you to pretend that she has stolen something when she has in no way failed to acknowledge her roots."

**
5. I am Baza, 2018
"This place is in Afar, Ethiopia where we harvest salt. I think the melody is influenced by Ethiopian music ? I don't know the language but I loved it . You have some similarity, the melody and voice, with Ethiopian golden singer GIGI Shibabaw. Pleas check her out on you tube.
I am enjoying it on and on, I can't help it."

**
REPLY
6. Sahelian Pirate, 2018
"The melody is wassoulou/manding music. Very old type of music with instruments such like kora, balafon etc. And she added some jazz in it. I love ethiopian music and dance"

**
REPLY
7. Guardian of the Golden Stool, 2018
"I am Baza although the music is of Mandinka origins I believe the reason it sounds as if somewhat culturally familiar to you in an Ethiopian sense because over an extended period of time there has been a lot of cultural exchange between people that have countries existent along the region of the Sahel corridor which extends as far west as Senegal and as far east as Ethiopia."

**
REPLY
8. sesayida, 2018
"No this is not Ethiopian influence it’s mandinka . My tribe"

**
REPLY
9. MuanaZion, 2019
"African music in general derived from Northwest and Northeast Africa, especially from Mali and Nuba kingdoms dating back about 20k years ago. Remember, Mali, Senegal, Niger, Chad, Mauritania, Libya, Ethiopia, Egypt used to be called Nubia, Ethiopia or Sudan"

**
10. Henok R. G., 2018
"This is incredible career height of the lovely Fatoumata! It's a rare classic groove of the Sahil that brings in a mix of pain and ecstasy. You stole my soul in your pretty music diva, this time I came into it. It's also a double thrill for me that my fellow citizen and great artist and curator Aida Muluneh is behind this wonderful video clip. You are on move my sister !!!"

**
REPLY
11. Dagnachew Dessie, 2018
"ethiopian-artist-aida-muluneh-directs-fatoumata-diawaras-music-video"

**
12. ban butita, 2018
"asante sana.. wimbo wako umefika pwani ya africa mashariki (thank you very much.. your song reached the coast of east africa) from Dar es salaam Tanzania"

**
13. Kiki Languages, 2018
"Arouna Fade In what language?"

**
REPLY
14. Sahelian Pirate, 2018
"Kiki Bambara, a manding language"

**
REPLY
15. Kiki Languages, 2018
"NafiSoFresh Thanks I heard of Bambara before. Does she always speak Bambara? Was her song Bissa in Bambara also?"

**
REPLY
16. Sahelian Pirate, 2018
"Kiki Languages yes :)"

**
17. Youssef Houaoui, 2018
"Next Wakanda movie need to have this in it"

**
REPLY
18. Tess Moraa, 2018
"Youssef Houaoui 😂"

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Tinariwen (+IO:I) - Sastanàqqàm (Mali, West African music group information, video, lyrics, & comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a video of the song "Sastanàqqàm" by the Northern Malian music group Tinariwen (+IO:I). Tinariwen (+IO:I) are protégés of the award winning music group Tinariwen. As is the case with Tinariwen, Tinariwen (+IO:I) is composed of musicians and singers from the Tuareg people of the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali.

This post also includes the lyrics to that song as well as selected comments from those videos' discussion threads.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Tinariwen (+IO:I) for their music. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/03/three-music-videos-of-tinariwen-award.html for a pancocojams post that includes information about and three music video of the award winning Mali, West African Tuareg music group Tinariwen.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Tinariwen (+IO:I) - Sastanàqqàm



Tinariwen, Published on Feb 11, 2017

"Sastanàqqàm" from the album 'Elwan,' ...

“A thousand miles from their homeland in northern Mali, across a vast expanse of desert, the music of Tinariwen has found shelter in the hearts of six young musicians from M’hamid el Ghizlane. They were only boys when the desert rockers first visited their home, back in 2006, but they saw an immediate reflection of their own dreams and aspirations in the music they heard. In the years that followed they learned the Tinariwen songbook note for note, word for word, even though they couldn’t speak a word of Tamashek, the language of the Touareg.

When Tinariwen returned to M’hamid in 2016 to record a new album, those young disciples from M’hamid had achieved a remarkable mastery of the desert guitar repertoire. The torch had been passed from hand to hand and heart to heart across the great desert. The young musicians from M’hamid were invited to perform Abdallah’s ‘Sastaqanam’, standing in for their older brothers and playing with uncanny fidelity. But first the members of Tinariwen wrapped new turbans around the heads of their young acolytes, marking not only the passage from boyhood to manhood according to ancient desert custom, but also the transmission of their music across the generations, a transmission that is taking place in the hearts of youth from every corner of the great Sahara.”

SASTANÀQQÀM (I QUESTION YOU)

Ténéré, can you tell me of anything better
Than to have your friends and your mount,
And a brand new goatskin, watertight,
To find your way by the light
Of the four bright stars of heaven,
To know how to find water in
The unlikeliest of places,
And enlist the momentum of the wind
To help you move forward.

Tell me, Ténéré, how you and I
Can remain united, with no hate for each other.
Ténéré, I can now admit that
I have travelled far through this wide world.
Ténéré, I give you my oath
That as long as I’m alive,
I will always come back to you.
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinariwen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinariwen for information about the award winning Northern Mali, West African music group Tinariwen.
-snip-
Here are some comments from this video's discussion thread:

Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes only.

1. Soufiane Artwood, 2017
"african pride ♡"

**
2. ameno khalm 2017
"proud of my culture, the Best. this song is all about Tenere, it means the desert. tahoul nawan vous faites notre fierté !!"

**
3. MtlSidiaissa, 2017
"The group is from Algeria"

**
REPLY
4. Slowtta Derrar, 2017
"Actually they're from Northern Mali the band was founded in Algeria"

REPLY
5. Nedjoua Khechai, 2017
"the language is tamatchek , from south of algeria, its typical culture touareg , actually we are trying to preseve and concerve this old and rich culture, existing from long deep time ..."

**
REPLY
6. Brahim Timyaoune
"MtlSidiaissa. No. No"

**
REPLY
7. khadi kitty, 2017
"Rania Nana you can read their description box, the group said they are from mali !"

**
8. Ronaldo Fenomeno, 2017
"MtlSidiaissa from mali but the same culture .. algeria and mali are amazigh"

**
REPLY
9. Hejji, 2017
"These are touareg people who roam the Sahara, they've been nomads for ages and now suddenly because they're getting popular you want to put a label on them? Their only identity is Touareg, not mali, not algeria, not morocco, not tsjaad, ... Just Touareg"

**
REPLY
10. Khalid Mohamed, 2018
"MtlSidiaissa they are from Mali but they are living in Algeria they said that on radio interview"

**
REPLY
11. bloop blooper, 2018
"In fact, they are from Great Afrika.
They are free travelers."

**
REPLY
12. zineb s-j, 2018
"no they are not sorry, they are Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. The band was formed in 1979 in Tamanrasset, Algeria, there is a difference between from and formed :)

**
REPLY
13. braz D Blood, 2018
"doesnt matter from morocco till siwa.
down to mauritana north mali en north chad.
are all amazigh we should reunite"
-snip-
"Amazigh" is the preferred referent for the population more commonly known as "Berbers". Tuareg are Amazigh people.

**
REPLY
14. moroccanevil, 2018
"On the discription of music they said that they are from mhamid el ghizlane , it's a district next to zagoura and ouarzazate, i don't know if there is place somewhere else called mhamid ghizlane anyway yhey are touareg ppl of the whole desert from libia to morocco"

**
15. ameno khal, 2017
"BIZOU BRAZZA they are singing in our native tongue, the tamasheq, a berber language."

**
16. ameno khal, 2017
"inesita365 the touareg way of life is a célébration itself :-D this song is actually a tribute to our motherland the desert."

**
17. Marcus Henry Weber, 2018
"This video is great, Tinariwen passing on the music to the next generation. Mashallah."

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Music Performances From Previous Festivals au Désert (In Mali, West Africa)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about the Festival au Désert (Festival in the Desert) in Mali, West Africa and showcases five videos of music performances from previous festivals.

The content of this pancocojams post is published for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the performers who are showcased in these videos. Thanks also to the publishers of the YouTube videos that are embedded in this post.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT (MALI, WEST AFRICA)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festival_au_D%C3%A9sert
"The Festival au désert ("Festival in the Desert") is an annual concert in Mali, showcasing traditional Tuareg music as well as music from around the world. The first Festival took place in Tin Essako in 2001 and then it moved to Tessalit in 2002 in the Kidal region (North-East Mali). From 2003 until 2009 the festival was held in Essakane 65km from Timbuktu but because of security issues, from 2010 the festival was held on the outskirts of Timbuktu.[1][2]

The Tuareg band Tinariwen first garnered international attention with their performance at the 2001 Festival.

A French-language documentary entitled Le Festival au Désert was filmed at the 2003 festival. Performers include Tartit, Oumou Sangaré, Lo'Jo, Tinariwen, Robert Plant with Justin Adams, Blackfire, Khaira Arby and her band, Django, and Ali Farka Touré.[3] The DVD contains English subtitles, and an audio CD of the concert, Festival in the Desert, was also released.

The documentary Dambé: The Mali Project tells the story of a cross-cultural musical adventure over 3000 miles by two Irish musicians, that features performances from the Festival au désert.[4]
Shortly after the January 2012 festival, the Northern Mali conflict began, resulting in the postponement of the 2013 festival.[5] In July and August 2013, Tartit, Imharhan, and Mamadou Kelly toured throughout North America as the Festival au Desert - Caravan for Peace.[5][6][7] An audio recording of the 2012 edition Festival au Desert Live from Timbuktu was released in 2013 featuring performances by 18 artists with supplemental digital bonus performances.

The Festival has continued to be postponed due to security concerns in the region."...

****
From https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/30/malis-festival-au-desert-cancelled-amid-fears-of-extremist-violence Mali cancels return of famous music festival after al-Qaida attack

Fabled Festival au Désert was coming back to Timbuktu after years in exile but officials blocked it at last minute over security fears

Ruth Maclean in Dakar, Monday 30 January 2017
"The fabled Festival au Désert was returning to Timbuktu, but it was a carefully guarded secret.

Musicians had packed their instruments for the journey to northern Mali. Technical teams had already loaded their sound systems into canoes and taken the river route to the ancient city of learning. None of the festival-going public had yet been told, but the organisers were confident they would turn out, possibly in their thousands.

It was a secret because it was a potential target for extremists in Mali’s lawless north. Since 2012, the world-famous festival, which attracted Malian nomads and music fans from all over the world, has been in exile, driven from its home in the first place by Islamic extremists who banned music, and kept out ever since by insecurity.

But this weekend was to mark its triumphant return, and a huge amount of effort had gone into organising it.

When militants took over northern Mali in 2012, they applied Sharia law. Women were whipped for wearing clothes deemed indecent, and thieves had their hands cut off. But the militants also banned music in a culture where griots, praise-singers and story-tellers are of great importance, and where music is considered the lifeblood of society.

Though the militants were driven out by a French-led force nine months after they took over, peace talks have been halting and have resulted in little success.

Two weeks ago, however, suicide bombers attacked a military camp in the city of Gao, killing at least 77 people and wounding more than 100 others.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed the attack. Three people have been arrested in connection, according to the Malian minister of security.

The organisers of the Festival in the Desert immediately held meetings to decide what to do, but decided to go ahead with it....

However, at the last minute, Malian officials blocked it.

A music producer who has organised concerts all over Mali in spite of security concerns said that the festival in the desert was about far more than just the music – it was about bringing people together, and reconciling past grievances if need be.

“It wasn’t like going to a concert,” Paul Chandler said. “It became a community for that time. A really open community, and a chance to meet people who were really different from you, and find out that they’re not that different after all. The music was just part of it. The community was the main thing.”...
-snip-
Read more about this festival in the summary statement for some of the videos that are found below.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Mali_10 [2007]



Leandre Busquet, Uploaded on Mar 7, 2007

Festival au desert, Essakane 2007

****
Example #2: Improvised jam at the Festival au Desert, Mali January 2010


Valentina Canavesio, Uploaded on Aug 31, 2010

Members of Terakaft and Taliwen jam in the desert.

****
Example #3: Experience the Festival in the Desert / Festival au Desert



EssakaneFilm, Uploaded on Dec 18, 2011

Essakane Film is a feature length documentary about the most remote music festival in the world—the Festival au Désert—and the battle to make it happen. Once a year, just outside of Timbuktu in the sand dunes of the Sahara, a music festival that serves to sustain peace and resolve regional conflict rocks the socks off an audience of thousands for three days straight. From Robert Plant to Jimmy Buffett, musicians from around the world have journeyed through the mystical terrain of the Sahara to jam with Malian, Tuareg, and West African musicians at the Festival au Désert.

As a homegrown approach to sustaining peace, democracy, and for developing tourism in Mali, the festival has brought significant cultural awareness and economic development to the local communities in the region and the tourism sector in Mali. But sadly, over the past few years, security warnings issued by Western governments have increased, affecting the attendance at the festival and threatening its viability. But that will not stop the festival organizers, the community, and the musicians who rock the stage from putting on another great show.

For more info on The Last Song Before the War:
http://www.thelastsongbeforethewar.com


For more info on the Festival in the Desert:
http://www.festival-au-desert.org/

****
Example #4: Mali Blues - Le Monde pour la Paix - For Peace in Mali - Vieux Farka, Bassekou, Khaira Arby



Mali Blues Published on May 13, 2012

Le Monde pour la Paix - by JeConte & The Mali Allstars - The featured track off the coming 2012 release 'Mali Blues for Peace' or 'Mali Blues pour la Paix' written by JeConte & Adama Drame form JeConte & The Mali Allstars featuring guests Vieux Farka Touré, Khaira Arby & Bassekou Kouyate.

"We call on our ancestors to come together for peace... for a better World... for hope in Mali. We ask everyone to hold hands for peace and be one people, one Malian culture uniting for peace in Mali and the World." This is what the words say at the beginning of this powerful track, in Tamashek by Khiara Arby and Songhay by Vieux Farka Toure. Along with the beautiful melodic N'goni work of Bassekou Kouyate we are brought into a better World, a World of home...a World of peace.

JeConte & Adama Drame of the band JeConte & The Mali Allstars worked together on this song, crafting it to its full potential during the eruption of the coup in Mali in March 2012. The footage you see here is behind the scenes footage from the sessions at studio Yeelen in Bamako and also footage from the coup d'etat, Bamako, and the Festival in the Desert outside Timbuktu.

You can learn more about this amazing band and their forthcoming album and tour dates at their website http://www.themaliblues.com./

Mali Blues is gonna get you...

****
Example #5: Festival in the Desert - Highlighting Tuareg Culture, Tartit & Tinariwen



MaliDesertFest, Published on May 30, 2013

The Festival in the Desert
-snip-
The music begins at .047 in this video.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Mali, West Africa Singers Ramata Diakité & Tata Diakité (music in Islamic West Africa)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about Islam in the West African nation of Mali. This post also provides information about the Malian singers Ramata Diakité and Tata Diakité and showcases three YouTube videos of each of these singers.

This is the second post in a continuing pancocojams series about music in Islamic Africa. Click the tab below for other posts in this series.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Ramata Diakité and Tata Diakité andfor their for musical legacies. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM IN THE WEST AFRICAN NATION OF MALI
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Mali
"An estimated 90 percent of Malians are Muslim, mostly Sunni belonging to Maliki school of jurisprudence influenced with Sufism. Ahmadiyya and Shia minorities are also present.[2] Approximately 5 percent are Christian (about two-thirds Roman Catholic and one-third Protestant denominations); the remaining 5 percent of Malians adhere to indigenous or traditional animist beliefs.[3] Atheism and agnosticism are believed to be rare among Malians, most of whom practice their religion on a daily basis, although some are Deist.[4]

According to the 2005 U.S. Department of State’s annual report on religious freedom, Islam as traditionally practiced in Mali was characterized as moderate, tolerant, and adapted to local conditions.[4] Women were allowed to participate in social economical and political activities and generally do not wear veils.[4] According to the 2012 Pew Forum study The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity, 94% of Muslim in Mali surveyed believe that religion very important in their lives, and 71% believe there is "only one true way to understand Islam’s teachings" (24% believing that multiple interpretations of Islam are possible).[2]

The constitution establishes a secular state and provides for freedom of religion, and the government largely respects this right.[4] Relations between Muslims and practitioners of minority religious faiths are generally friendly, and foreign missionary groups (both Muslim and non-Muslim) are tolerated.[4]

Because of the 2012 application of Sharia law in northern parts of the country however, Mali was listed high (#7) in the Christian persecution index published by Open Doors which described the persecution in the north as severe.[5][6] In spite of this, a 2015 study estimated some 8,000 believers in Christ from a Muslim background in the country.[7]

Application of Sharia included banning of music, with groups showing up randomly in villages, armed with weaponry, to burn musical instruments and musical items. One guitarist was threatened that his fingers would be chopped off if he ever showed his face in one town again.[8] Other rules such as cutting off hands or feet of thieves, stoning of adulterers and public whipping of smokers, alcohol drinkers and women who are not properly dressed were also implemented.[8] However, the occupation and Sharia law were both short-lived, cut short by a French and Chadian military intervention that began in January 2013. See Northern Mali Conflict.

In 2012 several Islamic sites in Mali were destroyed or damaged by vigilante activists linked to Al Qaeda, claiming that "idol worship" characterized the sites.[9] Given the cultural and religious importance of the sites in the city of Timbuctu (Tomboctou), 8 of the shrines on the UNESCO heritage list had been fully reconstructed, and another 6 were in the process of reconstruction, by July 2015.[10]"

****
INFORMATION ABOUT RAMATA DIAKITE
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramata_Diakit%C3%A9
"Ramata "Rah" Diakité (Madina Diansa, Wassoulou, 1976 - Burkina Faso October 30, 2009) was a Malian Wassoulou woman musician.[1] She was the cousin of Tata Diakité, who also died young.[2]

Ramata was born in 1976. Although Ramata did not come from a family of traditional musicians, when she was about twelve, Ramata started humming to herself in secret, accompanying herself on a gourd. In Wassoulou (and other areas of Mali), music is usually created by those of a certain caste (jeli/griot), and it can be controversial for artists outside of these castes to perform. Salif Keita is likely the most prominent example of a non-musical-caste performer to confront and conquer adversity relating to these cultural restrictions.

Ramata's aunt, Djénéba Diakité, asked her to sing backing vocals on a cassette, which was the start of her musical career, even though Ramata's parents frowned on the idea. As a backing vocalist, Ramata's vocal potential was quickly spotted, and she gained concert experience thanks to trips to France and throughout Africa. She was soon called upon as a vocalist by many artists and arrangers, notably Samba Diallo, Yoro Diallo, and Tenin Sidibé.

In December 1995 she recorded her first cassette, Artistes, a bestseller in Mali in 1996. She gave many concerts and took part, along with Salif Keita, in a Mali evening at the Cité de la Musique in Paris in October 1997.

Ramata died on October 30, 2009 in Burkina Faso of complications related to a year-long battle with Hepatitis A."

****
INFORMATION ABOUT TATA DIAKITE
Editor's Note: This is the only information online that I've found for Tata Diakité. Additional information is welcome.

From https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.africultures.com/php/index.php%3Fnav%3Dmurmure%26no%3D597&prev=search TATA DIAKITÉ DIED "in February 2003
"Victim of a traffic accident, there are two months, the Malian singer Tata Diakité eventually died January 24 at age 28, leaving behind three children and two albums.

During her* fight for survival, she has enjoyed the moral and financial support of the Ministry of Culture, the wife of the Malian president and her family.

Malian artists who had planned a benefit concert for the 25th day after her death, have nevertheless given to support her offspring."
-snip-
* I corrected the pronoun given in this article.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS : RAMATA DIAKITE
Example #1: Ramata Diakite - Sigui



Tyrus Maximus, Uploaded on Jun 6, 2009

Ramata Diakité de Mali

****
Example #2: Ramata Diakite - Noumouya & Foula



chojiro22, Uploaded on Feb 26, 2010

Malian singer Ramata Diakite
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread:

Michael Friedman, 2014
"Lovely video clip and musical performance !"

**
Allaye Dembele, 2014
"Le Mali on vous oubliera jamais ra on 'a perdu une grande voie ds la musique malienne" 

Mali is one you never forget ra one has lost a great way ds Malian music

****
Example #3: Ramata Diakité - Dunia -.mp4



ajc15, Published on Mar 9, 2015

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS: TATA DIAKITE
Example #1: Tata Diakité - Kono kan bora - 1998.mp4



Published on Mar 10, 2015
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread:

ami sankara, 2014
"Merci pour cette bonne musique unique en son genre. Rip

Thank you for this good music unique in its kind Rip [Rest in peace]

**
Mamadou Doukara, 2015
merci tata pour cette bonne musique que ton âme repose en paix

tata thank you for this great music that your soul rest in peace

****
Example #2: Tata Diakité - N'Tanan ni - Ben BD Compil Vol. 1.mp4



ajc15 Published on Mar 10, 2015

****
Example #3: Tata Diakité à Paris, feat. Aïchata Sidibé - Marakaw Donkan -.mp4



ajc15, Published on Mar 10, 2015

Tata Diakité à Paris, feat. Aïchata Sidibé - Marakaw Donkan -.mp4

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Mali, West Africa Singer Khaira Arby (pancocojams series: Music In Islamic West Africa)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about the Malian singer Khaira Arby and showcases five YouTube videos of her songs. Selected comments from some of these videos' discussion thread are also included in this post.

This is the first post in a continuing pancocojams series about music in Islamic Africa. Click the tab below for other posts in this series.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Khaira Arby for her for musical legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT KHAIRA ARBY (also given as "Haira Arby")
Excerpt #1:
From http://www.npr.org/2011/02/23/129552534/khaira-arby-malis-reigning-queen-of-song Khaira Arby: Mali's Reigning Queen Of Song; August 31, 2010; BANNING EYRE
"In "Waidio," singer Khaira Arby insists that women must be free to pursue their own happiness.
Khaira Arby is the reigning queen of song in Timbuktu, Mali. She's been writing and singing in the indigenous languages of her Sahara Desert region — Sonrhai, Tamaschek, Bambara, Arabic — for decades. Her robust voice, roiling grooves and direct lyrics, often addressing sensitive issues, have made her a legend in her own time. Arby's debut international CD release (Timbuktu Tarab) and her first U.S. tour are giving Americans their first glimpses of a desert rose. But, as they'll discover, that rose has both a beautiful crimson flower and razor-sharp thorns.

Perhaps Arby's greatest social impact in a conservative Islamic milieu has been her advocacy on behalf of women. She divorced a controlling husband to pursue a career in music. (She's since remarried.) As a singer, she's opened the door to a generation of artistic women who now follow in her footsteps. Arby has also sung against the practice of female genital mutilation, and in "Waidio," she decries the "anguish of women," insisting that they must be free to pursue their own happiness. Arby asks, "Why, in a country of beautiful women, do men go to war?" The song showcases Arby's powerful vocal in her first language, Sonrhai, as well as the amazingly tight groove of her electric-guitar-driven band."

****
Excerpt #2:
From http://voicesofafrica.co.za/music-spirituality-and-islam-in-africa/ "Music, Spirituality, And Islam In Africa" by Thembi Mutch, March 7, 2013
..."A couple of thousand miles west of Sudan in Mali, the tensions between contrasting interpretations of the role of music for Muslims was been brought into particularly sharp, and often tragic, focus following the takeover of the north by Islamist militants last year.

Khaïra Arby, looking regal in her striking head wrap and plush blue dress, her face lined and tired, just got off a plane from Mali. “Yes, it’s true, I’ve seen it myself; they will cut off your tongue if you sing,” she says. “I’ve seen friends who’ve had their hands cut off for the ringtones on their mobile phones.”

Arby, adored across Mali, is affectionately called the nightingale of the North. Born in the village of Abaradjou, north of Timbuktu, her parents came from different ethnic backgrounds – her mother Songhai, her father Berber. Arby’s music, which is more popular at home than the music of her internationally famous cousin Salif Keita, captures northern Mali’s diversity of ethnic groups, styles and poetry.
After persistent threats and attacks from Islamists militants – including smashing up stereo systems in markets and people’s homes, confiscating radios and even SIM cards with music on them – Arby escaped to Bamako to stay with Salif Keita on his island on the river Niger just outside Mali’s capital of Bamako. Many Malian musicians are among the thousands who fled south since the crisis began.

Keita is also resigned. Before the international intervention against the Islamist rebels, he commented, “If there’s no music, no Timbuktu, it means that there is no more culture in Mali.” Indeed, Timbuktu is regarded as part of a chain of African kingdoms that had a long history of education, literature and intellectual life. It was the site of one of the largest Islamic libraries in Africa and a meeting point for scholars who debated and interpreted the Qur’an.

However, last year the Islamist rebels who took over the towns declared the shrines to be idolatrous and restricted forms of expression, such as music, that had been part of the fundamental fabric of everyday life. Like many Malians, Arby was bewildered. “There’s not a single part of the Qur’an that forbids music,” she says. “I’ve read it all, I can tell you honestly, there’s nothing in there that says don’t sing. I’ve never seen, never, that music is forbidden.”

In fact, Arby is highly sceptical as to the importance of religion at all in the motives of militants. “This war is about drug-running and arms trafficking. It’s about controlling important routes through a very long term trade area. It’s about money, politics and control. It’s not about religion,” she insists….

Meanwhile Arby states defiantly, “We have an obligation to sing, to dance, to respect, and to show appreciation for the suffering and the endurance and bravery of the people who are fighting for us, for those who cannot sing. We must compose beautiful songs before the war, during the war, and after the war, to celebrate what we have.”

This piece by Thembi Mutch was first published on Think Africa Press.
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Mali for the article about religion in Mali (as of 2015). That article is quoted in its entirety in the second post of this pancocojams series: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/07/malian-singers-ramata-diakite-tata_3.html.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest video given first.
Example #1: the Timbuktu diva Khaira Arby : desert blues



afropop is the future ! Uploaded on Oct 13, 2008

she sings for her mother , the song is aigna
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread:
Susanne D7, 2008
"Where did you get this video?"

**
Reply
afropopstar, 2008
"i did it..."

**
akatiku, 2009
"What language she is singing?"

**
Reply
Monsieur Africain
"It is Songhai language"

**
Arlene McKenna, 2012
"Lovely. So sorry she and other musicians are being silenced by religious extremists in Mali right now."

**
ngoniba, 2013
"The guitar in this song is not that of Farka, is Hammane Touré."

****
Example #2: Mali: Khaira ARBY – Amandiath



Tyrus Maximus Uploaded on Jun 2, 2010

Haira Arby. music from Mali, West Africa.


****
Example #3: Khaïra ARBY, TIEBA BI MALI



maitreGABAUploaded on Jun 30, 2011

Khaïra ARBY, une artiste Malienne, la voix du désert. ce son me rappel de longues dates!

Google translate from French to English: a Malian artist, the voice of the desert. this sound reminds me of long dates!*
-snip-
*"of long dates" = of long ago (or "of time past")
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread
Tcheta Douk, 2011
"Merci a toi d'avoir poster ce son, je l'ai tellement recherché.
Il me rappelle ma tendre enfance avec mon père qui nous faisait écouter le morceau et souvent meme jouait de sa guitare, ke de bons moments.
Merci papa de nous avoir transmit autant d'amour, quoiqu'il advienne aujourd'hui, sache ke nous tes enfants t'oublieront jamais et t'aimont plus que tout. Dieu nous benisse!!!
Thank you to you to have post this sound, I so desired."

[s]He reminds me reach my childhood with my father who made us listen to the song, and often even played his [her] guitar, ke good times.
Thank you dad have passed us so much love, whatever happens today, we know ke your children never forget you and you Aimont more than anything. God bless us !!!

**
Mama Diarra, 2015
"Je suis émue d'entendre cette chanson qui me rappelle mon adolescence au grand Mali Un grand merci à personne qui a posté cette magnifique chanson de Kahira Harbi. Qu' Allah bénis le Mali."

I am moved to hear this song that reminds me of my youth to the great Mali A big thank you to anyone who posted this beautiful song Kahira Harbi. May Allah bless Mali.

****
Example #4: Khaira Arby - AFH345



Afrikafestival Hertme Published on Feb 2, 2014

Distinguished diva from a point north of Timbuktu

Family connections don't always provide a leg-up on the ladder of life. Take Khaira Arby, for instance. Despite being a cousin of the mighty Ali Farka Toure, she was forbidden by her father to pursue her musical calling and instead bore a family. But domesticity couldn't extinguish that dream and a resolute Khaira reinvented herself. And aren't we glad. From a country where great singers grow on (baobab) trees, Khaira sits at the metaphorical top table and is known as 'the nightingale of Mali's north'. Indeed, while the capital Bamako becomes an ever-crowded musical marketplace, her location in a village near Timbuktu has allowed her to mark her own territory. And just as Timbuktu is a crossroads, Khaira's music heads out in different directions too. Of mixed Berber and Songhai parentage - and singing in Arabic, Songhai, Tamashek, Bambara and French - her spiky, occasionally psychedelicised take on her homeland's varied music has made her a true national hero. Despite Pop's best efforts.

****
Example #5: Khaira Arby Jazz & Joy Worms 2015



Khaira Arby Published on Mar 25, 2016

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.