Mali is an enormous, landlocked country that fills the interior of West Africa. It stretches from the Sahara desert in the north, to the edge of the coastal rain forests in the south. The country's biggest waterway, the Niger River, winds its way northward from Guinea, through the Malian capital, Bamako. It continues up to Segu, center of the old Bambara Empire and ancestral home to many artists on this compilation, and then on to Timbuktu at the edge of the Sahara. In the peaceful, dusty city of Bamako, adobe architecture is still the rule and people continue to dress in the colorful robes of antiquity.
Busy streets carry rusted cars and trucks billow exhaust smoke.
Walk through a Bamako neighborhood on a Thursday or a Sunday, traditional wedding days, and you're sure to come across a festive street party where ladies dressed like royalty dance in the dust to the most beautiful music. Mali is a nation teeming with music. Its major ethnic groups, the Manding, Fulani, Bambara, Bobo, Bozo, and Songhai, all boast rich and vibrant musical traditions. Perhaps best known are the Manding caste of griots, traditional praise singers, bards and virtuoso musicians. This compilation focuses mainly on Bambara, Fulani and Songhai music.