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Global Encounters
Carnegie Hall has brought the history, culture, and musical traditions of a different region of the world to life in high school social studies and music classes since 2000. Learn more about the Global Encounters program.
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The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall - Global Encounters - Mali
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INTRODUCTION
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From a musical perspective, Mali is an incredibly rich country. Many of Africa’s most famous musicians come from Mali—performers like Salif Keita, Oumou Sangare, Amadou and Mariam, Rokia Traore, Habib Koite, Toumani Diabate, and the late Ali Farka Toure. The diversity of the music of Mali is truly astounding, from well-known “Malian blues” and Mande jeliya (griot) music to the music of the Tuareg, Dogon, and hunters’ societies that also represent distinctive and vital, if less familiar, regional musical traditions in Mali.
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The Mande (or Manding) are one of the principal ethnic groups in West Africa. They are actually made up of several related ethnic groups that live in multiple countries—primarily Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Gambia—and identify themselves differently. The largest Mande group in Mali, for example, are the Bamana, also known as Bambara. (Note: Bamana is how Malians refer to themselves; Bambara is the French term.) Bamana is also the most commonly used language in Mali, spoken by 80% of the population. Although people belonging to Mande ethnic groups make up the majority of the population in Mali, there are several other important non-Mande groups also living in the country, such as the Fulani, the Songhai, the Tuareg, and the Dogon.
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In Mali, the hunter has powerful symbolic importance. Learn about the hunters’ music which is performed to this day.
Learn about the role of the jeli (griot) in Malian society.
Ninety percent of Mali’s population is Muslim. Learn more.
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Official Name: Republic of Mali
Location: West Africa—Mali is completely landlocked and is bordered by seven countries: Algeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, and Mauritania.
Capital: Bamako
Independence: September 22, 1960 (from France)
Head of Government: President Amadou Toumani Toure (elected in 2002; reelected in 2007)
Area: At approximately 478,767 square miles (1,240,000 square kilometers), Mali is slightly less than twice the size of the state of Texas.
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