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Music and Poetry Quench a Thirst of our Soul
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FolkWorks, Music and Poetry Quench a Thirst of our Soul >>
FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT
By ENRICO DEL ZOTTO
Music and poetry rarely cross paths with war. For
desert dwellers, poetry has long been another way of
making war, just as their sword dances are a
choreographic representation of real conflict. Just
as the mastery of space and territory has always
depended on the control of wells and water
resources, words have been constantly fed and
nourished with metaphors and elegies. It's as if
life in this desolate immensity forces you to quench
two thirsts rather than one; that of the body and
that of the soul. The Annual Festival in the Desert
quenches our thirst of the spirit. - Francis Dordor
The annual Festival in the Desert has been held on
the edge of the Sahara in Mali since January 2001.
Based on the traditional gatherings of the Touareg
(or Tuareg) people of Mali, this 3-day event brings
together participants from not only the Tuareg
tradition, but from throughout Africa and the world.
Past performers have included Habib Koité, Manu
Chao, Robert Plant, Ali Farta Toure, and Blackfire,
a Navajo band from Arizona.
The 2005 festival will be held in isolated Essakane,
65km from Timbuktu. No paved road exists, so after a
couple of days drive to Timbuktu from the Mali
capital of Bamako you face several hours of four
wheel driving across the desert. It may sound
daunting, but hundreds attend the festival each year
to enjoy the music, local arts and crafts and view
traditional Touareg games, ritual sword fighting and
camel races. Accommodations are in large communal
tents in the regional fashion (you can bring your
own tent if you like, but why travel all the way to
Mali just to find out you forgot your tent pegs).
Or sleep under the stars, if the low of 40F degrees
doesn't dissuade you.
The goals of the festival are to bring together the
Touareg and other ethnic groups of Mali together
after many years of conflict as well as open the
region and its culture to people outside of Mali.
The Touareg are of Berber origin, displaced from
North Africa by Arab migration. They are considered
traditionally nomadic, but did found the city of
Timbuktu in the 11th century as a trading post and
controlled this urban center, key to the very
important salt trade on and off until the French
took the city in 1894. The Touareg were among the
strongest opponents of French colonial rule and
Timbuktu was the last city to be taken by the French
in Mali.
With independence in the region, the Touareg faced
the problem of new borders
as the nations of Mali, Niger, Algeria and
Libya came into being, dividing their ancestral
lands. A major Touareg rebellion began in 1963 and
was met with brutal repression by the government of
Mali. Dislocation became a way of life for many of
the Touareg, as maintaining their traditional
nomadic life became more difficult. A severe drought
in the 1970's also made life in the region hard.
Many migrated to urban centers in North Africa.
Once herders and desert traders, Touaregs now formed
part of an urban
underclass. However, in the early 1990s a
reconciliation pact was signed in Mali and many of
the Touareg people have been able to reclaim their
traditional ways.
If you can't make it to Mali in January, you can
still experience some of this story as The Festival
in the Desert Tour made-up of Tinariwen, Lo Jo, and
Ramatou Diakite, will be performing in Southern
California in November. They will be at Claremont
University on November 6 and the Cerritos Center for
the Performing Arts on November 7.
Tinariwen is rooted in the Touareg struggle for
greater autonomy during the 1980s and 90s. Several
of the founding members took up arms during those
years, living in Libyan rebel training camps, while
others faced imprisonment and exile. Some of the
younger members were orphaned during the conflict
and were sent to government run orphanages were
their language, Tamashek, and culture was
suppressed. Tinariwen was underground for much of
its existence as they sought to use music as a voice
for the Touareg struggle. The peace accords of the
early 1990s have allowed this group to be a voice
for a new generation of young Touareg people. The
lyrics now focus on hope, reconstruction and
reconciliation.
A frequent co-performer with Tinariwen is the French
group Lo Jo. Coming from a background of street and
circus performance Lo Jo incorporates gypsy fiddle,
Touareg music and Caribbean rhythm to create a
transcultural sound with a "Brechtian quality".
Although the group had been in existence for 20
years, its sound is a current, 21st century
combination of traditional sensibilities with a
modern perspective.
Ramatou Diakite comes from the Wassoulou region of
Southern Mali. Her music is rooted in the farming
and hunting cultures of this region, where women
traditionally have provided the singing that
accompanies male dancers re-enacting hunting
exploits, as opposed to the griot story telling
tradition of Mali many of us may be familiar with.
Its pentatonic-based melodies have a clear
relationship to the pentatonic foundations of
African American music. This common heritage is
evident in Diakite's collaboration with blues great
Taj Mahal and Malian kora player Toumani Diabate on
the album Kulanjan. Interestingly, she credits her
exposure to Hindu music in films she saw growing up
(also based on five note pentatonic scales) as an
influence on her style.
The Festival in the Desert Tour will be a unique
opportunity to see music and experience some of
Mali's diverse culture. The Cerritos Center or
Claremont University may not be in the Sahara, but
it is certain to be an enriching and entertaining
event. 09/01/04
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