|
|
 |
Refugees of bitter civil war sing for peace and healing
|
| Click Here to go back. |
Boston Sunday Herald, Refugees of bitter civil war sing for peace and healing >>
The member of Tartit know all about strife. Which is why they've dedicated their lives to singing for peace.
The latest in a welcome and growing list of Malian musicians to visit town, the nine members of Tartit make their local dubut Tuesday at Johnny D's.
Civil war in Mali in the early '90's brought the group together.
In a refugee camp in neighboring Burkina Faso, leader Fadimata Walett Oumar followed up on the suggestion of a GBelgian relief worker to pull toghether an ensembel to perform at Belgium's Voix des Femmes festival.
That wasn't a problem. Making music is simply part of the culture of the Kel Tamashek or Tuaregs, who inhabit the sub Saharan desert region of Mali that includes the area around Timbuktu.
Their subject matter did change a bit, though. Added to the traditonal lyrics of love and peace were rawer themes such as exile.
In teh process, Tartit-which means "union"- was continuing a centuries-old heritage of peacemaking.
"Historically, the scholars of Timbuktu were known as ambassadors of peace," said Larry Childs, the Cambridge-based cofounder of the Timbuktu Heritage Institute. "Timbuktu was the cultural, intellectual and spiritual hub of west Africa for centuries.
"The leaders actually listened to the good guidance of the scholars, who were influenced by theirr Islamic and traditional African faiths.
"The principles of tolerance and diversity were central, and the leaders were guided dwon a moral path," Childs said.
"When they listened to the scholars, peace prevailed. The Tuareg people-and Tartit-are inheritors of this legacy."
The group's only US release, "Ichichila" (Network), captures the music of a group that comes close to an American blues feel yet is thoroughly Middle Eastern and African in spirit, particularly with vocals that border on the ethereal.
"I find the music haunting," said Alison Loerke, who represents Tartit in the United States and saw the group perform in January at the Festival in the Desert outside of Timbuktu. "It's so evocative. Singing is really part of their daily lives. It's a living tradition."
This is the group's second American tour. It has become a regular in Europe and throughout Africa, and taken part in the WOMAD festival. Still, ethnic tendsions in the members' homeland keep them focused on their overarching mission.
"Tartit has been working at healing those tensions by rallying people around their common cultural heritage, while still celebrating their own distinctive cultural traditions," Childs said. BOB YOUNG 03/30/03
|
| Click Here to go back. |
|
 |
|
|
|
