A Bok Review: Music, Culture & Conflict in Mali

Music is Mali’s most famous cultural asset and has shaped the country’s history for centuries. A new book

By Andy Morgan recounts how it has suffered under Islamist occupation.

Think Africa Press | 1 November 2013

Music is the glue that holds Mali together, the bridge that connects its past with its present, the ink with which its history is written. Without it, Mali as we know it would not exist.
For centuries, the role of the djeli or griot, a kind of storyteller-cum-singer-cum-poet, has been central to Malian society. In a predominantly oral culture, griots long fulfilled the role of historians. They recorded history through their songs and praises, and passed it down from one generation to the next. In pre-colonial times, every family had its own griot who recounted the family’s past, its births and deaths, its relations with other families, and its connection to the legendary Emperor Sundiata Keïta, founder of the Malian Empire in the 13th century.
Griots are also to thank for perpetuation of the very structure of Malian society. Back in 1235, Sundiata defeated the Sosso king, Sumanguru Kanté, in the Battle of Krina, thus securing the rule of the Mandé people over a large part of West Africa. After the victory, an assembly of nobles set out to create a constitution that would organise the newly-established Mali Empire socially, politically and economically.

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