New Music from Mali Downloads

New music from Mali, West Africa featuring the musicians and students at the INA (National Institute of the Arts) in Bamako, Mali. Institute National des Arts Compilation Album Mali’s National Institute for the Arts (INA) is a highly selective school. Only 30 students are admitted each... Learn More »

New music from Mali, West Africa featuring the musicians and students at the INA (National Institute of the Arts) in Bamako, Mali.
Institute National des Arts Compilation Album

Mali’s National Institute for the Arts (INA) is a highly selective school. Only 30 students are admitted each year from among the several thousand applicants who want study music, dance, painting, sculpture, and other fine arts. While it is the only arts college in Mali, there are no facilities or equipment for recording music available for the students. In May of 2004, at the invitation of the Minister of Culture M. Al Hady Koita, and Institute Director M. Oumar Kamara, Lewis Melville spent a week recording senior students in the Music Program at the INA.

This project was a component of a larger initiative to determine the feasibility of undertaking a multidisciplinary cultural exchange between Canadian and Malian artists. The primary objective at the INA was to make it possible for the students to hear recorded versions of their songs for the first time, principally as a learning tool. It was also hoped that the recordings could be used to demonstrate the talent of the students studying music at the INA and to promote future exchanges between Canadian and Malian artists.

Thirteen of the school’s singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists were selected by Music Director Souleymans Dembélé to record both their own compositions and various traditional Malian songs. Recording took place randomly in between breaks for prayers, power outages, official gatherings for visiting dignitaries, and exams. The singers were accompanied by an assortment of Malian acoustic stringed and percussion instruments (kora, n’goni, balafon, djembe, crayon) and the ubiquitous acoustic guitar played in the unique two-finger style typical of Mandingue and Malinke guitarists.

The biggest challenges of making the recording were largely technical, and included dealing with variable and unpredictable electrical current, excessive heat, transportation to and from the INA, and finding a suitable space with the least amount of background noise (no mean feat, given that the INA is situated in the middle of the Grand Marche next to the central Mosque). A gallery displaying student work in a room that bordered on a busy market street became an impromptu recording studio - without soundproofing or air conditioning. The schedule was tight and interruptions were many, so that at times I wondered how the sessions would ever get done. The time was never wasted, though, and breaks in recording became spontaneous jam sessions, music lessons, and discussions. Somehow we finished, and in the end it was the support of the faculty, and the enthusiasm and talent of the musicians themselves that made it all possible. In most cases what you hear on the recording is the result of a single take, and though these songs were recorded as a simple “demo” album, I believe the music here reflects not only Mali’s rich musical heritage, but its’ future.
 
-notes by Lewis Melville

Recorded and produced by Lewis Melville at the Institute National des Arts in Bamako, Mali, March 17-18, 2004.
Artistic Director: Souleymans Dembele, Professor of Music (INA).

Songs and Artists

1. Issa Sory Bambe
    “Were Deni” (Fille Capriceuse) - Issa Sory Bambe
        Une fille capriceuse devant de plus en plus insupportable a cause de son mauvais             caractere (menterise, infidele, etc.)

    “Boro”(Le sac Peulh)” - Issa Sory Bambe.
        Le sac peulh contenant des objets de protection du berger, fidel compagnon.

2. Boureima Touré
    “Dounignan” - Boureima Touré
        Le monde est faux, mieux vaut voir qu’entendre.

3. Ibrahim Thèra
    “Demisen”(les enfants de L’INA)  - Ibrahim Thèra
        Je suis desespere, e n’ai plus envie de rien. Je dois me marie je n’ai plus un sou en             poche. 
    “Nieneman Mine” - Patrimonie   
        Un morceau qui parle de beaucoup de choses, les differents facettes de la vie.

4. Ibrahim Seydou Keïta
    “Unité” (Unity) - Ibrahim Seydou Keïta
        Le monde iest qu’on se couche mais on n’arrivepas a dormir a couse des Attentats.         Partout dans le monde.

5. Daouda Dembêlé
    “Anumana Kowerela” (On n’est pas la pour autre chose) - patrimonie
        Nouse sommes venu pour nous plaire pas pour autre chose.
    “Sanata” (Balafon instrumental) - patrimonie

6. Assètou Diabaté
    “Mali Sadio” - anonyme
        Chanson populaire, racontant l’amitie entre un hippo et les humains.
    “Bara” (le travail) - Assetou Diabete
        C’est le travail qui libere l’homme, il permet a l’homme de gagner, certaines choses         inattendues.


7. Nana Kandidia Soumbounou
    “Kaïra” (le bonheur) - anonyme
        Un chanson populaire qui relate le bon cote de la vie.
    “Bere Bere” (La Parente) - patrimonie
        Chanson populaire Soninke qui parle des liens de parente. Ceux qui pronent pour             la fraternite, la paix etc. , vous etes invites a venir.

The Players:
Assetou Diabaté - vocals
Issa Sory Bambe - vocals, guitar
Boureima Touré - vocals, guitar
Sanoussi Diakité - guitar
Ibrahim Seydou Keïta - vocals, guitar
Daouda Dembêlé - balafon
Karim Bengaly - balafon
Souleymans Dembélé - saxophone
Djalimady Sissoko - kora
Siraman Sanogo - balafon mandingue
Moussa Kanouté - n’goni
Nana Kandidia Soumbounou - vocalist
Djénéba N’Diaye - vocalist
Soulymans Sissoko - bass
Various Percussion instruments (djembe, crayon) played by all.
 
1.   Bara            Assetou Diabaté (Assetou Diabete)        5:48
2.   Boro             Issa Sory Damba (Issa Sory Dambe)        4:10
3.   Demisen             Ibrahim Thèra (Ibrahim Thèra)            3:15
4.   Dounagan            Bouriema Touré (Boureima Touré)        3:14
5.   Kaira            Nana Soumbounou (Anonyme)            6:28
6.   Anumana Kowerela     Daouda Dembêlé (Patrimonie)            3:19
7.   Mali Sadio         Assètou Diabaté (Patrimonie)            6:22
8.   Nieneman Mine         Ibrahim Thèra (Patrimonie)            4:23
9.   Sanata             Daouda Dembêlé (Patrimonie)            3:48
10.  Unité              Ibrahim Seydou Keïta (Ibrahim Seydou Keïta)    4:59
11.  Bere Bere         Nana Kandidia Soumbounou (Patrimonie)    6:53


Artist                    Song            Author
Issa Sory Bambe            “Were Deni”         (Issa Sory Bambe)
Issa Sory Bambe            “Boro”         (Issa Sory Bambe)
Boureima Touré            “Dounignan”         (Boureima Touré)
Ibrahim Thèra            “Demisen”         (Ibrahim Thèra)
Ibrahim Thèra            “Nieneman Mine”     (Patrimonie)   
Ibrahim Seydou Keïta         “Unité”         (Ibrahim Seydou Keïta)
Daouda Dembêlé            “Anumana Kowerela” (Patrimonie)
Daouda Dembêlé            “Sanata”          (Patrimonie)
Assètou Diabaté            “Mali Sadio”         (Patrimonie)
Assètou Diabaté            “Bara”         (Assetou Diabete)
Nana Kandidia Soumbounou      “Kaïra”         (Anonyme)
Nana Kandidia Soumbounou      “Bere Bere”         (Patrimonie)


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