Jan
24
Filed Under (Ethnomusicology, Malian culture) by Rob on 24-01-2011

Day 1:
Left Bamako nice and early. Made it to the Hotel Indépendance in Segou for breakfast. Unfortunately, between Bla and San, my back left tyre seriously burst. Even the spare needed some air adding (courtesy of guys with a hand pump in the next village). Made it to San, where it took five attempts to find a passable spare tyre.

Finally on the road again by 3:10pm, made it to Mac’s Refuge in Sevaré before dark.

Day 2
And, with my assistant/interpreter, I make the all-night boat journey from Mopti to Diafarabé on the Niger River. There were no seats on the boat, just an open hull. We sat (and slept) on the roof, which was a bit chilly and – as it was above the engines – a bit smokey too!

Day 3
Arrival in Diafarabé. As the boat broke down 4 times AND got stuck on a sandbank once, the journey took a total of almost 20 hours!! Did little more than rest for what was left of this day!

Day 4
Interviewing Bozo musicians, in a village not far from Diafarabé.

As night fell, I witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve EVER seen, over the Niger river:

Day 5
To Dia and then Tenenkou. More interviews and recordings, trying to find out which song genres are ‘purely’ Bozo (and also sung in the Bozo language) and which ones could be easily used for educational purposes in the future.

Day 6
Journey back. Rather than the gruelling boat journey, we opt for eight hours on a motorbike instead (five off road):

There you go! Many more photos on my Facebook album of the trip: here.

And here’s what some of the Bozo folk songs sounded like:

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Comments:
2 Comments posted on "Rob’s Trip North (Part 1: Bozo)"
Mary Draper on January 24th, 2011 at 1:18 pm #

Cool, Rob — thanks for sharing!! (and the song clips, too!)


anne on January 25th, 2011 at 4:55 pm #

what an exciting journey. bet you’re glad you dont do that each week.