Rob is just back from a fascinating, exhausting and extremely worthwhile trip across the Dogon Plain in Mali. The purpose of the visit was (basically): (i) To investigate the attitudes towards music in the community (including in the church). Starting in Sangha, I met with some great musicians, including these two blokes, who were making rope out of old rice sacks: From Sangha, we travelled down the cliff and across the plain all the way to Koro. This was a good 40 miles and almost entirely on dry sand track like this one: Of course, the instruments are always insteresting to see and study. Here are just a few of the ones I discovered on my trip: TL: The kere, a four-holed flute with – interestingly – a stopped end. Plays (of course) the pentatonic scale. There you go! I shall be glad to return to the “relative coolness” of Bamako after temps of up to 42 Celsius on the plain. That said, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! Thanks for reading.
Comments:
1 Comment posted on "Done Dogon and gone!"
anne on March 17th, 2010 at 4:50 pm #
glad you are safely home and had such a good trip. |