Feb
16
Filed Under (Ethnomusicology, Malian culture) by Rob on 16-02-2017

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on here, but this week I had the privilege of being back in West Africa for some field recording with the Ganadougou people in southern Mali.


Before starting, we had a 50 mile motorbike journey: here I am with the microphone stands and several bottles on my back:

The workshop didn’t get underway until almost three hours later than scheduled, for various reasons, but it was worth the wait, a these folks had great voices and knew their traditional genres well.
Here I am making my usual list of all the song genres in Ganadougou culture:

They’ve got some pretty interesting instruments too, including half a gourd floating in a bowl of water (something I’ve come across several times across W Africa).

And then there was a young chap with his hand made metal scraper:

And, of course, there was a balafon too, which really added to the quality of the music:

(I’m looking pretty tired by this stage in the afternoon!)

Recording these songs helps to preserve the Ganadougou culture and their musical heritage, as well as passing on important messages via radio and mobile phones. If you’re wondering what they all sounded like, have a listen here:

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