Artistiya



Fatoumata Diawara. Courtesy of Berthin Coulibaly

Chapter 2: Artistiya introduces the status and identity that is at the center of Bamako Sounds: the “artist,” a social category of professional and amateur musicians in postcolonial Mali. Tracing the history of this identity through the recent past, the chapter situates the social and musical practice of the Malian artist in contexts of nationalism, statism, neoliberalism, and globalization. It argues for an Afropolitan ethics rooted in this professional history, from which new ideas and expressions about what it means to be an artist and make music in Mali (and beyond) emerge and artfully resound.

KEY TERMS

• ambiance: a socio-musical term in Francophone Africa that denotes a sense of liveness and conviviality in public spaces of music making
  
• artistiya: a Bamana term literally meaning “artist-ness,” with broader reference to the status, identity, and practice of professional and amateur musicians in postcolonial Mali
  
• exile : a popular theme in Malian popular music (Bamana, tunga), referring to both an ideal of repatriation to a national homeland and the necessity of travel abroad in a context of political turmoil and economic austerity 
  
• jeliya: the traditional art of the Mande griot, musically expressed through song, dance, heightened speech, and instrumental performance

WHO'S WHO

• Amadou “Adez” Traoré: an artist whose career developed in the years following independence; a founding member of Pionnier Jazz and the Orchestre National du Mali
  
• Dialy Mady Cissoko: schoolteacher, instrument maker, contemporary artist, and traditional griot (jeli); bandleader of the group Dialyco
  
• Issa Sory Bamba: professional vocalist and bandleader of the Groupe Issa Bamba; son of the important post-independence Malian artist, Sorry Bamba
  
• Karounga Sacko: professional vocalist and member of the Triton Stars; lead singer (with Nana Soumbounou) on the track “Immigration”
  
• Nana Soumbounou: professional vocalist and member of the groups Dialyco and the Triton Stars; lead singer (with Karounga Sacko) on the track “Immigration” 
  

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What is the relationship of artistiya to traditional forms of music making in Malian society? What does the artistic personhood of urban artists in Bamako reveal about “tradition” and “modernity” in Africa today?
   
2. Why does Amadou Traoré describe Malian artists as “the most miserable of people?” Does the biography of Dialy Mady Cissoko tell a different story? How has a sense of artistiya been reimagined and repurposed over the past fifty years in postcolonial Mali?
   
3. This chapter argues that the idea of “exile” is central to understanding the status and identity of the “artist” in postcolonial Mali. What does this theme tell us about Malian artists and the society to which they belong? How do the chapter’s songs and stories of “exile” relate to the contemporary “crisis” of migration from sub-Saharan and northern Africa to southern Europe? 

FURTHER READING & DISCUSSION

•  “The History of Malian Music,” Afropop Hip Deep program with Cherif Keita: http://www.afropop.org/9858/cherif-keita-on-the-history-of-malian-music/
  
• “The Mande Diaspora in New York City,” Afropop Hip Deep program (in two parts) with Ryan T. Skinner:  http://www.afropop.org/6320/the-mande-diaspora-in-new-york-city-part-1/
• “Desperate for a way out” by Bruce Whitehouse:  http://bridgesfrombamako.com/2015/04/24/desperate-for-a-way-out/