Afropolitan Patriotism

1. Sahel Calling with Oxfam International, “Mali in Crisis: The Power of Music” [video]

In [May 2013], Oxfam International, in collaboration with filmmakers from Sahel Calling, released a video titled “Mali in Crisis: The Power of Music.” The video begin with the staggered rhythms and gritty timbres of takamba, a genre of popular music prominent in and around the city of Gao in northeastern Mali. Images cut between a map of Mali, bound together by the long arch of the Niger River, and artists in the midst of performance, resonant icons of the country’s social fabric. (pg. 156)

2. Iba One and Sidiki Diabaté, “Cinquantenaire du Mali” [video]

[“Cinquantenaire du Mali,” a tribute to Mali’s 50th anniversary of independence from colonial rule draws on the] expressive modes of sound, verbal art, gesture, and sartorial style within and beyond hip-hop to evoke what Iba One calls Maliba, or “Great Mali.” Here, Mali is “great” because of its transnational scope, representing a homeland that exceeds its geopolitical frontiers. Through Diabaté’s kora, an instrument his family has performed for generations across West Africa, we see and hear the Old Mali Empire, which, from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, stretched from the arid plains of the Sahel to the Senegambian coast. (pg. 162)

3. Mokobé Traoré, “Mali Debout”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWnl3z7L2qw  [video]

[In “Mali Debout” (“Stand Up Mali”),] a block-party dance beat punctuates a series of portraits that capture the beauty and vitality of Europe’s African community and the Malian diaspora in particular. We see men and women carefully groomed and adorned in all manner of haute couture, from colorful kaftans to tailored suits. Women’s faces are artfully accented in makeup and embellished in fine jewelry and vibrant headscarves. Juxtaposed with these portraits are scenes from a neighborhood square, where people sing, dance, and socialize in a space that proclaims itself Malian in an otherwise anonymous French suburb (banlieue). “Mali is beautiful,” Mokobé tells us. (pg. 163)

4. Djeneba Seck, “Maliba” [video]

 [A]s bombs fell north of the Sahara in August 2011, and as Malians debated the precarious status of their postcolonial alignments, I recalled another ambivalent scene of national celebration presented a year earlier on Malian television. There was Gadaffi, nestled between Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré and his wife—the patron and clients of Malibya—at an event commemorating Mali’s Cinquantenaire at the presidential palace on Koulouba, Mali’s “hill of power.” Before the assembled crowd of elite African celebrants, Djeneba Seck, one of Mali’s finest vocalists, sang her informal anthem “An Ka Maliba” (“Our Great Mali”). (pgs. 167-168).

5. Voices United for Mali, "Mali-Ko" (Peace/La Paix) [video]

On January 16 [2013], Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, a rising female star on the world circuit, released the track “Mali Ko” via Soundcloud on Public Radio International’s nationally syndicated program, The World. With its call for national solidarity in the face of a common existential threat—echoing geopolitical condemnation of a radical and militant Islam—“Mali Ko” quickly became an Internet sensation, posted on YouTube under the rubric “Voices United For Mali” with the word “Peace” added parenthetically to its title. (pgs. 171-172)

6. Tiken Jah Fakoly, “An Ka Wili” [video]

“On December 30 [2012], Ivorian reggae star and vocal pan-Africanist Tiken Jah Fakoly circulated the single “An Ka Wili” (“Let’s Rise Up”), drawing on references to Mali’s precolonial past to urge present-day Malians (and their neighbors) to come together in defense of their country’s cultural and territorial integrity. (pg. 172)

7. Master Soumy, “Sini Ye Kele Ye” [video]

On January 19 [2013], Malian M.C. Master Soumy released “Sini Ye Kèlè Ye” (“Tomorrow Is The Fight”), “dedicated to the Malian army and destined to mobilize the population behind its army.” This was the latest of several tracks of pointed political commentary released by the young rapper since the outset of the current crisis. (pgs. 173-174)