Why are we asking for donations? Why are we asking for donations? This site is free thanks to our community of supporters. Voluntary donations from readers like you keep our news accessible for ...

Before the coup d’état that overthrew an elected government, before the French-led war to oust Islamist rebels who had taken over much of the country, Mali was perhaps best known internationally for ...

Sory Bamba, a Malian music pioneer, spends his days ensconced in the courtyard of his home in the old quarter of Mopti, a town in the centre of the country on the edge of the Sahara. One of the ...

Vieux Farka Touré’s father had other plans for him. The elder Touré, the late, legendary Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, wanted his son to be a soldier. “I come from a family that is traditionally a ...

In 2012, an armed jihadist group known as Ansar Dine took control of northern regions of Mali, sparking a civil war. In areas it controlled, the group ordered a ban on cigarettes, alcohol and music.

The passing of celebrated Malian flautist, composer and arranger Boncana Maïga at the age of 77 truly marks the end of an era in the music of west Africa.He was a charismatic performer and bandleader, ...

NPR's Elizabeth Blair profiles Malian musician Salif Keita, one of the master's of the "world music" movement. Keita moved back to Mali recently after living and working in France for 16 years. His ...

First new artist release through Chrysalis Global, an imprint of Chrysalis Records Produced by an A-list team: Dudu Sarr, Lucy Durán + Pape Armand Boye “Three outstanding Malian and Guinean griots….

I longed, for so long, to visit Mali. What I loved in my imagination before ever setting eyes on the enormous West African country was its ancient culture: the intricately carved, semiabstract ...

SOAS, University of London provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK. The untimely death of Mali’s Toumani Diabaté at the age of 58 has shocked the music world. The sheer number of tributes, ...