If you want to drive from Bamako, the capital of Mali, to Gao, you are in for a long journey: eastwards via Segou, the center of the former Bambara empire, past Djenné with its world-famous mosque, via Mopti into the southern part of the Sahara. After passing the impressive Hombori Mountains, the ferry crosses the Niger – here lies Gao. Gao has over 52,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Gao region. As a hub of important trade routes, the city developed into a center of trans-Saharan trade in the 15th century. It was the capital of the Songhai empire, the oldest black African people in Mali. In cooperation with the National Museum in Bamako, the ethnomusicologist Dr. Edda Brandes documented traditional Malian music in the 1990s. The music recordings from the Gao/Menaka region originate from this collection and are now being published as CDs with the support of the Jutta Vogel Foundation. The aim of the project is to preserve the local musical tradition. To this end, 250 CDs will be taken to the country’s museums and libraries. In addition to tourists, these locations are often visited by teachers with school classes and students, so that the distribution of the CDs at these locations is of particular benefit to the locals. In addition to the production of the music CD, the foundation also supports the provision of three so-called listening stations for the National Museum in Bamako, the Sahel Museum in Gao and a library in Menaka. In this way, the musical heritage of the population is made accessible and disseminated in the region using adapted technology. The CDs will also be left behind at these locations. Here, in the southern Sahara, close to the borders with Niger and Algeria, the Tuareg and Bella live alongside the Moors and Songhai. Each ethnic group has its own musical repertoire, its characteristic musical instruments and songs, the diversity of which is reflected on the CD: The music of the craftsmen, butchers, bricklayers and shoemakers can be heard alongside the flute music of the shepherds, the lutes and water drums for healing the illnesses caused by the spirits as well as the one-stringed violin of the women for the celebration of the first motherhood. Vocal music occupies the most important place with the long poems set to music. When the best singers gather around the grain mortar tindé, which serves as a drum, they weave a musically dense tapestry with their melodic singing and rhythmic hand clapping.
