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| Musical Nomads, Escaping Political Upheaval | Musical Nomads, Escaping Political Upheaval |
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| It’s a long way from Timbuktu to Lincoln Center, and not just geographically. For the musicians performing on Wednesday in the Festival au Désert as part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series at the Damrosch Park Bandshell, the path from there to here has included an Islamist takeover of their Saharan homeland, followed by a religious war on music and then a French-led military intervention. | It’s a long way from Timbuktu to Lincoln Center, and not just geographically. For the musicians performing on Wednesday in the Festival au Désert as part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors series at the Damrosch Park Bandshell, the path from there to here has included an Islamist takeover of their Saharan homeland, followed by a religious war on music and then a French-led military intervention. |
| That is why the festival’s Web site refers to the extravaganza touring the United States this summer, featuring the Tuareg groups Tartit and Imharhan and the guitarist and singer Mamadou Kelly, as both a “caravan for peace” and a “festival in exile.” The future of one of the world’s most musically fertile cultures is uncertain after two years of political upheaval and armed conflict, and its practitioners are eager to make their plight known. | That is why the festival’s Web site refers to the extravaganza touring the United States this summer, featuring the Tuareg groups Tartit and Imharhan and the guitarist and singer Mamadou Kelly, as both a “caravan for peace” and a “festival in exile.” The future of one of the world’s most musically fertile cultures is uncertain after two years of political upheaval and armed conflict, and its practitioners are eager to make their plight known. |
| “The occupiers made all kinds of threats, that they would chop off your hand so you couldn’t play, or cut out your tongue so you couldn’t sing,” said Mohamed Issa ag Oumar, a guitarist who performs in Imharhan. “If they saw anyone with a guitar,” and here he paused to make a gesture of slitting a throat, “so if my guitar couldn’t stay, I decided I would split town, too.” | “The occupiers made all kinds of threats, that they would chop off your hand so you couldn’t play, or cut out your tongue so you couldn’t sing,” said Mohamed Issa ag Oumar, a guitarist who performs in Imharhan. “If they saw anyone with a guitar,” and here he paused to make a gesture of slitting a throat, “so if my guitar couldn’t stay, I decided I would split town, too.” |
| Founded in 2001 and held annually in the Sahara, the Festival au Désert quickly became one of the premier showcases for the various regional styles lumped together under the heading “world music.” Until last year, fans, including pop stars like Bono of U2, Damon Albarn of Blur and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, would flock to the festival site outside Timbuktu, in Mali, from all over Africa and Europe. | Founded in 2001 and held annually in the Sahara, the Festival au Désert quickly became one of the premier showcases for the various regional styles lumped together under the heading “world music.” Until last year, fans, including pop stars like Bono of U2, Damon Albarn of Blur and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, would flock to the festival site outside Timbuktu, in Mali, from all over Africa and Europe. |
| A landlocked West African nation, one of the poorest in the world, Mali has only 15 million people spread over an area twice the size of France, its former colonial master. But in the realm of world music, the country is a recognized superpower: global stars like Ali Farka Touré and his son Vieux Farka Touré; Tinariwen; Toumani Diabaté; Amadou & Mariam; Salif Keita; Oumou Sangaré; and Boubacar Traoré are all natives of Mali. | A landlocked West African nation, one of the poorest in the world, Mali has only 15 million people spread over an area twice the size of France, its former colonial master. But in the realm of world music, the country is a recognized superpower: global stars like Ali Farka Touré and his son Vieux Farka Touré; Tinariwen; Toumani Diabaté; Amadou & Mariam; Salif Keita; Oumou Sangaré; and Boubacar Traoré are all natives of Mali. |
| But just after the January 2012 festival, an uprising initiated by Tuareg rebel groups in northern Mali — some seeking more autonomy for their nomadic Berber people, others favoring an independent homeland — was hijacked by Islamic extremists, who seized control of Timbuktu as they began marching southward. That led to a military coup in the southern part of the country, and fighting followed. | But just after the January 2012 festival, an uprising initiated by Tuareg rebel groups in northern Mali — some seeking more autonomy for their nomadic Berber people, others favoring an independent homeland — was hijacked by Islamic extremists, who seized control of Timbuktu as they began marching southward. That led to a military coup in the southern part of the country, and fighting followed. |
| “The survival of the festival mandates that we relocate far from our home” in northern Mali, Mohamed Aly Ansar, the event’s chief organizer, said early this year at a conference on censorship. That would remain the case, he added, “until the music can return to its roots with freedom of expression and dignity.” | “The survival of the festival mandates that we relocate far from our home” in northern Mali, Mohamed Aly Ansar, the event’s chief organizer, said early this year at a conference on censorship. That would remain the case, he added, “until the music can return to its roots with freedom of expression and dignity.” |
| This year’s festival was initially scheduled to be an itinerant production traveling across West Africa, a plan that had to be shelved when Islamic radicals seized a gas plant in neighboring Algeria, spreading turmoil across the region. That came after the French intervention in Mali in January, which has driven members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other militants into the mountains and deserts, where they remain. | This year’s festival was initially scheduled to be an itinerant production traveling across West Africa, a plan that had to be shelved when Islamic radicals seized a gas plant in neighboring Algeria, spreading turmoil across the region. That came after the French intervention in Mali in January, which has driven members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and other militants into the mountains and deserts, where they remain. |
| In his new book, “Music, Culture and Conflict in Mali,” Andy Morgan, a former manager of the Tuareg rock band Tinariwen, describes in detail the Islamists’ campaign against what they called “Satan’s music.” Their targets included not only popular Western artists like Bob Marley, but also local music styles deemed offensive to the standards of Shariah, or Islamic law, that were being imposed on a traditionally tolerant and multicultural society. | In his new book, “Music, Culture and Conflict in Mali,” Andy Morgan, a former manager of the Tuareg rock band Tinariwen, describes in detail the Islamists’ campaign against what they called “Satan’s music.” Their targets included not only popular Western artists like Bob Marley, but also local music styles deemed offensive to the standards of Shariah, or Islamic law, that were being imposed on a traditionally tolerant and multicultural society. |
| Among the genres repressed was music based on tindé drums, which Mr. Morgan describes as “the mitochondrial DNA of all Tuareg music.” Though traditionally performed by female ensembles, Tartit among them, the music is enjoyed by audiences of both sexes, which led to incidents in which, Mr. Morgan writes, “militiamen with black headbands and AK-47s strapped to their chests” broke up public performances, “shouting at the men to keep away from the women and go home.” | Among the genres repressed was music based on tindé drums, which Mr. Morgan describes as “the mitochondrial DNA of all Tuareg music.” Though traditionally performed by female ensembles, Tartit among them, the music is enjoyed by audiences of both sexes, which led to incidents in which, Mr. Morgan writes, “militiamen with black headbands and AK-47s strapped to their chests” broke up public performances, “shouting at the men to keep away from the women and go home.” |
| When the crackdown began, “I thought we were finished,” Fadimata Walet Oumar, the leader of Tartit, said in an interview on Monday at the group’s favorite African restaurant in Harlem. “We had to leave, but during the crisis we continued to hold our concerts in refugee camps, so as to keep our traditions alive.” | When the crackdown began, “I thought we were finished,” Fadimata Walet Oumar, the leader of Tartit, said in an interview on Monday at the group’s favorite African restaurant in Harlem. “We had to leave, but during the crisis we continued to hold our concerts in refugee camps, so as to keep our traditions alive.” |
| In other instances, musicians stopped at roadblocks had all of their instruments and amplifiers seized and “doused in petrol and set alight,” Mr. Morgan wrote. According to other reports, Islamist police also demolished recording studios and raided radio stations, where they confiscated and destroyed painstakingly accumulated archives of local music. | In other instances, musicians stopped at roadblocks had all of their instruments and amplifiers seized and “doused in petrol and set alight,” Mr. Morgan wrote. According to other reports, Islamist police also demolished recording studios and raided radio stations, where they confiscated and destroyed painstakingly accumulated archives of local music. |
| The master percussionist Alpha Ousmane Sankaré, long a member of Ali Farka Touré’s band and now touring with Mr. Kelly, was one who suffered. A pious Muslim who thought he had nothing to fear, he decided to remain, and endured a raid of his home in which his instruments and equipment were seized and incinerated. | The master percussionist Alpha Ousmane Sankaré, long a member of Ali Farka Touré’s band and now touring with Mr. Kelly, was one who suffered. A pious Muslim who thought he had nothing to fear, he decided to remain, and endured a raid of his home in which his instruments and equipment were seized and incinerated. |
| “If a musician is forbidden to sing or play, you have taken his life,” he said. “They kept saying it was haram, haram,” an Arabic word that means sinful or prohibited. “We asked them, ‘Isn’t burning everything also haram?’ ” | “If a musician is forbidden to sing or play, you have taken his life,” he said. “They kept saying it was haram, haram,” an Arabic word that means sinful or prohibited. “We asked them, ‘Isn’t burning everything also haram?’ ” |
| Though some of Mali’s best-known artists have homes abroad, giving them a certain insulation from the crisis at home, they have not hesitated to condemn the attacks on music and musicians. “The Islam of the radicals is not the true Islam,” Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam told a journalist in January. “They have divided the country by making Shariah reign.” | Though some of Mali’s best-known artists have homes abroad, giving them a certain insulation from the crisis at home, they have not hesitated to condemn the attacks on music and musicians. “The Islam of the radicals is not the true Islam,” Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam told a journalist in January. “They have divided the country by making Shariah reign.” |
| In addition, early this year an impromptu all-star group of some 40 singers and musicians calling itself United Voices of Mali recorded a plea for peace called “Mali-Ko.” Representatives of all that country’s main ethnic and racial groups performed the song, whose rather anodyne lyrics about “we the artists must speak from the heart about what is happening to our Mali” masked a more complicated political reality. | In addition, early this year an impromptu all-star group of some 40 singers and musicians calling itself United Voices of Mali recorded a plea for peace called “Mali-Ko.” Representatives of all that country’s main ethnic and racial groups performed the song, whose rather anodyne lyrics about “we the artists must speak from the heart about what is happening to our Mali” masked a more complicated political reality. |
| “There is a lot of ill will between the Tuaregs and their neighbors, and a lot of this tour is about trying to mend those frayed cultural connections,” said Banning Eyre, author of the book “In Griot Time” and a producer of the “Afropop Worldwide” radio show and Web site. “That dispute remains, but it has been somewhat pushed aside in favor of talk of peace and getting rid of the common enemy.” | “There is a lot of ill will between the Tuaregs and their neighbors, and a lot of this tour is about trying to mend those frayed cultural connections,” said Banning Eyre, author of the book “In Griot Time” and a producer of the “Afropop Worldwide” radio show and Web site. “That dispute remains, but it has been somewhat pushed aside in favor of talk of peace and getting rid of the common enemy.” |
| On Sunday, Mali held a presidential election with 27 candidates, with a runoff possible on Aug. 11. The vote followed a peace accord signed in June by the interim government and Tuareg-dominated rebel groups, in which both sides agreed on “the necessity to promote a genuine national reconciliation,” based on a secular state and respect for human rights and existing borders. | On Sunday, Mali held a presidential election with 27 candidates, with a runoff possible on Aug. 11. The vote followed a peace accord signed in June by the interim government and Tuareg-dominated rebel groups, in which both sides agreed on “the necessity to promote a genuine national reconciliation,” based on a secular state and respect for human rights and existing borders. |
| But that has not been enough to reassure the musicians playing in the festival, which stops on Thursday at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., and on Saturday at Littlefield in Gowanus, Brooklyn. | But that has not been enough to reassure the musicians playing in the festival, which stops on Thursday at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., and on Saturday at Littlefield in Gowanus, Brooklyn. |
| “Everything is on standby,” said Ahmed ag Abdoulaye, a Tuareg singer and dancer, so when their American tour ends early next month, several will return not to Mali but to refugee camps or other temporary quarters in Burkina Faso and Mauritania. | “Everything is on standby,” said Ahmed ag Abdoulaye, a Tuareg singer and dancer, so when their American tour ends early next month, several will return not to Mali but to refugee camps or other temporary quarters in Burkina Faso and Mauritania. |
| “We are afraid to go back home because we do not know what will happen next,” Ms. Walet Oumar said. “The Islamists could return, and that would be the end of our lives, the end of our music. For me to think of such a thing is terrible — all the young women who would no longer be able to sing or play. In a world of crises and problems, music is therapy for us.” | “We are afraid to go back home because we do not know what will happen next,” Ms. Walet Oumar said. “The Islamists could return, and that would be the end of our lives, the end of our music. For me to think of such a thing is terrible — all the young women who would no longer be able to sing or play. In a world of crises and problems, music is therapy for us.” |
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: August 1, 2013 | |
An | A picture on Wednesday with an article about the Festival au Désert, an annual event in Mali that has been driven out of the country by political upheaval and armed conflict, was published in error. It showed Zeinabou Walet, a member of the group Tartit, which is playing in the festival’s tour this summer — not Fadimata Walet Oumar, her sister and the group’s leader. |