Fatoumata Diawara Band

Maliba

»This project means a lot to me. To be involved in the protection of the Timbuktu Manuscripts is a huge honour. Conditions for men and women in Mali are very different and for a woman to be involved in this cultural preservation is very important. It is unbelievable to be part of it and it feels like a dream. I’m so proud and so happy. I’m very in touch with my ancestral past. Many of the visuals and ideas I use come to me in my dreams, dreams about my ancestors. To be given a chance to help protect our ancestral and cultural legacy is so special to me« explains Fatoumata Diawara.

In Timbuktu, silence reigned. And yet, from this heavy silence a powerful voice emerged, the voice of the forbidden artist, one with the courage to sing despite the imposition of Sharia. The thousands of surviving Timbuktu Manuscripts also defied centuries of threats, as if protected by some invisible presence watching over these cultural treasures. Then came the time when the angels of the Sahel, with their severed wings and tears of blood, were doomed to the spectacle of their own annihilation. Of the eternal, only impermanence has survived. But loaded with knowledge, the boats sailed along the Niger River saving wisdom, which for a long time resided in the desert City of 333 Saints. This knowledge encompassed many areas from astronomy to music, medicine to mathematics and botany to mystical philosophy. This colossal undertaking, serving to preserve the world’s cultural heritage, represents the meeting of the most innovative tools in the field of technology with the treasures of African civilisation, embodied in the music and creativity of Fatoumata Diawara. »Maliba« is an homage to the culture and struggle of a people.

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