MALI Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali – Syllart Production SYL 8379

MALI
Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali – Syllart Production SYL 8379, 1977 (LP)

Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali was founded in 1961, after the country gained its independence, to preserve and promote the rich Malian traditional musical heritage through an assemblage of renowned artists from different regions.

This innovative large-scale ensemble – featuring 35 singers and musicians from different ethnic/cultural groups playing koras, n’goni lutes, balafons, flutes, soku fiddles, dun dun and djembé drums – produces a balanced program of powerful, stately music that emphasizes the beauty, depth and unity of Mali’s traditional cultures.

Tracks*:

A1 Zazuru (Awa Drame) Song praising a legendary army captain who showed great bravery and generosity (Bambara Folk) 

A2 Sama (Maimouna Damba) Sama means elephant and here also refers to the Malian people "who have accomplished many great things." 

A3 Laidu (Djeli Madi Sisoko) "Like the messenger holds himself steady by the bridle, a 

person stands true to his word," Malian proverb. 

B1 Diva Ye Hanna (Coumba Sidibe) Everything ends in this world, even the most delicious things. (Wassoulou)

B2 Nakana (Wande Kouyate) All men and women are created equal, all mothers experience the same pain. People practicing racial discrimination bring shame unto themselves.

*Translated from the French

L’Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali a été fondé en 1961, au lendemain de l’indépendance du pays, dans le but de préserver et de promouvoir le riche patrimoine musical traditionnel malien à travers un assemblage d’artistes de grande renommée en provenance de différentes régions.   

Cet grand ensemble innovant – composé de 35 chanteurs et musiciens de différents groupes ethniques/culturels jouant des coras, des luths n'goni, des balafons, des flûtes, des violons soku, des percussions dundun et djembés – nous propose un programme équilibré de musiques imposantes et majestueuses qui reflète la beauté et l'unité profonde des cultures traditionnelles maliennes.

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Our other Mali posts:
Sékou Batourou Kouyaté et sa Cora here
Sali Sidibé – L'enfant Chéri du Wassolon here

Photographs below are from Danses d'Afrique by Michel Huet and Claude Savary, Chêne, 2008; Mémoire Noire by Jacques Lamalle, Les Arènes, 2016; and African Tribal Images by William Fagg, The Cleveland Museum of Art publishing, 1972:

Musician at the Court of Gao, Mali, playing the inzad bowed violin.

Virtuoso kora player, Mali, 1903.

This Bambara harvest ritual summons the invisible world through 
music and dance to re-enact agriculture's mythological birth in 
which the male and female antelope spirits play a major role.