I've heard some amazing musicians lately

When I told people I was going to Mali, if anyone knew anything about it, it was that the music here is supposed to be great.  But my early musical adventures were a bit of a bust, so I was beginning to think that Mali's music scene was more myth than reality.  But things recently took a turn for the better!

Last Friday night Rebecca's school hosted Bassekou Kouyate & N'Goni Ba for a fundraiser. As you can see from my (low-res cell phone) picture, it was outdoors.  It was a perfect venue and a beautiful night.  Bassekou Kouyate plays only traditional instruments, and they really jammed.

Then Saturday, after the football match.  Rebecca and I jumped in a cab and raced to the French Cultural Center to see Vieux Farka Touré performed in front of a capacity crowd of about 300.  Vieux is a great guitar player and his jams reminded me of classic American guitarists.  Here's a short video of one of their closing songs.



The venue was amazing too -- the photo below was taken from what might be considered the "worst" seat in the house.

Then Monday night we went to a small cocktail party at Rebecca's school and saw some former bandmates of Ali Farka Touré play.  I really enjoyed this intimate show as well.

Malian music is as good as people say and 'm looking forward to hearing more.

...also I'm learning to play drums ("tom tom").  I take a class once a week.  At this rate I should be able to keep a beat within a year or so.

Football

Last Saturday night Rebecca and I went to the 7pm Mali v. Liberia football match at the Stade 26 Mars.

We cabbed it there, and sometimes cab drivers will pick up a second fare on your trip.  That happened to us for the first time so we got an interesting detour.

On arrival we bought tickets from what seemed like a random guy on the street with a booklet full of tickets.  But I think he was an official ticket seller.  Price ranged from $2 - $10.  We splurged on the $10 VIP seats.  Rebecca also bought $2 tickets for four boys standing there.  That turned into a bit of a frenzy, and I'm not sure exactly how it turned out since we hightailed it out of there.  Hopefully none of the tickets were partially ripped since that is how the gate keepers were marking used tickets.

Then we got in the most interesting line I've been in lately.  It snaked about two hundred yards through a dirt lot, some scattered trees and a parking lot.  It reminded me of kindergartners lining up to go to recess in a perfect single file line, with each child tightly pressed against the child in front and the air filled with excitement.  It was very orderly and fun.

After we got in we ended up, by chance, sitting on the "seated" side of the stadium.  While the other side stood and cheered the whole game, people in our section were actually once scolded by security and told to sit.  The stadium had no concessions, but outside where were all of the typical Malian street vendors selling food and drinks -- and not even at inflated prices.

The game was exciting and Mali won 2-1.  As a side note, I saw no other white people there, and there were hardly any women either.

This short video features a clip during the game and the celebration after -- people are running out of the stadium for no apparent reason besides joy.

Walk in the new National Park of Mali and the old Bamako Zoo

Tuesday morning I joined a group for a walk in Bamako's brand new National Park of Mali and the Bamako Zoo. The park is beautiful and highly manicured. The zoo is old, and though the animals appear healthy, I would not call it a happy place. Here are some pics of the Park and the zoo.

A new restaurant in the new park

A Hyena at the zoo

The hyena compound at the zoo

A jackal at the zoo.  It smelled pretty bad here.

A closeup of a leopard.

A wider angle shot of the leopard's cage

A chimpanzee relaxing

A lion relaxing

The zoo had these monkeys on leashes.

The view from the deck of the restaurant at the new park.  Prices at this restaurant were quite high.  About $20/entree.  Given that jobs in Bamako that are considered "good" pay less than $200/month, not many locals will be eating here.



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A wedding in Bamako

Last Sunday we were invited to the wedding of Rebecca's African dance teacher, Shaka.  The celebration was held on the street in their neighborhood underneath a canopy structure.  This seems typical for celebrations in Mali.  We arrived around noon and shared a typical Malian meal of rice with meat and vegetables with the other guests.  The men then left and sat nearby under a tree while the women and children began celebrating in earnest.  About an hour into the celebration Shaka and his bride, pictured below, stopped by to say hello.  It was a fun and interesting afternoon.  We left at about 3:30 and the celebration was still in full swing.  Be sure to check out the video at the bottom of this post

Rock Climbing in Sibi

A week ago Saturday I went rock climbing with some friends in Sibi, about 25 miles from Bamako. It was a fun day. There was about 8 bolted routes with lots of fun problems. The rock is really nice too: solid and grippy. It was my first time climbing in a long time and I look forward to returning. The street photos are in Sibi. Saturday is their market day, and though I didn't get any good pics of the market, you can see lots of people coming and going to the market.


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People in Mali are nicer than...

The below email exchange is a reminder of how nice people are in Mali.  A friend's wife just returned from a North African Arab country.  For the record, though Mali is 85% Muslim it is not Arab.  I've edited heavily.
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s'suup?
How's it going in Mali? You settled into a routine yet? Hope it's going well. My wife just got back from xxxxxxx. Said it was an awful trip. She's never said she's had an awful trip before. ALL the men were totally rude, grabbing her ass and making comments, everybody trying to rip them off at every turn. Bogus. She was there like 17 years ago and it was much better...

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Hi,

Things are pretty good in Mali.  Life here is a little easier than expected, and as my French improves and I learn my way around things continue to get even better.

That's too bad about xxxxxxxx.  Mali is nothing like that.

People treat Rebecca (and me) with respect.  The only thing that might be called remotely disrespectful is young children calling out "Toubab" to get our attention as we walk by.  (Toubab means white person in Bambara.)  They just want attention and often run up to shake our hands.  I find it endearing.

Salespeople are kind and couldn't really care whether or not I buy what they're selling.  I feel like everyone charges me fair prices without bargaining, and I have yet to see a confirmed instance where I was charged a "toubab" price.

People on the street are friendly.  They often offer, and usually respond to a "Bon soir. Ca va?"  The only begging is "can children" who are pretty innocuous, unaggressive, and about as prevalent as homeless people in SF (that is to say, not overly prevalent).