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In Mali, musicians flee south

Radical Islamists have driven artists from northern Mali, where playing music can bring beatings, and even prison time.

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Nov. 10, 2012

Musicians who fled northern Mali gather in a cramped apartment in the country’s capital, Bamako, to record a song that speaks of liberation and peace. Hundreds of musicians have fled south to Bamako and other towns, as well as to neighboring countries. They say they have been driven out by Islamist hard-liners who have decreed any form of music — save those that accompany Koranic verses — as against their religion.

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

A musician plays guitar in a Bamako apartment. The exiled musicians describe an emasculation of their rich culture beyond anything they ever imagined. They say that in the north, playing music translates into lashes with whips, beatings, the destruction of MP3 and cassette players, and even prison time.

Nov. 10, 2012

A musician plays guitar in a Bamako apartment. The exiled musicians describe an emasculation of their rich culture beyond anything they ever imagined. They say that in the north, playing music translates into lashes with whips, beatings, the destruction of MP3 and cassette players, and even prison time.

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

Nov. 10, 2012

A musician sings in a Bamako apartment. In March, amid a military coup that left the government in disarray, Tuareg rebels who once fought for the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi joined forces with secessionists and Islamists linked to al-Qaeda. They swept through northern Mali and installed an ultraconservative brand of Islamic law. Thus, despite the area’s rich tradition of music, the death of song was inevitable.

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

Baba Salah, one of northern Mali's most well-respected musicians, plays guitar his home in Bamako. He has assisted many fellow musicians who have fled from the north. “In northern Mali, music is like oxygen,” Salah says. “Now, we cannot breathe.”

Nov. 10, 2012

Baba Salah, one of northern Mali's most well-respected musicians, plays guitar his home in Bamako. He has assisted many fellow musicians who have fled from the north. “In northern Mali, music is like oxygen,” Salah says. “Now, we cannot breathe.”

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

Khaira Arby, center, one of Mali's most well-known musicians, has not returned to her home in northern Mali’s Timbuktu for seven months. Doing so could mean prison time, she says, or having her tongue cut out by the ruling Islamists. For most of the past year, she has lived out of a suitcase.

Nov. 10, 2012

Khaira Arby, center, one of Mali's most well-known musicians, has not returned to her home in northern Mali’s Timbuktu for seven months. Doing so could mean prison time, she says, or having her tongue cut out by the ruling Islamists. For most of the past year, she has lived out of a suitcase.

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

Arby’s 2010 album, “Timbuktu Tarab” was widely acclaimed in the West. She says that she has had opportunities to move to the United States but that Mali is where she is most inspired.

Nov. 10, 2012

Arby’s 2010 album, “Timbuktu Tarab” was widely acclaimed in the West. She says that she has had opportunities to move to the United States but that Mali is where she is most inspired.

Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post

Arby and Drahmane Toure perform at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. International recognition of Malian music had helped spark a new generation of young artists in the north.

June 9, 2012

Arby and Drahmane Toure perform at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. International recognition of Malian music had helped spark a new generation of young artists in the north.

/ FilmMagic

Habib Koite of Mali performs at the annual Folk Holidays festival in Namest nad Oslavou, Czech Republic. Malian lyrics often serve as a source of inspiration and learning. They have also been used to expose corruption and human rights abuses.

July 26, 2012

Habib Koite of Mali performs at the annual Folk Holidays festival in Namest nad Oslavou, Czech Republic. Malian lyrics often serve as a source of inspiration and learning. They have also been used to expose corruption and human rights abuses.

Lubos Pavlicek / AP

Arby and Toure perform at the WOMAD Festival in Wiltshire, England. In a telephone interview, one of the Islamists’ top commanders declared that his fighters would continue to target musicians. “We are not only against the musicians in Mali. We are in a struggle against all the musicians of the world,” said Oumar Ould Hamaha, the military leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of three extremist groups controlling the north.

July 30, 2011

Arby and Toure perform at the WOMAD Festival in Wiltshire, England. In a telephone interview, one of the Islamists’ top commanders declared that his fighters would continue to target musicians. “We are not only against the musicians in Mali. We are in a struggle against all the musicians of the world,” said Oumar Ould Hamaha, the military leader of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, one of three extremist groups controlling the north.

C. Brandon / Redferns

Singer Salif Keita performs at the opening of the Soweto Theatre in celebration of Africa Day in Johannesburg.

May 27, 2012

Singer Salif Keita performs at the opening of the Soweto Theatre in celebration of Africa Day in Johannesburg.

/ Rex Features via AP

The northern Malian band Tinariwen performs at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona.

March 19, 2012

The northern Malian band Tinariwen performs at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona.

Jordi Vidal / Redferns via Getty Images

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