Photograph of Sound of Music by Samir Sarkar
–“you can’t make a good garden with only one kind of flower. The cultures of, and the contributions made by, many different communities make a country rich, both culturally and materially.” Tanvir Mokammel
“There is no racial hatred because there are no races. Low, weak minds working in dim light, have cobbled together and kept in circulation the library-shelf races that the honest traveler and cordial observer search for in vain within the justice of Nature, where triumphant love and turbulent appetite demonstrate again and again the universal identity of mankind” Jose Marti in “Nuestra America”
Indigenous Latin American Music
–Los Tocadores
–Musica de Flautas Bambu: Los Rojas
—Native American music
Mother Africa!
Tinariwen:.Tuareg Blues Band
Sastanàqqàm (English translation)
I Question You
Ténéré, can you tell me
of anything better
Than to have your friends
and your mount,
And a brand new goatskin,
watertight,
To find your way
by the light
Of the four bright stars
of heaven,
To know how
to find water in
The unlikeliest of places,
And enlist the momentum
of the wind
To help you move forward.
Tell me, Ténéré,
how you and I
Can remain united,
with no hate for each other.
Ténéré, I can now admit that
I have travelled far through this wide world.
Ténéré, I give you my oath
That as long as I’m alive,
I will always come back to you.
——
* Ténéré means Desert in Tuareg
— Sona Jobarteh & Band – Kora Music from West Africa
–Baaba Maal
“When you travel, you remember what your mother told you.”
Baaba Maal was born in Podor, Senegal on November 12, 1953, and spent his childhood in the river-valley Fouta region in the northern part of the country. As a part of the semi-nomadic Fulani people, it is seemingly in his nature to travel; he has done so since he was just a teenager, when he initially left home to pursue music. He has been a wanderer since.
“It’s part of my culture,” he says. “The songs travel from village to village, from country to country. It’s something natural to my tribe and this part of Africa.”
The Traveller’s themes of communication, reconciliation and responsibility chime with Baaba’s work as an activist who has campaigned for women’s rights, HIV/AIDS awareness, debt relief, climate issues and education.
For Baaba Maal, music and activism are interwined because they are both about building bridges and encouraging mutual understanding. The Traveller pulls all the strands of his life together in one glittering tapestry.
http://baabamaal.com/biography/
Listen here:
Afro-Cuban icon:
Daymé Arocena: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
South Asia
Baul music from Bangladesh
Baul Abdul Shah Karim—A Documentary
———————–
Notes. Jose Marti epigraph from English version of “Nuestra America” http://www.josemarti.cu/publicacion/nuestra-america-version-ingles/
--Tanvir Mokammel, film maker from Bangladesh quoted in Business Standard: https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/mokammel-s-new-film-deals-with-partition-of-bengal-in-1947-115021500193_1.html
--English translation of Tinariwen song lyrics courtesy: https://lyricstranslate.com
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