Acknowledgments

This book marks sixteen years of effort to explore, study, understand, and represent the varied and dynamic music culture of Bamako, Mali. It is preceded by other attempts in other forms to synthesize the experiences of my encounters with this art world: a children’s book; an album; a pair of theses; a handful of articles; and numerous presentations, performances, lectures, and discussions in as many classrooms, concert halls, conference rooms, and coffee shops. And, it will be followed (I hope) by still other expressions of academic, artistic, and deep personal interest in the resonant lifeways of a city, its inhabitants, and the wider world of which they are a part. At this point in such a long-term work in progress, the debts of gratitude I owe are significant. No less significant is my desire to say “Thank you.”

To my mentors: Chérif Keïta, who, in his ebullient undergraduate courses at Carleton College, first introduced me (among many other students over the years) to the languages, literature, social thought, and music of Mali and the wider Mande world; Toumani Diabaté, who invited a young, naïve, but ambitious young man from Minnesota to live in his Bamako home, study the kora, and share in a rich musical community; Dialy Mady Cissoko, who taught me to play the kora and, in the process, gave me innumerable lessons in life (a combination of social and musical edification that eventually led me to the field of ethnomusicology); Aaron Fox, my graduate advisor at Columbia University, whose critically framed, theoretically interested, and ethnographically grounded anthropology of music continues to inform my approach to the field; and Ellen Gray, Brian Larkin, Greg Mann, and Ana Maria Ochoa, who served on my doctoral committee and guided this research project through its early stages.

To my friends, in and out of the field: Fassiriman Dembelé, an extraordinary artist, teacher, research assistant, and travel companion who has contributed to this project—intellectually, practically, and creatively—in myriad ways; Souleymane Eyili, a journeyman from Cameroon and world-class bass player, who taught me a great deal about what it means to be an artist in urban Africa today; the family of Ablo Keita and Djebou Sidibé in Bolibana, my Bamako hosts, who welcomed me into their home and made me a part of it; Gabriel Farrell, whose knowledge, wisdom, and friendship have contributed greatly to this book (and many other projects in life); Dov Stucker, for the fraternal and musical dialogues here, there, and the places in between; Madeleine Fix, who employed her immense artistic and technical talents in designing the website for this book; Brandon County, always a comrade and a fellow student of Mali and the Mande world, whose attention to scholarly detail and composition is second to none; and Johanna Sellman, my most faithful collaborator and life partner, whose intellectual insights are woven throughout this text, and who (along with Brandon) patiently read through successive drafts of this book, from start to finish.

To my colleagues and friends in (and out of) the academy: Franco Barchiesi, Harmony Bench, Graeme Boone, Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Katie Graber, Steven Hyland, Margarita Mazo, Ike Newsum, Lois Rosow, Jennifer Schlueter, Barry Shank, Cheikh Thiam, and Sarah Van Beurden at The Ohio State University; John Baboukis, Bill Evenhouse, and Dave Tawfik at the American University in Cairo; Harry Berger, Alex Dent, Banning Eyre, Fabian Holt, Louise Meintjes, Jeff Piatt, Matt Rahaim, Jesse Shipley, and Gavin Steingo, kindred spirits in the world of musical anthropology; Jeremy Dell, Barbara Hoffman, Hannah Koenker, Jamie Monson, Marie Rodet, and Bruce Whitehouse in the world of African Studies; and Tyler Bickford, Andy Eisenberg, Toby King, Lauren Ninoshvili, Dave Novak, Matt Sakakeeny, and Anna Stirr, cherished interlocutors from a brilliant graduate community in ethnomusicology at Columbia University.

To my research assistants, interlocutors, and editors: Billie Eaves, Matthew Campbell, Erin Allen, Maggie Bissler, Yun Wang, Olivia Wikle, and Austin McCabe Juhnke at OSU, who worked with me to build bibliographies, transcribe field recordings, prepare presentations, track down images, and edit texts; Doug Anthony, Alison Furlong, Michael Goecke, Rachel Wishkoski, and the many other (ethno)musicology graduate students at OSU who have discussed and contributed to the ideas in this book in seminars and office hours; Mady Ibrahim Kanté, Seybou Keita, and Chaka Ndiaye, with whom I have spent many hours listening to recordings, working on transcriptions, and discussing translations; Kalifa Gadiaga and Tiécoura Traoré, who, in sharing their vast knowledge of Malian social movements and political institutions, helped me navigate the trials and complexities of this current moment in the country’s history; Pieter Martin, my editor at the University of Minnesota Press, who has patiently and diligently guided me through the process of publication, all the while nurturing this project with informed interest and insight; and AbdouMaliq Simone and another anonymous reader of the manuscript, whose engaged and incisive comments helped shape and refine this book in its final phase of composition.

To my research affiliates in Mali (2005–8): Gaoussou Mariko, cultural affairs liaison at the American embassy; Oumar Kamara, director of the Institut National des Arts; Mamadi Dembelé and Seydou Camara, assistant director and director of research at the Institut des Sciences Humaines; Aly Yéro Maiga at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique; Abdoulaye Traoré and Timothée Saye at the Archives Nationales (Hamdallaye and Koulouba branches); Kora Dembelé, director of the Direction Nationale de l’Action Culturelle; and Masamu Welé Diallo, director of music at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métier Multimédia Balla Fasséké Kouyaté.

To the institutions that have supported this work, from the initial fieldwork, through the doctoral research, to the published manuscript: the Fulbright Institute for International Education fellowship (2000–1); Columbia University Institute for African Studies Leitner Family summer travel grant (2005); Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship (2006–7); Wenner-Gren Foundation dissertation research fellowship (2006–7); Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences dissertation writing fellowship (2007–8); Columbia University Department of Music summer research grant (2008); Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (Woodrow Wilson Foundation, 2008–9); Whiting Foundation dissertation writing fellowship (2008–9); Quadrant Visiting Scholar Program at the University of Minnesota (2012); OSU College of Arts and Sciences faculty research grant (2010–13); and OSU Arts and Humanities Grant-in-Aid for manuscript preparation (2014).

To my family: Sallie and Stan Skinner, for their creative passions and unceasing encouragement, inspiring me early on and often to explore the world and learn from it; Nicholas Skinner, for the brother he is and for his passionate commitment to the arts of all kinds; Frida and Todd Brooks and Erik and Eva Sellman, an extended family that is always close to home; Elias and Nils, my greatest inspirations, for their bountiful energy and joy, and for reminding me to play every day; and Jakob Ahlqvist, Bilge Erdemli, Jeremy Kuhel, Kara Lapso, Erika Lauri, and to the wonderful teaching staff at the Columbus Early Learning Center, Saint Joseph Montessori, Clinton Elementary, and Indianola Children’s Center, for all those moments when I had to go back to work.

Finally, to all the Bamako bands and artists I have worked with, played with, learned from, and listened to over the years: Amadou & Mariam, Ngou Bagayoko, Mody Cissoko, Drahmane Coulibaly, Fernand Coulibaly, Marus Coulibaly, Issiaka Daman, Panka Dembelé, Kélétigi Diabaté, Ladji Diabaté, Madou Sidiki Diabaté, Mamadou Diabaté, Mohamadou Diabaté, Nfa Diabaté, Sidikiba Diabaté, Tata Diabaté, Nci Diakité, Barou Diallo, Dialyco, Adama “Djo Dama” Diarra, Fatoumata Diawara, Nahawa Doumbia, Les Escrocs, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Amadou Fofana, Groupe Issa Bamba, Iba One, Babily Kanouté, Salif Keita, Ami Koita, Habib Koité, Tata Bambo Kouyaté, Boncana Maiga, Drissa Maiga, Madina Ndiaye, Man Ken, Need One, Moussa Niang, Issa Ouattara, Yacoub “Jimmy” Ouerdraogo, Fanta Sacko, Karounga Sacko, Oumou Sangaré, Ballaké Sissoko, Nana Soumbounou, Master Soumy, the Symmetric Orchestra, the Symphonie de la Kora, Tata Pound, Mussa Tolo, Dialy Mady Tounkara, Sidi Touré, Amadou “Adez” Traoré, Aliou Traoré, Karjigé Laico Traoré, Lobi Traoré, Mokobé Traoré, Rokia Traoré, and the Triton Stars. This book is for them.