Mali (country)

C

Art and Music

West Africa is the home of many of the sculptural traditions for which African art has become internationally known. Among these are the carvings of the Dogon and Bambara of Mali. Terra cotta sculptures have been uncovered from a large burial site at Djenné. These sculptures include images of people on horseback and standing and seated figures of both men and women, many with elaborate jewelry and decorative marks on the skin made by scarring. Since most of these sculptures were unearthed in the course of unauthorized digging, little is known about their context or original use.

Djenné is also known today for its immense mud-built Friday Mosque. Built in 1906-1907, it is the third of a series of grand mosques on this site dating back to the 13th century, and one of the most impressive achievements of African architecture.

Although Islam has been a constant presence in Mali for many centuries, many of the local peoples outside the towns resisted conversion, at least until recently. The Dogon fled to the isolated Bandiagara cliffs in south-central Mali sometime between the 10th and 13th centuries rather than convert to Islam. There they have held on to their ancient traditions, including masked religious dances and figural sculpture. A number of figures, together with fragments of textiles and other objects dating from the 11th century, have been found in burial caves above Dogon villages and are attributed by some scholars to a people known as the Tellem.

The Bambara live in the countryside around the Malian capital Bamako. Among their numerous art forms are large wooden sculptures, mostly of women, used in the initiation and annual ceremonies of associations called Jo and Gwan. Elegant carved wooden antelope headdresses, called chi wara, were used in dances by associations that honored the strongest farmers. The Bambara are also noted for their bogolanfini cloth, made by a unique method in which patterns are outlined in a dark mud dye on locally woven narrow-strip cloth.

---

---

The music of Mali, which stands at the cultural crossroads of North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, merges Islamic influences of the north with the rhythmic complexity of music to the south. For thousands of years, professional musicians called griots played an important role as historians in the kingdoms that developed in Mali. Among the Mande people, professional bards still recount the histories of powerful lineages and offer counsel to contemporary rulers. Perhaps because of a strong female griot tradition, women have attained more success in popular music in Mali than in any other African country.

Contemporary musicians such as Salif Keita of Mali carry on the griot tradition. Keita is descended from 13th-century Malian ruler Sundiata Keita, and his music is suffused with the ancient traditions of the West African griots, as seen in his song “Mandjou,” written in praise of Guinean president Ahmed Sékou Touré. The melodic inflections of his singing also show the Malian inheritance of Islamic music, as well as the increasing influence of jazz and rock music.

Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré comes from the village of Niafounké, where life centers around the Niger River, and he sings predominantly traditional songs about village life. His adaptation to the guitar of West African vocal and instrumental music shows striking similarities to the early development of African American blues. He has toured internationally and collaborated on recordings with numerous Western musicians.

Drums are important in West African music, although many other types of percussion instruments are used as well. The West African hourglass-shaped tension drum is sometimes called a talking drum because it can be used to imitate the pitch contours of speech. The balo (or balaphon) is a xylophone constructed of a frame with 17-19 keys, each suspended over a hollowed-out gourd resonator, tuned to a seven-note scale. Found throughout the Mande cultures of West Africa, it is played only by male griots, usually as an accompaniment to poetry that is sung.

IV

Economy

Mali is one of the poorer African countries. The economy’s largest sector is agriculture. Drought has hampered the country’s economic development, as have inadequate transportation facilities, especially rail and road links to the sea. The Niger River remains a major transportation route within Mali. Most of Mali’s energy comes from hydroelectric power but is insufficient to meet the country’s needs.

A

Agriculture and Fishing

The cultivation of food crops occupies 86 percent of the economically active population of Mali. Agriculture also contributes more to the gross domestic product than any other sector. Crops grown in Mali depend almost entirely on irrigation or flooding from the Niger River and its tributaries. The main crops are millet, rice, sorghum, corn, and sugarcane. Livestock raising, principally in the north, also makes a significant contribution to the food supply. Livestock are also exported. The country has millions of cattle, goats, and sheep, although herds were decimated in a drought of the mid-1980s. Mali is one of the major producers and exporters of cotton in Africa, and 600,000 tons of cotton were harvested in 2005.

Fish from the Niger are important to the diet of the people living along the river. The fishing industry produces a surplus, and these fish are dried and smoked for local use and for export.

B

Manufacturing and Mining

Industrial output in Mali is small and mainly based on local raw materials, including the processing of cotton and other crops. Consumer goods for local use are also produced. The manufacturing center is Bamako.

Mineral resources are being surveyed, and gold, salt, marble, and phosphate rock (used for fertilizer) have been exploited. Deposits of other minerals have been reported but are not extracted in significant amounts. They include bauxite, copper, iron ore, manganese, and uranium. Gold is by far the most import mining product.

C

Currency, Banking, and Trade

The monetary unit is the CFA franc, consisting of 100 centimes (528 francs equal U.S.$1; 2005 average). The Central Bank of the West African States assumes Mali’s central banking functions.

Most foreign trade operations are in the hands of the state. Principal exports include gold, cotton, livestock, processed foodstuffs, and mangoes. The value of exports in 2001 was $519 million. Imports, typically petroleum products, motor vehicles, food products, machinery, and chemicals, amounted to $1,013 million. Chief purchasers of Mali’s exports are Belgium, China, Spain, France, Côte d’Ivoire, and Germany; leading sources of imports are Côte d’Ivoire, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, China, Germany, and Spain.

	More from Encarta
	•  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain