people-from-mali

"I believe in solution-driven projects. I believe in grassroots projects, I believe in people taking action. If you don't know anything about it there is internet today, you can find a community of people who are interested in the same topics"

"Anybody can do something, anybody can take action. And every action is important"

"It's a vehicle to share messages, it's a vehicle for change"

"as women, we still have plenty of battles to fight, and they can always count on me"

"For me, use your voice. If you have a talent, you have a gift, you have a purpose and a ‘why’ - use it"

"I wanted this desire to strike to escape her, that it not be something calculated, to better express the moment of overflow that many people like her can feel in everyday life, that it escapes us naturally with a moment when we take in too much and we start to say things that are beyond us and that we would never have thought of doing in real life, like this strike"

"I want to tell children to never stop dreaming; cinema is a vehicle for openness that helps them grow and travel"

"Cinema allows me to be surrounded by different people and to spark my curiosity about all the cultures of the world. I have a fascination for languages"

"Growing up in the Sahel, I witnessed the land degradation caused by a changing climate, and saw how women and girls were disproportionately suffering the consequences"

"I quickly realized you cannot dissociate women and girls’ rights from climate change activism"

"Art—be it music, films or paintings—is a powerful tool to unite people and create global movements"

"I have used my music to support initiatives such as the Great Green Wall, and it has proved very effective"

"Keep going women and girls.Stand up for yourself.You have earned the right to own and to work,the right to be independent and make your own"

"You have the right to Education and the right to equality."

"Women and girls this is the time to seize your power"

"My mother, knowing well the difficulties of the profession, told me, go for it, she let me do it and I thank her for it"

"I was captivated by these children who keep themselves busy while their parents work in the sugarcane fields. I completely projected myself into their desire for somewhere else"

"How can I pass on my passion for cinema? It's a question that accompanies me every day in my role as a mother. I only know that it's an art that gave me wings since child-hood and that still satisfies my desire for escape"

"No, we’re always together. We’ve always played together so we will continue to play together, at least for now"

"I remember in 2003, I organized a strike. It was really a demonstration. Back then, we were still hoping it would be possible to clean the market of pirate products, and sell more regular cassettes and CDs. This way we would make more money for artists from their work. But what I see now, it no longer matters. This is not the purpose anymore. It's simply to find a new way to make a living from music. And the problem is that now, internationally, records don't make sense. They no longer make sense in terms of the economies. Even here. Everybody has seen it. The amount of records you sold 10 years ago now is cut in two."

"And you cannot hear good music that way. I'm sorry. We've talked a lot about Mali music during this crisis. And I say, "Well, this is a good thing. Because the rest of the world must be aware of what's happening in Mali. And if you can use music to create these conditions, it's a good thing.” But let's be careful. Before the crisis, music was in a very bad state in Mali. Absolutely. And if we do nothing against that, it's going to continue. I'm sorry. I used to be a fan before becoming a professional musician. I didn't know I would be able to become a professional musician, you know, this is still a dream coming true. When I get on stage and I perform for audience, I love that. But I still continue to listen to the others, and I really love the others’ music."

"Absolutely. But, there is still a lot to do. Yes, music in Mali is going to -- I don't know -- if we don't find solutions, that doesn't mean having big budgets to make things in Mali. No. I think it's also sociological, to understand how the audience wants music to be, and how they want to get music"

"It came after weeks of stress and wondering about what was going to happen."

"I was tired, I was crying so many times, with no ability to sleep. But I had this obligation to continue working. I had to find the energy to keep everything going. I wrote the song in two days, and we recorded it on the sixth day we made the album."

"I didn't want to sing about my sadness, I wanted to keep positive and sing about how much I love this continent."

"I respect tradition but my modernity and my experience permits me to make it a certain way and show something more contemporary concerning Mali."

"It was very hard. I was in a bad psychological state because I was separated from my children, but at the same time it was a kind of privilege because I was learning things it’s not possible to learn without being in that situation. Everything is much more intense. Sharing a small space with someone – in a week you know more about them than their mother. You know everything: when she is happy, when she cries, when she goes to the toilet, when she has a shower. You see everything."

"It was difficult for me not knowing when it would all be over and I could be with my children again."

"We never plan it ourselves, but when an opportunity does come up [to collaborate with other artists] we will work with anyone. Our door is always open."

"I was already singing by the time I was six years old. My neighbors would ask me to sing at festivities—marriages, baptisms, etc.—and they would give me presents. In 1973 [when I was 15], I went to the Institute for the Young Blind in Mali to learn Braille. When I was there I taught other people how to sing and dance."

"No, there aren’t any musicians in my family; I’m the only one who sings."

"The husband-and-wife duo have been performing together for nearly 40 years. The band’s story begins at the Bamako Institute for the Young Blind in Mali. That’s where the two met in 1975. Amadou Bagayoko was blinded by cataracts as a teenager. Mariam Doumbia has been blind since she was 5 when she had the measles. They fell in love, married and began performing around Bamako, the capital of Mali. They became known around Africa as “the blind couple of Mali.”"

"I don’t think there’s ever been a band from Africa with whom people have engaged in quite such a way."

"The school of life was my education — the only one I could have. I learnt on the move’"

"Her voice makes you stop the car and peer skywards in wonder."

"Oumou Sangare embodies this alluring dichotomy like no one else. She’s the epitome of tough femininity; beautiful, elegant, determined, independent, talented…and, well, hard"

"I begin with myself. I try to show a good example. I thank God for this fortune, and I try and help younger artists move up the ladder in an attempt to give benefit t those who haven’t had the kind of opportunities I have"

"You can lose your lucky star / Or you can take care of it / You must not spoil it"

"I would sing to console myself. I had no mother on whose shoulder I could rest my head for comfort. There were no stories at bedtime. So I sang. And I cried a lot"

"Sometimes I would shut myself away"

"I tried to be myself and stay close to womanhood. There were plenty of critics, but it was all very minor compared to the success"

"It was a very hard childhood, but thanks be to God, all is well now. It gave me an incredible character. I can face up to any obstacle"

"But mum, I sing now. I earn plenty of money in the streets"

"One day, when my mother came back from a trip,” Oumou recalled, “she saw that I had managed to clothe all her children in brand new clothes"