Sorry it has been a while since I updated this thing. Not that I’ve been spectacularly busy around here, but it doesn’t seem like I have had much to report on lately. I arrived back in Mali a little over a month ago, and after readjusting to the time change and the cultural change, I went back to village to see if they missed me. They had, although life went on as normal. And I am readjusting to being back, although I am also getting used to the fact that my time left here is indeed rather short. Although I know I will miss Mali, I’m looking forward to moving back home; getting a “real” job; being able to go to a well-stocked grocery and cook my own meals again; and generally living out a normal life. But that’s getting ahead of myself because I still have about 6 months to go here before finishing service.
In other news, I have not been idly sitting by in village the ENTIRE month since I last wrote. One event I did go to back in early February was the Festival sur le Niger, or the Segou Music Festival. Since Mali is rather renowned for its’ music, there are several music festivals held every year here; one is the Festival in the Desert, held at Timbuktu, the other the aforementioned Segou Music Festival. The first we’re not allowed to go to, the second we are. Anyway, I joined the ranks of numerous other volunteers, expats, tourists and middle-class Malians heading to Segou to enjoy the cultural shows that were Mali, both professional and not. I was impressed with Segou, and with the Festival itself. I’d never been to Segou before, but it is one of the more touristy cities in Mali, being situated on the Niger river and having more tourist oriented hotels, shopping and sightseeing opportunities (unlike my own boring regional town). Of course, with this comes the ordained souvenir hawkers and beggars, who were having a field day with the influx. I personally was a little shocked at the number of white people wondering around; I couldn’t believe how many expats and tourists had come in for the festival, and was no little offended by being taken for a regular tourist by the Malians. Just saying.
During the day at the Festival there were the usual cultural events meant to display Mali’s wide-ranging ethnic heritage, along with an arts and crafts fair where people could buy items from far and wide. AT night there were the performances. It was actually well-done: the organizers had set up a floating stage on the river, and the audience could sit on the benches and the banks to watch the show (or stand in the shallow water). I saw several singing greats, both domestic and international. Habib Koite was there, as well as the known Salif Keita, among other Malian favorites. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the big headliners, i.e. Salif and Habib. Their performances were more low-key than expected; I didn’t really feel the talent that they are usually known for. But there were other Malian performances that were surprisingly impressive, so in a way it made up for the disappointments. Overall, it being their 6th year that they have organized this festival, it is well done and gets some great artists to come perform.
In other news, many of you know that my parents will soon be arriving to see Mali for themselves, so I will be sure to make them write something on their impressions of this place. I feel that after a year and half I am a little jaded, and things have stopped failing to surprise me, but perhaps with two pairs of fresh eyes they’ll have something new and interesting to tell. I’ve also included pictures of the music festival in my picture gallery, so you can get a better idea of what the hell I’m talking about. Because a picture really is worth a thousand words, or maybe two thousand of mine.
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