The very first edition of Festival International du WAssulu (FIWA) was hosted by the Malian diva and Grammy winner Oumou Sangare in her ancestral village Yanfolila, located in the southwestern Wassoulou region, which is shared by Mali, Ivory Coast and Guinea. The searing heat was unbearable on arrival in Bamako airport, in line with the nature of African Sun. Staying at the Oumou-owned Hotel Residence, Wassoulou laid out a perfect warm-up for the festival as the bands were rehearsing on a permanent stage at the rear of the hotel. It was good to have had a word with the world-renowned N'goni master Bassekou Kouyate, who dropped by one afternoon to watch the bands play. After a couple of days downtime in the capital city of Bamako, it was time to head out to the village, about four hours drive away.
Oumou and her friends picked me up from the hotel and the drive through the dark night was filled with conversations veering across subjects. Pickup trucks packed with all essentials like veggies, fish, water, liquor to toilet paper followed on our trail for a festival in a village is altogether a different ball game. Though I had seen the video clips shared earlier on the social media by Oumou, when we pulled in at the gate, it was still quite breathtaking to find a sprawling encampment unfolding in front out of nowhere. She told a lot had gone into building the camp, modelled after roundly African village houses with tree saplings planted in the middle. Situated adjacent to the festival grounds, the encampment was yet to be inaugurated and inhabited. Plumbing and electrical staff were scampering around, attending to calls as we settled into our allotted huts while the smell of fresh paint hitting our nostrils.
A buzz of Bambara voices outside my door woke me up after only a few hours of sleep. The scene was like an Indian wedding morning, with men and women in traditional garb going about their chores accompanied by chatter and cackle. Having been invited to perform in festivals across the globe for over 30 years, this was Oumou Sangare's big day at her own festival. That did not hold her back from trotting around the huge encampment for fine-tuning the arrangements, from setting up the tables in the restaurant, stacking up groceries in the kitchen to picking up trash on the floor. When I reminded her that she was probably the only superstar engaged in such chores, pat came the reply ‘Superstar, not in my head,’ reflecting her humble beginnings.
Gearing up
The Griots, traditional praise-singers and oral historians, including well-known Paye Camara, serenaded the Sangare Clan. Free shuttle buses organised brought in hoards of people from Bamako to the festival grounds. Village children mobbed us with 'Oumou' chants along the way, while the Griots in their characteristic deep vocal cord extolled the virtues at stop overs. An invitation to a village called Diarrani saw Oumou Sangare given a rousing reception with hundreds of villagers and drummers gathered at town-square, singing the praise of her and her forefathers, offering freshly harvested produce and goats, for she has engraved the once obscure Wassulu sounds on the world-music notes.
Welcomed by the Hunters, one of the oldest living traditions in this region, whose songs are accompanied by a pentatonic harp called Donso n'goni and a metallic scraper, the Minister of Culture of Mali officially opened the festival to a boisterous 1,50,000 crowd. Over the next two days, the festival would feature a blend of internationally known artistes such as Toumani Diabate, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Afel Bocoum, Oumou Sangare herself and the promising talents of Mali. It was a rare opportunity for the Wassulu villagers to watch their world-renowned musical heroes live at their own doorstep and takeaway the ethereal memories for a long time to come. They danced away the nights to the ethnically diwverse cadence of Tuareg, Songhai, Fulani, Bambara to even hip-hop, kicking up every grain of the African soil under their feet.
Aside from music, an eye-camp for the villagers and souvenir stands by local artisans aided the community. As the festival was largely financed by Oumou Sangare herself, her son and 86-year old mother held Oumou's right-hand high in the local customary way to imply “You have done it.” It is no mean feat to pull off a festival of such magnitude by a woman in Africa where gender equality is still grappling with iswsues to come to reality. I could see the gratification in her eyes as it welled up with tears of joy.
Personally, having been to music festivals across the continents, nothing would compare to Wassoulou spectacle in terms of intimacy, community involvement and that end result imbued with inner-bliss.
Albums and Awards
Oumou Sangare is known as the ‘Songbird of Wassoulou’ She won her first singing competition at the age of five and was on international tour as a teenager with a group. She formed her own band in 1989
She has released seven solo albums and performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including the Melbourne Opera, the Opéra de la Monnaie, WOMAD, FEZ and the Oslo World Music Festival to name a few. Sangaré has won numerous music awards, including the IMC-UNESCO International Music Prize in 2001. Her album, ‘Seya’ was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010, and Herbie Hancock’s album, ‘Imagine,’ for which she contributed vocals, won the Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2011.
Her latest award was ‘Aga Khan music award’ in March 2019. Sangaré’s music is inspired by the music and traditional beats of Wassoulou, and she is considered a cultural ambassador of the region. Her song lyrics discuss women’s rights advocacy and critique social issues such as gender inequality, child marriage, and polygamy. She was named a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations in 2003. In addition to her musical career, she has invested in the hotel, agriculture, and automobile industries in Mali, more to bring about economic independence of young men and women.
