Mali Blues

Date: Wed, Nov 27, 2019 06:00PM
Price: FREE

MALI BLUES
Lutz Gregor, 2016, 90 minutes, PG

Journey to the home of blues music in this vibrant documentary, following four renowned musicians as they struggle against fundamentalist Islam to keep their country’s rich musical history alive. In the face of exile and bans on secular music, four famed musicians — Fatoumata "Fatou" Diawara, Bassekou Kouyate, Master Soumy, and Ahmed Ag Kaedy — courageously use their musical gifts to stand up to extremism and inspire peace.

Ahmed Ag Kaedy, one of the film’s featured artists, will perform at the Museum on November 29. Following the show, he’ll sit down with Errol Nazareth, host of CBC’s Big City, Small World, for a conversation about Mali’s imperiled music scene.

This free screening is part of our 2019/20 Performing Arts season, Listening to Each Other, which pays tribute to the role of the performative arts in connecting communities, preserving culture, and spurring social change. It’s also part of our fall season —Africa! — which explores new dimensions of the vast and complex continent with a world-class lineup of art, performers, and speakers.