Malian Musicians Call for Peace

More than 40 pop musicians from Mali have recorded a song pleading for peace. The country has been hit in recent days by fighting between government forces aided by French troops and warplanes and Islamic rebels who control the north.

Calling themselves “Voices United for Mali, the musicians were assembled at Studio Bogolan in the capital, Bamako, by the singer Fatoumata Diawara. The group includes internationally known Malian pop stars like Amadou & Mariam, Bassekou Kouyate and Vieux Farka Toure. The group has released a song with an accompanying video called “Mali-Ko” or “Peace.”

“What’s going on in Mali” Ms. Diawara sings. “Do we really want to kill each other Do we really want to betray one another Allow ourselve to be divided. Remember we are all children of the same mother country.”

At a news conference last week, Ms. Diawara said she believed that the Malian people were looking to musicians to provide moral principles in a chaotic and fast-moving conflict. “They have lost hope in politics,” she said. “But music has always brought hope in Mali.”

The lyrics call for peace, but several musicians added verses that seemed to be a rallying cry for southerners to resist the Islamic forces in the north, reflecting a fear that the militants intend to take over the country and impose sharia law. Before the French intervened, Islamic rebels had consolidated their power on their stronghold around Timbuktu, carrying out public amputations, whippings and stonings as the weak Malian army retreated south.

One musician on “Mali-ko,” Soumaila Kanouté, sings in French: â€! œNever Have I seen such catastrophe, such desolation. They want to impose sharia law on us. Tell the north that our Mali is one nation, indivisible.”

And Doussou Bakayoko added this verse: “Our Mali will never belong to those people. This great nation will not be their victim.”