the Festival on the Niger

Hi everyone! I'm finally settled back in Ségou -- just in time to leave in a few days to bus to Dakar for the WAIST softball tournament! Things have been crazy busy over here since I came back from Tubaniso/Bamako. Last week (Feb 1-4) was Ségou's third annual Festival sur le Niger. It's a music festival that was started my Mr. Daffé, a prominent Malian who owns the Motel Savane here in Ségou. Each year the festival has gotten bigger and bigger, gaining more of a reputation. Unfortunately, I didn't get to work on this year's festival as much as I would have liked, but I did get to go into the festival, watch the concerts, make observations and talk to tourists and artisans.

(some Malians at the festival)

(parade of Malians playing traditional music)

Overall, the festival was very impressive. I wasn't expecting too much from the third edition of a third-worl festival, and I was shocked to see how advanced the festival really is. The stage for the main concerts was literally ON the Niger River, and there were parades, dancers, puppets, restaurants and bars that all came out for it.

(giant puppets -- these kinda freaked me out)

(this guy was all over -- he was sort of like a clown)

Sadly, there were a lot of problems with the arts fair. It wasn't advertised well, and the actual fair was located several blocks away from the river and the festival. As a result, few tourists knew about it and didn't know how to get to it, so many artisans lost money at the festival. I helped the CRPA pass out and collect evaluations, so I got to hear all the complaints. But during the two previous years, the fair was in the festival itself, and I've been told that next year they will move it back to the river, so hopefully next year all the problems will be remedied.

(parade of Malians from the Dogon Country)

Although the artisans got the short end of the stick, every tourist I spoke with was extremely happy and enjoyed the festival. Ségou really did a marvelous job putting this whole thing together. There were many internationally known artists who came to play (mostly Malians and Côte D'Ivoirians), all of whom are very popular with Malians and Europeans (as well as the Americans who were there).

(the big stage on the river during the opening ceremony)

I had a blast at the festival, and I'm looking forward to helping out more for next year's (especially with the art fair). If anyone is interested in making the trip out to Mali next February, you'd have a free place to stay while going to the festival!! (hint hint)