How to submit a post
Over the past week many of you have been in touch to ask how to get a post up on the Hub. The response to the new Hub has been fantastic – all your suggestions have been greatly appreciated and will all be up soon. In response, there is now a permenent Forum post with the process of getting materials up on the site, which I repeat here:
Please send all ideas, reports, articles and hyperlinks to sam.garbett@malidg.org.uk.
Every post on the MIH is catergorised under the following headers by subject. Therefore, when submiting a post for publication it would be useful for you to consider how the post may be categorised:
Current Affairs
Conflict
Development
Environment
News
Politics
Music & Culture
Art
‘Meeting Mali’ (for snapshots of Malian life)
Music
Sport
Action & Appeals
Appeals
Events (UK or Mali)
Petitions
Volunteering
Reports & Resources
History
Organisational News
Reports
It’s easy enough to open up a new category if required so do write in with your suggestions for that too.
We also aim to feature an image on every post, where possible. The correct credit and source of any photos must be published (name, agency and hyperlink). This must be included.
Otherwise, that’s about it. Join in!
Speaking of categories, Tounkara’s album which this week’s song comes from “Sigui” won the Africa category at the BBC 3 Awards for World Music in 2002, beating fellow Malian nominees Habib Kioté and Rokia Traore in the process. When featured for the first time on the Hub I was “boggled that Tounkara’s acoustic-guitar spectacular hadn’t been a SOTW already”. It seems that arriving later that expected is a Toukaran trait. Jon Lusk also expressed huge surprise when writing in 2001 he reported that:
“…incredibly, it wasn’t until this year that his first solo album was released. Sigui showcases his remarkable finger picking skills in the context of an acoustic ensemble. Tounkara reinterprets old traditional griot tunes and a number of classic songs from the Rail Band years with the help of nine talented singers and instrumentalists. His intricate runs of notes are accompanied by percussion, bass, guitar and the scrabbling notes of the ‘ngoni’, considered by many to be West African precursor of the banjo.”
And, famously and sadly, Tounkara’s participation in a collaboration with the best of Cuban music was also delayed, the guitarist missing out on the Buena Vista Social Club project on diplomatic technicalities. Even so, it hardly matters in the long run. As Lusk explains:
“Fans of Djelimady’s inimitable guitar technique have been waiting a long time for this record and few are disappointed with it.”
Djemilady Tounkara – Mandé Djeliou
Sam Garbett is Public Affairs Coordinator for the Mali Development Group – www.malidg.org.uk.
To get in touch with Sam for further information he’d be happy to hear from you at sam.garbett@malidg.org.uk. Any comments and ideas for improving the Hub are especially welcome. We all look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for tuning in.
The Mali Interest Hub is an initiative run by the Mali Development Group, supported by the Alliance for Mali.