Update

Please keep our friends and colleagues, neighbors and survivors in your hearts as residents from Bamako, Mali's capital city, are dealing with the terrible flooding that took at least 23 lives on Wednesday and left potentially thousands homeless.

Here are a few links to news reports:

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CPEL Segou has a new website

Djibril Guisse, member of the Council for the Local Economic Development of Segou (Conseil pour la Promotion de l'Economie Locale de Segou), has written to announce that our sister city's equivalent to the Chamber of Commerce has just relaunched website: www.cpelsegou.org. This is the organization that partnered to produce the first Festival Sur le Niger. Check out the link to their blog. It nicely features the artisan, agricultural and tourist offerings of this gentle, hospitable and dynamic region.

And, in the meantime click here enjoy some great sounds from the band of our featured musician and griot, Cheick Hamala Diabate!

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Bamana symbols on bogolan

Segou’s musical triumph in Richmond

Bassekou Kouyaté and Ami Sacko feted by Richmonders at the Richmond Folk Festival Mali’s famous orchestra NGONI BA was the Toast of the Town at the Richmond Folk Festival. Led by ngoni magician Bassekou Kouyaté and his vocalist wife Ami Sacko, the orchestra of seven Malian musicians wowed the crowd, and ended the Festival at fever pitch as three or four thousand fans danced the evening away at the Dominian Dance Pavilion on Brown’s Island Sunday night, October 16th. Kouyaté is an ancient musical name in Mali. At Sunday’s banjo workshop with four of Virginia’s banjo masters, Bassekou explained how he had learned to play the ngoni from his father and grandfather, and how his ancestors were playing music and sang the sovereign’s praises seven hundred years ago at the court of the original Lion King, Sunjata Keita. The Lion King founded the Malian Empire in the year 1235, and his legend became famous through the songs of his griot Balafasé Kouyaté, ancestor of Bassekou the le...

VFOM member visits AUPAP sites

1st Adjoint to the Mayor M. NIANG, (Segou), Dace (SCI), Adjoint (Segou), Dana (VFOM), Mayor O. SIMAGA (Segou) Our good friend and executive committee member Dana Wiggins left on August 19 and returns September 14 from her turn as AUPAP project monitor and defacto Richmond city ambassador to our twin city, Segou. Notre bon ami et membre du comité exécutif Dana Wiggins quitté le 19 août et retourne Septembre 14 à partir de son tour que AUPAP projet de surveiller et de facto ambassadeur de ville de Richmond a notre ville jumelle, Ségou. The following photos were taken in July and August and demonstrate that construction has been moving "full speed ahead" since funding and the rainy season arrived almost simultaneously. The Ségou contractors have been diligent and in spite of one wall collapse, Dana and Dace (Sister Cities International) have been able to confirm that a September c...

Virginia Friends of Mali

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