Dear Friends of Mali, WILL YOU MAKE A PERSONAL GIFT TO OUR GRIOT? In Mali, the most important social and spiritual event in the calendar is always a funeral. Not a birth, nor a marriage, nor the winning of a lucrative contract, but a funeral. AND THE MOST MEANINGFUL funeral of them all is your mother's funeral. Not your father's funeral, although that is meaningful as well of course: but it is your mother who gave you life; it is your mother who educated you; it is she who made you who you are, who taught you what is right and what is wrong. From your father, you receive your name: but from your mother, you receive your social status, your knowledge, your education. Prince Jata, who later became the Lion King, was known as Sunjata Keita: Keita from his father, of course. But he was known as his mother's son Sogolon Jata, which became 'Sunjata'. Cheikh Hamala Diabaté, our griot and our friend, lost his mother two days before the Folk Festival. H
VIRGINIA FRIENDS OF MALI creates and promotes educational and cultural pathways to understanding and cooperation between the peoples of the West African nation of Mali and the state of Virginia, USA. LES AMIS DU MALI EN VIRGINIE crée et promeut des voies éducatives et culturelles favorisant la compréhension et la coopération entre les peuples du Mali, pays d'Afrique de l'Ouest, et de l'État de Virginie, USA.