by phil | Mar 6, 2012 | Cote D'Ivoire
Rain animates the metal roofs and invites us to sleep. It is Abidjan’s only tranquilizer. The shops close, the coupe-decale stops playing, the potholes grow deeper. The morning after a night of rain, we carry our bodies to a shared taxi. Me, my former...
by phil | Mar 1, 2012 | Cote D'Ivoire
On the left, a toilet on the southern edge of Yamoussoukro in October 2010. On the right, the same toilet in March 2012. The wall has been sealed! (I realize the photo on the right looks far older.. right = iphone camera, left = canon s90). For real though, Cote...
by phil | Feb 20, 2012 | Mali, Music
I just returned to Bamako from the Festival sur le Niger in Segou. Most festivals are removed from reality in the best way possible, but this weekend was particularly incredible. I plan on returning every year. This is a clip from Salif Keita’s Saturday night...
by phil | Feb 16, 2012 | Mali, Music
Please read this post if you haven’t already. I’m about to talk about block parties in Bamako, but there is still a refugee crisis in the Sahel. A few weeks ago I spent an evening on the most crowded street corner of the quinzambougou neighborhood in...
by phil | Feb 7, 2012 | Mali
UPDATE 2/10/11: My host family from Timbuktu has made it to Mauritania. They are staying in the border town of Fassala. They are safe. The UNHCR has a camp there and the family reports that they have shelter and (limited) food. People continue to arrive in a steady...
by phil | Feb 3, 2012 | Mali, Music, Stories
I recapped the Festival briefly in this post. The event was over two weeks ago. A lot has changed in northern Mali (and in Bamako, you could say) since then. I will address this to an extent later in the post. I will also list some resources for you to follow. I first...
