Bafoulabé
—  Commune and town  —
Bafoulabé Location in Mali
Coordinates: 13°48′30″N 10°49′50″W / 13.80833°N 10.83056°W / 13.80833; -10.83056Coordinates: 13°48′30″N 10°49′50″W / 13.80833°N 10.83056°W / 13.80833; -10.83056
Country	Mali
Region	Kayes Region
Cercle (district):	Bafoulabé Cercle
Government
• Mayor	Makan Diakité (CNID)
Elevation	83 m (272 ft)
Population (2009 census)[1]
• Total	19,955

Bafoulabé is a town and rural commune in south-western Mali. It is located in the Region of Kayes at the confluence of the Bafing and Bakoy rivers which join to become the Sénégal River. Bafoulabé is the capital of the Cercle of Bafoulabé, which in 1887 was the first Cercle to be created in Mali.

Local administration[link]

Until the 1996 law creating communes, Bafoulabé Commune was an arrondissement. While now deprecated, the commune retains the same boundaries, extending far beyond the town of Bafoulabé, its seat (chef-lieu). Bafoulabé is also the seat of the larger Bafoulabé Cercle. Apart from the town, there are 28 villages, official rural subdivisions within the Commune. It is a Rural Commune, meaning it is subdivided in villages, in contrast to the smaller Urban Commune, divided into urban Quarters. Commune affairs are directed by an elected Commune Council (conseil communal) of 23 members and a Commune executive (bureau communal) of the elected Mayor and three adjutants. The executive is tasked with carrying out the directives voted by the Council. National policies are carried out by a Sub-Prefect (sous préfet), who also carries out certain of the Council's directives over the local arms or national bodies.^[2]

Geography and climate[link]

At Bafoulabé the Bafing and Bakoy rivers meet to form the Sénégal River. In Bambara, Bafoulabé means "meeting of two rivers". The Manantali hydroelectric dam and its reservoir, Lake Manantali, the largest in Mali, is located 90 km to the south-east of Bafoulabé on the Bafing.

Extending across two banks of the Senegal River, the Commune is bounded to the east by Kontéla Commune and Oualia Commune, to the north Tomora Commune and Sidibéla Commune, to the south by Mahina Commune and to the west by Diamou Commune of Kayes Cercle. The climate is Sahelian. The June to October rainy season accounts for all the less than 900 mm of precipitation a year. While hot year round by temperate standards, a hot season lasts from roughly February to June, and a cooler season runs from roughly November to February. Maximum yearly temperature may reach 41°C in the shade.^[2]

Vegetation[link]

The Sahel landscape of the Commune is made up of grasslands punctuated by trees, often large. These include the Baobab, the Rônier, Raffia palm (from which textiles, rope, and palm oil is made), Karité (from which Shea Butter is made), Duguto, and Néré trees.^[2]

Population and culture[link]

Bafoulabé had a population of 16,670 in 1998 and 19,955 in 2009.^[1] Prior to colonialism, Bafoulabé had been a thriving commercial center. The construction of the Dakar Bamako railway in the early 20th century bypassed the river trade, making Kayes the center of commercial activity in the area.^[3] The town's population consists primarily of Khassonkés, Malinkés, Soninkés and Fulas. Fily Dabo Sissoko, writer and one of the founding fathers of independent Mali, was a native of Bafoulabé. The Festival dansa/diawoura, a festival of traditional dance, took place in Bafoulabé from April 8 to April 10, 2005.

Sister cities[link]

• Lesquin, France

References[link]

• Translation of fr:Bafoulabé.
• (French) Le président Touré à Bafoulabé : la voie largement ouverte vers le développement. M. COULIBALY, l'Essor n°15483 2005-06-28.

External links[link]

• image of the Senegal river, with Bafoulabé in the background.
• Election results: Assemblee-Nationale of Mali, Bafoulabé cercle.
• (Slovene) Image gallery from 2007 visit to Bafoulabé.
• (French) Image gallery from 2005 visit to Bafoulabé.
• Commissariat à la Sécurité Alimentaire and USAID: Commune of Bafoulabé (French)
• MSN Map - elevation = 83m

v t e Communes and towns of the Kayes Region, Mali Capital: Kayes Bafoulabé Cercle Bafoulabé (Bafoulabé) Bamafele (Bamafele) Diakon (Diakon) Diallan (Diallan) Diokeli (Diokeli) Gounfan (Gounfan) Kontela (Goundara) Koundian (Koundian) Mahina (Mahina) Niambia (Horokoto) Oualia (Oualia) Sidibela (Tigana) Tomora (Oussoubidiagna) 100px Diéma Cercle Diéma (Diéma) Béma (Béma) Diangounté Camara (Diangounté Camara) Dianguirdé (Dianguirdé) Diéoura (Diéoura) Dioumara Koussata ( Dioumara Koussata) Fassoudébé (Fassoudébé) Fatao ( Fatao) Gomitradougou ( Kouloudiengué) Grouméra ( Grouméra) Guédébiné (Guédébiné) Lakamané (Lakamané) Lambidou (Lambidou) Madiga Sacko (Madiga Sacko) Sansankidé ( Sansankidé) Kayes Cercle Kayes (Kayes) Bangassi (Bangassi) Colimbiné (Kabate) Diamou (Diamou) Djélébou (Aourou) Falémé (Diboli) Fegui (Fegui) Gory Gopela (Gory Gopela) Goumera (Goumera) Guidimakan Keri Kafo (Gakoura) Hawa Dembaya (Médine) Karakoro (Teichibe) Kéméné Tambo (Ambidédi) Kouniakary (Kouniakary) Khouloum (Khouloum) Koussané (Koussané) Liberté Dembaya (Diala Banlieue) Logo (Kakoulou) Maréna Diombougou (Maréna Diombougou) Marintoumania (Marintoumania) Sadiola (Sadiola) Sahel (Bafarara) Samé Diomgoma (Samé) Ségala (Ségala) Séro Diamanou (Séro) Somankidi (Somankidi) Sony (Lany Tounka) Tafacirga (Tafacirga) Kéniéba Cercle Kéniéba (Kéniéba) Bayé (Bayé) Dabia (Dabia) Dialafara (Dialafara) Dombia (Dombia) Faléa (Faléa) Faraba (Faraba) Guénégoré (Guénégoré) Kassama (Kassama) Kroukoto (Kroukoto) Sagalo (Sagalo) Sitakilly (Sitakilly) Kita Cercle Kita (Kita) Badia (Dafela) Bendougouba (Bendougouba) Benkadi Founia (Founia Moribougou) Boudofo (Boudofo) Bougaribaya (Bougaribaya) Didenko (Didenko) Djidian (Djidian) Djougoun (Djougoun) Gadougou I (Sagabari) Gadougou II (Gallé) Guemoukouraba (Guemoukouraba) Kassaro (Kassaro) Kita Nord (Sibikily) Kita Ouest (Kofeba) Kobri (Kobri) Kokofata (Kokofata) Koulou (Balia) Kourouninkoto (Kourouninkoto) Kotouba (Kotouba) Madina (Madina) Makano (Makano) Namala Guimba (Namala) Niantanso (Niantanso) Saboula (Balandougou) Sébékoro (Sébékoro) Séféto Nord (Niagané) Séféto Ouest (Séféto) Senko (Senko) Sirakoro (Sirakoro) Souransan-Tomoto (Souransan-Tomoto) Tambaga (Tambaga) Toukoto (Toukoto) Nioro Cercle Nioro du Sahel (Nioro du Sahel) Baniéré Koré (Baniéré Koré) Diabigue (Diabigue) Diarra (Diarra) Diaye Coura (Diaye Coura) Gavinane (Gavinane) Gogui (Gogui) Guétéma (Guétéma) Kadiaba Kadiel (Kadiaba Kadiel) Koréra Koré (Koréra Koré) Nioro Tougouné Rangabé (Nioro Tougouné Rangabé ) Sandare (Sandare) Simbi (Simbi) Trougoumbé (Trougoumbé) Yéréré (Yéréré) Youri (Youri) Yélimané Cercle Guidimé (Yélimané) Diafounou Diongaga (Diongaga) Diafounou Gory (Tambacara) Fanga (Fanga) Gory (Gory) Kirane Kaniaga (Kirane) Konsiga (Kersignané) Kremis (Kremis) Marekaffo (Dogofiry) Soumpou (Takaba) Tringa (Marena) Toya (Yaguine)

Toumani Diabaté
Toumani Diabaté describing the construction of the kora during a performance at Afrofest 2007 in Toronto, Ontario
Background information
Born	(1965-08-10) August 10, 1965 (age 46)
Origin	Mali
Genres	Mali Music, Pop, World music
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Kora
Years active	1987–present
Labels	World Circuit
Website	worldcircuit.co.uk/#Toumani_Diabate
Notable instruments
Kora

Toumani Diabaté (born August 10, 1965) is a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he has also been involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles.

Biography[link]

Diabaté comes from a long family tradition of kora players including his father Sidiki Diabaté, who recorded the first ever kora album in 1970. His family's oral tradition tells of 71 generations of musicians preceding him in a patrilineal line. His cousin Sona Jobarteh is the first female kora player to come from a Griot family.

In 1987, Diabate made his first appearance on an album in the UK, on Ba Togoma, an album featuring his father's ensemble. In 1988 Diabaté released his first album in the West, a solo album entitled Kaira, recorded in one afternoon in London and produced by Lucy Duran.

In addition to performing Malian traditional music, Diabaté has also performed and recorded in cross-cultural settings. He has collaborated with flamenco group Ketama, forming a combined group known as Songhai and releasing two recordings: Songhai I and Songhai II. In 2006, Diabaté collaborated with American blues musician Taj Mahal on the release Kulanjan. "MALIcool" is a collaboration with American jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd. He also collaborated with the Icelandic popular musician Björk on her 2007 album Volta.

In 1999 Diabaté released the album New Ancient Strings, a collaboration with Ballake Sissoko and in September 2005, he released In the Heart of the Moon, for which he collaborated with Ali Farka Touré. The album went on to win the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album. On July 25, 2006 he released his latest album Boulevard de l'Indépendance, recorded with his Symmetric Orchestra. In the Heart of the Moon and Boulevard de l'Indépendance, are both part of the Hotel Mandé Sessions, recorded by Nick Gold and released on World Circuit Records. Both Boulevard and Hotel Mandé are references to landmarks in Mali's capital city, Bamako.

The Symmetric Orchestra led by Toumani Diabaté is composed of musicians (mostly griots)^[1] from the across the old Mande Empire of west Africa, who play a mix of traditional instruments including the kora, djembe, balafon and bolombatto, as well as modern ones like the guitar and electronic keyboard.

Diabaté appeared in 2006 at the WOMAD Festival UK, Roskilde Festival in Denmark, and at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary. In 2007 he performed at the Glastonbury Festival and toured the U.S.A.. In 2008, he was at WOMADelaide (in Adelaide, South Australia).^[2] In early 2008, Diabaté released his new album of solo Kora music, The Mande Variations, to widespread critical acclaim. Many reviewers praised the album for its detailed recording of the Kora and careful mastering, in addition to the improvisational skills and wide range of apparent influences displayed on the album.^[3]

In October 2008 the Arabic language lyrics in Diabaté's song Tapha Niang (from Boulevard de l'Indépendance) were removed from the PlayStation 3 video game LittleBigPlanet, after it elicited objections from a Muslim individual due to their inclusion of verses from the Qur’an.^[4] The publisher Sony Computer Entertainment Europe decided to delay the launch of the game by a week and recall most discs in order to replace the song with a lyric-free instrumental version. However, some copies of the original game had already been sold in the Middle East and United States.^[5]

Diabaté was chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2010 in Minehead. Diabaté also performed at Hay Festival in June. In July he performed at the Larmer Tree Festival to huge acclaim.

Discography[link]

Toumani Diabate performing at the 2007 Winnipeg Folk Festival

• 1987 - "Ba Togoma" (with Sidiki Diabaté, Mariama Kouyaté, Djeli Mady Sissoko, Kandia Kouayté)
• 1988 - Kaira
• 1988 - Songhai (with Ketama and Danny Thompson)
• 1994 - Songhai 2 (with Ketama and Danny Thompson)
• 1995 - Djelika
• 1999 - New Ancient Strings (with Ballake Sissoko)
• 1999 - Kulanjan (with Taj Mahal)
• 2001 - Jarabi: the Best of Toumani Diabate
• 2002 - Malicool (with Roswell Rudd)
• 2005 - In the Heart of the Moon (with Ali Farka Touré)
• 2006 - Boulevard de l'Indépendance
• 2008 - The Mandé Variations
• 2010 - Ali and Toumani - (World Circuit/Nonesuch Records) (with Ali Farka Touré)
• 2011 - A Curva da Cintura (with Arnaldo Antunes and Edgard Scandurra) - Brazil

Filmography[link]

• Bamako Is a Miracle by Maurice Engler, Arnaud Robert and Samuel Chalard (Afro Blue, Geneva 2003).
• Toumani Diabaté - Koraklänge aus dem Land der Flusspferde by Martina Pfaff (WDR, Cologne 2007).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Toumani Diabaté official website
• Toumani Diabaté on the label website (worldcircuit.co.uk)
• Official Toumani Diabaté biography
• Toumani Diabaté on Myspace
• Afropop Worldwide Slideshow of Toumani Diabate Performing Live in Brooklyn (July 2007)
• The Kora Star (August 2007)
• 'Our music is older than Bach' - Interview in The Guardian (October 2008)
• Info on the kora & Toumani Diabaté
• Toumoani Diabante review in The New Current
• Making of Boulevard de L'Indépendance short documentary
• Making of In the Heart of the Moon short documentary
• Ali and Toumani Review and interview with Tounami Diabaté| Folk Radio UK

Oumar Mariko (born 4 February 1959) is a Malian doctor, politician and noted former student activist. He is the secretary general of African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI) and has twice run for President of Mali, in 2002 and 2007.^[1]

Biography[link]

Born in Bafoulabé, his engagement in politics began in his student days. He worked as part of the National Union of Students and Pupils of Mali (UNEEM) at the Dioila lycée from 1976 to 1977 and the Badalabougou lycée from 1978 to 1979. He was a member of the union's organisation bureau from 1979 to 1980. A founding member of the Mali Students and Pupils' Association, he was its general secretary from 1990 to 1992.^[1] Mariko led protests that eventually led to the overthrow of Moussa Traoré in 1991^[2] and participated in the Transitional Committee for the Salvation of the People (CTSP) representing the Student Association.^[1]

Oumar Mariko is a medical doctor and the founding director of the Mah Doumbia surgical clinic at Bamako. He has also been the director general of the private radio network Kayira since 1995 and is the external relations secretary of the URTEL, the trade union representing radio and television broadcasting in Mali.^[1]

Political career[link]

Together with Cheick Oumar Sissoko, in 1996 Mariko founded a political party, African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI),^[3] in opposition to President Alpha Oumar Konaré. He is the secretary-general of SADI,^[4] which is avowedly leftist.

Mariko was chosen as the party's candidate for the April 2002 presidential election at its first ordinary congress in March 2002.^[5] In the election, he finished in 12th place with .88% of the vote.^[6][7] In the July 2002 parliamentary election, Mariko was a candidate in Kolondiéba constituency.^[8]

At the end of a SADI national conference, on February 24, 2007 Mariko was designated as the party's candidate for the April 2007 presidential election.^[4] He campaigned on the platform of opposition to the current economic, social, education and healthcare policies, declaring his wish for a "Democratic and popular state". He opposed the privatisation of the Compagnie malienne pour le développement du textile (CMDT), the Huilerie cotonnière du Malo (Huicoma) and called for the re-nationalisation of the railways. He also opposed the alleged "favouritism" of the outgoing president Amadou Toumani Touré in social housing. Throughout the campaign, Mariko declared that "elections will be neither transparent, nor sincere and even less credible", accusing the Citizen's Movement, which supported Touré, of attempting fraud.^{[citation needed]} He finished in fourth place with 2.72% of the vote.^[7][9] In a press conference on May 29, Mariko denounced the electoral commission and the Constitutional Court for their handling of the election, saying that the former should be dissolved.^[10] He was also sharply critical of the main opposition coalition, the Front for Democracy and the Republic, in which he did not participate.^[11]

He won a seat in the National Assembly of Mali in the July 2007 parliamentary election on a SADI list in Kolondiéba; the other candidate on the list was Moussa Coumbéré.^[12] The SADI list took second place, with 21.28% of the vote, in the first round, behind the National Congress for Democratic Initiative (CNID) list, which received 25.29%.^[13] However, the SADI list won in the second round with 61.76% of the district's vote.^[12]

Mariko is a critic of economic globalization and the Bretton Wood Accords.^[2]

As of 2007–2008, Mariko is President of the Commission of Foreign Affairs, Malians Living Abroad, and African Integration in the National Assembly.^[14]

2012 Military Coup d'Etat in Mali[link]

Following the coup d'état that suspended Mali's democratic institutions on the night of 21–22 March 2012, Oumar Mariko and his SADI political party created MP22, the "Mouvement Populaire du 22 mars" (22 March People's Movement) supporting the coup plotters.^[15]

References[link]

External links[link]

• (French) Official web site
• (French) Interview with Oumar Mariko

Styles of Angelo Mai
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Roman Curia

Angelo Mai.

Angelo Mai (March 7, 1782 – September 8, 1854) was an Italian Cardinal and philologist.^[1] He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and then in the same role at the Vatican Library. The texts were often in parchment palimpsests; he was able to read the lower text using chemicals such as Gallic acid. In particular he was able to locate a substantial portion of the long known of and much sought-after De re publica of Cicero.

Biography[link]

He was born of humble parents at Schilpario in what is now the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.

In 1799 he entered the Society of Jesus, and in 1804 he became a teacher of classics in the Jesuit college of Naples. After completing his studies at the Collegium Romanum, he lived for some time at Orvieto, where he was engaged in teaching and palaeographical studies. Though he returned to Rome, the deteriorating papal relations with Napoleon and the city's subsequent occupation by General Miollis in 1808 necessitated Mai's withdrawal to Milan, where in 1813 he was made custodian of the Ambrosian library.

He now threw himself with characteristic energy and zeal into the task of examining the numerous manuscripts committed to his charge, and in the course of the next six years was able to restore to the world a considerable number of long-lost works. Having withdrawn from the Society of Jesus, he was invited to Rome in 1819 as chief keeper of the Vatican Library. In 1833 he was transferred to the office of secretary of the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide; on February 12, 1838 he was raised to the dignity of Cardinal. He died at Castel Gandolfo, near Albano Laziale, on 8 September 1854.

Works[link]

It is on his skill as a reader of palimpsests that Mai's fame chiefly rests. To the period of his residence at Milan belong:

• fragments of Cicero's judicial orations Pro Scauro, Pro Tullio, Pro Flacco, and his In Clodium et Curionem, De aere alieno Milonis, and De rege Alexandrino (1814)
• M. Corn. Frontonis opera inedita, cum epistolis item ineditis, Antonini Pii, Marci Aurelii, Lucii Veri et Appiani (1815; new ed., 1823, with more than 100 additional letters found in the Vatican library)
• portions of eight speeches of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
• fragments of Plautus
• the oration of Isaeus' De hereditate Cleonymi
• the last nine books of the Antiquities of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and a number of other works.
• Cicero's De Re Publica, published as M Tullii Ciceronis de republica quae supersunt, Rome, 1822
• Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, e Vaticanis codicibus edita in 1825-1838
• Classici scriptores e Vaticanis codicibus editi in 1828-1838
• Spicilegium Romanum in 1839-1844 (Tomus III, Tomus IX)
• Patrum nova bibliotheca in 1845-1853

His edition of the celebrated Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209, completed in 1838, but not published (ostensibly the ground of inaccuracies) till four years after his death (1858), is the least satisfactory of his labours and was superseded by the edition of Vercellone and Cozza (1868), which itself leaves much to be desired.

Although Mai was not as successful in textual criticism as in the decipherment of manuscripts, he will always be remembered as a laborious and persevering pioneer, by whose efforts many ancient writings have been rescued from oblivion.

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.