Over at my blog for the past several Mondays, I've posted entries about prominent Malian musicians as a way to indulge my love of that music, to learn more than the little I already know, and to share a little of that music, still not well-known in this country--certainly not in Kansas--with visitors to my blog. The posts contain pictures of the musicians and, when I can find ones of decent quality online, videos of them in performance. It's been fun so far, and my readers seem to have enjoyed exploring this, for them, very unfamiliar corner of world music.

I'll have a few more posts dedicated to individual artists, then move on to reviews of noteworthy albums. Also along the way (read: as I learn enough so that I don't sound completely ignorant), I'll have some posts about the role music and musicians have played in helping unify this culturally-diverse country since winning its independence.

Anyway, consider this an invitation to visit and have a look/listen. You'll be able to find all the "Mali Monday" posts here; what follows are the names of the individual artists I've posted on thus far, Last.fm-linked for your convenience:

Rokia Traore, Ali Farka Toure, Tinariwen, Toumani Diabate, Oumou Sangare, Tartit, Issa Bagayogo, Salif Keita, and Mamou Sidibe