Ethnomusicologist/Writer Lucy Duran spoke in Seattle on the Music of Mali, April 10th, 1999.

The imminent arrival of Malian singing sensation Oumou Sangare to Seattle is a rare and exciting treat for fans of African popular music. However, Sangare’s performance will be greatly enhanced by a visit from African music scholar and writer Lucy Duran, who is also an expert on the Wassoulou sound, the genre of music performed by Sangare. With support from the Seattle Arts Commission, Rakumi Arts has arranged for Duran to speak about her work in Mali and, in particular, her work with the popular female singers of the region. Her presentation is scheduled for April 10 at 4 pm at Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center, 17th Ave. S. at Yesler, Seattle. Admission is free.
    The London-based Duran has written volumes of articles on traditional and popular music of West Africa, Cuba, Colombia and Mexico which appear on several CD liner notes (including Angelique Kidjo’s Fifa), in Folk Roots magazine and in Spain’s El Pais newspaper. She has also produced numerous music and culture documentaries for England’s BBC TV and radio and is currently a lecturer of African Music in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London. Duran has also been a curator at the National Sound Archive in London since 1977 and is an award-winning producer of several African popular music recordings including Songhai 2, featuring kora wizard Toumani Diabate and Spanish guitarist Jose Soto for the Ryko/Hannibal label, and Bajourou - Mali Acoustic Stars on Globestyle Records.
    But for more than 12 years, Duran has worked extensively with female singers of Mande urban music in West Africa. This work is the subject of her upcoming Ph.D. dissertation. She has also edited and contributed to the forthcoming book Sunjata, Gambian Versions of the Mande Epic on Penguin Classics. Since her rise to stardom in the late-1980s, Duran has worked extensively with Oumou Sangare, closely documenting the singer’s development and rise to popularity and social and political impact on the local population.
    Duran was also one of the first writers and researchers to document the history and evolution of the Wassoulou sound from the region of the same name in Mali. She has been particularly interested in the tradition’s history as music sung and cultivated by women and its role within the society today. Her interest in contemporary performers like Sangare is further inspired by the singer’s compositions which criticize the social structure in Mali that encourages polygamy, arranged marriages, and the low social standing of women in general in that country.