We believe in the power of musicians to conjure peace, reconciliation and freedom.
We support. celebrate, promote and work with musicians primarily from Mali, the Sahel, or living in exile or identifying with the African diaspora.
We also work with musicians who work with and support Sahelian musicians!
We do our best to support musicians and act as liaisons for them.
Musician Gallery
Musician Support & Liaison
MUSICIAN GALLERY
Below is a gallery of musicians in the Sahel Calling Project family. Some of them we support, some support us, some of them do both. Enjoy!
Abdoulaye Alhassane Touré – facilitated project and featured in CD perk
Amadou & Miriam – Malian musicians, featured in project
Amkoullel – Malian musician, featured in project and Sahel Calling film
Annie Lenox – supported Sahel Calling
Baba Salah – Malian musician, featured in Sahel Calling film
Bassekou Kouyaté & Ami Sacko – Malian musicians, featured in project and Sahel Calling film
Ben Zabo – Malian musician, featured in project and Sahel Calling and Malian Pieces films; field producer of Sahel Calling film
Bonnie Raitt – supported Sahel Calling film
Coldplay – supported Sahel Calling film and project advocacy
Dirt Music – facilitated project
Habib Koité – Malian musician, featured in project
Hampaté – Senegalese musician, featured in CD perk
Kilinba – Senegalese-European band, featured in CD perk
MC Jazz – Senegalese musician, featured in Sahel Calling film and facilitated project advocacy
Naba TT & Virginie – Malian musicians, featured in Sahel Calling film
Noura Mint & Jeich Ould Chighaly – Mauritanian musicians, featured in project
Samba Touré – Malian musician, featured in Sahel Calling film
Tiken Jah Fakoly – Cote d’Ivoirian musician, featured in project and Sahel Calling and Malian Pieces films
Tony Vacca – facilitated project and featured in CD perk
Vieux Farka Toure – Malian musician, featured in project
And, here are some more Malian & Touareg musicians whose music we love and whose authentic work towards peace, reconciliation and peace we respect!
Afel Bocoum
Ali Farka Toure
Ballaké Sissoko
Bombino
Kader Tarhanine
Lobi Traore
Mdou Moktar
Mohamed Diaby
Sidiki Diabaté
Toumani Diabate
Finally, many thanks to all of the musicians who wrote and/or dedicated their music to our Sahel Calling crowdfunding perk CD! Here below a list of musicians and tracks:
MUSICIAN SUPPORT & LIAISON
The Sahel Calling Project works to support musicians in a myriad of ways.
Firstly, we support their work to nurture reconciliation, promote peace, and educate on rights and democratic processes by amplifying their voices.
That is, we feature these musicians in our films, on our interview, articles and social media presence. We also hire some of them as field producers, and certainly spread their music (!). Any musicians who appeared in our „Sahel Calling“ documentary were also compensated for the time they gave.
There are many other West African and non-African musicians who contact us to join the project, whether as way to support their work or as a way to contribute to us – usually, it is both. We do our best to incorporate them into the project, sometimes taking on roles such as the live musical act by live screenings or appearing as the performers for other types of events.
Lastly, we often have the opportunity to network musicians to one another, to journalists, to record labels, etc.. In this way, we further promote their cause and hopefully livelihoods. For example, we linked Noura Mint to Glitterbeat Records, we secured Abdoulaye Alhassane Touré the honor of guest musician at the UNHCR event in New York, and Hampaté as guest musician at a joint UN-NGO launch of the new Sahel Appeal Program in Dakar.