Lost and Found

Mohammad "playing" the n'goni (not the kora) at our point of repose, Hotel Tamana. He had no idea what he was doing, but was amazed when I could play some tunes from our bluegrass band on it!

We found the restaurant. We finally had dinner. For the second day in a row, we spent over an hour searching back roads, or what we thought were back roads, for our dinner recommendations. Yesterday we set out for a French restaurant called Le Campagnard, supposedly the talk of the town. The cabbie, however, didn't know where it was. C'est la vie quelquefois. Angry, he dropped us off on a corner, yelling about how we lied about the location, and we began our valiant search. Over and hour later we had wandered down every road that extended from what we though was the traffic circle. It was a big circle with traffic around it, and a statue. It was dark, we were in a seedy neighborhood, so we grabbed a cab. Turns out that the "traffic circle" was actually not the circle with the traffic, but an intersection with a square foot of grass in the middle. Either way, we made it.

Today's trick was that the fancy Italian place was NOT on the paved road, but a quarter mile down a red clay road that felt like moguls. Bikes were having a hell of a time traversing the fun park that was Rue 250. But we found it thanks to a cabbie who we had asked earlier. He had no idea what we were talking about (but he was busy eating his cake after breaking the day's fast). About 15 minutes later, he found us again, drove up, and took us. The guy actually went, asked around, found it, and came to get us! Viola!

Both places were fantastic, but the food isn't what's worth telling about in Mali. Like Morocco, there are few good restaurants, the best food is at home. Sadly, we don't have the access to homes - that takes a bit more than a few days. So, we get what we can, and it's all been great. Today's pizza was just what we needed after, well, an hour looking for pizza...

The bigger news of the day, though, is that I got a kora! I went to meet Ledye Diabaté, Toumani Diabaté's brother at his house, where he showed me the koras that he builds. We talked a bit, I took some photos, and off we went to get a bag made for it. The tailor took some measurements, and Ledye's going to pick it up tomorrow. Part of me is frightened that I'll end up with some hot pink vinyl or something similarly ridiculous. I'd deserve it since I didn't make any requests on material.

Afterward, we headed over to Toumani's house (he wasn't there), where Ledye showed me around, introduced me to the room of hyperactive children, and proceeded to point out each of the (many) posters that they've collected over the elder brother's prestigious career. His latest recording, with Ali Farka Touré, won him a Grammy (Touré's second, if I'm not mistaken). It's worth a listen, I hear - I plan to pick it up tomorrow.

The top floor was his recording studio, where the Symmetric Orchestra rehearses and records. According to Ledye, it's the best in Mali, a claim I'm tempted to agree with. We sat on some couches outside the studio, where it was much more peaceful than downstairs, and he taught me two songs. One, "Kaira," I was able to pick up fairly quickly. The second, "Bani," was much trickier, and gives me something to work on tomorrow morning. Right now I'm uploading a video of Ledye playing "Kaira," which will give a great sense of the kora's sound. I'll post it in 145 minutes, when YouTube decides it's ready.

All is well, time is moving faster than we could have expected, as it always does on a trip like this. Annie's work is coming along, she's getting plenty of help, and everyone is cooperating. Ask her about the zebra restaurant if you'd like to see an impressive demonstration of what might be poor taste (or might not, who am I to go against the wind?).

She's lookin' sleepy, so it might be time to move on. Peace.

Walking to lunch. It seems that I only have photos of busy streets - but that's probably because we only really get to see busy streets. Note the large garden just off the main road...