Dogon Music Worldwide: Dogon people of Mali
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The Dogon have survived for centuries, withstanding constant slave raiding parties of the successive empires of Ghana, the Sonrai, the Mossi, the Sao, the Fulani, and the Muslims from the north. Consequently, the Dogon have evolved a keen sense of cultural preservation and an ability to withstand outside forces of change. Today, some 300,000 Dogon live along a roughly 125-mile-long (200-kilometer) swath of land against the Badiagara Cliffs. Many live among 700 or so small villages with populations of less than 500. Ritual is an integral part of the Dogon culture. Their cultural rites reflect awareness of the necessary harmony between the human spirit, the land, and surrounding animal life. Within the ritual, music is the mediating platform that allows for the fullest expression of both the community and the individual. The Dogon are also famous for their ritual mask dance. The mask binds the Dogon people to the celestial world of heaven (where the afterworld exists) and Earth, which provides food, shelter and life. The dancers of the sirige mask are considered the most skilled. They use their teeth to balance the 20-foot (6-meter) high mask, which is carved from the limb of a single tree. Dancers swing the mask in sweeping motions to represent the arc of the sun.
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Hidden in the mysterious Bandiagara Cliffs of southern Mali, West Africa, live a people who claim to be the conduit between heaven and Earth: the people of the Dogon.
