Militant forces in the north of Mali have banned music. The group claims to be enacting Shariah law and has banned everything but the Islamic call to prayer. Mali itself has a rich musical heritage and is a society where song plays a major force in all life events. That's true for most human societies, music is a major part of our lives and the way we define ourselves. So why is this militant group so focused on banning music in the country?
Well let's ignore religion for a moment, because it really doesn't have much to do with the conversation. Yes, they're under the banner of Islam, but that really has nothing to do with the music being banned. Instead, it's a form of control, and a way to stop people from actually protesting the group in power.
Music is a powerful tool, especially in the case of people who are being oppressed. Songs of protest have been a major part of our culture for decades, and songs have been used to signal the start of a revolution, send messages to undercover agents, or just plain rally a people towards a common goal.
A song can do this for a few reasons. One, a melody is frequently easier to recall than spoken words. Anyone who suddenly starts singing a song they haven't heard in years can attest to how much a song can stay in your mind. Since a song is easier to remember, it's also easier to spread among the population. A well-written protest song in Mali is going to spread among the population and start rallying them towards ousting the people who want to take over the country. Even just humming a song can get people to realize what you're trying to say, without saying any words, and the message never leaves. If one is trying to take over the country, they want to remove as many sources of protest as possible, and music is among the most powerful there is. So from their perspective, banning music is as much to do with stopping protest as it is to do with promoting their specific corrupted version of religion. The people who would ban all music are much more interested in quelling any dissent than they are in promoting their own values, and so they'll take whatever means necessary to do so.
This isn't going over well in Mali, as one might expect, given that the west African country is a nation that has pride in its musical heritage. This is likely why the ban was enacted in the first place, because people in the country would be very good at using music to defy the occupying forces in part of the country. In fact, in spite of the ban in the northern part of the nation, music is already filling that role. Mali musicians have banded together to write and sing a song about peace, and a famed desert music festival is continuing to be held in spite of the ban to spread a message of peace in the country. It might be forced into exile, but it's still happening.
It could be the case that the music ban might have the opposite effect, rallying people together to support what is a basic human pleasure and work to protect their country and their culture. After all, if you ban all music, that just makes every single song a protest song, and every melody a defiant act. For the sake of the people of Mali, I hope they can manage to keep their own culture alive in the face of this force, and use their music to keep their country and their culture.
