Wassoulou Country

Wassoulou is the country south and southwest of Bamako towards the Guinean border, and the name carries further than the region because of its music: a style rooted in hunters' songs and in the kamale ngoni, a six-stringed harp adapted from the hunters' instrument in the 1950s, taken up by women singers whose records reached audiences far beyond Mali. The country itself is wooded savanna with farming villages.

What you actually see

• The kamale ngoni - the six-string harp the music is built around.
• The hunters' tradition - the donso songs the style grew out of.
• The women singers - the performers who carried the music beyond Mali.
• The wooded savanna - the farming country the region occupies.

When to go

November to February is the cool dry season. The rains from June make roads difficult. Performances follow local occasions rather than a schedule.

Honest expectations

There is no venue or centre; the music is tied to occasions and cannot be booked. The region has almost no visitor infrastructure. Roads are rough away from the main highway.

Nearby

Lake Sélingué is north, and Sikasso is east.