One of the highlights of last year’s London Film Festival was Abderrahmane Sissako’s modern classic ‘Timbuktu’, depicting the occupation of Mali’s northern city by Islamic fundamentalists and the damage it caused to the local way of life. This year the festival’s sonic strand has a worthy companion in Johanna Schwarzt’s notable debut feature.
The Jihadis’ extreme application of sharia law involved a ban on all kinds of music, which they dismiss as the work of Satan. Their rule forced performers to an exile in the southern regions or in neighbouring countries and deprived an area formerly enjoying one of Africa’s richest folk traditions from an integral part of its cultural heritage.