Category: Graphic Novels

NEW BOOK – Music, Culture & Conflict in Mali

My new book MUSIC, CULTURE & CONFLICT IN MALI takes an in-depth look at the crisis that overtook Mali in January 2012 and lead to a ten-month occupation of the northern two-thirds of the country by armed jihadi groups. The book examines the roots of those tumultuous events and their ef- fect on the music and culture of the country. There are chapters on music under occupation in the north, the music scene in Bamako, the destruction of mausoleums in the north, the fate of Mali’s precious manuscripts, Mali’s film and theatre industries and the response to the crisis from writers, poets, journalists, intellectuals and film-makers.

JOE SACCO – My hero

My sis, true to form, scored 180 with her Christmas present.  It was Joe Sacco’s latest tome about Palestine:  ‘Footnotes In Gaza’.   Now, very few people out there spur me to become a completist of their oeuvre.  Lee Perry.  Don Paterson.  Joe Sacco.  That’s about it.  And let me tell you that Joe Sacco is…