'Mali Blues' premieres in Germany

It will be screened in Hamburg tomorrow and then in Cologne next week.

Mali Blues is a musical and cultural journey through the Malian crisis, as the artists Fatoumata Diawara, Master Soumy and Bassekou Kouyaté tell the story of their country and speak about the role of music in these troubled times. The documentary is a call for peace and tolerance through a musical journey around the breathtaking landscape of Mali.

The documentary, features Diawara, Kouyaté, and two other respected artists in Ahmed Ag Kaedi and Master Soumy.

Fatoumata Diawara, one of the most beautiful voices of Mali, has worked with Herbie Hancock, Cheikh Lô, and Cheick Tidiane Seck. She has been in a number of movies including La Genèse de Cheikh Oumar Cissokho. Originally from Madina Kouroulamni, Diawara also played in Sia, le Rêve du Python (Jury prize at the Fespaco Pan-African Film Festival in Ouagadougou in 2001).

Bassekou Kouyaté is undoubtedly the most popular Ngoni (Malian stringed instrument) player in the world. He played alongside Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté. Today, Kouyaté, leader of the Ngoni Ba band, performs at major festivals.

In 2010, he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of "Best Traditional World Music" He released the critically acclaimed album, Ba power a year ago.

Ahmed Ag Kaedi founded the Amanar band in 2005. He is one of the ambassadors of Tuareg blues, producing a modern and avant-gardist music.

Master Soumy is one of the most vocal rapper and activists of his generation. Opposed to the regime of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, he dedicated the single ‘Toukoutoukou Bari Bari’ literally meaning "do-it-yourself" to the president, criticising his disastrous mismanagement. The single created a tremendous buzz since its release a few weeks ago. He recently released an album titled Gwélékan.

Lutz Grégor’achievement is remarkable since gathering so many leading figures of Malian music in a full-length documentary would have been difficult. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1952, Lutz Grégor, specialises in documentaries. He has worked in the area of culture particularly in dance and has a longstanding interest in the connection between dance and cinema.

His works include Contact Triptyque (1992) which won an award for Best Cinematography at the Grand Prix Vidéo Danse de Paris in 1992, and Children (in 2001), a feature-length movie screened at the Festival Max Ophüls of Saarbrucken (in 2002).

Lutz teaches "Physical Cinema" at workshops, universities and art academies across Europe. He is currently an associate professor in dance at the Palucca Dance School in Dresden, Germany.

MALI BLUES International Trailer from gebrueder beetz filmproduktion on Vimeo.