PBS高端访谈:将马里的音乐从战乱中带回来

 JUDY WOODRUFF: Now: terror and renewal¹ in West Africa.

Just days ago: Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, raising fears the militants²' insurgency³ in Nigeria could become part of an international conflict.

This weekend saw a burst of violence in another closely watched African country, Mali. Yesterday, unknown attackers fired rockets at a U.N. base in Kidal in the far north, killing⁴ at least three. And, Saturday, gunmen killed five people, including two foreigners, at a restaurant in Bamako, the country's capital city, that's been largely free of such attacks. An Islamist group claimed responsibility.

Jeffrey Brown was just in Bamako and in the legendary⁵ city of Timbuktu.

Here's the first of two reports, part of his series Culture at Risk.

JEFFREY BROWN: It was 2:00 a.m. on an outdoor stage in Bamako, capital of the West African country of Mali.

But the tireless Fatoumata Diawara was spinning like a top, singing up a storm and imploring⁶ the crowd with calls for peace.

Afterwards, she told me she felt compelled to speak out.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA: If we want the best for Africa, the only — the first thing to do is to know how to bring peace. Without peace, nothing, we cannot start any kind of government. Nothing, nothing's possible.

JEFFREY BROWN: Unity⁷ was the theme of this concert in a country so rich in its musical culture, but so troubled by conflict and division.

And even as the performers played on this night, the focus was many miles to the north, to the storied city of Timbuktu that has suffered so greatly in recent years. In fact, the concert in Bamako is a mere⁸ echo one of the most famous music festivals in the world, the Festival in the Desert, held here in Timbuktu every year, until war made it impossible.

That three-day festival was long a gathering⁹ of international sounds and stars, bringing together African musicians and Western rock legends like Bono, who spoke¹⁰ in 2012 of the importance of the festival.

BONO: It's part of West Africa, as like the cradle of music. It's like the Big Bang of all the music that we love.

JEFFREY BROWN: But that same year, the music stopped, when separatist rebels and Islamic groups tied to al-Qaida invaded Northern Mali and seized two-thirds of the country.

An Oscar-nominated new film titled “Timbuktu” is about the imposition of a brutal¹¹ form of Sharia law imposed by the jihadists targeting women in particular and banning any expression of art.

Musician Fatoumata Diawara is also an actress. And she plays a woman who is whipped for singing.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA: In 2012 in Mali, for six months or more, we didn't — we couldn't play music in Mali. Can you imagine that? I was suffering like in the movie.

JEFFREY BROWN: French and Malian military intervention¹² drove the Islamists out of Timbuktu after 10 excruciating months.

But two years later, much of the north remains¹³ unsafe. And there are regular rebel attacks on U.N. peacekeeping forces. Timbuktu is difficult to visit. With no commercial flights, we reached the city on a U.N. humanitarian¹⁴ plane, landing on a heavily guarded airstrip.

The once thriving city is eerily¹⁵ quiet. More than half its 50,000 residents fled and have yet to return. Its economy has ground to a halt. The prices of staples¹⁶ like gas and grain have soared.

Mayor Halle Ousmane Cisse told us of his traumatized neighbors.

MAYOR HALLE OUSMANE CISSE, Mayor of Timbuktu (through interpreter): They chased a woman into her house. Her husband was there, her kids were there. They beat her in front of her husband without any defense¹⁷, without anything, just to humiliate¹⁸ her.

JEFFREY BROWN: Today, there are signs of life returning to normal. On this sandy square where Islamists once carried out public punishments, children now play.

Timbuktu's grand imam had a terse¹⁹ response when I asked about the jihadists who brutalized his town in the name of religion.

IMAM ABDRAHAMANE BEN ESSAYOUTI (through interpreter): That's their belief. They have their beliefs, and we have a different belief of our own.

JEFFREY BROWN: For all the despair, the poverty, the memories of what happened here, peace talks between the government and rebels are ongoing²⁰ and there is great hope for the future. The concert in Bamako in fact was a big step in that direction.

Billed as the Festival of the Desert in Exile, its organizers and musicians are ready to return to Timbuktu once there's peace.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA: We need — we need the desert. Then we can go to play again.

JEFFREY BROWN: Until then, Fatoumata Diawara is singing for the cause.

FATOUMATA DIAWARA: I don't want to talk the same way, when people talk about Africa crying. No. I will talk about my problems, singing my problems with a lot of hope, because that's Africa.

JEFFREY BROWN: In the meantime, further hope from Timbuktu is coming from the restoration of its culture, its music, of course, but also its historic role as a center of scholarship and learning.

From the West African nation of Mali, I'm Jeffrey Brown for the PBS NewsHour.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And there's a photo gallery from Jeff's trip to Bamako and Timbuktu. You can see that on our home page at PBS.org/NewsHour.

1 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

6 imploring   

恳求的，哀求的

参考例句：

• Those calm, strange eyes could see her imploring face. 那平静的，没有表情的眼睛还能看得到她的乞怜求情的面容。
• She gave him an imploring look. 她以哀求的眼神看着他。

7 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

8 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

11 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

12 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

15 eerily   

adv.引起神秘感或害怕地

参考例句：

• It was nearly mid-night and eerily dark all around her. 夜深了，到处是一片黑黝黝的怪影。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译
• The vast volcanic slope was eerily reminiscent of a lunar landscape. 开阔的火山坡让人心生怪异地联想起月球的地貌。 来自辞典例句

16 staples   

n.（某国的）主要产品( staple的名词复数 )；钉书钉；U 形钉；主要部份v.用钉书钉钉住( staple的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The anvil onto which the staples are pressed was not assemble correctly. 订书机上的铁砧安装错位。 来自辞典例句
• I'm trying to make an analysis of the staples of his talk. 我在试行分析他的谈话的要旨。 来自辞典例句

17 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

18 humiliate   

v.使羞辱，使丢脸[同]disgrace

参考例句：

• What right had they to bully and humiliate people like this?凭什么把人欺侮到这个地步呢？
• They pay me empty compliments which only humiliate me.他们虚情假意地恭维我，这只能使我感到羞辱。

19 terse   

adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的

参考例句：

• Her reply about the matter was terse.她对此事的答复简明扼要。
• The president issued a terse statement denying the charges.总统发表了一份简短的声明，否认那些指控。

20 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。