Timbuktu in Bamako

Today was syttende maj , or the Norwegian National Day, celebrated tonight in a style far removed from the fjords of Norway  at Norwegian Consul Alida Boye’s house in Bamako where  the luminaries of Timbuktu’s manuscript world  had congregated.  Here they are all getting stuck into a whole roast sheep stuffed with cous cous  a la Timbuktu: centre top Ben Essayouti, second to the right of him Adel Wahid Haidara and picture bottom right Abdel Kader Haidara, all known to readers of this journal through their work at various times as consultants with the Djenne Manuscript Library.

Alida Boye has worked a lot with the manuscripts of Timbuktu and written a beautifully illustrated and conceived book called ‘ The Hidden Treasures of Timbuktu’ with John Hunwick,  the  distinguished American Arabist and scholar who put Timbuktu on the map and opened the world’s eyes to the fact that sub-Saharan West Africa does indeed have a written past – something previously ignored.