The Korean Alan Lomax

Well things continue at a hair-raising speed here: since last time I have made a lightning visit to Bamako where I met the documentary team. The journey back to Djenné yesterday was made in the comfort of their air conditioned 4X4, in sharp contrast to the journey down which was made on the Djenné bus with all its associated hardships. This time however, it was a comfort to travel with a great Korean couple who had stayed one night at the hotel.
The man turned out to be something of a Korean national treasure according to his wife Kyunga. He was called Mr. Sangil Choi and just like the legendary American scholar  Alan Lomax who travelled and recorded American folk music in the forties and fifties building up a sound archive now housed at the Library of Congress, Mr Choi had spent his life recording Korean folk music. He and his wife were now travelling in Africa, always using public transport and looking for music, slowly winding their way up to Morocco through Mauritania. I reflected how many such extraordinary people I have been fortunate to meet  during the time of the hotel.