Its emperor Mansa Musa was placed on medieval European maps of Africa with description: "The king is the richest and most noble because his country abounds in gold." Under him, the empire reached its ...

“Oral tradition holds that when the emperor Sundiata overthrew Soumaora Kante ... The original musical instrument, known as the ‘Sosso-Bala,’ survives in Kouyaté’s father’s home village of Niagassola, ...

One of the reasons for this is that the Mali Empire was a notoriously secretive ... "We are a society of oral tradition. Only the djeli knows that history, and the Kouyatés are the original ...