Lyon museum hosts exhibition on Mali's Sogo bo heritage

The Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France, opened an exhibition to showcase the Sogo bo tradition from Mali.

This centuries-old cultural practice involves a performance of music, dance, and puppets that tells community stories. The exhibition features 110 objects, including items donated by Sonia and Albert Loeb. Designers from the Lyon Opera also recreated animal characters from archival footage using fabric and plant fibers. The Sogo bo tradition originated among the Bozo people along the Niger River in central-western Mali.

It serves a vital role in village life, where young people learn to craft and operate masks while women perform the songs. The exhibition is organized into two sections to reflect the village and the river environments where the tradition thrives. While the tradition has been on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2014, local communities face challenges in maintaining it.

Insecurity, economic hardship, and environmental changes currently make it difficult for people in Mali to organize the festivals necessary to keep the heritage alive.