ML148465
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Subject: (Interview). Subtitle: Salem Ould Alhadj. Timecode In: 00:06:37. Timecode out: 01:13:09. Notes: History of Timbuktu and Mali; Trans-Saharan trade. Equipment Notes: Decoded MS Stereo. Show: Mali-Professor Log of DAT #:10A Engineer: Leo Date: January 21, 2003 Prof = Salem Ould Alhadj IM = Issa Mohammed WD = Wade Davis CR = Chris Rainier AC = Alex Chadwick CJ = Carolyn Jensen Leo = Leo del Aguila 0:04 Leo says hi and tells me where he is. 0:50 Carolyn says what will be on tape and where crew has been. 1:45 Leo says equipment is: 50 mid, 30 bi-directional mic, Sonosac MX2 pre-amp, Sony TCD-7 recorder, Sony MDR, Sony 506 headphones. Arranges seating. 3:02-5:14 Ambi. Nat Sound. 5:26 interview begins with some talk, but not the interview yet. Issa explains to professor interview is with translation. 6:36 AC Uh, I just want to begin by, uh, we begin all our interviews, if we just ask the professor to say his name and how we spell it and how we should refer to him. Professor what, at what place? 6:51 IM French. 7:14 Prof. Speaks 8:25 IM Okay, he has said a lot of things. Speaks French. So he said his name is Salem Ould Alhadj. And he said he did his studies in Timbuktu. 8:43 Prof. Speaks. 8:47 IM En suite, I mean, after that he went to modern college of Deri. 8:52 Prof. Speaks. 8:56 IM And then, after that, he graduated as a teacher. 9:01 Prof. Speaks. 9:04 IM And after Mali got its independence then he went back to school again. 9:09 Prof. Speaks. 9:13 IM And after that he got a degree as a professor of history. 9:18 Prof. Speaks 9:21 IM And this is, uh, in 1978. 9:24 Prof. Speaks. 9:28 IM And also in 1978 he became the regional director of culture in Timbuktu. 9:34 Prof. Speaks. 9:41 IM Um-hm, and after that in 1986, um, he was one of the, uh, research team, the leading research team, at the Ahmed Baba Center. 9:53 Prof. Speaks. 9:59 IM Um-hm, and, uh, since, uh, January 1997, he has retired. 10:05 Prof. Speaks. 10:10 IM Yeah, and while he's a retired he's still pursuing, you know, his desire, which is really being in Timbuktu and also telling people about Timbuktu. 10:24 Prof. Speaks 10:29 IM Exactly. So he said that, uh, anything that deals, you know, with the city, in terms of, uh, economic situation of the city, the social, the cultural, or even spiritual aspect of the city, um, this is where his desire lies in sharing that and explaining that with the visitors. 10:52 AC A man in the hotel, just someone who I think who works for the hotel just walked by and he summed up the professor much more briefly. He looked at him and said, ¿Oh, he's our memory¿. 11:03 IM Speaks French. 11:12 Prof. Speaks. 11:54 IM Timbuktu is almost like an ocean of knowledge. And to say that one is the memory of Timbuktu is really to, um, to flatter oneself, you see. And, it's an ocean, and he's a student of learning and there is such a vast amount of knowledge in Timbuktu that pretty much those who know something it's almost as if they just knew the size of a drop in the ocean. 12:29 AC I had heard before I came here of the silk route, the spice route, the gold route. I'd never heard of the ink route until I got here. How did that develop? Why did there turn out to be a what they call the ink route, those manuscripts between Timbuktu and other parts of Islam? 12:49 IM French 13:13 Prof. Speaks. 14:35 IM Um, so, he's just reminding us actually about, um, spice road. He said that Timbuktu did trade with India and the spices came to Timbuktu to the Mediterranean, through the Red Sea, crossing our ocean, which is, you know the Sahara, to end up in Timbuktu. And there were some other spices also which came along the Niger River to Timbuktu. Now, the concept of the ink ... (Notes truncated)
Technical information
- Recorder
- SONY TCD-D7
- Microphone
- Sennheiser MKH 30; Sennheiser MKH 50
- Accessories
Archival information
- Cataloged
- 2 Mar 2010 - Ben Brotman
- Digitized
- 2 Mar 2010 - Ben Brotman
- Edited
- 2 Mar 2010 - Ben Brotman