Amazing Overlord Daily

Sofia Coppola, Amanda de Cadenet, Zoe Cassavettes

“I have to tell you, music liberated African youth from the taboo of being with a woman. They were able to get close to each other, which is why I was always invited to these parties. I had to go in order to record these moments, when a young man could dance with a young woman close up. We were not used to it. They liked seeing themselves dancing with a woman, even if she wasn’t their girlfriend. They could tell their friends that they had got her, that she was theirs now… It was a very powerful moment for young Malian men to see themselves dancing with a girl. That didn’t exist before.” 

– Malik Sidibe on why music was so important to Malian youth   

OM, October 1999.