Youssouf Coulibaly (born 2 January 1993) is a Malian puppet designer,

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

and storyteller from Mali.

Early life

Born into a family of puppeteers, with roots in the

Bamana Bambara or Bambarra may refer to: * Bambara people, an ethnic group, primarily in Mali ** Bambara language, their language, a Manding language ** Bamana Empire, a state that flourished in present-day Mali (1640s–1861) * ''Bambara'' (beetle), a g ...

, he began his initiation in the puppet and masquerade figures at the age of ten as an apprentice to his father. Later he studied art at the

Institut National des Arts de Bamako The Institut National des Arts de Bamako (INA) is a national school for the arts in Bamako, Mali. It was the only school of its kind in Mali until 2004. Originally set up to train Sudanese artisans, it now offers courses in jewellery making and ...

, and puppet theatre at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mézières, France.

Career

In 1980 he formed his own puppet company, the Sogolon Puppet Troupe, and has since become the leading custodian of the Bambara puppetry tradition, the oldest and richest of Africa's surviving puppetry traditions. Coulibaly is the custodian of a vast collection of puppets, many of which have come down to him through his family. Speaking of his passion, Coulibaly said:

I depend on puppets, my family lives only for this. This is my bank, this is my territory, this is my book, this is all my domain and every day that God gives us.

Coulibaly has created a new and dynamic puppet theatre that draws from the ancient traditions of puppetry in West Africa. His performances incorporate traditional folk tales and legends and episodes from Mali's great epics, as well as colonial history and commentary on contemporary life in Mali. The techniques in his performances include hand puppets, rod puppets, marionettes, masks and live music. Sogolon has performed in Europe and the USA. A selection of this puppetry collection was exhibited in Germany, South Africa and USA.

References

Yaya Coulibaly, la passion des marionnettes
by Bintou Fane - 13/06/2009, Le Journal du Mali
Puppetry is the soul of the people of Mali
September 14, 2004, by Dawn Kennedy, Independent Online (South Africa)
Puppeteers in Mali keep traditions alive for new generations

CNTV CNTV may refer to: * China Network Television, a Chinese web-based TV broadcaster * National Television Council (Chile) ( es, Consejo Nacional de Televisión, link=no), a Chilean government agency overseeing television * National Television Commis ...

English web site, 07-10-2012

External links

In pictures: Mali's master puppeteer
BBC
Les marionnettes magiques de Yaya Coulibaly

France3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...

Culturebox Puppeteers Malian artists Bamana people 1959 births Living people 21st-century Malian people {{Africa-artist-stub