Listeners swayed as the celebrated Malian duo Amadou and Mariam sang from a stage on the banks of the Niger River at an annual festival coloured this year by political shifts roiling West Africa.

People cannot go to Mali's Dogon region to witness its spectacular ancient culture, so the Dogons brought their dancing, wrestling and architecture to the Sahel nation's capital. The central ...

Another of Mali's festivals -- The Festival in the Desert outside Timbuktu - once attracted thousands of visitors, but it has not been held since 2012, when jihadists entered the ancient city.