“This is no amateur operation. Every computer trails a variety inputs: USB multipliers, memory card receivers, and microSD adapters. A virus scan is initiated on each new connection. Each PC is running some version of a copy utility to facilitate the process. The price is a standard 40 ougiya per song, about $0.14; like every market, discounts are available for bulk purchases. The music on the computers is dictated by the owners. Hassaniya music is most often carried by young Maurs, Senegalese Mbalax and folk by Pulaar and Wolof kids. While I’m searching for Hausa film music, I’m directed to the sole Hausa man in the market, a vendor from Niamey. I sit with the vendors, scrolling through the songs on VLC, selecting with a nod or a pass, the files copied to a folder, tallied, and transferred to my USB.”From Sahel Sounds, via Afrocyberpunk.
"Huge and isolated, the Sahel-Saharan Africa remains difficult to control for these poor countries. It is a zone of lawlessness, a hub of drug trafficking, a haven for kidnappers, a crossing point for migrants en route to Europe. In these areas rich in mineral and energy resources, nomadic peoples have the feeling of being abandoned by their governments, which favor ethnic farmers in the South."Googlelated from la-croix.com
That's some kind of unholy trinity of lawlessness, deviant globalisation and street-level ingenuity right there.
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