If you ban people’s music in Mali or in the whole world… it’s like cutting people’s oxygen off. Because music is like oxygen for human beings,” says musician Khaira Arby in They Will Have to Kill Us First. Extremists took control of Northern Mali in 2012, imposing sharia law and strictly prohibiting all forms of music. Since playing music was punishable by death, most musicians moved south to refugee camps in the West African country’s capital city, Bamako. They Will Have to Kill Us First centers on the exiled musicians who strive to return to their homeland and bring music back to their people.
Johanna Schwartz’s documentary reveals Malians’ sanguine resistance against oppression—for them, music is not optional. It’s a critical mode of communication and a signifier of a thriving community. These musicians take their role as arbiters of heritage seriously, and they see it as their duty to return music to Mali…