Oh Africa...
It might be the fact that I had my bowl-cut shaved off recently, but even I have to admit that this here semi-regular new bands featurette (as it’s called in our weekly editorial meeting) has become more than a little indie-centric in an “oh look, here's another cool band from America” sort of way. So to rebalance the yin with the yang or whatever, here, in the time honoured tradition of Monty Python, is something completely different.
Born in Cote d’Ivorie, and raised in southern Mali, Fatoumata Diawara moved to France in her teens to pursue a career as an actor. Finding that it wasn’t really working out, she decided to turn her hand to making music a couple of years ago, and hasn’t looked back since. Then again, with a new album, ‘Fatou’, that has the likes of Pitchfork and the Guardian swooning like schoolgirls at a Justin Bieber concert and a CV that includes collaborations with the Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo and Herbie Hancock, why should she? I mean she’s even been on Jools Holland recently, so things have to be going pretty well.
The secret of Diawara’s success is undoubtedly the Wassoulou music that she so deftly re-interprets. Once found across most of Africa’s eastern seaboard, this extremely ancient form of song-writing is believed by some ethnomusicologists to be the main pre-colonial precursor to modern day blues. What Fatoumata has been able to do is incorporate this rich, evocative musical tradition with the gentle, understated indie/jazz of her adopted Europe, creating an atmospheric, 'pan-folk' sound that is forceful, emotional and often inventive without ever having to force it down your throat.
If you're the sort of person who digs on this then good news! She’s in London for a couple of dates this month, playing the Jazz Cafe on the 13th October and appearing at The Barbican on the 29th as part of Honest Jon’s Chop Up. As for the rest of you, don't worry, we’ll probably be back to doing shoegaze by next week..
Fatoumata Diawara by worldconnectionagency
http://fr-fr.facebook.com/pages/Fatoumata-Diawara/151710422621
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