APR 3-4 | FATOUMATA DIAWARA
Apr 03 - Apr 04, 2024
Herbst Theatre
PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production
Please visit our calendar for all upcoming SFJAZZ shows.
Original show description below.
Raised with the wassoulou song style considered one of the main ancestors of American blues, Malian singer, songwriter, and actress Fatoumata Diawara is “one of the most dynamic voices in Afropop” (PopMatters), mixing African traditions with high-energy doses of funk. She performs music from her career including tracks from her latest release, London Ko.
Diawara first gained notice as an actress at age 17 with a major role in acclaimed Malian director Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s 1999 film La Genèse, and as a member of Paris’ iconic Royal de Luxe street theater company, she began singing backstage to pass the time between scenes. A chance meeting with musician and arranger Cheick Tidiane Seck led to her appearances on Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Red Earth and Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s GRAMMY-nominated Seya.
Her 2011 debut release, Fatou, received a GRAMMY nomination and topped end-of-year polls in The Times and Mojo, and she has lent her clarion voice to Herbie Hancock’s GRAMMY-winning Imagine Project and Blur frontman Damon Albarn’s Africa Express and Gorillaz projects.
Her latest album, 2023’s London Ko, was co-produced with Albarn and balances the wassoulou tradition with stylistic embrace of the blues, pop, and R&B. Featuring guest appearances by Albarn, vocalist Angie Stone, and Cuban piano great Roberto Fonseca, London Ko is a defiant call for women’s equality and global responsibility.
“A powerful new voice on the international music scene” (PopMatters), Malian singer and songwriter Diawara mixes African musical traditions with high-energy doses of funk.
There’s sorrow, longing, worry, sympathy and determination in Ms. Diawara’s voice.
The New York Times
There’s sorrow, longing, worry, sympathy and determination in Ms. Diawara’s voice.
The New York Times
Personnel
Fatoumata Diawara vocals, guitar
Others TBA
African blues performed griot style, but somehow filtered through a '70s time warp
The Village Voice
Personnel
Fatoumata Diawara vocals, guitar
Others TBA
African blues performed griot style, but somehow filtered through a '70s time warp
The Village Voice
Watch & Listen
Fatoumata Diawara
Blues
Fatoumata Diawara
Nsera
Fatoumata Diawara
Blues
Fatoumata Diawara
Nsera