CartAPR 16 | FATOUMATA DIAWARA
Apr 16, 2023
Miner Auditorium
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, Maliba.
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 the young vocalist to contribute to Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Red Earth and Malian superstar Oumou Sangaré’s GRAMMY-nominated Seya. So began Diawara’s rapid ascent as one of the brightest lights in African music.
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 front man Damon Albarn’s Africa Express and Gorillaz projects. Her latest album, 2022’s Maliba, is the soundtrack to the Google Arts and Culture Project documenting the preservation of ancient Malian manuscripts saved from destruction at the hands of the militant Islamist group Ansar Dine in 2012. Translated from Bambara as “fountains,” Maliba is a needed call for global unity.
Her latest album, 2022’s Maliba, translated from Bambara as “fountains,” is a needed call for global unity.
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
Other artists TBA
“Fatoumata Diawara established her reputation as one of the finest, most inventive female singers in Mali.
The Guardian
Personnel
Fatoumata Diawara vocals
Other artists TBA
“Fatoumata Diawara established her reputation as one of the finest, most inventive female singers in Mali.
The Guardian
Watch & Listen
Fatoumata Diawara
Maliba
Fatoumata Diawara
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Fatoumata Diawara
Maliba
Fatoumata Diawara
Save It