One year into the professional music career of 29-year-old Fatoumata Diawara and it's pretty much unanimously agreed that a new star has been born. It’s more than just the alchemy of her cool, supple voice, her energy and grace, and the manner in which she filters her heritage through jazzy/folk/pop melodies. It’s also that her grounding is pretty solid — promising longevity — and her short life story reads like a fairy tale. Considering her achievements to date (latest of which is making it through to the final five for the “Best African Act” at the MOBO Awards – you, the public, decide the winner, so cast your vote), it’s sounds almost ridiculous to say she's only just begun, but that's the impression you get, especially when you see and hear her perform live.
Kanou, the first track on Fatoumata’s debut album, is about love. Video directed by Laura Borgio and Giorgio Testi. DOWNLOAD Kanou for free
A bit about that fairy tale story: Fatoumata was a child of the stage, dancing in her father’s troupe from a very young age. She stumbled into acting when she was spotted on a film set – her aunt was an actress in the film and she was only there to look after her aunt’s kid – but that one-line part led straight to a heavyweight role in critically-accalimed director Cheik Oumar Sissoko’s La Genèse. Interestingly enough, most of her film and stage roles have had something to do with the struggles of women, which makes sense when one considers that in the Wassoulou culture – of which she is a part – the music is sung by women, yet the culture doesn’t promote the self-determination of women beyond their role in the family. Anyway, she travelled to France to perform the classical Greek role of Antigone on stage, and after the tour returned to Mali to take the lead role in Sia, The Dream of the Python, about a young girl who defies tradition; this is where life starts imitating art. More stage and film roles followed, until Fatoumata found herself having to decide whether to cave in to the demands of tradition by getting married and settling in Mali or choose her own path, having been offered by the director of the renowned theatre company Royale de Luxe. Not as easy a decision as it sounds if you've grown up in a culture that frowns on self-determination for women. She chose self-determination, and ran away from home. Almost literally; as in, the police chased after her as she made her way to the airport! It's like something from a movie.
She toured the world with Royale de Luxe and performed a variety of roles, some of which involved acting, dancing and singing. This is the solid grounding we referred to earlier. And then, thanks to Malian musician and producer Cheick Tidiane Seck, who is always keen to support young artists, Fatoumata’s path crossed that of Dee Dee Bridgewater - one of the rare American artists who pays homage to African artists - and of Oumou Sangaré, the diva of Wassoulou culture with whom she toured and recorded as dancer and backing vocalist; as female role models go in the music business, you can’t ask for much more than those two. The two godmothers passed on some of their stage magic, and gave her the push she needed to start sharing her own feelings in music. She grabbed a guitar and started composing.
Thanks to Oumou, Fatoumata was invited to work on Herbie Hancock Imagine project (which went on to win a Grammy) and the next thing World Circuit came knocking with a record deal. And Fatoumata's second career was in motion, and on it rolls with the concerts and collaborations: Damon Albarn’s Africa Express, contributing vocals to albums by Cheikh Lô, AfroCubism and Orchestra Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, etc.
FATOU
The new album, Fatou, out today, in the week of Mali’s independence, was recorded both in London and Paris, and follows on the heels of the EP Kanou she released in May to give us a taste of what was to come. She got some great musicians for this album: Hilaire Penda, a brilliant bass player from Cameroon who, when not leading his own band, is usually to be found playing with some of the best jazz musicians from the continent; Moh Kouyate, Guinean guitarist and mandingo blues teacher; afrobeat co-creator Tony Allen (who needs no further introduction); the ludicrously inventive Seb Rochford on drums; Toumani Diabaté on kora; and Nigerian Sola Akingbola on percussions (if you’ve listened to any Jamiroquai in the last 15 years you’ve heard Sola at work).
DOWNLOAD Bissa for free below
Fatoumata Diawara - Bissa by World Circuit Records
Bissa is about the difficulty of “choosing” the right husband, especially when tradition imposes one on you. The video was shot in Paris and Bamako, and directed by Boris Persikoff.
Fatoumata is a champion of women's causes, thus the songs on the album relate not only to her own struggle to build a life as an independent woman (art feeding off life, as it should), but also deal with subjects like female genital mutilation, emigration and other sensitive issues. Yet the songs are never bitter, always respectful of the values that are worth holding on to, such as the strong Malian emphasis on tolerance, humility, discretion and respect for elders. It's an album of nuanced solutions for women who experience restrictions in whatever culture they happen to live. Because as much attention is paid to the music itself as to the words, you find yourself swaying to it, regardless of the subject matter. The voice modulations in quarter tones, the harmonies and rhythms, everything's of a piece. Laidback yet powerful, this is an impressive debut from a "new" and very welcome addition to Mali's rich musical landscape.
If you liked the two downloads, check out the rest of the album (iTunes / Amazon), and definitely try to catch Fatoumata live.
TOURING FATOU
Fatou is out today on World Circuit, and Fatoumata is currently on tour, so here are just a few of the dates:
23rd September - Rasa, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
29th - MC Theatre, Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
13th October: Jazz Café, London (UK)
26th - Les Virées Francophones, La Glaciere (France)
27th - De Roma, Antwerp (Belgium)
29th: Honest Jon’s Chop Up, with Damon Albarn, London (UK)
26th November - Theater aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht (The Netherlands)
29th - New Morning, Paris (France)
For all the dates - going up to May 2012 - check World Circuit
Written by Marie-Agnès ‘mab’ BEAU and Siji Jabbar
