Fatoumata Diawara - Fatou - 2011

 

Fatou is the first album and the name by which Fatoumata Diawara is known, an actress and singer from Mali living in Paris, sponsored by the prestigious Alí Farka Touré and Oumou Sangaré label, World Circuit. Her magnificent voice acts as a great protagonist, with her own songs that convey folk melancholy and pop sound that naturally integrates ngoni or pumpkin.

Born in Ivory Coast to a Malian family linked to the world of art and dance in the mythical Wassoulou region of western Mali, Fatou became well known for her participation in films that have been very popular in western Mali. Africa (Mali, Guinea, Senegal and Burkina Faso). She also began in the artistic world participating in various theatrical productions, in her country and in France. In Paris, she Fatoumata sang in bars, where she was discovered by Cheikh Tidiane Seck, a magnificent composer and producer (of artists such as Salif Keita, Dee Dee Bridgewater or Oumou Sangaré). With the help of this popular Malian keyboardist and composer, she returns to Bamako and participates in various musical projects: both on the album Seya by the wonderful Oumou Sangaré and on the album by the Afro-American jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgwater, Red Earth. Her silky contemporary voice is also on recent records by Cheikh Lô, Afrocubism and Herbie Hancock.

After learning to play the guitar (encouraged by Rokia Traoré) and composing a good collection of songs, she made her debut for the prestigious British label World Circuit by the very hand of Oumou Sangaré, to whom she lovingly dedicates "Makoun Oumou", a guide and a role model when it comes to women's liberation ideals.

With the production of magician Nick Gold, she records twelve pieces in which her crystalline voice stands out. In her mix of styles, "Kanou" exudes sweetness with her message of the need for love as a restorative function of loneliness, the same tenderness that she shows to talk about the drama of emigration in "Clandestin". "Boloko" is a plea against female cutting; in "Bakonoba", it is an Afro-jazz electric guitar that surrounds a reflection on how cruel words are sometimes; On the other hand, in "Sowa", "Sonkolon" and "Alama", it is the cry of her deep voice that flies over a recollection that aims to encourage mothers not to abandon their children and highlight the suffering of the and the orphans, or the one that she had to live to change her destiny. Nothing escapes the dissection of an outstanding voice that certifies a magnificent album. 

Tracks list:

01. Kanou

02. Sowa

03. Bakonoba

04. Kèlè

05. Makoun Oumou

06. Sonkolon

07. Alama

08. Bissa

09. Mousso

10. Wililé

11. Boloko

12. Clandestin