Baba is a Malian from Gao in northern Mali. Songhai music is often linked with American blues, with its slower tempo and pentatonic scales, and with artists such as Ali Farka Touré blurring the line. Baba Salah is one of the most successful singers at home, yet he has been virtually unknown outside of Africa.
Baba Salah is the man in Mali right now. This Songhai musician is creating his own style of guitar playing and is attracting students and fans from around the world. Baba’s music is accessible and musically accomplished with clear roots in the music of the desert and in Baba’s Malian heritage and culture. Baba is an energetic, yet soulful electric guitarist. His silky tenor voice and unique guitar style have made him a huge hit in his home country, where he plays to huge audiences. He is also an entrancing acoustic guitarist whose solo playing is lyrical and moving.
Baba has recently won a number of national and international awards,
including:- “Best New Artiste”, “Most Promising Revelation of the Year”, “Best Group of the Festival au Désert”, “Best Artiste” on Chaîne 2.
Akwaaba’s first compilation, Akwaaba wo Africa, features the track Borey, which you can listen to on fairtilizer.com and buy in iTunes.
About 2 minutes into the video, you’ll recognize the melody from Ahmed’s song Baro, featured on Akwaaba wo Africa.
Ahmed grew up in the griot tradition of poetry and music. A talented multi-instrumentist, he has played the flute, balafon (African xylophone), kora and hand drums for numerous Malian greats, including Toumani Diabaté and Vieux Farka Touré. Today he is still touring with them but also focusing on his own projects, including Riff Mandingue which will come out on Akwaaba.
It gets real hot in Bamako, so a lot of the social life happens at night. Friends like to meet after dinner for baro, to chat, often over shots of attaya. Attaya is a tea patiently prepared from green tea, and served in series of three small shot glasses, bitter, strong then sweet. It’s prepared in a pot right on top of a small pyramide of coals. Malians often offered me a glass of attaya, the inside joke being that a toubab is served the third brew, the sweetest and least bitter – the same usually served to children!
I was able to make my way to the full three rounds, complete with discussions flowing from French to Bambara and back, tales of musicians on the road, of cousins in Paris, and one name that came back often was… Obama!
Lloyd from Eden Roots Liberation introduced me to his friend Jahman, who was born in Cameroun but now resides in Bamako, Mali. He’s a reggae singer, with one album out in Mali. “Waiting for the News”. All songs – half of them dub versions – are written by Jahman, arranged and produced by Manjul. They recorded the entire album at Manjul’s Humble Ark studio in Bamako. Jahman also has a track on Humble Ark’s “United Voices of Africa” compilation.
Through Amsatou and her boss Igo, I was put in touch with one Mali’s most famous kora player, Mr Toumani Diabaté himself! He has record contracts in place and a serious career touring the world, but was happy to hear we’re in touch with his balafon player, Ahmed Fofana.
Toumani took me to his usual sunday afternoon hangout, where we met with his friends. They prepared attaya, west African green tea, which is served like a sweet shot of espresso. The first shot is bitter, the second one is less strong, and the third is sweet.
Listening to Toumani speak, I got the idea that throughout the world, there is a devoted public for this music. But still, access to African music hasn’t yet been truly democratized. There is much experimentation here and plenty new sounds to share.
There are tons of great videos out there sampling Toumani’s talent. I picked this one out of many, because he’s wearing almost the same blue outfit as when we met!
I met with Alou Sangaré yesterday, we had a chat at a bar close to where I’m staying, by the route de Koulikoro. He’s a native of Koutiala, east of Bamako near the Burkinabé border. He is the son of Madou Guitare, an influential member of several 70s Malian orchestras. Alou has been recording music for 12 years, fusing traditional melodies with modernized arrangements, appealing to young Malians while carrying on his father’s legacy.
Today I heard him playing live here in Bamako at a place called the Parc des Princes. The show was great, full of energy, Alou had everyone dancing! Quite a departure from the stereotypical Malian music concert in Europe or the US, where for the most part people sit down the entire time!
