African music

Mariaa Siga, 2021 © Stéphane Pineau With a calling card as her first album Asekaw, which she finally has the opportunity to defend on stage, the Senegalese singer Mariaa Siga claims herself and with conviction forms her musical imprint between folk and reggae. Seeing her dance enthusiastically in the audience to the sound of Elida Almeida's Cape Verdean funaná, which performed on the July evening at the Nuits du Sud…

On Dino D'Santago's t-shirt, the five words written immediately set the tone: "Funaná is the new funk." * The formula, effective, came to mind in South Korea in 2014. At the end of a concert in Ulsan, several spectators came to ask him about this music that they wanted to understand. That same year, while playing in Central Park in New York City, he again found that funaná had the same effect on the audience and raised the same questions. "I replied that for me it was a revolutionary way of life, as funk had been…

Five years after their debut, as a miracle, the Daughters traveled to Illighadad around the world to spread their desert blues in combination with women. At Pioneer Works, a record with undeniable charm and power, recorded live in Brooklyn, testifies. A magic, an enchanting energy, woven on a handful of tones, a brilliant meditation inflated by electricity, guitars with circular and infectious songs, irrevocable clapping of the hands, traditional water drums - the tendency - for foundations and…

Dobet Gnahoré punctuates his sentences periodically with this information, as a justification: "you know, I'm a twin." Hard as iron, the 38-year-old Ivorian singer believes in the astrology that governs her life. According to websites that specialize in reading the sky, Gemini symbolizes communication, movement, exchange, curiosity, intelligence. These words may suit him well. "I only live by my intuitions," she adds in her beautiful, curvy voice. If I get up one morning on the wrong foot, if I'm cold sweat, if…

On his new album Djourou, the grasp Ballaké Sissoko invitations lots of company: Vincent Segal, Patrick Messina, Oxmo Puccino, Camille, Piers Faccini, Arthur Teboul, Salif Keita ... Sufficient to open up new horizons, give different colours in his choir , to discover new worlds. To start with, the grasp of the choir Ballaké Sissoko opens his file with Demba Kunda, a protracted solitary meditation on his instrument, a delicate deviation, virtuoso, with necessary notes, of which he alone has the key.…

Listening for the first time to an album by Wasis Diop, poems of speech and sound, is to experience. As with Leonard Cohen, Kate Bush or Joni Mitchell, the feeling of entering a temple. A feeling so rare that each new record represents an event. He has done six in almost thirty years: Hyenor 1992, No Sant ("Your name?") 1994, Toxu ("Moving") 1997, Juddu Bek ("Joy of living") 2007 and Séquences 2014 The latter, a compilation of his many film music, presents his international hit, Everything is Never Quite Enough,…

A new stage threatens the already rich history of Congolese rumba: within a few months, Unesco will examine the file jointly submitted by the authorities in two Congos so that this popular African music becomes part of humanity's intangible heritage and joins reggae among others. or tango. This candidacy, which was drafted during the very serious international colloquium on rumba in March 2020, has not only a symbolic dimension; it also reflects the awareness of a cultural richness to be valued, defended and…

Burkinabé singer Kady Diarra releases an album titled "Burkina Hakili". © Ikandapeye Between Africa and Europe, Kady Diarra adopts the numerous points of her identification that she interprets musically by means of Burkina Hakili, the third album by this Burkinabe singer who has lived in France for nearly 20 years. "It is bizarre to know that everybody can go to sleep throughout the day." When she talks in regards…

Malian artist Anansy Cissé returns with an album called "Anoura". © Karim Diarra In a context that is not conducive to the development of young artists like him, however, due to both the situation in his country and the Covid-19 pandemic, Malian Anansy Cissé is back with Anoura, seven years after his first international album. The musician in his thirties sculptes his electric afro blues with finesse. Taking risks…

Djely Tapa Diarra combines Mandinka music and electro in his first album: "Baroque". © Jypheal for Etallon Group It has been nicknamed the "Morello Cherry in Montreal". Malian singer Djely Tapa Diarra, daughter of the famous Kandia Kouyaté, has made her place in the sun in Quebec music. His first album, Baroque, is at the crossroads of Mandingo music and electro. This fighter summons the rhythms of her country, Mali,…