Music for the day - Issa Bagayogo

There are many musicians from Mali that have delighted over the years but when it comes to a great voice (male), two men stand out - one is Boubacar Traoré and then among the younger generation, it is undoubtedly Issa Bagayogo.

Here then are two tracks from him; the first one is a recent find.

Issa Bagayogo - Namadjidja, from his album, Mali Koura.


 

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And the second one is one that makes me want to get up and dance every time I hear it! ;-)

Issa Bagayogo - Nogo,  from his album, Timbuktu.

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Music for the day: Ali Farka Toure's Savane

Music for this Sunday morning: 

Some day I may be able to gather the words of all that this song and Ali Farka Toure's music means to me but for now, offered without comment is a song that I often listen to when I don't feel too good and one needs something soul-warming. Just that kind of a day ....

Note: Savane is the title song in Malian musician Ali Farka Touré's final solo album, released posthumously.

Music for the day: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba

I have been a fan of music from Mali for the last half a dozen years or so and so today, presenting one of the great current musicians from Mali. I saw him with his band, Ngoni Ba, live in the Boston area a few years ago and it was a great concert -- hope I'll see him live again some day but until there are videos via youtube to enjoy!

I read that Bassekou Kouyate is celebrating the release of his album, 'Jama ko' with the launch of this brand new video 'Jama ko'. Given the civil war in Mali and related violence and tensions, this video is a "cry for tolerance and peace. Bassekou invited the Christian community, Muslims, Touareg friends like Manny Ansar (head of the Festival Au Desert in Essakane, which I hope to go to some day in my lifetime), the tailor from next door, and many other people to celebrate the open spirit of Mali. Bassekou launched the video on TV in Bamako on Africable and ORTM to spread the message."

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You can find many other videos online for this group but I'll just add one more, one of the songs that gave me the most joy at the aforementioned live show. His wife, Amy Sacko, has such a great voice!

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Songlines Music Awards

As those following my music blog posts may know, I am a big fan of music from Mali. And it seems two Malian singers - Rokia Traore (see my blog post for some videos) and the blind husband-wife pair Amadou-Mariam (youtube video) have won major awards at the inaugural Songlines World Music Awards.

More details here. Seems ..

The Songlines Music Awards were established to continue the tradition of the now-defunct BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music, recognizing outstanding talent in world music.

Also, note the "newcomer" award winner -- an Indian musician, who I had not heard of before today.

Best Artist - Rokia Traoré   

Best Group - Amadou and Mariam  

Cross-cultural Collaboration - Jah Wobble & The Chinese Dub Orchestra 

Newcomer - Kiran Ahluwalia

To listen to Kiran's songs, go to her website. It starts streaming few of her songs, in full. On Twitter, she mentions recent collaborations for fusion with Italian aria and Hip-Hop. Interesting! Will need to explore further.

Oumou Sangare - Seya

Aah... BBC updates about a new album, Seya by Oumou Sangare, the Malian "song bird"

It's been too long since any album proper from the ‘songbird of Wassoulou’. Although the compilation Oumou (2004) included previously unreleased material, (mostly cherry-picked from her Mali-only 2001 release Laban, and reworked), her last internationally promoted record was Worotan in 1996. Thankfully Seya doesn't disappoint – it's the best thing since her marvellous 1991 debut Moussoulou, which is one of the all time great treasures of Malian music. Seya traverses a wide range of moods, from confident and celebratory to more austere, stripped down meditations. And while few artists give as good a groove as Oumou, the latter are often the best settings to appreciate her extraordinary voice; if Aretha Franklin had grown up in Bamako, she might have sounded something like this.

Here's a taste of the music...

 

Now go buy the album, Seya by Oumou Sangare [World Circuit /Released: 23 February 2009 / Catalogue number: WCD 081]

Previous post about Oumou here + a video here of her with the legendary Ali Farka Toure @ the Festival of Deserts in Essakane

Rokia Traore

What an amazing voice the Malian singer Rokia Traore has...







Some day I hope to hear her live!

Update: Just realized I have already posted the above videos earlier - here and here! I suppose each time I hear her, I get so enthralled... I feel the urge to share!!

Ngoni time

The ngoni is a plucked lute-like stringed instrument from West Africa. Hear a beautiful demonstration of the same, as played by Mama Sissoko first.



And next Bassekou Kouyate on the ngoni & his band, Ngoni Ba ("the big ngoni"), which is "a quartet of ngoni players—treble, mid range and bass—augmented by Kouyate's wife, Ami Sacko, on lead vocals, and two percussionists."



Incidentally, Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba won the 2008 Album of the Year (for their debut album - Segu Blue) & African Artist of the Year at the BBC3 Awards for World Music earlier this year. Apparently...

One of the undisputed highlights of this year's rain-sodden Womad festival in Wiltshire was a midnight feast of sound from Mali's Bassekou Kouyate and his group Ngoni ba. Accompanied by two percussionists and his gracefully dancing wife Amy Sacko on vocals, Kouyate led his immaculately attired group on the ngoni, a tiny, delicate-looking instrument that punches above its weight with sharp, scrabbling and plunking notes. The other three musicians also played ngonis of various sizes, trading piquant riffs and booming bass lines with him in a fascinating approximation of lead, rhythm and bass guitar. Even the rain couldn't break the spell they cast.

How I wish I could be at Womad or even the Desert Festival in Mali one of these days!

Leave you with one more live performance by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba at Rostock on the 7th of Jun.