Some bands score a few hits, some change the face of music and some end up defining a whole era. Les Ambassadeurs did all three.
LES AMBASSADEURS – Mali’s musical revolutionaries
Tag: Bamako
SMOD – Folk? Rap? African? Smart? No doubt!
“Africa needs to speak out right now,” says Ousco calmly over a crackling phone line from Bamako. “Africa must stop crying.” His words are a neat little summary of what African rap is all about: No mincing words or metaphors. No ancient musical traditions that cosy up to power. No decadent ghetto fabulous fantasies. None of that.
OUMOU SANGARE – Tougher than tough
As the most famous Malian woman alive, Oumou Sangare embodies this alluring dichotomy like no one else. She’s the epitome of tough femininity; beautiful, elegant, determined, independent, talented…and, well, hard.
TOUMANI DIABATE: The 71st generation bard
Son of the great Sidiki Diabate, the father of the modern kora, Toumani is 71st in a direct line of griots that stretches back to the reign of the great medieval Emperor Sudjata Keita.
