2023-11-22 20:16:40
Female genital mutilation, peace, political balance, post-feminism, Wassoulou folk, love, quantum physics, dance steps, lyrics in the Bambara language and Wassoulou poetry were all that this enormous artist gave to her hypnotized parishioners at her concert in Jazz Villains. One of those that transform the nights. Thanks teacher.
In the Germanic romantic tradition, the artist is the true priestess, the one appointed by the gods. Artists are those who sing of beauty and give us back (perhaps vomit) the images of horror created by ourselves and our limiting cultures. And comes Fatoumata Diawara to use the gifts granted by her goddesses for a good greater than herself. To those European musicians who fail in their divine commitment (which is why they have been given the gift of creating, not just to feed their egos with likes), the multifaceted Diawara has reminded them of the path. And to us, her audience, a burst of light: love, charisma and well-planted ovaries. In a time when we see with perplexity “artists” kissing the hand of small-time politicians and a lot of hyperbole, of little plants on the balcony and denialism for everything, here is a woman who leads her pack as it should be. The first woman to play the electric guitar solo in Mali, that’s nothing.
And so, guitar in hand, beautifully dressed and made up, supported by beats, lights and applause, she gives herself to her audience of Jazz Villains and lets out comments like this, against female genital mutilation:
The men of my country say that God wanted them to cleanse the woman because a woman is not clean if she keeps her flower. This is not fair. It’s time to stop it. It happens in many places in the world and someone has to talk about it, even if it is taboo. Millions of girls die every year from female genital mutilation, a horrific practice. Girls who live without their flowers, without pleasure. And I am one of those girls. And someone had to talk about this topic. Times are changing and we cannot accept that men continue to treat women as in the Middle Ages. NO! This generation is not like the previous generation; We must adapt our traditions for coming generations, for future ones. Things like female genital mutilation, arranged marriages and violence by women on women… all of that must stop now. Now we are different. With my microphone, I am going to be the first woman, at least in my country, to release a video about this topic because I want every woman in my country and on the African continent… I want these practices to stop now, I want them to receive my message. Although it is too late for us, we still have time to save our daughters. Stop female mutilation, we want our flowers, we need them!
In the mid-19th century, the English explorer Richard Francis Burton observed that Somali women possessed “a cold temperament, the result of natural and artificial causes” and wrote that “Muslims believe that this rite was invented by Sarah, who mutilated Hagar out of jealousy.” , and then Allah ordered her to be circumcised too. Additionally, in Somalia the vulva lips were cut off and sewn with leather thread or horsehair to preserve virginity.
Fatoumata Diawara (Ivory Coast, 1982) is a versatile Malian artist living in Paris. She is actress, dancer, composer y singer. Wassoulou fuses folk with funk jazz and soul. He has collaborated with artists of all kinds such as Malians Oumou Sangaré, Toumani Diabaté or the duo Amadou & Mariam, the Ethiopian Mulatu AstatkeAmericans Bobby Womack y Herbie Hancock (on his album The Imagine Projectwinner of a Grammy Award in 2011), the French Matthew Chedid, Paul McCartney o Roberto Fonseca and the british band Gorillaz (in Sorry).
A woman with a beautiful metallic voice capable of reaching low notes, exuding a hypnotic stage presence, cadence, very owner of that swing that the collective imagination has of African trance, jumping like Masai warrior women, vindictive, brave. Present at her repertoire of the night was the great Fela Kuti, whom she thanked for the legacy of Afrobeat. She spoke of the (un)balance between feminine and masculine power, unbalanced until now,
The woman must be free like the bird,
Fatoumata Diawara.
Diawara does activism through his music with songs like “Mali-Ko” (about the ban on music and musicians imposed by radical Islamists after taking control of northern Mali in 2012, that obsession against culture that they have the fascists). According to Diawara, “without music Mali would no longer be Mali” and to present it to the public he brought together forty artists (Amadou & Mariam, Oumou Sangaré, Bassekou Kouyaté, Toumani Diabaté, Amanar, Afel Boukoum or the Ivorian Tiken Jah Fakoly). The song became an anthem for peace, and was distributed free of charge. “Boloko” (Fenfo, 2018) is a plea against female genital mutilation, and in “Kokoro” she fights for Afro identity and urges young African women to be themselves and stop the tradition of depigmentation. She talks about migration in songs like “Clandestine” where he reflects on the mistake of believing that leaving the country makes Africa develop; She denounces the trafficking and sale of black migrants in Libyan slave markets in “Djonya”, where she reminds us that we all belong to the same human race regardless of our color, ethnicity or religion.
From actress to world music singer
She was born in the Ivory Coast, but at the age of ten, her parents sent her to Bamako to live with an aunt who was an actress. She thus came into contact with the world of acting. Her first role as an actress was in the film Tafé Fanga (Adama Drabo,) which narrates the takeover of women in a Dogon village. In 1999, the film was released Genesis (Cheick Oumar Sissoko), in which Diawara played the female lead. In Paris, she performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, with an adaptation of Antigone directed by Sotigui Kouyaté. She was hired by the Royal de Luxe theater company to Little Chinese tales revised and corrected by the ghostwriters and other productions, with which he toured around the world for six years. She used to sing behind the scenes until the director suggested she do it in front of the public and she began to dedicate herself to music and perform in venues in the city, where the Malian producer and musician Cheikh Tidiane Seck soon realized the great potential of this beautiful soul. .
As a singer, her musical style fuses the folk of the Wassoulou tradition of southern Mali with contemporary styles such as blues, soul, jazz or funk. She participated in the famous album made in collaboration between Malian and Cuban musicians, Afrocubism (2010). Already alone, he achieved international fame with his first album Fatou (2011). In 2012, she participated alongside Emmylou Harris, Rokia Traoré, Oumou Sangare, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Angelique Kidjo, Alicia Keys and others in the project 30 songs / 30 daysin which musicians from all over the world came together to support the Half the Sky movement, thanks to which it was possible to download a song a day during the month of September to support the premiere of the documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Around the World) inspired by the book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. In 2020, she collaborated on Gorillaz’s single “Désolé,” which later appeared on their album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez.
Setlist
“Tolon” “Somaw” “Mogokan” “Mousso Seguen” “Seven” “Dambe” “Yada” “Ntara” “Nsera” “Massa Den” “Blues” “Anisou”
In the living room The Riviera of Madrid, the respectable public, abducted and in love, chanted what they phonetically thought/could, creating a mirror between the artist and his audience. Needless to say, Fatoumata knew that we were singing “anything,” and not precisely his language. And we, too; It didn’t matter, it was the connection that counted. The question that he repeated most during the concert was: “Are you OK, Madrid?” He came to present his third album, My Londonin which he has collaborated with experienced musicians such as Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), Angie Stone or the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonsecaand other younger ones, like Brooklyn Youth ChorusGhanaian rapper M.anifest Nigerian day Yemi Alade, the new voice of afrobeat. Proud of the multiculturalism in her band, she finished with her fist raised, introducing herself shouting: Africa!
An unforgettable night.
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