Rokia Traore – Live Reviews: Jazz Café, November 19, 2008 Rokia Traore @ the Jazz Cafe. Hail hail Rokia'n'roll! Holy shitsky! Hail hail Rokia'n'roll! Traore's always good value but I went to the Jazz Café tonight expecting to be mesmerised by the cool, smoky elegance that is the latest gorgeous recorded Rokia output on Tchamantché, and instead came away thrilled and gibbering from one of the best high energy spiky, sparky rock gigs I've seen in ages - and not some regrettable lumpy leather-trousered African rock clone either. Rachid Taha or Salif Keita she ain't. When they're in full flight - Rokia skipping and wailing with a red retro electric guitar, amplified ngoni, a brilliant Malian guitarist on black Telecaster who somehow manages to subtly cross-mutate Zani Diabate, Chuck Berry and Shriekback, plus impeccably tasty (French?) bass and drums and her regular empathic backing vocalist – you could toast porcupines on the energy they put out. But best of all, they don't sound like anybody else, and you can't say that about many bands these days. Where did that come from? Incroyable! Ian Anderson www.froots.net Gig of the year! OK, I exaggerate slightly, because I couldn't possibly rate someone who I'd only ever previously considered as a kind of coffee-table African artist on the same level as my own personal Jesus, Tom Waits, but, yes. last night at the Jazz Cafe was, well, something really very special. Up there with Waits at the Edinburgh Playhouse, back in the summer? Let me see if I can decide. Yes, I was moved: moved to dance; moved to not say a word during the quiet bits, and moved to think I've not heard a better band in years. Oh and yes, moved to write all this before I could even go to bed, simply because I was still buzzing after a 90 minute public transport journey home, and I had to get it out of my system. So, the line-up. There was a bass player who had hair like Phil Spector during his court case, except that this guy's white afro was so real that he could spend the whole evening maniacally shaking it, without any risk of it going astray. Then there was the guitarist who was one part Chuck Berry to two parts himself, just fitting in, but stepping things up a gear or three when required. And then there was the rest of the band. The dextrous, smiling drummer, a female backing vocalist who subtly provided occasional harmonies, and a n'goni player (it would seem every African band has to have one, post N'goni Ba) who knocked out Bassekouesque solos when required. They were all at Rokia's command, without Rokia - even for one moment - making this fact obvious. For the opening of the first few numbers this perfect band were astonishingly, heart-stoppingly quiet: strings muted, drums barely touched, symbols merely tickled. But then each song would gradually be coaxed into slowly spreading its wings, and notes would fill in the silences that the audience had miraculously respected. And then the bass would come in, and the audience would be suddenly made aware that they were in the middle of a sinuously funky tune. 'The Man I Love' from Rokia's latest and most adventurous album - was a moving high point. I recall one critic taking particular exception to this daring recording. But why shouldn't this Malian singer sing this jazz standard in a Malian accent, and dress it up in a brand new Malian arrangement? No, Rokia isn't Billi Holiday, and she knows it. Which is why she didn't try to do a generic lounge arrangement and copy Holiday's phrasing. She even mentioned that she'd been torn between trying to do a more authentically English (as she put it) version, or going the African route. She made the right decision. This was an African musician saying 'this is my music too, so why shouldn't I interpret it my way.' Each time Rokia 'put on' a guitar, it almost seemed like the thing would throw her off balance, so hefty were some of these vintage instruments in relation to her relatively slight frame. But then she'd start playing, and immediately put to shame any of our own female singer-songwriters with their fey, rudimentary strumming. How could she play such intricate riffs and sing at the same time? And then - just when I thought I knew were I was - and I was perfectly happy where I was - the concert went up a further gear, and we were suddenly in angular Afrobeat country. These musicians who have been reigned-in for most the set were suddenly being allowed to let go, and Rokia was suddenly indulging in David Byrne-like busts of crazy dancing, and I was suddenly grinning like an idiot. A two hour set seemed to pass in - oh I don't know - 45 minutes? And it was absolutely, bloody brilliant! Yes, I renounce my personal Jesus. This was the gig of the year! Howard Male www.soundoftheworld.com

Album Reviews for Rokia Traore’s Latest Release, Tchamantché METRO - August 22, 2008 The well-travelled background of vocalist/composer/multi-instrumentalist Rokia Traoré has always informed her work; as the daughter of a Malian diplomat, she developed her musical career in both Brussels and Bamako. Her latest album Tchamantché (Nonesuch) further builds on her experience and demonstrates why she has gained global acclaim; her expressions are both exquisitely subtle and highly resonant, backed by the brooding sound of the West African n'goni. The sparse rhythms of Zen build up into an alluring groove, and her distinctive vocal harmonies enrich tracks including Kounandi and her cover of Billie Holiday's The Man I Love. Sleeve note translations pinpoint some haunting themes; Tounka addresses illegal immigration from Africa ('On the road in salt water/ Lies death'). Traoré's delivery alone is exceptionally emotive: modern desert blues at its most elegant. - Arwa Haider The Sun - September 5, 2008 Rokia’s a Malian singer with a difference. The daughter of a diplomat who was posted to the US, Europe and the Middle East, her music represents a fascinating fusion of cultures. Her latest album is underpinned by the spare, warm sound of an old Gretsch guitar and a western pop rhythm section, but the addition of traditional African instruments and a classical harp makes for a rare and beautiful thing. Above these floats Rokia's featherlight vocals, in French, her African dialect and even a bit of English on the bluesy Man I Love. The result is a beguiling work that can claim to be "world music" in the purest sense. - Simon Cosyns The Independent – August 31, 2008 A number of things distinguish Ms Traore from other Malian divas: her voice is intimate rather than epic; she's as interested in innovation as she is in tradition. And – on this her fourth and best album – there's a shift towards minor-key angst-tinged songs while most African music sounds celebratory, even when the lyrics are reporting poverty and injustices. Traore's tunes has similar social concerns but it's the delicate tracery of her unique arrangements, in which Gretsch guitar, n'goni and classical harp discreetly impose themselves on silence, that make this exceptional. – Howard Male The Observer Monthly – September 14, 2008 Rokia Traoré's fourth album, Tchamantché, feels like her best so far, and may be the one to draw in those disbelievers in the Flat Earth Society who defiantly insist that they 'don't listen to world music'. We might even see the singer's face on the front cover of the Wire, in recognition of a true experimentalist. Although she is from Mali, on the western edge of the Sahara, Rokia doesn't have the commanding voice of so many of that country's great singers, who can be heard half a kilometre away. Like those film actors who understand that if they remain motionless the camera will find emotion in their faces, Rokia is a consummate master of the microphone who knows it will hear her whispers, reveal her secrets and convey her intentions. She's a peerless studio singer, and one of the best musical arrangers of her generation. Previously, Rokia used traditional African instruments in unorthodox ways. On Tchamantché, she introduces electric guitars and bass, human beatbox and the American percussionist Steve Shehan, to create a sparse, moody sound of her own that truly defies categorisation. As its title suggests, 'Aimer' is in French, but she doesn't sound like any other French singer I've ever heard. Unlike the three languorous songs that precede it, 'Koronoko' is more urgent and insistent, sung by a veritable vocal group of Rokias, interweaving, overlapping, provoking and answering each other. West Africa already has more than its fair share of great contemporary African artists, and with Tchamantché Rokia Traore shows that she belongs up there with the best. Where Rokia has gone out on an experimental limb. An impressive album representing a significant milestone in a career of an artist whose talent has not yet been fully acknowledged. Her time has come. The Guardian UK – September 5, 2008 Rokia Traore has changed direction once again, with dramatic results. In the five years since her last album, Bowmboi, she has toured the US celebrating the life of Billie Holiday, and written a new work - an African response to the life of Mozart - for the maverick director Peter Sellars. Now comes an intriguing, sophisticated and often intimate set that is quite unlike any of the other great music Mali has produced. Many of the songs are built around her subtle and bluesy electric-guitar work, but also make use of the classical western harp and African ngoni, though no longer the balafon. The result is an exquisitely recorded set that manages to sound contemporary but still distinctively African. It's remarkable mostly because of the quality and range of her singing, which can be quietly slinky and personal, rousing, as well as breathy. The songs are mostly in Bambara, with two in French and one in English - a wildly individual treatment of the Gershwin classic The Man I Love, that starts as a brooding ballad and ends as a scat work-out. Traore has become the experimental diva of Africa. – Robin Denselow.

ROKIA TRAORÉ

NEW ALBUM: TCHAMANTCHÉ WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

‘An intriguing, sophisticated and often intimate set… that manages

to sound contemporary but still distinctively African. Traore has become the experimental diva of Africa.’

Guardian

‘Rokia proves that she is still one of the continent’s finest talents, able to push her musical ideas to the limit without losing the listener

along the way. This is quite simply extraordinary, original music.’ Songlines

‘Moody, absorbing and subtly melodious. Like Youssou N’Dour,

Rokia defies categorisation, continuing to take West African music into areas where tradition is merged into a western pop sound.’

fRoots

‘Traoré is a peerless studio singer, and one of the best musical arrangers of her generation. West Africa already has more than its

fair share of great contemporary African artists, and with Tchamantché Rokia Traoré shows that she belongs up there with

the best.’ Observer Music Monthly – Top 5 Albums of the Month

‘Arguably the most adventurous African artist around strikes gold

with a huge musical leap into the guitar-driven bluesy territory usually reserved for Salif Keita. Terrific.’

Mojo

‘A wonderfully multi-textured album and Traoré’s best yet.’ Jazzwise

‘Traoré’s delivery alone is exceptionally emotive: modern desert

blues at its most elegant.’ Metro

‘The breadth of Rokia Traoré’s artistic vision has emerged fully

formed in her music. Traoré sounds ready to join the big league at last.’

The Times

‘Traoré’s vocals are agile and emotive rather than imposing, her persona that of thoughtful artist rather than grande dame.

Tchamantché is understated to a fault, it songs delivered to murmuring electric guitars and a subdued human beat box. ‘The

Man I Love’ confirms Traoré’s versatility and ability to mix radicalism with tradition.’

Observer

‘Her fourth and best album. It's the delicate tracery of her unique arrangements, in which Gretsch guitar, n'goni and classical harp

discreetly impose themselves on silence, that make this exceptional.

Independent on Sunday

‘This album is stripped down in its textures with guitar, ngoni desert lute and soft percussion behind her gentle caressing voice. It's very

beautiful and very Rokia.’ Evening Standard

‘Underpinned by the spare, warm sound of an old Gretsch guitar and a western pop rhythm section, but the addition of traditional African instruments and a classical harp makes for a rare and

beautiful thing. A beguiling work that can claim to be “world music” in the purest sense.’ The Sun

‘It's the exploratory feel of A Ou Ni Sou, on which Traoré holds forth

exquisitely over a single steel drum, that makes you suspect that her music could elevate Africa's self-esteem more than any amount

of hot air from Bono or Bob Geldof. ‘ Daily Telegraph – CD of the week

‘Tchamantché s songs prickle with thorny instrumentation, throwing

Traoré's voice upfront.’ Financial Times

‘A beguiling journey across borders, Traoré’s group combining the

traditional cadences of the ngoni with the more contemporary sound of a vintage Gretsch guitar.’ Sunday Times

‘A quiet, entrancing treat.’ Hi-Fi Choice

‘Expect to find Tchamantché in the if-you-only-buy-one-world-

music-album-in-2008 category in the rock mags’ end of year polls, and with good reason. Lovely.’

TNT

‘An impressive all-round album that hints at the common ground between the left-side of pop and roots music.’

Manchester Evening News

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OCTOBER 19,2004

WORLDMUSICREVIEW

A Malian GriotWho TreasuresHer Freedoms

By BEN RATUFF

Rokia Traore, the middle-classdaughter of a Malian diplomat, wasborn with the freedom to restructureher country's music, if mostly for thebenefit of the world outside. Becauseshe isn't from the hereditary caste ofgriots, the praise singers of Malianmusic, she performs in concerts, notwedding parties. And over innova-tive turns on the old griot music, herlyrics weigh traditional marriage re-sponsibilities against the freedomspossibl~ for a woman and an artist.

That information prepares you fora certain gentility and self-con-sciousness, a neutral ground of goodtaste. But an excellent performerisn't the prisoner of her biography.At Zankel Hall on Saturday night,Ms. Traore showed a gentle but in-controvertible command of her ma-terial and her performance situation.

Her band's rhythm is sparer, moreaerated and more stately than that ofthe praise songs recorded by tradi-tional female griots, and her voiceisn't as loud and cutting as the well-known ones. She has combined twoinslruments that serve different pur-poses in Malian music and aren'tnonnally heard together: the balato!} I ""'{)i.h>n ,.ylophoPi" ~nd II....1':Y,Oiii, i~ L.anjolike inSllllmenl. :)IW

Stejlhanle Berger for The New York Times

Rokia Traore evoked a slow mood in concert on Saturday night.

RokiaTraoreZankelHall

picked ostinatos on guitar for severalsongs; her electric bassist used an-other guitar at times to play western-ized lead lines.

She stayed in the slow mood of hernew album, "Bowmbo'i" (Nonesuch),and it was the blend of sounds thatimmediately took over the ear: thedry music-box crackle of the twon'gonis; the shallow melodic ring of[he balafon; the soft thump of thecalabash drum. Ms. Traor6's soft,controllf'd ~opr:1no slIrrol1ndpd the,1H1sic,and she was at! lt1ipressive

dancer to her own rhythms, holdingher head still as her body undulated,feet traveling slowly to the left andright, waist moving in a fixed oval.

Eventually the band worked up tolonger instrumental jams. Therewere no virtuosos; the music was alla matter of subtle balances. As thetwo n'goni players, Mamah Diabateand Andra Kouyate, played their in-terlocking lines and the two drum-mers negotiated with the percussivenotes from the balafon, ChristopheMinck traded his hass for an acousticguitar, playing scrubbing effectsthrough a wa!1-'NHhpednl like e!e-ments fmlll nil o!d Curtis Mayfieldrccord.

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g11itarsand the band kicks in, YOllnever see them dance like that.

Many of 'I\'aore's songs werelike minimalist polyrhythmic puz-zles: Musicians created a bed of in-terlocking percussion on calabashand djembe drums, while othersadded flurries of tangy notes onthe balafon, a huge wooden xylo-phone, and n'goni, a kind oflute. Aguitarist contributed slinky, pro-pulsive bass lines or funky wah-

. wah to the mix. The result was of-ten hypnotic.

Sometimes the textures werethick, sweet, and slow, like musi-cal molasses, and Traore undulat-ed as she sang. But in faster num-bers, she often left themicrophone behind and was a vi-sion of sinuous, shimmying,

Music Review----.--

Rokia Traorehas the voice

and the movesBy Rebecca Ostriker

GLOBESTAFF

Rokia Traore just might be a betterdance~than sii7i"ger.

That's not disrespecting her voice.The Paris-based Malian star, whobrought a seven-piece band to the Som-erville Theatre on Friday night, has atender, fluttering vocal style that sheuses to great effect in her music, both inconcert and on he_r:.J.a.t~§t albJillk"D.o-,y.mlmL~.It's a voice of great intimacy

and straightforward charm,Those qualities were evident from

the beginning of her set. Traore took thestage barefoot, dressed in a chic, angu-lar black-and-white ensemble with athigh-high slit in the skirt. Strikinglyat-tractive, with a shaved head, sinewylimbs, and shy smile, she began the lul-labye-like "Kele Mandi," a plea for toler-ance, accompanied only by her acoustic

. guitar and backup singer Sylvia Laube.The way Traore held herself, uprightand serious, she could have been ayoung African Joan Baez.

But when folk singers put down their

Rokia TraoreAt:SomervilleTheatre,FrIdaynight

straight-up fine boogie. She some-how looked sexy and proud at thesame time, and her brilliant smileat such moments was like a hotnoonday sun.

Midway through the set,Traore snapped her fingers tolaunch the band into "Kate Don,"a piece that shows her cosmopoli-tan outlook. "Young people of thecity, smart young girls, this song isfor you," the lyrics say. Though sheuses traditional Malian instru-ments, Traore, 30, was raisedabroad as the daughter of a diplo-mat, and her songs address suchcontemporary concerns as pover-ty, the pitfalls of fame, and wom-en's independence. "I respect myancestors, but tradition is not in-fallible," the song goes. "Let'smake the most of our time, let'scelebrate."

In her encore, Traore thankedthe audience, noting that "For me,singing onstage was a dream thathas come true." Then she nudgedthe fans out of their seats and intothe aisles with a simple request todance. The show ended"with anepic celebration that includedTraore's sung praise for each musi-cian, solos from everyone, an audi-ence sing-along, and a limbo-likedance by Traore and Laube.Though none of the performerslooked spent when they took theirbows, the crowd just might have!been.

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GLOBAL RHYTHMNEW YORK, NY

DECEMBER 2004

. PLANETBUll' : '. .' .'. .

ROKIATRAORE. .

A ModernMalianFacestheChallengesSTORY: Marie Elsie St. Leger

On a perfect summer day-warm, low humidity, with a clear, cloud-less sky-Bokia Traore adjusts her muffler-length scarf and wraps hercotton-linen jacket closer around her petite frame. Weariness cloudsher face on the last day of back-to-back interviews and promotionalappearances, and she's now ensconced in the most air-conditionedspace at Nonesuch's New York offices: But, as the saying goes, busi-ness is business.

And today, the Malian singer's third album, !io~m.bqi(Nonesuch), tops the agenda. A departure from her previous efforts,Bowmbor finds Traoresingingentirelyin Bamanan,one of severallan-guages spoken in Mali.lr~ore: begins by providing the correct pro.nunciation: "bohm-boy."

j'Asanexpressionitmeansnothing,"Traoreasserts,addingthatit's more a sound than a word, part of a larger sayingexpressing adeep sense of parental love and obligation. The word begins a tradi-tional song still sung to newborns by their mothers. Traore sings a bitof the old song. "My mother used to sing it to me," she says, cuttingofTthe lilting tune and breaking the spell. "She doesn't know anymorewhat it means.. Nobody knows."

Traore based her album's title track, a tender song arranged spar.ingly, on the emotion buried deep within the lullaby. "It is a parenttelling thank you to his baby," Traore says. '''Thank you for choosingme. You could have chosen a rich person, a powerful person, but youchose me. I don't have nothing else to give but my love. God bless

you.'.'t's very interesting---41aving a baby is very different in Western

. cultures,"Traorecontinues. "Here, youdecideto haveit, and you haveto take care of it because you decided to have it. At home, having ababy is something decided when you get married. How many childrenyou have or when is not. Whenyou'remarried,ifyou arepregnant,youwill have it. It's a child of God. The baby chooses to come, you don'tdecide it."

The demands for Western-style family planning seem facile toTraore."Generallythere'sa confusionaboutchildren'ssituation con.cerningeconomicalconditionsand the culture,and Africansare pre.sented as irresponsible. There's no parent that doesn't love his child.We have to be careful to understand that these people have a dignity.I'm not happy about how Western countries portray [Africans'j rela-tionships with their children."

Traore's philosophical bent echoes that of Bowmboi. Acousticand alternatively lilting and rhythmically insistent, the collection offersobservations of life as a West African. "Wan;Ia, in terms of lyrics, ismore about whatwe want to do with our lives,"Traoresays."It's alsoabout women who are really fighting and are courageous enough tofight against their situations."

Today's Malian woman is more likely to be educated, Traore says,and therefore expect more than what life offered iust a generation a;;o."I can tell you in Mali, there are many women that have this attitJde,

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GLOBAL RHYTHMNEW YORK, NY

DECEMBER 2004

and they have to be courageous.I'm impre.ssedbythese women.Thesong "Wanita" (the title track (romTraore's second albuml is about

Ih~m.":.., Traoreseemsunawarethatsheherselfbelongsto that group.Born

into an intellectualfamily,the young Rokiaabsorbedthe sights andsounds of Europe, Norlh Africa and the Middle Easl; her family movedohen, keeping up with her father's changing diplomatic assignments.Traorespent a moretypicaladolescence in Bamako,Mali's capital,prac.ticlng'herhip-hopflow even whilelearningmoreorthe musical traditionsof hercountry.ThesoaringvocalsoftraditionalMaliansingingsankin,but Traore'sinterestsremainedfirmlycontemporary."Ican'tdotradi.tional music-it's another(discipline). it's something else," shesays. Hersongwritingandperformancestylecontinueto steerclearof traditionaldress."Whatwedesignedto wearonstageisverymodern.It's imgortantfor the audienceto understandwithout tellingthem that I am not a tra-ditional singer."

In 1996 she introduced two of her own songs, "Finini" andIIMouineissa,ItonanationalMalian musicshow.Bothwerelocalhits andlay the groundwork' for her debut, Mou;nelssa.But being modern-daysingermeant higherproductionvaluesand biggerdemandsonher as arecordingartist. "I didn't haveanytraining," shesaysof workingon herforst album. So she kept it simple oul of necessity, playing guitar andsinging and including very liUle else. .'t was veryspontaneous. It was justsome songs I used to write at home. There weren't very complex arrange-ments. ..

Wan;Ia,releasedIn 2000, was a differentstory.., had toured a lot,I had some voice lessons, and I had also had music theory and song-writing lessons. It was easier for some things technically. But even whenI knewwhat I wanted, I wasn'talwayssurehowto get there. I was think-ing about what people wouldthink,ifn wouldbe successfulor not,whatwould happen to my career. I had all these questions."

One question concerned her reception outside Europe. Her veryforst slates ide concert, at New York's Damrosch Park at Uncoln Center,was well attended by curious critics, world music fans and passersbylooking to waste an early summer ahernoon. Her band was small butexpert. The biggest surprise was her voice-strong, with Western-popinflections and hints of Islamic chants-and that such a voice could

come oul of such a small woman, By the end of her 4s-minute set, shehad the crowd on its feet and her forstreal inkling that maybe, ju.~tmaybe,she had a career.Her last performance In the U.S. that year,at New York'sCelebrate Brooklynfree outdoor concertseries,"was fantastic,"Traore

"The day I think I'm perfect I could stayat home. and becomethe god of alii see."

says.BowmboTboastsa much moreassuredsinger-songwriter,one can-

fodentof her messageand more comfortablewith her talents. '" had timeto be sure of what I'm doing,. Traore asserts. ., learned between Wan;!aand BowmboT that the most important thing is to do what I want and todo it with my heart. I know now that you can plan and do things with yourbest intentions,but youcan neverknow abouttomorrow.Jthink I knewit before, but with BowmboT, I accepted it. BowmboT musically was spiri-tual, very relaxed. I know now that even if it's not a long one, I have acareer."

In the unlikelyevent ofTraore'scareerendingsoon,shewouldhavea solid sendoff in BowmboT.Approached as a spoken-word exercise morethan a songwriting project (Bamanan is not a written language, Traoreexplains), the album echoes with Traore's intellectual zeal and respect forM~1iand its cultures;the songwriterrecruitedseveralgueststo help herrealizeher vision.

On "Manian," a bitter reproach of a hardscrabble life, the CroonsQuartet both sohens the edges and sharpens the cuts with long phrasingand short, energetic bursts. The n'gon;, played beautifully by MamahDiabate on "M'Bifo," providesgentleyet formanchor to Traore'ssupple,tender vocals and lyrics ("I brought you an empty receptacle from the

period of my solitudefYou foiledit with love, you have foiledme with hap-piness"). Griot Ousmane Sacko pairs with his host for the swaying"Mariama," relating a story of beautyand loss ("Thisstorytraveledfromgriot to griot, through time.).

N'goni player Baba Sissoko, teaming with the Kronos Quartet, pro-videsa hauntingbackdropto the confessionsof fearand abidinglovp:ora parent for a child {"Youcould have chosen riches and honor/But youpreferred me, a poor man/You are the most beautiful thing I haveIThemost cherished in this world"'. Sissoko appears again on the spare"Deli" ("I fear lies/Ties are infonite and complex/None can masterIThesentimental maelstrom of human emotions").

The collectionshows off Traore'smaturityand musicalelasticity,but more important, it showsa performer readyfor more cryallenges."[Beingl Rokia Traore means something today," she says. "For me, itmeans beingonstage,going on tour, it means also making a living. Ithink I'm professional-I don't know [ifl'mJ a good one or bad one-butI'm just a professional and I'm trying 10do things as perfectly as I can."She realizes her limitations. "I don't think I'm perfect. The day I think "mperfect I could stay at home and become the god of alii see,. Traore sayswith a sweep of her hand and a laugh. ., have this ability still to look forperfection and know that I'" never get it." ~

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SEPTEMBER 29, 2004

-- ~---_._------_.

A voice that blends the old with the new

ROBERTHIGGINS

Entertainment

It's pOUling in Paris. But R.Qkia T!£.-ore shnlgs off the lousy weather. "AnautUmn and winter makes you appre-ciate summer more," she says philo-sophically from her home in Pans.

The 29-year'-0Id singer, songwriterand performer has, with her first twoalbums, established herself as WestAfrica's most exciting and precociousnew talent. Her third album,Bowmboi, swpasses her previousefroitS."it's a pelfect connectionbetween the roots of traditional

Afric;an music and her modem out-look on the world.

" Traore kicks off her North Ameri-can tow- at URJ Friday at 8 p.rn. in

Edwards Auditorium on the Kingstoncampus. The concert is free, but a $5donation (It the door is suggested. Theconcert is sponsored by the URJDepartment of Housing and Residen-tialllie.

Much of Bowmboiwas recorded inher native Mali in West Africa withnative instruments as backgroundmusic.,Tarore also traveled to SanFrancisco to record the world-class

strings of the Kronos Quartet for thealbum.

"She's a part of a. new generation,"observed music journalist and Africanmusic expert Banning Eyre. "She's of

SEE HIGGINS, C3

Higgins.ContinuedfromPageC'l

the country, but she also spent a lotof time outside it, and it gives her aunique experience."

Initially. she had no intention ofbecoming a professional singer. "Ithappened by chance," she says. Butshe had been composing musicsince she was a teenager - "writ-ing for myself," she Says, "with noidea of becoming profe5l>ional."

" Herfather was a diplomat, so atan early age she saw a lot more ofthe world than her fellow Malians.

Not only did she absorb the cultureof her own capital, Bamako, butshe also 1ived in Belgium, Algeriaand Saudi Arabia.

"I don't think I Would be an artist

if my parents, thanks to travel,were not so open-minded," shesays. "

Travel also afforded her wide

exposure to performing artists."Prominent were America perform-ers like Tma Tumer, Ella Fitzger-aid, Louis Armstrong and Billie .Holiday.

'They made the type of musicthat is now disappearing," shesays. 'They sang with love. It's asinging that d(!inands using adeeper part of yourself."

Traore also feels that travelir%influenC(!<!her decision to becomea musician. "It gave me the feelingthat if I wanted to do it, IaJUld," sheremembers. "At l(!as! I could try."

What does the title of the album," Bowmboi, mean?

She says it's a lullaby she first"heard in Mali.

"In the song, a baby chooseswhen he wants to come and he

also chooses his parents," she con-tinued. 'That's because in Mali,one of the poorest countries inworld, there is little money to planahead. But you love the baby,because loye is the only sure thingyou have."

"To me, the most importantthing about a song is its idea," shecontinues. "

On the album, Traore sings inher native Bambanan tongue. "Ialso sing in French and English,"she says, "but generally I sing inBambanan, because it is a vel)' ,

interestinglanguage." I

On "Bowmboi," Traore makes .use of Malian instruments,includ-ing a calabash harp, known as abolon, and an African lute, called" an'goni.

"I feel more inspired by tradi-tional instruments," she says. "Iknow their (musical) colors."

Several songs on "Bowmboi"deal with women in modemAfrican society. '''We have lots offreedoms otlr mothers didn't

have." she says. "But woinen haveto be strong to fight for their rights.You need courage. So a lot of mysongs pay tribute to strongwomen." "

" Traore st<Irted singing lessons at12, and made her debut as a back-up artist with a rap group. .

Her voice sets her apart from theGriottes arid Wassoulou who are

Mali's best known women singers.Traore is soft and lyrical withmoments of jazz in her styling.

"I'm not based on pow~r and"volume," she says. "I'm looking fora totally different direction."