Ballaké Sissoko - Nan Sira Madi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_J4VUFahKs
A Colors show in 2021.
mali
Mamani Keita – Gagner l’Argent Français
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mamani-keita-gagner-argent-francais/
“Gagner l’argent français” est un morceau qui parle de la difficulté des immigrés des pays du Sud dans les pays d’Europe, quelle que soit la corporation dans laquelle ils travaillent. Leur ressource économique vient principalement des petits boulots, donc des boulots pénibles (ménages, restauration, bâtiments…..). Un message destiné à la jeunesse africaine, selon lequel [...]
Edited 325d ago
Super Djata Band – Fadingna Kouma/Facia (live)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/super-djata-band-live-fadingna-kouma/
The Super Djata Band from Bamako, Mali, led by the late Zani Diabaté (on lead guitar), who died on January 4, 2011, from their 1984 concert in Angoulême, France.
On balafon Zani Diabaté’s late brother Bakari, and singing, the great (but unfortunately also late) Daouda ‘Flani’ Sangaré and Alou Fané, with Idrissa Magassa. Alou Fané […]
Edited 323d ago
Oumou Sangaré - Kun Fe Ko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDvAP0iiclk
From album Worotan in 1996.
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLetv3SCC-r3b3t5KoEtUi5JuvS3TKID_a
Mo DJ – Amadou & Mariam remixed (2008)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mo-dj-amadou-mariam-welcome-mali-remixed/
“Amadou & Mariam remixed” is an “old gift” in 2008 by my friend Mo DJ (Morike Keita).
He sent me this 1+ hour mix of old tracks, for the release of Amadou & Mariam‘s Welcome to Mali. […]
Edited 1y ago
Rail Band – Kibaru (feat. Salif Keita)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/rail-band-kibaru-salif-keita/
From album “Dioba (Belle époque, Vol. 3)” with tracks by Rail Band recorded between 1970-1983.
The first incarnation of the Rail Band was founded in 1970, sponsored by the Ministry of Information and the railway administration. The Malian government had, since the ’60s, been sponsoring cultural events and groups to promote national traditions.
Edited 1y ago
3MA – AnaRouz
https://amf.didiermary.fr/3ma-anarouz-espoir-hope/
3MA = Ballaké Sissoko (Kora), Driss El Maloumi (Oud), Rajery (Valiha)
AnaRouz (Espoir/Hope) is an album released in 2017.
3MA is the meeting of three string-instrument virtuosi, emblematic of their countries in Africa, but also of generous artists who share a musical passion, a reciprocal dialogue and a beautiful friendship. In 2006 when the Malian […]
Edited 112d ago
Tinariwen – Tenere Den
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tinariwen-tenere-den/
From the “Amatssou” album (May 2023) by Tinariwen, this new single “Tenere Den” connects Desert Blues and Country Music. A press release explains that the song “pays homage to the Tuareg revolution in the Kel Adagh region of Mali.” Some people have commented that Tinariwen have always been a country band, albeit a North African […]
Maravillas de Mali – Rendez-vous chez Fatimata
https://amf.didiermary.fr/maravillas-mali-fatimata-mory-kante/
Old tunes can have a 2nd life… Here, “Maravillas de Mali” featuring Mory Kanté in “Rendez-vous chez Fatimata” revisited in 2018. Check the original version!
Before Buena Vista Social Club was conceived, another exemplary – though little-documented – example of pan-continental fusion had taken place, namely Las Maravillas de Mali. The story of [...]
Edited 317d ago
Təlle Talyadt, the new album by Hamouna Isewlan released last Novenber: an ode to the desert mountains.
https://hamouna.bandcamp.com/album/t-lle-talyadt
Adama Yalomba – Live
https://amf.didiermary.fr/adama-yalomba-live-2007/
Adama Yalomba is a singer, composer, and instrumentalist (guitar, n’goni, dan).
He learnt to play the dan (or n’dan) from his father. Adama Yalomba was hailed as the next great Malian superstar after his impressive contribution to the 2003 Festival in the Desert album and his third solo album is fully geared to making those […]
Edited 1y ago
Boubacar Traoré – Duna Ma Yelema
https://amf.didiermary.fr/boubacar-traore-duna-ma-yelema/
Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in Kayes, Mali), also known as “Kar Kar“, is a Malian singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
Duna Ma Yelema (The World Has Not Changed) is an extract from “Je Chanterai pour Toi”, a film by Jacques Sarasin in 2001.
Edited 312d ago
Aratan N’Akalle – Bariz
https://amf.didiermary.fr/aratan-nakalle-bariz/
After fleeing the crisis in North Mali, Aratan N’Akalle (“children of the country”) met in refugee camps in 2012. “Bariz” is a perfect image of the group’s work: a drop of Tamasheq culture which goes beyond the music that these young people want to transmit.
A rhythmic mix of blues and rock, the single sets the […]
Edited 312d ago
Al Bilali Soudan – Djaba
https://amf.didiermary.fr/al-bilali-soudan-djaba/
Al Bilali Soudan are griots from the Tombouctou (Timbuktu) region of Mali. This is a family orchestra of fathers and sons, uncles and cousins, led by Abellow Yattara, a master of the tehardent – the Tamasheq word for the three-stringed n’goni.Yattara has been a prominent figure for over 40 years. He played on Ali Farka […]
Edited 311d ago
Zani Diabaté & le Super Djata Band – Farima
https://amf.didiermary.fr/zani-diabate-super-djata-band-farima/
Zani Diabaté (1947-2011), prominent guitar player in the Super Djata Band, one of the most popular bands from Bamako during the 1980s, joined the Ballet National in 1963, where he sang, danced and played guitar, kora, balafon and percussion.
Connecting Wasulu hunter music, griot praises, Senufo pastoral dances, Fula and Mandingo repertoire [...]
Edited 311d ago
Dee Dee Bridgewater – Un voyage Malien
https://amf.didiermary.fr/dee-dee-bridgewater-voyage-malien/
L’album Red Earth – A Malian Journey de Dee Dee Bridgewater est sorti en 2007, mais un article sur Cheick Tidiane Seck (qui fut au cœur de ce projet) me l’a remis dans l’oreille.
J’ai découvert Dee Dee Bridgewater, comme beaucoup, avec le duo de 1989 “Precious thing” où elle accompagne Ray Charles et l’album […]
Edited 311d ago
Ali Farka Touré “Cherie” Feat. Oumou Sangaré
https://amf.didiermary.fr/ali-farka-toure-cherie-oumou-sangare/
From the posthumous album Voyageur, a collection of previously unheard songs from throughout his illustrious career, “Cherie,” the second single, features Malian diva Oumou Sangaré. The track was recorded in 1995 in London. [...]
Edited 310d ago
Les Amazones d’Afrique – Queens Feat. Rokia Koné
https://amf.didiermary.fr/amazones-afrique-queens-rokia-kone/
Queens Feat. Rokia Koné is a song from Amazones Power, the second studio album by West-African female musical collective Les Amazones d’Afrique, on which familiar voices like Mamani Keïta and Rokia Koné appear alongside a younger generation of singers who represent the exciting new sound of modern Africa.
Edited 1y ago
RIP “le Maestro” Boncana Maïga
https://amf.didiermary.fr/rip-maestro-boncana-maiga/
A great African music master is gone. Boncana Maïga, nicknamed “le Maestro,” passed away on February 28, 2026, in a clinic in Bamako. Composer, arranger, musical director, producer, multi-instrumentalist (mainly flute and saxophone), he co-founded “Las Maravillas de Mali,” in the 60s after travelling to Cuba, where he was sent [...]
Edited 239d ago
Buffet Hotel de la Gare, Bamako
https://amf.didiermary.fr/rail-band-buffet-hotel-gare-bamako/
Buffet Hotel de la Gare Bamako, Mali, 1973: Rail Band, the official orchestra of the Malian state railway, drops their self-titled LP. It’s a relentlessly soulful and hypnotic blend of American funk, jazz horns, and Afro-Cuban music, reflected through centuries-old Mandé tradition and blasted at top volume by some of the continent’s greatest artists. […]
Edited 74d ago
Mah Damba – Jarabi
https://amf.didiermary.fr/mah-damba-jarabi-diva-mali/
“Jarabi”, sung by Mah Damba with Korafola Djeli Moussa Diawara, appears on the compilation “Divas from Mali,” released in 1997.
Just close your eyes…
Listen to the Diva and the Griot…
Edited 109d ago
Cheick Tidiane Seck – Guerrier (2013)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/cheick-tidiane-seck-warrior-guerrier-2013/
Cheick Tidiane Seck is well known across the African music industry, as a composer and arranger, since the 70s, when he played with Super Rail Band. Multi-instrumentalist, he has written for and played with African artists including Fela Kuti, Mory Kanté, Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour and for jazz bands, Wayne Shorter, Carlos Santana, Hank Jones […]
Rokia Traoré – Beautiful Africa
https://amf.didiermary.fr/beautiful-africa-rokia-traore/
From Rokia Traoré‘s eponym album “Beautiful Africa”, her 5th, released in 2013, with Rock influences.
On Beautiful Africa, Malian songwriter and guitar slinger Rokia Traoré unleashes the fiery rocker she’s been nurturing since her teens. On four previous offerings she established herself as a wildly inventive and diverse […]
Edited 295d ago
“And so Les Amazones d’Afrique were born…”
https://amf.didiermary.fr/amazones-afrique-dahomey-women-warriors/
Les Amazones d’Afrique is a collective of female stars including Angélique Kidjo, Mariam Doumbia, Nneka and many more. It started singing out in 2014 against gender inequality in West Africa over a soundtrack of Funk, Blues, Dub and Electro.
The first track they released was “I Play The Kora” from their album [...]
Edited 302d ago
Salif Keita – So Kono
https://amf.didiermary.fr/salif-keita-so-kono/
Nearly six years after declaring his 2018 album, Un Autre Blanc, would be his last recorded album, the legendary singer Salif Keita, now at 75, makes a grand return with So Kono, an acoustic and intimate album, released in April 2025.
"It’s my first time doing an acoustic album, just guitar and voice […]"
Edited 105d ago