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Fatoumata Diawara

Malian singer-songwriter (born 1982)

Summary

Malian singer-songwriter (born 1982)

Field	Value
background	person
name	Fatoumata Diawara
image	Fatoumata Diawara - Festival du Bout du Monde 2012 - 016.jpg
alt	close-up of Fatoumata Diawara wearing a red leather jacket and colourful headwrap, standing onstage, holding an electric guitar, smiling
caption	Diawara performing in 2012
birth_date
birth_place	Ouragahio, Ivory Coast
origin	Mali
instrument
genre
occupation	Musician, actress
years_active	1996–present
label
current_member_of	Lamomali
website

Fatoumata Diawara (, born 21 February 1982) is a Malian singer-songwriter and actress currently living in France.

Diawara began her career as an actress in theatre and in film, including Genesis (1999), Sia, The Dream of the Python (2001) and Timbuktu (2014). She later launched a career in music, collaborating with numerous artists and releasing three studio albums beginning with 2011 debut Fatou. Diawara's music combines traditional Wassoulou with international styles.

Early life

Diawara was born in 1982 in the Ivory Coast to Malian parents. As an adolescent, she was sent back to their native Bamako in Mali to be raised by an aunt. When she was eighteen, Diawara moved to France to pursue acting. She briefly returned to Mali for a film role, but fled back to Paris to avoid being coerced into marriage by her family.

Film and theatre

After moving to France, Diawara appeared in Cheick Oumar Sissoko's 1999 feature film Genesis, Dani Kouyaté's popular 2001 film Sia, le rêve du python, and in the internationally renowned street theatre troupe Royal de Luxe. She also played a leading role in the stage adaptation of the musical Kirikou et Karaba.

Simultaneously with pursuing her musical career, Diawara has continued her cinematic activities, with numerous roles, appearances, and musical input in multiple feature films, including in Timbuktu, which won seven César Award nods and an Academy Award nomination in 2014.

Musical career

Diawara took up the guitar and began composing her own material, writing songs that blend Wassoulou traditions of southern Mali with international influences. She has said that she is "the first female solo electric guitar player in Mali".

Diawara has performed or recorded with Malian and international stars such as Cheick Tidiane Seck, Oumou Sangaré, AfroCubism, Dee Dee Bridgewater (on Red Earth: A Malian Journey), and the Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou. The EP Kanou was released 9 May 2011. She wrote every song on her debut album* Fatou* from World Circuit Records that released in September 2011. (Nonesuch Records released the Kanou EP digitally in North America on 27 September 2011, and the album Fatou on 28 August 2012).

In September 2012, Diawara was featured in a campaign called "30 Songs / 30 Days" to support Half the Sky, a multi-platform media project inspired by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn's book. September 2012 also saw her board the Africa Express Train with Damon Albarn, Rokia Traoré, Baaba Maal, Amadou & Mariam, Nicolas Jaar, and the Noisettes, amongst many others. The show culminated in a 4.5k venue in Kings Cross where Fatoumata performed with Paul McCartney.

Diawara has spent recent years touring the world, with a landmark performance for the English-speaking public at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival. Alongside many European gigs, her schedule has taken her to South America, Asia and Australia, as well as on multiple trips to the US, where in September 2013 she performed as part of the Clinton Global Initiative alongside The Roots in New York. Since mid-2014 she has collaborated with Roberto Fonseca, with numerous live performances and a joint live album, At Home - Live in Marciac, along the way. In 2014 she also performed with Mayra Andrade and Omara Portuondo. February 2015 saw her first live concert as an established international star in Mali, her home country, Festival sur le Niger in Ségou, where she shared the stage once again with her long-time friend and mentor, Oumou Sangaré, Bassekou Kouyate, and many other domestic Malian acts.

Diawara was featured in the 2020 Gorillaz single "Désolé", which later appeared on their album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez. She performed a Tiny Desk home concert in February 2022. Later that year, she published the album Maliba, created as a soundtrack for a Google Arts and Culture project to digitise manuscripts held in Timbuktu. The album was characterised by The Economist as "a wondrous work of cultural preservation from one of the biggest names in contemporary African music".

Style

Noted for her "sensuous voice," Diawara sings primarily in Bambara, the national language of Mali, and builds on the tradition of "songs of advice" from the culture of her ancestral Wassoulou region. In her songs, Diawara has addressed issues such as the pain of emigration; a need for mutual respect; the struggles of African women; life under the rule of religious fundamentalists, and the practice of female circumcision. One song that exemplifies her focus on these topics is "Mali-ko (Peace/La Paix)", a seven-minute song and video that criticises the fundamentalist conquest of Northern Mali and urges unity to quell resentment against the Tuareg minority whom some blamed for abetting the incursion. Diawara said about the song, ""I needed to scream with this song, 'Wake up! We are losing Mali! We are losing our culture, our tradition, our origins, our roots!.

Recognition and awards

She received two nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Best World Music Album for her album Fenfo and Best Dance Recording for "Ultimatum" in which she was featured with the English band Disclosure.

Filmography

Fatoumata Diawara band performing at the World Beat Music festival. Austin, Texas, 2013

1996: Taafe Fanga by Adama Drabo
1999: La Genèse by Cheick Oumar Sissoko: Dina
2002: Sia, le rêve du python by Dani Kouyaté: Sia
2008: Il va pleuvoir sur Conakry, by Cheick Fantamady Camara: Siré
2010: Encourage, by Eleonora Campanella
2010: Ni brune ni blonde, by Abderrahmane Sissako
2011: Les Contes de la Nuit, by Michel Ocelot (voice)
2013: The Africa Express, by Renaud Barret and Florent de La Tulle: Herself
2014: Timbuktu (Le chagrin des oiseaux), by Abderrahmane Sissako
2015: Morbayassa, by Cheick Fantamady Camara: Bella
2016: Mali Blues, by Lutz Gregor: Herself
2019: Yao, by Philippe Godeau: Gloria

Stage performances

1998: Antigone by Sophocles; adapted by Jean-Louis Sagot Duvauroux, production Sotiguy Kouyaté
2002–2008: Royal de Luxe; creator Jean-Luc Courcoult
2007–2008: Kirikou et Karaba: Karaba

Discography

Albums

2011: Fatou (World Circuit/Nonesuch)
2015: At Home - Live in Marciac, Fatoumata Diawara & Roberto Fonseca (Jazz Village)
2018: Fenfo (Something To Say) (Wagram Music/Shanachie Records)
2022: Maliba ("Mali Magic" Soundtrack on Google Arts and Culture) (3ème Bureau/Wagram Music)
2023: London Ko (3ème Bureau/Wagram Music)

Singles and EPs

2011: Kanou EP (World Circuit/Nonesuch)

Collaborations

2009: Featured in the album Léman by Blick Bassy
2010: Co-authoring and featuring in the album Debademba by Debademba
2010: Featured in The Imagine Project by Herbie Hancock
2010: Featured in the album Jamm by Cheikh Lô
2010: Featured in the song "N'fletoun" from the Djekpa La You album by Dobet Gnahoré
2011: Featured in the song "C'est lui ou c'est moi" from the Cotonou Club album by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
2012: Featured in Rocket Juice & the Moon (Honest Jon's - Album)
2012: Featured in the song "Bibisa" from the album Yo by Roberto Fonseca
2012: Featured in the song "Nothin' Can Save Ya" from the album The Bravest Man In The Universe by Bobby Womack
2013: Featured in the song "Surma" from the Sketches of Ethiopia album by Mulatu Astatke
2014: Co-authoring and featured in the song "Timbuktu Fasso" from the Timbuktu soundtrack by Amine Bouhafa
2014: Featured in the song "It's all coming together" by Walter Hus from the soundtrack to feature film N - The Madness of Reason by Peter Krüger
2018: Featured in the song "Ultimatum" by Disclosure
2019: Featured in the song "Cameroon" by Bonaparte (singer)
2020: Featured in the song "Désolé" by Gorillaz
2020: Featured in the song "Douha (Mali Mali)" by Disclosure
2021: Featured in the song "Black Woman" with Lauryn Hill, from the soundtrack to The Harder They Fall
2022: Featured in the song 'Tama' with Barbara Pravi

with Les blayeurs du désert

Via association with Royal de Luxe; several of the songs had been played as accompaniment in Royal de Luxe's 'giant marionettes' street performances throughout the world.

2005: Jules Verne Impact by Les Balayeurs du désert (apast – Album) (Y Danse, Hamleti...)
2007: La Pequeña by Les Balayeurs du désert (Atelier de l'événement – Album) (with an early version of Salimata)

Awards and nominations

Award Ceremony	Year	Work	Category	Result
Berlin Music Video Awards	2023	Nsera	Best Art Director	Win

References

"Fatoumata Diawara: Biografie". Fatoumata Diawara.
Chabasseur, Eglantine. [http://www.rfimusique.com/anglais/musique/articles/112/article_8191.asp "Fatoumata Diawara Reinvented"] {{Webarchive. link. (6 December 2011 , RFI musique, 8 April 2009, accessed 8 June 2011.)
(20 February 2015). "'Timbuktu' Sweeps France's Cesar Awards".
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhwtf], BBC Radio 3, 13 November 2010, accessed 8 June 2011.
June 2020, Rod Brakes05. (5 June 2020). "Fatoumata Diawara: "When I started to play guitar, it resolved everything. It was like healing my soul"".
Cummings, Tim. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/oumou-sangare-barbican-hall-london-1675073.html "Oumou Sangare, Barbican Hall, London"] {{Webarchive. link. (26 December 2017 , ''[[The Independent]]'', 28 April 2009, accessed 8 June 2011.)
Phillips, Glyn. [http://www.worldmusic.co.uk/afrocubism_afrocubism "AfroCubism"] {{Webarchive. link. (6 May 2011 , WorldMusic.co.uk, accessed 8 June 2011.)
Stoudmann, Elisabeth. "Fatoumata Diawara: Nouvelle deesse malienne". ''Vibrations'', June 2011
link. (26 December 2017 , ''[[The Guardian]]'', 24 March 2011, accessed 8 June 2011.)
McNicoll, Tracy. (5 February 2013). "Fatoumata Diawara: A Malian Singer Fights Back Against Islamists".
Denselow, Robin. (15 September 2011). "Fatoumata Diawara: Fatou – review". The Guardian.
"Fatoumata Diawara". Nonesuch.com.
"30 Songs / 30 Days for Half the Sky | Half the Sky".
Jonze, Tim. (8 September 2012). "The African journey is over – but what an amazing ride". The Guardian.
"Past Dates". Bands in Town.
Morgan, Andy. (18 June 2013). "Mali hits Glastonbury: Rokia Traoré, Fatoumata Diawara and more". The Guardian.
"Past Events". Bands in Town.
"2013 Clinton Global Citizen Awards". Clinton Global Initiative.
Pryor, Tom. "Field Report: Festival Sur Le Niger 2015". Afropop Worldwide.
Blistein, Jon. (27 February 2020). "Gorillaz Team With Malian Star Fatoumata Diawara for New Song 'Désolé'".
(3 February 2022). "Fatoumata Diawara: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert".
"[https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/12/01/the-best-albums-of-2022 The best albums of 2022]", ''The Economist'' (1 December 2022).
Forgan, Kat. "Staff Brenda Bilili". "Songlines", July 2011, p. 104-105.
(18 February 2020). "Singer and Guitarist Fatoumata Diawara to Perform in New York City {{!}} World Music Central.org".
(7 December 2018). "61st GRAMMY Awards: Full Nominees & Winners List".
"TIMBUKTU - Festival de Cannes".
Spencer, Neil. (6 May 2023). "Fatoumata Diawara: London Ko review – exuberance rules". The Observer.

Wikipedia Source

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