The Malian singer/songwriter and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara emerged in 2011 with the EP Kanou and quickly after came her debut and breakthrough release Fatou (Nonesuch, World Circuit). Fatou, which features Diawara's self-penned songs and electric guitar playing (which she claims was a first for a Malian woman) catapulted her to international fame. She has a unique sound, created out of her Southern Malian wassollou roots and Western music she learned growing up in Paris.
In 2012, she teamed up with Damon Albarn and appeared on his Africa Express Tour, and the two musicians then collaborated on Albarn's Gorillaz 2020 release Desole. They have teamed up again for her new album, her fifth, London Ko, which releases this week on the Wagram Music label. Albarn co-wrote six songs on the new 14-track album, which features a host of interesting collaborators, notably, the Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca on Blues, and Nigerian pop star Yemi Alade on the dancefloor filler Tolon. The official single and MV Nsera features Albarn and some amazing, striking Afro-futurist costumes and images, which reminded me of the work of contemporary African photographers like Aida Muluneh and Wilfred Ukpong.
Diawara has collaborated on albums and singles with a wide range of artists, from (my favourite African band) Orchestra Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou and Roberto Fonseca to Ethiopian jazz giant Mulatu Astatke and Bobby Womack. She is also an accomplished actor with many screen credits (see her performance in Lutz Gregor's Mali Blues. Highly recommended).
