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Album review
Boubacar Traoré
Mali Denhou
Paris
03/03/2011 -
His rare talent, both live and in the studio, helped turn Boubacar Traoré into a young people’s idol at the time of his country’s independence. Now the unassuming singer and guitarist from Mali unravels his experience on an album entitled Mali Denhou, and opens up the world of African blues.
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You need to live the blues, whether they are American or Bambaran, at the risk of sounding artificial. And it’s hard to imagine a more authentic, natural musician than Baboucar Touré, who at the age of 69 has released Mali Denhou, his eighth album since his artistic renaissance at the end of the 1980s.
The man who woke up his country just after independence with, as his contemporaries are keen to point out, songs played on the national radio, had to put away his sunglasses, leather jacket and electric guitar to assume the kind of family obligations that even a local rocker can’t avoid.
He lived a very modest life back then, now forgotten, but the period left its mark. At the point when Boubacar Traoré tried to make a comeback, the death of his much-loved wife Pierrette dealt a hard blow, and he left for Paris to go and work as a builder.
His playing is imbued with the memory of that time, and the live recording of the eleven tracks that feature on the new CD leaves the scars intact. In Bamako, in the Moffou studios of his compatriot Salif Keita, he invited guest musicians including Vincent Bucher, the French harmonica player often seen playing alongside the Malagasy bluesman Tao Ravao.
As a result, there is a bit more of that Mississippi feeling, although it mainly takes a back seat, so as not to disturb the waters of the wide Senegal river that seem to be flowing under our eyes as we listen to the voice and guitar of Kar Kar.
Mondeou
Playing live at la Cigale in Paris on 4 March
Bertrand Lavaine
Translation : Anne-Marie Harper
08/06/2005 -
