Ancient To The Future: Fatoumata Diawara At Carnegie Hall

Fatoumata Diawara was a featured performer at the Journey into Afrofuturism Festival, organized by Carnegie Hall on Friday, March 4. It is a (NY) city-wide festival "where music, visual arts, science fiction, and technology intersect to imagine alternate realities and a liberated future viewed through the lens of Black cultures." Chimurenga Renaissance, a Zimbabwean-centered hip-hop collective, kicked off a great evening of music at a sold-out Zankel Hall, the second of Carnegie Hall's three-concert venues with a seating capacity of 600. Diawara was born in the Côte d'Ivoire to Malian parents, raised in Mali, and moved to France at 19, where she continues to reside. Mali is a West African country with a remarkable cultural history and is home to some of the world's greatest music recorded over the last 25 years. Sadly, it is also a war-torn country for more than a decade. The northern part of the country was overrun by radical Islamist rebels who banned music in that territory, causing an exodus or relocation of many musicians. Diawara is one of four featured artists in the excellent documentary Mali Blues (Icarus Films, 2017), which celebrates Mali's proud and enduring traditions amidst all the strife. One of the narratives recounts Diawara's triumphant return to Mali after a lengthy period of performing her first ever concert in her native country. She had released two exceptional albums prior to the concert, and a third one, Maliba (Google Arts and Culture), in March 2022. Diawara has collaborated with many artists in the rock, jazz, and African music world, including Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn, Herbie Hancock, Roberto Fonseca, and Toumani Diabate, to name just a few. In addition to being a singer-songwriter, Diawara is also an acclaimed actress and activist.

For this concert Diawara was accompanied by a rock-solid rhythm section, including Wayne Matthews on drums, Sam Dickey on bass, and Victor Campbell on keyboard. Also accompanying her was the excellent and understated guitarist Yacouba Kone who played with Diawara on her last album. Diawara took up guitar in her mid-20s and has become an extremely accomplished player. In interviews, she has talked about how her guitar playing has been essential in her evolution as an artist. Diawara played some sparkling lead guitar and fiery solos. She exuded such an unbridled joy when she played. Her vocals and music are strongly rooted in Mali's musical traditions but sound very familiar to western ears. She has a gorgeous voice that has been aptly described as sensuous. Diawara is a remarkably captivating performer, whether on screen, in her albums or in live performance. This event was no exception.

The set drew mostly from her 2018 album Fenfo . It opened with "Kokoro," a mournful African folk-blues that spoke to the importance for Africans to maintain their identity and preserve their cultural heritage. Another highlight was "Kanou Dan Yen," a beautiful song that perfectly fuses traditional Malian sounds and a more western pop sensibility. "Negue Negue" was an Afrobeat rocker inspired by the late Fela Kuti. Diawara paid tribute to Fela as a towering figure in African music whose immense influence spans well beyond his native Nigeria. All the songs in the set were her own compositions and sung in Bambara, her native tongue, except for an extended and raucous version of "Sinnerman," an African American spiritual made famous by Nina Simone, one of Diawara's heroes. "Sowa" was the only song featured from her debut album Fatou a mid-tempo blues that was a plea to mothers not to give their children up for adoption. It was a vehicle for some of her most stunning vocals. During the set, Diawara talked about her concerns for children in her homeland and worldwide, a consistent theme in her work and activism. She also spoke eloquently of the need for women to assert themselves and become leaders, as well as our common humanity. "We are all migrants." Diawara is an incredibly dynamic and engaging performer who deftly works the crowd. She was received with great enthusiasm by this rather diverse audience. For the encore, she invited some 20 people in the audience to come up on stage and dance. It was a fitting end to a magnificent performance and a joyous event.