Emancipated and still demanding, the great lady of Wassoulou returns to challenge us on the existential ordeal of her country, the suffering of women, but also of love!
Since 1989, with his poignant song Magnoumako from his first album Moussolou who denounced the fate reserved for African women (arranged marriages, genital mutilation, polygamy), Oumou Sangaré inevitably has the feminist cause at heart.
“The song is still relevant today, it’s our daily reality,” she admits during her interview with The Press. As long as the conditions of women have not changed 100% it will be a struggle, but at least we are seeing an improvement. »
The African queen will be at MTelus on Sunday, after a long absence of 13 years.
The people here are super nice, that’s what impresses me the most. French is spoken there: Quebecers are cool! I even thought about buying a house there!
Oumou Sangaré
While on tour, the 56-year-old African icon recently took two days off in his little house in Baltimore, his American pied-à-terre, residence where the eleven songs of Timbuktuhis ninth album which was released in 2022.
“I have been organizing the Colossal festival for seven years in the Wassoulou region [336 villages recensés, à cheval sur trois pays] which lasts three days and attracts 460,000 people. It’s more and more difficult to manage your growth, especially since it’s happening in the bush! »
“After the festival, I need a break and I’m avoiding France, everyone knows me there!” So I came to hide [dans la région de] New York for two weeks. » It was in 2020 in the middle of a pandemic.
The artist managed to convince Mamadou Doumbia, guitarist who played with Salif Keita, kora and kole n’goni player, this harp from West Africa, to cross the Atlantic during confinement with a clear mission to refine his new songs. A range of compositions which are among his most beautiful sung in the Bambara language; the interplay of voices is hypnotizing.
“Above all, it’s an opportunity to speak positively about the culture of my country. It’s not just war and famine. You know, suffering inspires a lot. I was three months without doing anything, I was bored, I was nostalgic for my country, especially with the chaos that reigned in the country, there was war…”
The incandescent voice of Oumou Sangaré flourishes among the guitars and other traditional instruments from the depths of the ages, her sweet and venomous songs are not watered-down refrains, they are rather motivated by the fusion of this global world.
Delgrès, the blues as reinforcement
Oumou Sangaré was right in recruiting the Frenchman from Guadeloupe Pascal Danaë (Peter Gabriel, Youssou N’Dour, Skye Edwards from Morcheeba), from the Caribbean blues trio Delgrès formed in 2016, a trio which made a stopover at Nuits d’Afrique, precisely, in July of last year.
“The sounds emanating from the Caribbean are a mixture of African sounds. Integrating Pascal into this project was beneficial, the connection was made straight away! »
Since an ocean separated them, the collaboration was possible thanks to exchanges assisted by WeTransfer: the models were returned to Sangaré and Mamadou embellished with Dobro guitars.
PHOTO HOLLY WHITTAKER, PROVIDED BY NUITS D’AFRIQUE
The singer and composer Oumou Sangaré
The blues is important to us Malians since it traveled before taking root in the United States. It was Ali Farka Touré who said: I don’t play blues, I simply play the traditional music of my country. You have to be part of the evolution, but be careful to preserve your own culture.
Oumou Sangaré
On Timbuktu, the blues brings a more carnal consistency, a vibrant intensity. We like to blur the haunting guitar cues here.
Although she was elevated to the rank of Commander of the National Order of Mali and Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic, in addition to having obtained a few Grammy selections – and to have Beyoncé and Jay-Z as fans –, the diva of Mandingo music remains with both feet firmly on the ground.
“It’s the result of a lot of effort and work, you have to love what you do and represent the culture of your country with dignity. And of course, it’s a joy to be known. Beyoncé, she likes my voice and my way of singing. Coming from someone who has a different culture than me and is a big world star to boot, it’s nice. She and Jay-Z totally covered my song Diarabi Nene by creating a sample [pour la chanson Mood for Eva]. »
Accompanied by the same seven French and Malian musicians who appear on the album Mogoya (2017), Oumou Sangaré can’t wait to take to the stages in Montreal.
“The best moment of my life every day is when I’m on stage. You don’t want to disappoint the audience, everyone in the group has stage fright, the stage fright will never end. To remedy this a little, we say a prayer together just before. »
Oumou Sangaré will be at MTelus on April 21 as part of the Nuits d’Afrique festival.
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