Spot On Mali Music 3 is on!
A great Friday night at Maison des Jeunes where everything was perfect. Showing us, that the hard work bears fruit and that Mali really like the event and the idea of a window for new talent of this great nation.
The artists of the night were:
CAMM, RAMA and RAM - the 3 schools from Mali and Denmark - did a tremendous opening, where the students showed that the skills aquired by Danish, Irish, Finish and Chilean students in Mali and of Malian students in Denmark has lead to a mutual sense of family and a music, that made the audience at Maison des Jeunes applaud jubilantly. A perfect start.
And then the artists flowed, guided by the MC, Mory Toure, who knows his stuff and also can be seen at Radio Libre, the club of reggae great, Tiken Jah Fakoly.
Mama Diakité is an amazing rustic singer from Wassoulou background. That is the background, which also includes superstars like Oumou Sangaré (who visited Spot On Mali Music last year) and Nahawa Doumbia. With the kamelen'goni taking us into the world of the hunters, Mama led the party and the fans went crazy.
Pamela Badjogo is a jazz singer from Gabon, who since a number of years has been a Malian citizen. Tryly gifted she was discovered by the great Cheikh Tidiane Seck, our good friend, who led last year's jam session and who is an immense inspiration for us as well as the young of Mali. Pamela Badjogo took us down with her fine jazzy vocal making a performance, which underlined the great potential, which many see in her. Look out for Pamela Badjogo.
The Pre-Spot trials has been a success this year, and the talent, with the Songhai singer, Aba Djiteye and the rapper, Palmer, emerging from the vast talent of I.N.A., the formative school of the arts in the middle of Bagadadji, the center of Bamako. And from CAMM the singer Charles Niaré, who has a husky voice and great charm. He was part of last year's CAMM All Stars, but is now a man entirely on his own. Great stuff, "Charley"! And tonight the other talent from CAMM will play: a group of no less than four koras led by Aliou Diarra, also partly educated at the conservatory in Denmark, who merges western music theroy with the Manding tradition. And with a great singer as well. The band is named Manding Color.
Kankou Kouyaté is the niece of the world famous n'goni virtuoso, Bassekou Kouyaté, and has a rare voice, which is in both the range of alto and soprano. Having all the qualities of a traditional djelimousoulou, she also does modern stuff, and took us by storm by transforming a wellknown song by Salif Keita. Also she has in the band, called Gambari Band, her father, Fousseyni Kouyaté, as well as the new virtuoso of the n'goni, Mamadou "Barou" Kouyaté. They gave an outstanding performance and must be ready for the world outside of Mali.
Finally the star of Songhai Music, Ami Wassidjé, gave a great performance, where the guitar played Hendrix style behind the neck could make snakes dance, while the diva herself sang with force. Ami is my favorite female singer of songhai music, perhaps even surpassing the great Khaira Arby!!!
A great night at Maison des Jeunes. And we go on tonight.
We'll keep you posted.
