REGISTER     LOGIN  
OK
ALL ARTISTS

Africa  > Mali > Madina N'Diaye



// Madina N'Diaye

VIDEOSPORTRAITREVIEWSINTERVIEWSREPORTSMP3PHOTOSAGENDA
Madina N'Diaye
© Daniel Brown

Bimo Gow


Bimo Gow The ten tracks on “Bimo Gow” were another welcome surprise from Mali in late 2004. They reflect N’Diaye’s commitment to help her fellow-citizens, women, Africans and, in general, all those discriminated against in this beleaguered world. The lyrics are simple and heavily steeped in the 40-year-old’s personal experiences of chauvinism and bigotry. “They think that women are incapable of doing all the things they do,” sings N’Diaye in “Moussow”, “But I, Madina, play the Kora...Glory to women, glory to the women of Mali.”
N’Diaye was persuaded to embark on a musical career by the meetings with the likes of Salif Keita, Alpha Blondy and Nayanka Bell in the 1980s.But it was the exchange with kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté in 1990 that proved to be a turning-point. The fellow-Malian offered Madina her first kora and convinced her to devote herself entirely to an artistic career. Five years later, she met the French band Lo’Jo which prompted her to broaden her playing to include the kamelen’goni, a lute that brought out the bluesy rhythms N’Diaye was seeking. In 2000, she created a five-person band and a year later her horizons were further broadened by the meeting with Ananda Garcia. He is the French founder of “Dinlébatan”, an association which aims to develop the professional careers of traditional musicians in developing countries.
Despite the brutal loss of her sight in 2003, N’Diaye continued to compose songs steeped in a social engagement she has had since she was a child. “There are so many injustices I have witnessed in my life,” she explained in a December 2004 interview with Mondomix. “And I believe that addressing them through music is the best way to mobilise people. They have learnt to respect my outspoken nature, even if I sometimes shock them with my demands for change.”
These cries from the heart are perhaps best expressed in the song “Gouma” or “Bird”. The enthralling balafon playing by Lamine Traore presses home N’Diaye’s homage to the role of the artist as a depository of Mali’s rich cultural heritage. The themes of dignity, honour and virtue are brandished unremittingly by this courageous woman in her first album. In “Tounga”, or “Immigrant” she lashes out at the humiliating treatment of one of France’s biggest migrant communities: “The expulsions via charter flights and brutal force are not worthy of a democratic government,” she wails, “It is deplorable to see that a great country like France, defender of human rights, should behave in such a way against Africans whose only ‘crime’ is to be poor…a poverty that is maintained, incidentally, by our former colonisers.”
While N’Diaye’s voice is certainly not to be compared to the great traditional and neo-traditional singers from Mali, one cannot but be moved by its sincerity and passion. Madina compensates a certain flatness in delivery by the slickness of her kora-plucking and the density of her lyrics.

Daniel Brown



  

Comments  

Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Stumble It Email This More...





// ALSO

ADS



Les blogs
Mondomix

see all blogs



Last news on Mondomix
All Mondomix sections
Mondomix blogs
Last updates
Newsletters


Services
Community
RSS
Practical infos
Mondomix is a member of
The Mondomix's experience on


Search by continent


Search by name


Editions


Mondomix - The essential online resource for worldwide music and culture. Music, cinema, literature, society, travel, events, reports, artists. Experience the world with Mondomix.
All rights reserved. Copy prohibited © 1998 - 2010   Mondomix Media

Culture is not a luxury, Mondomix needs your support!

Make a donation