Artist:Rokia Traore
Song:Kele Mandi
Album:Bowmboi
African music fans are going to want to check out singer songwriter and guitarist Rokia Traore. She records for the French label Label Bleu and her albums are released in the US by Nonesuch. She was born Jan. 24, 1975 in Kolokani, Mali. Her father was a diplomat and she would travel with him. And that's when she was exposed to different kinds of music. As part of Malian nobility, there are restriction regarding music. But the Bamanas have a musical tradition though her music is nothing like that. She plays traditional Malian instruments like the balafon, n'goni and kora but she also plays electric guitar. Rokia has recorded for Label Bleu since 1998. She is on Warner's Nonesuch label in the US. Kele Mandi is from the 2003 album Bowmboi. Rokia wrote and arranged everything and played guitar. The producer is Label Bleu house producer Thomas Weill. The Kronos Quartet appears on a couple of tracks. This album is available as digital download. Rokia still records for Label Bleu. He latest album was released in 2021. She is currently on a European tour. A custody dispute over her daughter has kept her bust for the last couple of years. Here's Rokia Traore performing Kele Mandi on Seattle radio station KEXP Nov.19, 2013. There's a music video for this but it's like a National Geographic film so I prefer the live performance.
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