Nsera, the first track from her forthcoming album, is co-written and co-produced by one of the central figures of British pop music, Damon Albarn, an artist with a long history of fusion and collaboration with African musicians. Singing and playing keyboards, the Gorillaz and Blur frontman infuses a touch of melancholy and modernity into the song’s Mandinka sound. This gave rise to a neologism, invented by Fatou for the occasion: “Londonko”.
FATOUMATA DIAWARA
Friday 6 December 2024
She may be one of the most outstanding voices in world music, but Fatoumata Diawara remains unclassifiable: Afropop, Afrofolk, Afrofuturism. Somewhere between tradition and modernity, guitar in hand, she brings wassoulou rhythms and West African vocal techniques to meet contemporary sounds. A singer, composer, musician and actor, as one of Africa’s leading female voices, she never ceases to surprise her fans Herbie Hancock, Roberto Fonseca, -M-, Angélique Kidjo, Disclosure, Lauryn Hill; Abderrahmane Sissako and Philippe Godeau for cinema and theatre.
“ I took a trip back to my homeland Mali in Africa, and was welcomed with cries of joy “Fatoumata
