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Going
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Singer Rokia Traoré makes Malian music personal
by
LORRAINE
CARPENTER
Rokia
Traoré is a rare bird, a singer-songwriter who embraces the musical
traditions of her native Mali but refuses to be confined by them. Where
most Malian singers belong to the jali caste, Traoré is a diplomat’s
daughter, raised in the capital city, Bamako, as well as Saudi Arabia,
Algeria, France and Belgium. As a result, her emotive, minimal, tribal
folk is a far cry from the dramatics of Mali’s male griots (storytellers)
or female jelimusolu (praise singers). Her two albums, Mouneissa (1998)
and Wanita (2000), have won worldwide praise for departing from the
Malian norm, as well as using traditional West African instruments.
Now, with a third album in the works, the distinguished chanteuse returns
to Nuits d’Afrique, bringing her heartfelt, energetic live act
to North America for the third time. The Mirror spoke to Traoré
about her struggles with Mali and modernity.
Mirror:
Here’s a two-parter-what sets your music apart from Malian tradition,
and where is the common ground?
Rokia Traoré: The first element is the orchestration.
My guitar is the only modern instrument, all the others are traditional,
but, in Mali, we don’t use balafon and n’goni together,
as I do, so it’s Malian but modern. Secondly, the lyrics are modern
because I am modern but what I sing about comes from the tradition of
my people to respect others and to be honest, values that are slowly
disappearing in the towns in Mali where everything revolves around money.
I sing about the things that are important in my culture, the principles
we have to keep and cherish. We don’t have to emulate what we
see on TV from Europe and America.
M:
Was it difficult being accepted as a musician in Mali?
RT: In the beginning, they just didn’t understand,
let alone accept me. People my age [30-ish] in cities like Bamako generally
prefer modern music from Europe or America, so they didn’t appreciate
my use of traditional instruments. And people in rural areas who like
traditional music didn’t like my arrangements and my lyrics. Also,
my personality is really different from griots so, finally, I had no
audience. I had to be very patient and work and explain myself, which
was hard because there’s no real structure for show business and
mass communication in Mali. But now, my public is becoming bigger and
bigger.
M:
Some magazines have pegged you as an African feminist icon. How do you
feel about that?
RT: I do not consider myself a feminist. But, in some
cultures I have encountered, people see women as inhuman. They can’t
make their own decisions, they have no control over their lives. I think
everyone should be allowed to decide if they want to get married or
not, if they want to be intellectual or to work or to be a manager or
to have babies or not. I feel that, in many cultures where women have
these options, they waste their freedom or don’t pursue the freedom
they could have. For example, in Mali, it is very possible to be modern
but, generally, women are slow to change and to take that opportunity
to be free. :
With
the Super Rail Band at le Spectrum on Monday, July 15, 8:30pm, $30
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