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Nahawa Doumbia
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Diby


Diby Sixteen years after her first international release Malian icon Nahawa Doumbia returns with a tenth album which honours the pure traditional sounds of Wassoulou music and its instruments. This arid and inaccessible region near the frontier between Côte d’Ivoire and Mali is where Doumbia was born into a blacksmith’s family. And, as in many of her previous records, « Diby » plunges into the singer’s autobiography. « Sifolo » pays homage to the most downtrodden of castes in West Africa, the blacksmiths she calls « the first race » ; « Koli » removes any veneer of romanticism that some attach to poverty ; and « Sadjo » bitterly reminds listeners that Doumbia’s mother died only days after giving birth to her daughter and predicting that she had a great destiny. « I hold it against Death » sings Doumbia in that inimitable voice that allies the typically pure five-note scale from Wassoulou with a unique hoarseness.
But « Diby » also tackles controversial and taboo topics such as the assassination of the charismatic Burkinabé leader Thomas Sankara (where, in reference to the current President, Doumbia says « a goat can only sit on a lion’s pelt when the lion is dead »), or the fears aroused by circumcision. « Of Bambara origins, raised by Muslim grandparents, Nahawa Doumbia is a taboobreaker – it runs in the blood (sic) , » claims the French daily Le Monde. Musically, this album is also bold in its marriage of Malian instruments with the synthesizer of Jean-Philippe Rykiel, who is more successful with the record’s arrangements than his superficial keyboard playing. Yet, « Diby » resembles the slow, inexorable rise of an Atlantic wave, starting with a slow blues and reaching a crescendo with the steam-driven « Sogodounou »….before descending into the healing « diby » or darkness of the closing track.
Only Oumou Sangare outshines the courageous singer from southern Mali in terms of international reknown and appreciation. This CD was recorded in Paris in 2003 by Philip Conrath’s Cobalt label and has been welcomed by the British press as one of Doumbia’s most promising releases. « Nahawa is on a roll, » underlines Conrath in a telephone interview. « She is on the compilation « Koli », to be released in September, and is preparing a collaboration with the Iranian composer Keyvan Chemirani called « Rythmes de la Paroles ». On October 30, Nahawa starts a two-month tour of France and Europe. The only problem we have is reaching an American audience – there are too many distribution and licensing barriers for us to release « Diby » there. »
A loss for US fans of West African music that can only be overcome if they order the album via Conrath’s website.

Daniel Brown

Benjamin MiNiMuM


  

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