Nakany Kanté’s third album evokes a place where disparate cultures and experiences harmonize, each home displays artifacts reflecting the owner’s origins and precious pieces acquired on journeys of discovery, and each soul is forged by days of challenge and success, cheer and sadness. The smooth mix of De Conakry a Barcelone is organic, echoing not only a dialogue of African and Western … More Nakany Kanté: De Conakry a Barcelone
Everyone loves a love song, which explains why nobody composed What the World Needs Now is Responsibility Sweet Responsibility. Everyone touts diversity, yet there is Rolling Stone’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All time” (*499 in English). If you seek wisdom in entertainment it’s useful to look beyond the market driven universe. A good place to start is with Habib Koité, the Malian singer-songwriter, born into a griot family of 17 siblings … More Habib Koité: Kharifa
Unlike Robert Frost, obliged to choose between diverging roads in a yellow wood, the singer-songwriter Moh! Kouyaté was able to take two routes at once. On his geographic journey he retraced the course of the blues from the Niger River, in his native Guinea, to the Mississippi Delta. On his concurrent artistic voyage he followed the sound waves to the confluence of blues, jazz and classic rock, where he found the energy source for his music … More Moh! Kouyaté: Fé Toki
Traffic, drought and Kardashians may dent the Los Angeles brand, but the city still charmed Habib Koité, the great Malian singer-songwriter and descendant of griots. L.A. is his tribute song, favorably measuring Southern California’s sun, hills, even livestock, against what his own country offers. “Avoid comparing yourself to a race of heroes/Theirs is a special brew you should avoid drinking,” he sings, in Bambara, before switching to a chorus in English about consoling tequila (video 1) … More Habib Koité: Soô
As a singer-songwriter, percussionist, choreographer and dancer, Dobet Gnahoré brings life experience to her music. In the Ki-Yi Mbock Company, a theater ensemble and training village in her native Côte d’Ivoire, she encountered artists and musical styles from across Africa. Her country endured a decade of upheaval that twice forced her to seek refuge in France. Na Drê (My Heart), her fourth album, focuses on the burdens and joys … More Dobet Gnahoré: Na Drê
Most singer-songwriters master notes, but few are as steeped in history as Moh! Kouyaté. Born into a family of griots—the West African bards who impart stories and oral history through song—he brings centuries of heritage to his music. Kouyaté’s compositions and lyrics blend Mandinka tradition from his native Guinea (he now lives in Paris) with blues, jazz and rock. He sings in Maninka and several sister languages from the Mandé … More Moh! Kouyaté: Loundo
