Fatoumata Diawara from Mali is a rising star of African music. Tall and sculptural with a wrap around her head, she’s assured on stage, singing and playing guitar.
She released her debut album in 2011 and her last solo London show was in 2014. Since then I’ve seen her perform on a huge festival stage on the river Niger and she played a significant role in the powerful West African feature film Timbuktu about jihadists in the north of Mali. Fatou is a woman of formidable talent.
Most of her material last night was from her forthcoming album, Fenfo. “I don’t like it when the voice is clean,” she said. And indeed Fatou has a huskiness that gives her vocals an earthy power, often in dialogue with a lyrical electric guitar.
The only song which wasn’t her own was Nina Simone’s Sinnerman, during which she tore off her headdress and set her cowrie-shelled dreadlocks flying.
Many of Fatou’s songs are about female empowerment. Not so much the #MeToo movement, but calling for more women leaders in Africa and a better future for young children. They drew cheers from a sold out Jazz Cafe. Another theme was African migration.
Important messages in a show that culminated in a trance-like dance on stage that brought ancestral Africa into the 21st century and seems destined for a bigger space.
