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Contemporary African Music
Rokia Traoré
| Mali
Booking-Agent:
Frank Abraham
+49 30 261032920
fa@f-cat.de
Rokia Traoré is among the most adventurous singer-songwriters from Africa, taking a fresh approach by infusing elements of traditional Malian music with a modern blend of rock and blues. Since deciding to become a professional musician in 1996 at the age of 22, Rokia has risen in the ranks from promising newcomer to fully-fledged star. The daughter of a Malian diplomat who was posted to the US, Europe, and the Middle East, Rokia studied sociology in Brussels and performed in a rap band before deciding to go back to Mali to create the music she wanted, which she calls: “not pop, not jazz, not classical but something contemporary with traditional instruments.” Rokia’s fourth album, Tchamantché is rich in musical and lyrical depth - thanks to the vast diversity of cultures Traoré has experienced in her travels. Though she now lives in France, Traoré frequently returns to Mali, in order to remain connected to the history and culture of her native country. But if Rokia’s Malian roots are audible on Tchamantché, so too is the iconoclastic spirit in which she incorporates them without adhering to any traditional musical model. “I think I am modern and traditional at the same time,” Rokia explains. “All of this exists in me at the same time, in my education, my personality, the way I’ve been travelling all the time, the type of father and mother I have, and the education I’ve had. All that definitely places me in the middle of traditional culture and modern culture and in the same way between Western culture and African culture. That’s my life every day and my music is like that.” Only a year after Rokia began performing professionally, she won the Radio France Internationale prize as ‘African discovery of the year.’ Her revelatory debut album, Mouneïssa, appeared in 1998, to widespread acclaim. The follow-up, Wanita, released in 2000, to even better reviews and was voted album of the year in the fRoots annual poll. Her third album, Bowmboï, included collaborations with the Kronos Quartet, and in 2006 she wrote and performed a new work for Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival, which was curated by Peter Sellars in celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birthday. Released by Nonesuch Records in 2009, Tchamantché instantly garnered critical acclaim and was awarded Best World Album at the Victoires de la Musique (the French Grammys), and paved the way for Rokia to win Best Artist at the 2009 Songlines Music Awards. Rokia composed all of the songs on the album, with the exception of the Billie Holiday classic, “The Man I Love.” The style of Rokia’s singing distinct, as are the poetry and social consciousness of her lyrics, which often urge women, in Africa and everywhere, to find their strength and transcend the confines of conventional gender roles. Rokia is also helping to foster the next generation African artists through her organization, Foundation Passarelle. Being from a well-off background, Rokia had the kind of opportunities not available to most African musicians: “I’m from a poor country,” she says, “and culture must be for free.” Foundation Passarelle provides performers and other aspiring music professionals with practical experience to lay the groundwork for careers in music. Rokia says she hopes to do for other African musicians, “what Europe did for me and my career.”
