Habib Koité
Mali's acclaimed singer, guitarist and songwriter Habib Koité returns to the spotlight with his brand-new album ‘Afriki’.
This autumn will see a number of very high profile albums being released by today’s biggest African acts: ‘Djin Djin’ by Angelique Kidjo (1 October 2007), ‘Rokku Mi Rokka’ by Youssou N’Dour (29 October) and ‘Made in Dakar’ by Orchestra Baobab (October tbc).
The other release that should be mentioned in the same breath is ‘Afriki’ by Malian singer, guitarist and songwriter Habib Koité and his band Bamada. Whilst being a less familiar name in the UK, Koité is without a doubt one of Mali’s biggest international artists and is one of Africa’s biggest-selling acts having sold more than 250,000 albums around the globe. In the US, one of his most successful territories, he has collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, appeared on the Dave Letterman show, has been called “Mali’s biggest pop star” by Rolling Stone, been featured in a 2-page photo spread in Vanity Fair and has received rave reviews in People, Entertainment Weekly and the New York Times (“His reputation as a guitar player has become almost mythical.”). And how about this for a mainstream achievement: two tracks from his first album ‘Muso Ko’ were included with Microsoft Windows Vista, meaning that his music will be installed on many millions of PCs.
Now after a six-year absence, Koité returns with a new album, ‘Afriki’, the fifth release from Cumbancha, the label which also released the wonderful ‘Wátina’ by Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective as well as Dobet Gnahoré’s album ‘Na Afriki’. Cumbancha was founded by Jacob Edgar, who has been the head of A&R at Putumayo for many years (Putumayo released much of Koité’s previous material including his critically acclaimed 2001 release ‘Baro’).
The majority of the six-year gap between studio albums has been spent on the road. Whilst touring the world Koité was writing material for ‘Afriki’ (meaning ‘Africa’ in the Malian Bambara language) which was then rehearsed in Belgium, and later recorded in Belgium, Mali and the USA. But despite Koité’s career being so international don’t expect him to neglect his Malian roots. Quite the opposite – Mali, and Mali’s music and culture, is very dear to him which can be noticed throughout the album, musically and lyrically, and the track ‘Mali Ba’ (meaning ‘Great Mali’) is a tribute to his country. Uniquely Koité, who was born in 1958 to musical parents and comes from the Khassonké griot tradition, draws on styles from the different regions of Mali, rather than solely on the music of his particular area.
Lyrically, the album is about the strengths and challenges of the African continent. Apart from traditional themes he also talks about very real modern issues, such as on the track ‘Africa’ (for which none other than James Brown veteran Pee Wee Ellis arranged horns) where he encourages young Africans to stay in their country. “People here in Africa are willing to risk death trying to leave for Europe or the USA, but they are not willing to take that risk staying to develop something here in Africa,” says Koité. “Life can be really good or really bad wherever you live. People need to understand that. Even though Mali is poor, we still have good quality of life: You can walk outside and smile and someone will smile back. I have thought about it a lot, and I am not convinced poor countries necessarily have a worse quality of life then rich countries.”
Once again present on his album is his band Bamada, formed in 1988 and including hugely talented musicians such as Kélétigui Diabaté on balafon. There are also a few amazing guest artists such as Bassekou Kouyate’s younger brother Andra Kouyate on bass n’goni and his nephew Barou Kouyate on n’goni, both part of Kouyate’s band Ngoni Ba. On ‘N’Teri’, one of the most beautiful tracks on the album, Koité features female singers - Nba Kouyaté and Oumou Damba - for the first time. On the other highlight of the album, the bluesy ‘Barra’, the late Hassey Sarré, who used to play with Ali Farka Touré, plays the sokou (traditional violin).
The overall sound of the album is earthy, gentle and mellow, and only occasionally does the tempo get more upbeat such as on the track ‘Massaké’. The uncluttered instrumentation allows a lot of space for Koité’s unique guitar playing (he plays the guitar on open strings like a n’goni). Koité explains, "My way to play traditional music is to adapt the sounds of the traditional instruments from Mali through my acoustic guitar." Fittingly, the album ends with the gentle, acoustic ‘Titati’.
‘Afriki’ is out now on Cumbancha.
Ilka Schlockermann