Rokia Traore was born in 1974 and comes from Bamako. Though-steeped in tradition, Rokia Traore’s music is thoroughly integrated into a contemporary sound, thanks to her upbringing in a multicultural environment. Unlike many other Malian singers she does not come from the jali caste, but rather from the class sponsoring them.
Her father was a diplomat, and so she lived in many different places away from Mali: Algeria, Saudi Arabia, France, and Belgium. As a result, Rokia Traore has managed to integrate the atmospheres of great many places into her recordings. She grew up listening to all types of music, Algerian and Malian music, jazz, blues, reggae and afropop, and her original career choice was social sciences. Yet once she decided to become an artist instead, the great guitarist, singer and sound engineer Ali Farka Toure, who encouraged and recorded many of the upcoming, independent, and innovative Malian performers, became her mentor.
Another big influence is Massembou Diallo. He used to play with Rokia’s father in an amateur band called Chiwa Band. He encouraged her to make music and composed Rokia’s first two pieces together with her.
Rokia was the winner of the African Discoveries award.
In 2013, Rokia Traoré released “Beautiful Africa.” the album’s songs are performed in Traoré’s native languages of French and Bambara, as well as some English. The musical ensemble comprised of Rokia Traoré as the vocalist and guitarist; Mamah Diabaté on the n’goni; Fatim Kouyaté providing backing vocals; Nicolaï Munch-Hansen playing the bass and double bass; John Parish contributing additional guitars; Stefano Pilia on guitars; Sebastian Rochford handling the drums; Jason Singh providing human beatbox’ and Bintou Soumbounou on backing vocals.
After her separation from a Belgian citizen in 2018, Rokia was involved in a child custody legal dispute. Her concerns about the fairness of the Belgian and French legal systems led her to stop performing in Europe.
Discography:
Mouneïssa (Indigo, 1998)
Wanita (Indigo, 2000)
Bowmboï (Indigo, 2003)
Tchamantché (Indigo, 2008)
Beautiful Africa (Nonesuch, 2013)
Né So (Nonesuch, 2016)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.