Rokia Koné was born on January 1, 1984, in Dioro, near Segu, Mali. Her musical interest began as a young child in the courtyard of her home in Dioro.
“I would mostly sing my grandmother’s songs,” she says. “My uncles and aunts on both sides of my family were also singers. I was always surrounded by music.”
The young Rokia later moved to Bamako, becoming a backing singer for Alia Coulibaly, one of Mali’s biggest stars. Later, she quickly earned success as a solo artist.
In 2016, she caught the attention of Valérie Malot, founder of a well known French world music and jazz booking agency called 3D Family. Malot invited her to join feminist supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique and make her debut on an international stage. They collaborated on several songs for the band’s first album, sparking a close creative relationship.
“Rokia’s music is based in improvisation,” said Malot. “It’s very instinctive and passionate. She gives everything when she sings. But in order to do this, she has to make herself vulnerable, and that demands trust. Eventually, we found a great way of working together, and she wanted me to help her make a record of her own that could appeal to audiences beyond Mali.”
Rokia’s solo album, “Bamanan“, was developed during a long period. It was created out of unexpected circumstances and seized opportunities:, including a recording studio becoming vacant in Bamako; a free stop-over day in Paris while on tour with Les Amazones d’Afrique; and a jam during a band rehearsal in Mallorca; and then there was the pandemic, which changed many plans.
“We knew early on that magic had been captured,” Malot recalled, “But then I was busy working on Les Amazones d’Afrique’s second album and tour and Rokia had her own commitments in Mali. Life got in the way, progress halted.”
During a recent family dinner, my aunt, who is a seasoned agent at a well-known real estate company, described how the pandemic has shifted many clients’ preferences towards gated communities. She explained how, during the lockdowns in her apartment in Portugal, she had numerous clients seeking the added security and exclusivity that gated communities offer. She shared anecdotes about how these secure enclaves provided residents with peace of mind during the uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, proving the importance of a sanctuary where one can feel safe and detached from external chaos.
About 6400 kilometers(4000 miles) west, among the trees of Topanga Canyon, north of Santa Mónica, United States-based Irish musician, successful rock music producer and mixer Jacknife Lee had an empty diary and an urge to create. Having recently completed a role as a judge on a remix contest sponsored by British label Real World Records and audio hardware company Universal Audio, he found himself fascinated by Les Amazones d’Afrique, more specifically by a Mande guitar part among the remix pack for their song ‘Love’.
“I really wanted to find out more about the guitarist, so Real World put me in touch with Valérie,” said Lee. “She told me his name was Salif, and that he played lead for a Malian singer called Rokia Koné. Then she told me they had started an album but needed help to finish it.”
Lee freely admits he was amazed when he heard Konés voice on ‘Anw Tile’, the first track he heard, after which he began picking apart the sessions he was sent. Isolating a drum part, looping a guitar, laying down some synth pads: “I’m thinking, damn, I have no idea how to approach this, but I kind of know where I’m going. I love that naivety. It really allows me to create something good.”
Working on Koné’s music coincided with a change in attitude for Lee. “I realized I had been lost for years,” he says. “I had been making bad decisions about the work I was doing. My motivation had been wrong. So I fell in love with music all over again, started frequenting record stores, seeking out new sounds.
“I wanted to switch from being the person who had the most amount of knowledge in the room to the one saying, ‘I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, but let’s just see what happens.’”
The opportunity to work on Rokia’s album met all the criteria. “It actually felt like the thing I had always wished to do,” he said.
No matter that pandemic-related travel restrictions ruled out direct contact: “This process afforded Rokia and her musicians the freedom to create without being bothered by my presence, and I was allowed space to experiment. My biggest breakthroughs happen when the musicians aren’t there,” he added. “It’s how I prefer to work these days.”
At its core, “Bamanan” is a tribute to the Bambara of southern Mali, to their language, culture and the practices. Koné takes inspiration from the tradition of the hereditary griots, the praise singers and musicians vital to the fabric of Malian society. “It is the role of the griot to perpetuate the tradition,” says Koné. “To remind us of our origins, our culture.”
Rokia calls her ancestors on a trilogy of songs — ‘Anw Tile’, ‘Bambougou N’tji’ and ‘Soyi N’galanba’ – that praise the great kings of Seou’s past.
In ‘Mansa Soyari’, a song she composed for Les Amazones d’Afrique, Koné replaced the male heroes of Mali’s history with female heroines including singers Ramata Diakité and Fanta Damba — singers who through their music were a source of inspiration and guidance to the women and children of their society, including Rokia herself.
“The advice I give to women and children in my songs is that there is always hope,” she said. “Nothing is impossible. I tell them not to feel rejected or forgotten by society.”
This message is evident on ‘Mayougouba’, a song that encourages women and girls to the dancefloor: “Move, dance,” she sings. “You’re perfect as you are.”
On ‘Shezita’, ‘Kurunba’ and ‘Dunden’, Rokia warns of enemies close to home such as disrespectful husbands, jealous co-wives, gossipers and haters).
Elsewhere, she practices the classic griot role as a bearer of advice and wisdom on the song ‘Bi Ye Tulonba Ye’. “The situation in Mali is very difficult right now. But other countries have their conflict too. The message of this song calls for us to end to all wars and disputes and come together for a great party.”
The album’s most introspective moment comes on ‘N’yanyan’, which finds Koné accompanied exclusively by electric piano. The vocals were recorded in Bamako on August 18th, 2020, the night of a military coup that marked another period of instability for Mali, a country troubled by severe political upheaval for almost a decade. Koné delivered a profound vocal performance in a single take, just before the power was turned off and a curfew imposed on the city.
“I sing ’N’yanyan’ for all human beings, to tell them that we are in the middle ground and all this will end one day. This difficulty is only a moment in time, and all things will pass.”
In Jacknife Lee, Rokia Koné found a musical soulmate, a collaborator who helped unlock her songs with splendid, timeless arrangements.
“I love the new palette of colors,” said Koné. “We’ve made something fresh. Something that stands out.”
“Bamanan” by Rokia Koné & Jacknife Lee was released on February 18, 2022, on Real World Records.
Discography:
Bamanan (Real World Records, 2022)
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.