Fatoumata Diawara continues to innovate on each successive project, rewriting the rules and rewiring traditional African musical forms and rhythms with unexpected colours from Afrobeat, jazz, pop, electro and even hip hop.
She strikes a perfect balancing act between synthetic sounds and traditional Malian rhythms, underpinned with cut glass lyrics. The playful mixture of genres can be understood as a means of emancipation which cuts across geographical spaces, as we see in the title of her latest album, London Ko. Her collaboration with Damon Albarn gives rise to a new world fusion connecting Bamako and London, presenting imaginary new worlds that are boldly illustrated by the opening single Nsera, and the explosive video by Gregory Ohrel. This is an artist who can conjure up a vivid relationship with Africa, dismantling the unconscious collective stereotypes and myths of the continent and its diaspora.
London Ko features a raft of sumptuous collaborations, with Ghanaian rapper M.anifest, Yemi Alade, neo-soul pioneer Angie Stone, Cuban piano virtuoso Roberto Fonseca, -M- and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus lending their voices and talents to the mix. While retaining traditions, Fatoumata Diawara’s music gives us a prophetic vision of what Africa can do.
