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Oumou Sangare in New York’s Central Park: July 5, 2009
Report and photos by Banning Eyre
Malian Wassoulou diva Oumou Sangare gave a triumphant performance at New York’s Central Park Summerstage last Sunday, more than 15 years after she debuted there in the early days of her international career.Sangare’s growth as an artist and performer was vividly on display as she played songs from throughout her career, but especially her masterful recent CD, Seya (World Circuit/Nonesuch), a release fans have awaited for more than six years.The day was perfect—brilliant sunshine, not too hot—and the venue comfortably packed, but in no way oppressive.As Oumou powdered her face backstage in preparation for her turn in the late afternoon sun, she had time for a brief chat.
“It's a real pleasure to come back to New York,” said Oumou, “and to find lots of family and lots of friends.Like who?Bela Fleck, Jackson Brown, all the people of Afropop.Really, I am very happy.”Fleck was there to perform (of which, more later), but Brown, along with a fine delegation of New York’s West African musical treasures (Yacouba Sissoko, Baye Kouyate, Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure), and other distinguished New York musicians (Leni Stern, Kali Fasteau…), were there like the rest of us to enjoy an overdue shot of music from Mali’s Wassouou music A-team, and its regal leading lady.
One reason that Oumou has been scarce on the tour circuit of late is that she’s become a business woman in Mali.Her hotel—Hotel Wassoulou, naturally—is now well established in Bamako, and in 2006, she launched her own branded SUV, the OumSang, an affordable, Chinese-made alternative to Land Rovers and Toyota 4-wheel-drive stalwarts.“It's going marvelously,” said Oumou, mid-makeup, launching into something of a sales pitch.“If you come to Bamako today, you're going to see the OumSang in every corner of town.At first people were afraid.They didn’t believe in it. But now everybody wants to roll in an OumSang.The motor is great.There are no problems.And it’s cheaper than a lot of secondhand cars.Malians have become really comfortable with the Oum Sang.”
After some 15 years of touring and recording, Oumou recently took five years off to stay home and develop her businesses.Her music has always championed the struggles and talents of African women, and her entrepreneurial undertakings are no different—ever inspired by a spirit of female empowerment.“I wanted to show what a woman can do,” she said.“Yes, we can.We can, if we want to.African women can do whatever they want.And that's the example I wanted to show.”At the same time, Oumou has never doubted that her real work is music.So this year, she leaves her businesses in the hands of Malian colleagues and hits the international tour circuit with a fine new album to promote.
“It's been so long since I made an album,” said Oumou.“People were always asking me, ‘Oumou, when are you going to come back?’So I thought about this deeply.What can I bring to all these fans who have not stopped cheering me on, and caring about me during this long absence.I thought, ‘Well, I need to bring them something full of joy, and peace, and tranquility.’”Seya certainly delivers on that, but it is also a very serious, deep album, one that deals, for example, with the loss of her father.Oumou had a difficult relationship with him at times, particularly over the inequities that existed within their polygamous household.But father and daughter eventually reconciled, and Oumou’s song “Donso” is a powerful tribute to the man who sired her.
Just before Oumou took the stage, she spoke of another recent loss, that of Wassoulou music pioneer Coumba Sidibe, who died on Mothers Day, 2009, in Brooklyn.“Coumba has been very important in my life,” said Oumou.“If I have an idol on this earth, it was her.I have always said that it was because of her that I came to love music.It's true that I came from a family of artists.My grandmother was a singer.My mother was a singer.So we have that in our blood.But for me, I never knew my grandmother.I knew my mother.But she had so many difficulties in her life that prevented her from embracing a professional career.But Coumba, who was a success at the time, was my idol.I loved her very much.And she inspired me very much.When she died, I was on tour in Europe.I stopped.I went home for her funeral.In fact, I was in charge of the funeral in Bamako.Then I returned and continued my tour.It was a great event.The Prime Miinster was there.The old president, Moussa Traore, was there.The whole government came out to honor her.We gave her a good ending.But it was hard.This was a terrible loss for us.”
The crowd gathered in Central Park had by now heard a playful set from young Nigerian singer/songwriter Asa, whose music blends reggae and pop with a Tracy Chapman-esque presentation.After that. Les Nubians had made their own Summerstage return.These sisters with roots in Chad and citizenship in France became an international sensation in the late 90s with their face-painted, Afro-tinged presentation and R&B-suffused sound.The addition of kora and dundun—played by Burkinabe musicians living in New York—enhanced the Africanness of the music, but all of this was preamble to Oumou’s profoundly original blend of roots and modernity.She began her set with “Kayini Wura,” a song of greeting from her 1993 release, Ko Sira.And there were a few other chestnuts (including the moody desert takamba “Wayeina,” and the celebratory hit “Yala”), but the show focused rightly on the new material.
Some 50 musicians participated in the recording of Seya, but Oumou’s onstage band delivered lean, powerful renditions with just nine.Guitarist ‘Bastos’ Mahamane Touré embellished grooves laid down by bass man Sekou Ba, djembe ace Sekou Diabaté, and guest drummer/percussionist Will Calhoun, of Living Color fame.Oumou’s longtime kamele ngoni (youth harp) player ‘Benogo’ Brehima Diakité provided the deep, percussive lines that make up the backbone of many of Oumou’s songs.Two elders of Malian music also joined her on stage.Zoumana Tareta doubled on percussion and his trademark traditional violin, soku, which added bluesy mystery to songs like “Senkele te Sira.”And on flute, ‘Adez’ Amadou Traoré brought a classy touch of history.Adez is a veteran of legendary Bamako bands, including the salsa-schooled Maravillas du Mali.(Readers of my book In Griot Time may recall Adez as the musical director for the recording project by Sali Sidibe featured in the chapter “A Woman of Wassoulou.”)
Midway through Oumou’s set, she invited Bela Fleck to the stage.Oumou was central to Fleck’s 2005 Malian adventure, and it was clear that the banjo maestro enjoys an easy chemistry with her band.After a brief solo spin on his deep-toned “cello banjo,” Fleck broke out his electric banjo and burrowed into the band’s ever more fiery grooves.He would emerge for the occasional solo, infusing flashy polyrhythms that seemed to excite and goad on the African musicians.But most of the time he blended, intertwining his lines in the deep mesh of this incomparable band’s sound.
The set ended too soon, but it was one of for the ages…
