Timbuctoo Song

[allenlondon]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13h5hceL7yl0tGF_UOy6fnvDUQeXmCkoq/view?usp=sharing

I asked once before if anyone knew the singer or song at the start of the link, and I’ve yet to pin it down.

Any Mali music fans here?

Ta.

Allen

[Buenchico]

You really ask some tricky questions, don't you, Allen?

With so little to go on, it's an almost impossible task to work out who the singer is but, as she seems to be using the traditional griot style, Mah Damba is certainly a possibility.

However a programme producer looking for the music of a suitable griotte to add to a soundtrack might more readily come across the work of the late Siramori Diabaté, whose voice would also fit the bill. My money would probably be on a current artist though, like Kandia Kouyaté .

[allenlondon]

She? Lummy, that throws a new light on it, Chris. I always heard a bloke singing!

[jno]

can you get in touch with whoever produced the programme, allen?

(I thought it was a woman too.)

[allenlondon]

I'll try that, jno. Iplayer isn't much help, so I'll try the programme maker, and let you know if I get a result. (I'm pretty sure it's a bloke - I've heard that sort of voice in West African singing before).

A

[Buenchico]

Well it still sounds female to me but perhaps that's because I made the mistake of listening via my laptop's (relatively) tinny speakers, rather than using my good-quality wireless headphones that take their signal from my desktop.

If you're sure that it's guy, check out Habib Koité or possibly Abdoulaye Diabaté. However if a documentary producer, who wasn't really a great music expert, was seeking music to add to his production based in Mali, the first name to come to his mind (if he knew anything about world music at all, that is) would surely be that of the late, great Ali Farka Touré.

[allenlondon]

Bloke. Here is the answer I got from a marvellous website called Mudcat (devoted to world folk music):

"It's Salif Keita and the song's called 'Sina (Soumbouya)' from his 1987 album 'Soro'.



What a singer, what a song!

Thanks for the help, and hope you enjoy the music.

Allen.

[Buenchico]

Thanks for the feedback. I'd considered including Salif Keita in my list of possibilities but his usual style is more 'afro-pop' than the introduction to that song suggested.

Great song though!

[Mamyalynne]

A Prince amongst men, truly great - just listening to a 'House' edit, it lends itself so well to many styles.