Carnegie Hall : Sold Out!

Fatoumata Diawara, the incendiary Malian vocalist, guitarist and songwriter, headlined a sold out bill in Zankel Hall that also featured Chimurenga Renaissance. Diawara and her five-piece band administered energy to the room as an undiluted concentrate, playing distorted, tension-ratcheting desert blues and dance music from the West African coast.

Her songs are mostly in Bambara, which she sings over tightly riveted rhythms drawn from the Wassoulou region of Mali or the highlife tradition of Ghana. She, too, insisted on the right to remain partly unknown. “Many people told me, ‘Why don’t you sing in English?’” she mused between songs. “I don’t need to sing in English to connect with you guys!” A roar rose up to agree, but the point was already proved. Continue reading New York Times.