Fatoumata Diawara Does The Avalon Stage Proud

Beaming from ear-to-ear, Fatoumata stepped onto the scene with an air of grace about her that lifted the performance throughout. Waxing lyrical about doing away with the stereotype of Africa “as a place of war and not a place of good food and beautiful people,” the talented Diawara then unleashed the quintessentially Malian “Timbuktu Fasso,” a track that usually has a mellow demeanour to it. This version got a rock styling, however, as an epic guitar solo brought it to a climax at the end.