Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in

Kayes Kayes ( Bambara: ߞߊߦߌ tr. ''Kayi'', Soninké: ''Xaayi'') is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The city is loc ...

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

) is a Malian singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

Early fame

Traoré first came to prominence in the early 1960s. He had taught himself to play guitar and developed a unique style that blended American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

music,

Arab music Arabic music () is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse List of music styles, music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic Varieties of Arabic, dialects, with each countr ...

, and pentatonic structures found in West Africa's

Mande Mande may refer to: * Mandé peoples of western Africa * Mande languages, their Niger-Congo languages * Manding languages, Manding, a term covering a subgroup of Mande peoples, and sometimes used for one of them, Mandinka people, Mandinka * Garo p ...

cultural region. He was a superstar in Mali and a symbol of the newly independent country (see

History of Mali Mali is located in West Africa. The history of the territory can be divided into multiple periods: * Pre-Imperial Mali, before the 13th century, * The era of the Mali Empire, and * The Songhai Empire, from the 13th to the 16th centuries The pre ...

). His songs were immensely popular and he enjoyed regular radio play. However, he made no recordings, and since there were no

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

paid to musicians, he was very poor. WiKi BoubacarTraore20120929b

Decline and revival

In 1968, when

Moussa Traoré Moussa Traoré (25 September 1936 – 15 September 2020) was a Malian military officer, politician, and dictator who served as the second President of Mali from 1968 to 1991. As a lieutenant, he led the military ousting of President Modibo Ke� ...

overthrew Malian president

Modibo Keïta Modibo Keïta (4 June 1915 – 16 May 1977) was a Malian politician who served as the first President of Mali from 1960 to 1968. He espoused a form of African socialism. He was deposed in a coup d'état in 1968 by Moussa Traoré. Born and ra ...

, Boubacar Traoré, widely seen as an artist associated with the previous regime, disappeared from the airwaves. During the 1970s Traoré's popularity faded, until a surprise television appearance in 1987. Soon after this "rediscovery," Boubacar's wife died during childbirth. Grief-stricken, he moved to France and did construction work to support his six children. While there, a British record producer discovered a tape of one of Traoré's radio performances, and he was finally signed to a record deal. His first album, '' Mariama'', was released in 1990. Since then, Traoré has enjoyed international popularity, touring Europe, Africa, and North America. Boubacar figures in the book ''Mali Blues'' (Lonely Planet, Australia), by Belgian writer Lieve Joris. The book inspired Swiss film director Jacques Sarasin for the 2001 film '' Je chanterai pour toi'' ("I'll Sing For You") about Boubacar, released on DVD in 2005.
Along with several blues artists, he appeared in the film '' Blues Road Movie'' ('' Au Coeur du Blues'') by Louis Mouchet (2001). Boubacar then released ''Kongo Magni'' (Marabi, 2005), produced by Christian Mousset, director of the Festival Musiques Métisses d'Angoulême (Angoulême Cross-Cultural Music Festival), who would also produce his ''Mali Denhou'' (Lusafrica, 2010). Kar Kar made up for lost time with acclaimed live performances around Europe and then the United States and Canada. ''Mbalimaou'' (My Brothers) was released in February 2015, followed by ''Dounia Tabalo'' in November 2017. Despite their shared last name, he is not related to Malian singer/guitarist

Rokia Traoré Rokia Traoré (born 24. January 1974) is a Malian-born singer, songwriter and guitarist. She made six albums between 1998 and 2016. ''Bowmboï'' (2003) won the Critics Award category at the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in 2004 and ''Tcham ...

, although they performed a duet together on her 2000 album ''Wanita''.

Discography

* '' Mariama'' (1990) * '' Kar Kar'' (1992) * '' Les Enfants de Pierrette'' (1995) * '' Sa Golo'' (1996) * '' Maciré'' (2000) * '' Je chanterai pour toi'' (2003) * '' The Best of Boubacar Traoré: The Bluesman from Mali'' (2003) * '' Kongo Magni'' (2005) * '' Mali Denhou'' (2011) * '' Mbalimaou'' (2014) * '' Dounia Tabalo'' (2017)

References

External links

Biography from World Music Central

Biography from Concerted Efforts
* (republished on Global Village Idiot) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Traore, Boubacar 1942 births Living people Traoré clan members Wrasse Records artists People from Kayes Malian blues guitarists 20th-century Malian male singers 21st-century Malian male singers Label Bleu artists