Lobi Traoré (1961 – 1 June 2010) was a

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 ...

an musician. He was born in the village of Bakaridianna, on the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through Mali, Nige ...

close to

Ségou Ségou (; , ) is a town and an Communes of Mali, urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 inhabitant ...

and died in Bamako. His singing has been described in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' as "flat, strangely penetrating tone, somewhere between rap and blues". His breakthrough album, ''Bamako'', produced by

Ali Farka Touré Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré (31 October 1939 – 6 March 2006) was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music blends traditional Malian music and its deriv ...

, was released in 1994. It was voted one of the best rock albums of the year by ''

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

'' and one of the best world music albums by ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

''.

Discography

* ''Bambara Blues'' (1992) * ''Bamako'' (1994) * ''Ségou'' (1996) * ''Duga'' (1999) * ''Mali Blue'' (2004) * ''The Lobi Traoré Group'' (2005) * ''Barra Coura'' (2005) * ''Bwati Kono'' (2010) * ''Rainy Season Blues'' (2010) * ''Bamako Nights: Live at Bar Bozo 1995'' (2013)

References

* "Notes from the Niger", (Aug. 25, 2005), ''The Economist'' magazine.

External links

*
mondomix.com

(in French) 1961 births 2010 deaths Musicians from Bamako People from Ségou Region Glitterhouse Records artists 21st-century Malian people Bambara-language singers World Circuit (record label) artists {{Africa-musician-stub