Mangue Music: Boubacar 'Kar Kar' Traoré - 1991 Session and 2011 Live

Saturday, 11 June 2016

Boubacar 'Kar Kar' Traoré - 1991 Session and 2011 Live

Continuing the chain, see previous post the link being Vincent Bucher (with his harmonica), with two recordings by Boubacar 'Kar Kar' Traoré.

The first being a 1991 radio session for BBC Radio1 Andy Kershaw, this was recorded during the tour after his first international release.
The second a 2011 live recording (feat.Vincent Bucher) from La Cigale, Paris, recorded by his record company Lusafrica and distributed to radio stations as a promotional disc for his then actual 'Mali Denhou' album.
By the way Boubacar got his nick name 'Kar Kar', when playing footbal in his teens, it means "the one who dribbles too much", that nicely fits with the start of EURO 2016, the European Footbal Championship.

Introduction to Boubacar Traoré

by Lieve Joris* (from liner notes to Sa Golo, 1997)

In the sixties the people of Mali awoke each morning to the sound of his melancholy voice on the radio which sang of independence. Kar Kar, he was called "black jacket" and every person in Mali of his generation remembers having danced to his hits "Mali Twist" and "Kayeba" in which he encouraged his compatriots to return and build the country. He was the Chuck Berry, the Elvis Presley of Mali, but since his music was only diffused on the radio, he didn't have enough pocket money to buy cigarettes. He worked as a tailor, a salesman and an agricultural agent, while at the same time training orchestras in the evenings and singing for his close friends.
In 1987, when television finally invites him into the studio, the Malian people cannot believe their eyes, everyone thought he had disappeared. Two years later he is dealt a blow, Pierrette, his beloved wife to whom he sings his sweetest songs, dies. Disoriented, with a heavy heart, he leaves for France to work. On weekends he sings in people's homes. His career takes on a new life. London discovers him, he records two albums there, "Mariama" and "Kar Kar'. He gives concerts in England, Switzerland, Canada and the United States. Studio Bogolan in Bamako, at the "Revue Noire" Initiative, produces his third album, "Les Enfants de Pierrette" ("Pierrette's Children"), with the participation of the big names in Malian music like Ali Farka Touré, Toumani Diabaté and Kélètigui Diabaté.
After a twenty year absence from the stage, Boubacar Traoré has risen from the ashes of his own life. It is so far from obvious that he is still singing and yet he is here as if he had never done anything else. Faithful to his roots, for the recording of this new album (on Indigo), he sought out Baba Dramé, accomplice and childhood friend, in his hometown of Kayes to accompany him on the calabash. On the title song "Sa Golo", they are in the Kayes of the past where magicians in clanging outfits made the night air resonate.

Boubacar Traoré is one of these solid men who reflect the history of a country, the hopes and the despairs of a people. How fortunate that he kept his voice, ant that a song like Soundiata, which inspired an entire generation, be recorded at last. What luck to find this child of Malian Independence matured and, despite all of his misadventures, close to the tiny pleasures of life. Hot a Mercedes or a villa with golden chandeliers for this Malian blues man, but a moped and a concession in the hills of Bamako where he lives with Pierrette's children and where, in the evenings, he takes out his guitar and sings about the world which surrounds him.
*Lieve Joris is the author of the book 'Mali Blues', in which the main story is about her travels through Mali together with Boubacar. (Highly Recommended!!)

Listen to first track from 1991 Session:

TRAORE BOUBACAR - 1991 and 2011

1991.Oct.01 - BBC Radio 1 Andy Kershaw Session (bc.1991.Oct.13)
setlist: 1.Kayes-Ba / 2.Mariama / 3.Kevalle / 4.Adieu Pierrette
2011.Mar.04 - La Cigale, Paris
setlist: 1.Mali Denhou / 2.Farafina Lolo Lora / 3.N'dianamogo / 4.Minuit / 5.??

Discography

1990: Mariama (LP, K7, CD, Stern's Africa)
1992: Kar Kar (CD, Stern's Africa)
1995: Les Enfants de Pierrette (K7, Mali K7)
1997: Sa Golo (CD, Indigo/Label Blue)
2000: Maciré (CD, Indigo/Label Blue)
2003: Je Chanterai pour Toi (CD/DVD, Marabi Productions) (info about film)
2005: Kongo Magni (CD, Marabi Productions)
2011: Mali Denhou (CD, Lusafrica)
2015: Mbalimaou (CD, Lusafrica)
comp.2003: The Best of Boubacar Traoré (CD, Wrasse Records)
comp.2006: African Classics (CD, Cantos)