Oumou Sangare - 1993 Kershaw Session

Oumou Sangare 1991.Oct.09 Amsterdam
picture by Frans Schellekens [gettyimages] 

As promised and guaranteed yesterday, now something I have been searching for, for a very long time. Early 1990s sessions by Oumou Sangare, the Songbird of Wassoulou.

I first discovered Oumou Sangare, when preparing for my first travel to West-Africa in the early 1990s, before checked music which I didn't now, and well Oumou was my greatest discovery [followed by Senegal's Orchestre Baobab].

Her first album Moussoulou remains one of my alltime favourites, is one of my max.10 "Desert Island Albums". It's not music which makes you dance at once, but when you start moving to it you'll not be able to stop. I call that subtle swinging, which in my opinion goes therefore much deeper and is much longer lasting than most wild swinging music, which is over when the music finishes. Oumou's early music is never really over after it's last sounds, it keeps going on inside!

Have Oumou with her band seen many times live in the 1990s. Later on, she didn't cross my path for more than 10 years, because I had moved to Eastern Europe. Just before the end of my period there I saw her during her 2009 tour at a free festival. Which didn't really exceed my expectations, to put it mildly, though that was not only because of the music. But also because of the audience, which was absolutely unfamiliar with Oumou's music. At hindsight that wasn't strange, a free festival, way out east, in an area where few foreigners travel. Well anyway, finally I had seen Oumou again after many years hoping she would come there one time.

So since the late 1990s I was after live and special session recordings of Oumou with her band, but found very few till the moment when I started this blog. Since then some kind followers send me some, the best one from AfroPfingsten I posted here for you all. I knew that there had to be early BBC recordings, but never came across even one, till fully unexpectedly a BBC 6music DJ, while announcing a 1999 Toumani Diabate & Taj Mahal session in reality played some Oumou Sangare session tracks! Mailed the DJ, didn't get any reply, of course. But my quest for early BBC sessions by Oumou and her band was triggered again.

Now finally last week I received something I was after, incomplete recordings, but anyway I'm happy to be able to present those to you, today, during Corona Christmas times in 2020.

OUMOU SANGARE - 1993.Sep.04 Kershaw Session BBC

BBC 1993 Kershaw Session  - bc.1993.Sep.04 BBC Radio 1 [rec.date unknown]

tracklist: 1.MISSING / 2.Ko Sira [*only last 30 sec] / 3.N'Diya Ni title unknown** / 4.Woula Bara Diagna*

source: digitized radio taping

**see comments by Ngoni: track is not N'Diya Ni but also not Dya Gneba, so if anybody cancome up with the correct title, please comment it to this post [thanks in advance]

Also included are the 2 tracks of the unknown wrongly announced BBC Session, mentioned above, probably also a Kershaw Session, but which, when, no clue, anyway here are:

bonus: Kayini Wura* / Woula Bara Diagna* [again, but different, later? version]

source: captured stream 2018.Feb.07, BBC 6music Gideon Coe 

update: 6music could be repeat of by Andy Kershaw on 1998.Mar.09 broadcasted session [only tracklist, no audio available], which itself seems a repeat of Oumou's first session from 1991 [because of tracks from 1st alum/K7 only]

PS: if anybody has more songs from above sessions, or better recordings of those presented here, I'm very very interested of course! So please leave your info in the comments to this post!

And before I forget:

Merry Christmas to You All!!

and even in these Corona-virus times

NEVER EVER FORGET:

"il faut me pardonner - you must forgive me"

Pap Djah's last words before left on his own in the Sahara desert (in Niger)