One of the things I learned quickly when I started doing my Music Time in Africa radio show last April was that there always seems to be a shortage of good female artists. “How can this be?” I asked myself and colleagues in our English to Africa Division. I know from experience living on the […]
Afropean Women Raise the Bar in Contemporary African Music
Posted November 26th, 2012 at 9:02 pm (UTC-4)
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Face to Face with Angelique Kidjo
Posted November 14th, 2012 at 7:29 pm (UTC-4)
Angelique Kidjo entered my musical world in 1991 when I was living in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. A singer myself, and thriving with my own Afro-jazz group of Ivoirians and Burkinabe, I was always listening to and even working with female vocalists from West Africa. At Studio JBZ, which was the ultimate recording studio during those […]
Fatoumata Diawara: Carrying on the Wassoulou Tradition in under 3 Minutes
Posted November 1st, 2012 at 3:13 pm (UTC-4)
Fatoumata Diawara (pronounced JA-WA-RA) came through Washington D.C. recently on her first US tour. I’ve been playing selections from her 2011 album entitled Fatou on my radio show for the past couple of months. Her lyrics are deep and well-written, exploring social issues that matter to Malians especially, but also to people in many other […]
