It is a great honor for Muziekpublique to welcome one of the founding fathers of modern Mandinka music: Boubacar Traoré. Respected and acknowledged by all in Mali, young and old alike rave about his career and his imprint on the world. Boubacar Traoré carries in him all the beauties of the African blues. He is the only one to mix with such moving authenticity the silts of the Niger River with those of the Mississippi. His self-taught, unique, inimitable guitar playing owes a lot to the kora from which he was inspired. But there are colors and phrasing reminiscent of those of the great black American bluesmen of the Deep South: Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters…

At the age of 20, in the 1960s marked by the euphoria of independence, Boubacar Traoré was the Malian Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. He was the first to play Mandinka-inspired music with an electric guitar, long before Ali Farka Touré. At that time, Malians woke up to the sound of Boubacar Traore’s melancholic voice and saturated guitar. Hits such as “Mali Twist” and “Kayeba” got a generation dancing and discovering freedom, just before Mali experienced a darker period following the military coup in 1968. But more was needed for the talent of “Kar Kar” – his nickname – to fall into oblivion. His success has indeed continued to grow and Boubacar Traoré has become an essential icon. More than ever, Boubacar Traoré asserts himself as the living link that still and always connects Mali and the Mississippi.

• Boubacar Traore: guitar, vocals
• Babah Koné: calabash
• Vincent Bucher: harmonica