#fenfo

Fatoumata Diawara

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The kick-off to Frequency Festival and a guest all the way from Mali!

2/24: Oren Ambarchi, Constellation

To kick off the Frequency Festival, Oren Ambarchi headlines Constellation tonight. He was part of two albums last year: solo release Simian Angel (Editions Mego) and Oglon Day (33 33), a collaboration with Mark Fell, Will Guthrie, and Sam Shalabi. Of the two, not the comparatively groovy, propulsive latter but the former should be closer to what he plays tonight, which will be a solo set with guitar and electronics, even though both tracks of Simian Angel feature collaborations with famed percussionist Cyro Baptista. Both tracks at first prominently feature Baptista before Ambarchi’s synthetic guitar playing comes into focus. “Palm Sugar Candy” starts with subtle, yet forceful hand percussion, introducing harmonic washes of electronics and creaking tones, eventually speeding up as atonal electronics emerge. Ambarchi’s guitar is only perceptible midway through, as the song eventually slows and becomes a gently arising journey towards the end. The title track is longer but less chaotic, beginning with Baptista’s incredible berimbau giving way to Ambarchi’s random guitar-driven piano.

Canadian sound artist crys cole opens, performing a new solo work.

2/25: Fatoumata Diawara, City Winery

Images from Fatoumata Diawara’s second show at WOMADelaide 2019, held in March at Botanic Park, Adelaide, South Australia.

www.womadelaide.com.au

http://www.fatoumatadiawara.com/

You would be hard-pressed to find an artist as passionate — or joyful — about their art than Fatoumata Diawara. It’s catharsis and happiness and medicine, all rolled into one. 

The tracks on Fenfo explore some of the darkest moments of the human experience inspired by the confessional style of the American blues, set to joyful rhythms emanating from West Africa.

“When you stop crying, you decide two things: to kill yourself, or to survive,” the Malian musician explains, during our conversation. “And when you decide to survive, you must find things to help you survive. Music was mine.”

Fatoumata Diawara-Nterini.