Desert blues

Boubacar Traore (Mali)

Thursday 11 March 2010, 20.00, Molière, Naamsepoortgalerij/Galerie de la Porte de Namur, Bolwerksquare 3 Square du Bastion, 1050 Brussels

Boubacar Traore, more often known by his nickname ‘Kar Kar’, at the age of 61 is still the classic pioneer of modern Mali music. A self-taught musician, he took to composition early and developed a style characterised by a melancholic voice and a guitar technique influenced by American blues and the native Khassonké rhythms of north-western Mali (Kayes). Boubacar Traore was the subject of the 2001 film ‘Je chanterai pour toi’. His story is also memorably told in the book ‘Mali Blues’ by Lieve Joris.
Boubacar Traore is one of those men whose music provides the soundtrack to the history of their country, with all its hopes, triumphs and despairs. At the start of the 1960s Mali declared independence and the airwaves were filled with Kar Kar’s bluesy homage to liberation. No one of that generation in Mali can fail to recall dancing to hits like 'Kar Kar Madison’ or ‘Kayes Ba’ which exhorted the people to rebuild the country. The energy of the post-independence period was accompanied by his ‘Mali Twist’. Although a superstar in Mali – their Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley combined – with his songs going out only on radio, he remained penniless. So he retired from the stage and made his living for twenty years as a shopkeeper and tailor. He made a surprise re-appearance, at the end of the 1980s, in a TV programme broadcast nationally. His subsequent successful career has taken him to France and to London, where he has recorded several albums including ‘Kar Kar’ and ‘Mariama’. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with – and been appreciated by – the elite of Mali’s musicians from Toumani Diabaté, Kélétigui Diabaté and Rokia Traoré to the late great Ali Farka Touré.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see a genuine living legend in performance, with outstanding support from Vincent Bucher (harmonica) and Niang Madieye (calabash).

Admission:
Members: 8 Euros
Advance sales, non-members: 12 Euros
On the door, non-members: 14 Euros
We accept cultuurwaardebons & article 27
Reservation by bank transfer, advance sales at Fnac

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