Thursday, January 16, 2014

Djénéba Diakité - Gnogondeme



A  Wassoulou songbird from the 90's, Djénéba Diakité is hailing from the region of Sikasso.Her village Kanibougoulaye is close to the borders with  Côte d'Ivoire. She spent her childhood between  Wassoulou and Bamako and after school she began studying theater in Koutiala.
After her courses she became interested in music despite the will of her parents, who over time  accepted her decision  by attributing it to fate. Thus Djénéba was driven on the road to music by her husband  Madou Bah Traore.Together they  formed their group "Farafina Lolo' with the highly talented Madou Bah  as the guitarist and arranger . Equipped with a beautiful voice Djénéba was soon on the national level.
Djénéba  was one of the Malian music stars who turned out in the early 90s with the release of her first cassette "dougou dassiri ",a big success in Mali and  soon with Farafina Lolo they performed  throughout Mali and the whole sub-region.

Djénéba Diakité became known in  Abidjan  appealing to the Malian expatriate community  there but also in Burkina Faso, Niger and Benin where was known as a reference wassoulou star from Mali.European tours followed closely ..
A second cassette named Liberia  confirmed her class,but the  album was widely pirated .Still Djénéba was not discouraged and she recorded a third album that was  also  pirated before its official release....

wassoulou life soundtrack

Gnogondeme


with
vocals-Djénéba Diakité
guitars-Madou Bah Traoré
bass:Dramane Traoré
kamélé n'goni-Benogo
djembé-Drissa Bagayogo
backing vocals-Sata Sidibé,Fanta Doumbia

thanks to ngoni for the video

8 comments:

  1. Thank you Nauma. I've had this K7 for many years on CK7 - is that a pirate version? Who issued your version?

    Al

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  2. Thanks nauma, this year has started with a magic touch, at once we have come up with the several Wassolulou Princesses albums, Sali, Nabintou, Bintou, Djeneba.
    I hope we can keep living this dream !

    @ Goldberg friend, I read in your magnificent forum, that you had bought the double reissue of Kassemady Diabaté.
    I wanted to ask you, if the song Fode, is complet, or inexplicably cuts, as in the original album.

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  3. @MG my copy seems a genuine one from Côte d'Ivoire...
    @ngoni we must dare to live our dreams.!

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  4. @Nauma - mine looks genuine, too: perhaps a Paris issue by CK7, with personnel details - unusual for a pirate. Who does it say produced the album?
    @Ngoni - 'Fode' on the CD is the same as on my Syllart K7 - 4:38 and ending with a quick fade. I haven't got an LP version; don't know if there is one.

    Al

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  5. @ MG:co-production of Samassa and Madou Bah Traoré

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  6. @ MG I always had the feeling that that song was cut to compete in the hip-parade of pop-rock, and I expected to hear the full song someday.
    Thanks for the info.
    I remember there was an LP edition of Stern's, I have the cd edition.
    In the credits there is an intriguing phrase:
    "Original Malian demos
    Mama Sissokho, Kasse Mady Diabate & Badema "

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  7. @Nauma - Ah, Samassa produces many K7s for CK7. So my copy is probably not a pirate :)

    Al

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  8. @Ngoni - It IS a bit unusual for a Malian record to have a fade end, I think, but Sylla obeyed his own rules (and I think the world is better for him - RIP)

    Al

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