David Dalle
Thursday July 4th, 2019 with David Dalle
The 7th of 12 exceptional concert recordings for 2019: Malian singers Ousmane Sacko and Yakaré Diabaté. A rare recording of an exquisite night of Malian Mandé music from this famed couple, so important to Malian music but who rarely ventured outside Mali.

For 2019, I have chosen 12 exceptional concert recordings to program with one each month. I have set a couple of simple rules: the recordings will be played in their entirety and represent a single concert. These 12 recordings feature some of my favourite artists, and in many of the cases, also represent the very best from these artists. Ousmane Sacko was a singer from the town of Kayes in Mali in the old region of Khasso, center of one of the older traditions of Mandé music in Mali and Senegal. He was famed throughout Mali, though he rarely toured beyond Mali. However he did visit Europe twice and on his 2nd visit in 1983 he was recorded performing in Le Havre with his wife Yakaré Diabaté, also an excellent singer. The standard instrument played by Jalis from the Khasso region is the ngoni, however Ousmane Sacko played the guitar and is accompanied here by Boubakar Diabaté on kora and Brahima Kouyate on balafon. He performs some traditional songs as well as his own compositions which often comprise of social commentary and also requisite praise of patrons and musical ancestors. An exquisite night of very traditional Mandé music.