Fatoumata Diawara

Many people's first impression of Fatoumata Diawara began at the 2019 Grammy Awards ceremony. At the time, she was wearing a bright yellow headband and lots of brightly colored necklaces and bracelets, and holding a red electric guitar. The awards ceremony featured her performance of Negue Negue from Fenfo (the 61st Grammy Awards Nominated Album), a song that blends the traditional music of Wassoulou in southern Mali with spiritually charged Afro-pop, transporting the audience to her Malian style of music. Also, she is the first African Malian artist to perform at the Grammy Awards ceremony. 

On October 22, at the invitation of the 2023 Shenzhen Belt & Road International Music Festival, Fatoumata Diawara gave a special concert, Memory of Mali, at the Longgang Cultural Centre, singing wild melodies from Africa with her beautiful voice for Shenzhen citizens. This is her first time to perform in China. Fatoumata Diawara was filled with heartfelt yearning and eager anticipation in the charm and vitality of Shenzhen. 

Fatoumata Diawara was dressed in a long ethnic dress with her hair in a high bun and her beloved red electric guitar still slung across her chest on the performance day. She drew bursts of applause from the audience when coming on the stage. Fatoumata Diawara got more and more involved in an upbeat tempo, singing stirring melodies and dancing freely as if she were in the savannah. 

Throughout the performance, under the enthusiastic and frequent interaction, the whole audience sometimes resounded with applause accompanied by drum beats, sometimes chorused as the accompaniment of the concert, sometimes raised their arms and cheered, and sometimes swayed from side to side. Fatoumata Diawara's spontaneous performance was a great way to bring the atmosphere to a climax. Whistling, cheering, spinning... she released her emotions wildly on stage, and the audience "jumped" into the vast grasslands of Africa, experiencing endless relaxation. Fatoumata Diawara told the audience, "Music is not only to be heard but to be felt with the heart. It spreads throughout the body like running water. It is an honor to share my soul with all of you here tonight."

Blues Music, which is widely popular in the world today, is closely rooted in the traditional music of Mali, West Africa. It is also the hometown of Fatoumata Diawara. The Malians who traveled to the United States from the mid-14th century to the end of the 19th century also brought with them Mali's traditional music, which gradually became the basis of Blues Music. Fatoumata Diawara grew up in Mali with traditional music. The blues is a heartbeat from the soul for her, so playing Blues Music is as natural as talking. She explored integrating the Wassoulou traditions in southern Mali with international music, singing in Bambara, Mali's national language, searching for melodies that appealed to people from all over the world, and representing modern African music in the best possible way. 

Fatoumata Diawara has received two Grammy nominations. She appeared in the feature film Genesis, directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko, in 1999, and in the movie Sia, le rêve du python in 2001, as well as starred in the musical Kiri kou et Karaba. Later, she started writing her own songs. Fatoumata is known for her "sexy voice". She plays a blend of blues, folk, and funk on the guitar with the most beautiful voice and sense of melody, whose songs present a simple relationship with Africa that breaks down unconscious collective stereotypes of the African continent and its foreign residents. 

"Crazy, too crazy!" "Not enough, not enough at all!" "Applaud until my hands swell!" Some people in the audience said excitedly. Fatoumata Diawara performed 12 songs such as Tolon, Somaw, and Mogokan, which "pulsed" the entire concert hall. She thanked everyone over and over again when singing with the audience, shaping a heart with her hand and saying, "You are so amazing!"

Fatoumata Diawara, perhaps motivated by enthusiasm, led the whole audience in a dance towards the end of the performance. Such a walk-off left lots of the audience unwilling to leave. Surely, this crazy and charming Sunday night has been deeply kept in everyone's mind.