AMAZONE ROKIA KONÉ STEPS OUT OF MALI AND INTO THE WORLD OF U2 AND R.E.M.
“Lee brought radical ideas. It’s unique!” ROKIA KONÉ
“IWAS A little shocked when I heard the finished songs on my album for the first time,” laughs Rokia Koné down the line from Bamako. “They sounded so different, not typical of the sounds we hear in Mali. Whatever the style or genre – jazz, reggae – I will give it a go, but what you play in Europe may not be popular here, and vice versa.”
It’s hardly surprising, for the 38-year-old from Ségou, a bend in the Niger River renowned for its blues musicians, has taken a circuitous route to releasing her solo debut. Firstly, she doesn’t come from a griot family, the traditional musical caste – the Konés are nobles – and she grew up a tomboy, with a talent for football. Nine years ago, she started singing professionally for local star Aliya Coulibaly. “He taught me a lot, then one day told me I was ready to go solo, to sing at weddings and perform gigs on my own. There comes a time when the mentor should release the trainee with their blessing.”
After playing Bamako’s clubs for a couple of years, she started recording, only to be immediately head-hunted to join the pan-African, female-led supergroup Amazones d’Afrique in 2016. Her solo career was put on hold for their two albums and European dates, although she continued working on her debut on the wing, finally completing it in August 2020. Shortly afterwards, however, there was another twist in the tale when producer Jacknife Lee heard what she had done as an Amazone.
“I did not know anything about him and I’m not familiar with the bands he worked with before,” Koné admits. But, separated by 4,000 miles, they swapped ideas online. Koné sent Lee her recordings, and he would pick up a guitar line, isolate a drum, add electronic elements. “I had no idea how to approach this but I love that naivety,” admits Lee, the Ireland-born, California-based producer whose previous collaborators include R.E.M., U2 and Taylor Swift. “I kind of knew where I was going and now
Bamanan feels like the thing I had always wished to do.”
“He experimented with what we had already created,” adds Koné, “and brought radical ideas to the arrangements. I love what he has done, he’s brought a new perspective to my music. It’s unique!”
Finally, the world may be ready for “the Rose of
Bamako”, and vice versa.