Oumou Sangaré & Toumani Diabaté

play major concerts in Bamako

Malian stars Oumou Sangaré and Toumani Diabaté have been playing to audiences across Europe and North America throughout 2009 to great acclaim.  In celebration of Tabaski, this week both artists feature in major concerts in their hometown Bamako, the nation’s capital.

To promote her album Seya, the diva of Wassoulou, Oumou Sangaré, is preparing for a spectacular concert on Sunday 29^th November at the Modibo Kéïta Stadium.  Oumou is one of the first Malian artists to headline at the stadium, where the 2002 African Cup of Nations final was played, and as a result these shows have become a major media event in Mali, “it’s here in Mali, my home, that I’ve chosen to end my tour, because without Mali this tour wouldn’t have meant anything” says Oumou.

Invited to the stadium show are a whole host of important artists including Salif Kéïta, as well as fellow female vocalists Kandia Kouyaté and Nahawa Doumbi.

Last weekend saw Grammy winning kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté return from his international touring to play a show at the new cultural venue BlonBa.  Prior to his return Toumani had been playing shows in South Africa, France, Spain and Portugal, as well as a special concert at the Oslo World Music Festival where he performed with a symphonic orchestra.  His homecoming show lasted over two hours and according to reports held the audience spellbound.  Toumani’s Bamako concerts see him perform with the full scale Symmetric Orchestra, his pan-Africa big band, with whom he’ll maintain their weekly residency, with breaks for international touring, which begins with concerts in Australia in January.

In 2010 Toumani and his band will play a series of concerts featuring his interpretations of the music featured on his duet album with Ali Farka Touré ‘In the Heart of the Moon’ and its follow-up ‘Ali and Toumani’ due for release in February 2010,

Oumou Sangaré will open her international touring in the UK as part of the African Soul Rebels tour in February.

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Tony Allen

Afrobeat legend Tony Allen’s new album ‘ Secret Agent’ is out now.  It’s his debut for World Circuit and his first release since he became a founder member of The Good, The Bad and The Queen. Critics across Europe have hailed the album as a triumphant return to his Afrobeat roots: 

“light as a breeze in the trees and as explosive as a stick of dynamite” MOJO

“if you’re wondering why Afrobeat is hip, start here” Observer Music Monthly

“his debut for the planet’s #1 world music label finds him going back to his roots” Uncut****

“There’s no question that Tony Allen is a genius, one of the greatest percussionists in the history of popular music” The Guardian

“ein Gegenentwurf zum allzuglatten Mainstream-Rhythm-‚n’-Blues.“ Die Zeit

“ein Rhythmus voller Gold, Klasse und Freude” FAZ

“Non rimane che lasciarci avvolgere da questi suoni affascinanti, piacevoli, affatto etnici ma che trasudano solo buona musica fatta per ballare e divertirsi; nessuno ne rimarrà deluso”  Buscadero

“unbelievable moving, energetic sound” Svenska Dagbladet

Tony has played a series of well received concerts this summer with the same core band that appear on ‘Secret Agent’ as this excerpt from The Independent review of their performance at Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown testifies:

The songs blend effortlessly into each other, from the opener "Asiko" from the Black Voices album, through the highlights from Secret Agent – including the title track and "Elewon Po" with its "Too many prisoners" chorus – to "Kindness" from Home Cooking and its catchy refrain of "Don't take my kindness for weakness", which stays long in the head after Allen and co have left the stage. Their final offering, "Eparapo", culminates with the crowd clapping along to Allen's infectious rhythms. It's an impressive feelgood performance that will be hard to better this year. And on this evidence, surely it's only a matter of time before Tony Allen himself is invited to curate his own Meltdown.   Read the full review HERE.

World Circuit and Pulse Films bring you a specially made short film for the new Tony Allen album 'Secret Agent', featuring exclusive footage including performances of tracks from the album, new interviews, with contributions from Damon Albarn and Flea. Back to basics, it's pure Afrobeat, plain and simple groove.

To co-incide with the album release, World Circuit launched a remix contest giving DJs the chance to get creative with the title track ‘Secret Agent’.  We’ve been inundated with entries and are due to announce the winning entry, chosen by Tony himself, very soon.

Check out the fascinating Tony Allen special on the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Podcast.  The hour long podcast features an extensive interview with Tony and music from throughout his career.

Tony continues to be an integral part of Africa Express, read more in this newsletter.

http://www.tonyallenafrobeat.com

Oumou Sangare

The Malian singer’s latest album ‘ Seya’ has been hailed as one of the African releases of the year:

“a masterpiece” Observer Music Monthly*****

“If Aretha Franklin had grown up in Bamako she might have sounded something like this.” BBC Music

“Something this special doesn’t come along so often that it can afford to be overlooked” Q****

“Listening to ‘Seya’ it’s easy to understand why she’s become so big” Time Out New York

“Ciò che affascina di lei è il contrasto tra questa esteriorità dinamica e il tenero spazio interiore in cui nasce la sua musica”  Il Giornale della Musica

“Die Diva aus Mali zählt noch immer zu den Superstars aus Afrika. Dieses überwältigende neue Opus zeigt warum“ Rolling Stone Germany

"That so much grace and glow can be combined at one time!"  Dagens Nyheter

Oumou has just returned from her North American tour, which co-incided with the release of ‘Seya’ in Canada. and the United States.  Her Central Park concert got a rave review in the New York Times, and was notable for the backstage scene with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Jackson Browne keen to meet Oumou.  The tour also featured Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun. who flew to the UK especially to appear with Oumou at this year’s Womad festival.  Watch footage from Oumou’s show at Cambridge Folk Festival filmed by the BBC.

Oumou’s performance with US banjo virtuoso  Bela Fleck at the Quebec City Summer Festival won the Prix Miroir for best world music performance.  The show was recorded by Radio Canada for broadcast at a later date (details will be posted on World Circuit Twitter page).

A major concert tour back home in Mali is being planned for December, look out for more details in the next newsletter.

Oumou’s appeal in the US is spreading beyond the confines of the world music press and is featured in Pitchfork, Dusted and The Fader.

http://www.oumousangare.com

Toumani Diabaté

Toumani continues on his ‘never ending tour’ with more dates across Europe, North America, Morocco, continuing to amaze audiences with his unrivalled kora skills.

Toumani appears on Bela Fleck’s new album ‘ Straight from the Heart’ and played some US shows with the banjo player earlier this summer to great acclaim.  Toumani is currently in North America playing more dates with Bela,  ending  their New York Summerstage show with a unique interpretation of the classic 'Dueling Banjos'.  Both appeared on CNN to discuss the project, watch the clip HERE.

At the start of the summer Toumani played a special concert with cutting edge Flamenco pianist Diego Amador.  Toumani is no stranger to flamenco, having made 2 albums with the Spanish group Ketama.

Toumani has just played the very hip indie festival Field Day at .. London’s Victoria Park and was the stand-out act for many, as this review in thelondonpaper and many entries on the Drowned in Sound forum show.

http://www.toumanidiabate.co.uk

Orquesta ..Buena Vista.. Social Club®

The fantastic 13 piece line-up, featuring Guajiro Mirabal, Aguaje Ramos, Manuel Galbán and Barbarito Torres played to sold out audiences across Europe this spring and their summer tour continues where they left off.  The Orquesta began the tour with a series of dates in Germany and Austria with special guest Omara Portuondo which were met with ecstatic responses from the public.

This autumn they return to the UK for what is becoming an annual fixture, although this tour features a show at London's legendary Royal Albert Hall.  The extensive tour sells out fast across the board so get your tickets while they’re still available.

http://www.buenavistasocialclub.com

August 5^th saw the project move to Paris for a show at Parvis de l’Hotêl de Ville  that featured Damon Albarn, Amadou & Mariam, alongside World Circuit artists Tony Allen and Oumou Sangare, as well as Vieux Farka Toure and Bassekou Kouyate.  The concert was covered by The Observer, who singled out Oumou's performance as the highlight of the event.

Out now is the Africa Express compilation CD (plus bonus DVD) which features tracks from many of the African artists involved chosen by their western counterparts.  The CD will be on sale at selected retail outlets, French speakers can check out the brand new minisite which has info on the new CD and all the artists involved.

Fleuve Niger, Ligne de Vie

On June 30^th there was a special one-off concert at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, France within the Festival de Saint-Denis which featured several World Circuit artists.

The line-up included Oumou Sangaré on vocals, Toumani Diabaté on kora, Symmetric Orchestra’s Kasse Mady Diabaté and Lasana Diabate on vocals and balafon respectively, and the Brodsky Quartet.  The performance was the idea of kora player and African Classical Ensemble leader Tunde Jegede who was specially commissioned by the Festival.  Ensemble members include Kasse Mady, Juldeh Camara, Maya Jobarteh and Chi-Chi Nwanaku.  Click HERE for more on the project.

New albums from Vieux Farka Toure & Bassekou Kouyate

World Circuit Music is the publishing arm of the label and this summer sees new releases from new releases from two great artists that we work with, Vieux Farka Touré and Bassekou Kouyaté. 

Vieux Farka Touré’s self titled debut was seen by many as a passing of the torch from his father, the late Ali Farka Touré.  His second album 'Fondo' sees him emerge as a significant artist in his own right.  Whilst 'Fondo' features a beautiful duet with Toumani Diabaté, almost every track is an original composition by Vieux.  This is the sound of young Africa, and it rocks. 

After Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni ba's award winning album 'Segu Blue' the ngoni wizard from Mali is back with his new offering 'I speak fula' The album captures the incredible live energy of the band and is the next step in the career of one of the most exciting and innovative musicians to come out of Africa in the past few years.  This album also features Toumani, Vieux, and Kassy Mady Diabaté

World Circuit Music - Out now or coming soon!

Check out some of the current films, tv shows, ads and games featuring music from World Circuit artists and writers:

Desire - feature film - Oumou Sangare 'Saa Magni' and 'Kayi Ni Wura'

Tell Me Who You Are (Min Ye) - feature film - Oumou Sangare 'Djorolen', Ali Farka Toure 'Hawa Dolo' and 'Roucky', Vieux Farka Toure 'Dounia', Bassekou Kouyate 'Jonkoloni' and 'Tonjon'

Oxfam Novib - TV advert - Ali Farka Toure 'Goytiododam' 

World Circuit on Twitter

For those of you that can’t wait for our quarterly newsletter, the World Circuit Twitter page is the perfect solution.  The page is updated almost daily with news, reviews, links and competitions.

Visit: http://www.twitter.com/worldcircuit 

Internship Scheme 

World Circuit are soon to launch an internship scheme giving candidates the opportunity to work for 3 months in our press and publicity department.  The post will cover a variety of areas including social networking sites and digital promotion, audio visual archiving, film and radio contract work, and much more.

To find out more and to submit your CV email mail@worldcircuit.co.uk and mark the email ‘World Circuit Internship’

Competition

Once again we have 5 goody bags of exclusive prizes on offer in our subscriber competition, including signed CDs, posters, special promo CDs and DVDs, and World Circuit t-shirts. 

To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is answer this simple question.  Tony Allen comes from which country: 

(a)   Nigeria

(b)   Mali

(c)   Senegal

World Circuit are offering 2 pairs of tickets to see Toumani Diabate at Field Day Festival in London on August 1st.  To be in with a chance of winning, email: info@fielddayfestivals.com with subject heading 'Toumani Diabate comp', closing date is Friday June 5th.

For more information on the festival go to: http://www.fielddayfestivals.com/ 

GOOD LUCK!