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Hip Hop in Mali
Malinese hip hop offers just that extra 'African' flavour that some people seem to miss with other groups. Our personal vision is that it doesn't matter whether you use traditional instruments, in fact any local music or not... but it definitely is true that the usage of kora, ngoni and other Malinese musical instruments does add up to the attractiveness of this music. The new millennium is starting off nicely with Rage releasing their first international album.
Rage
Members: Koly, Fokko, Sir Alpeco, Justice
Albums: Inscripmania Pour Votemania (with Nainy Diabaté) (1997), Cidew (1998), Cidew (remix cd, Le Maquis France 2000).
(also read our review of the Cidew album!)
The group Rage recorded their first cassette 'Votemania' in 1997 with support of USAID and local NGO's. Lyrics are about elections and the necessity to register to vote. The intro was sung by popular griotte ('traditional' singer) Nainy Diabaté. The tape was distributed in Bamako with the youth. You can listen to this track in our online realaudio show of November 1999. A second effort was out in Mali in 1998, a full album.
Pic: G. Kerbaol/Le Maquis
In early 2000, their first cd will be released through France based record label Le Maquis. We got a pre-release copy featuring 4 songs which are very promising for the content of the full album. There is a remix of 'Votemania' which sounds way better than the original version as there is now a tight beat, and the vocals were recorded properly. There's still singing by Nainy, and the kora is played by her brother, the well known Toumani Diabaté. Rage recorded in the studio of Salif Keita in Bamako. The other tracks mix French and Bambara rapping, and beats which have Malinese instruments mixed in. They manage to sound natural in the way they do the cross-over and unlike with some other West African groups recording, there's not a too big influence of today's French rap styles.
Koly (born 1979, grown up in Senegal) started rapping at the age of 14. He corresponded with his cousin Fokko, who had started out the group 'Rage against the world' in Mali. In 1996 the two teamed up with rapper Justice and went on as Rage. Sir Alpeco grew up in Paris and came to Mali at the age of ten. He started rapping in college and formed a duo with a rapper named Simpson, but shortly after he joined Rage. Justice has family in both Mali and Senegal, he speaks the main languages of these countries and travels often between Dakar and Bamako. Apparently he was the first to rap in Mali who dared rapping in Bambara language and is now known as 'the master of Manding rhyme'.
The official Rage philosophy (and most Francophone African rap groups have one):
We are 100% Rage. We are proud to be Africans and we want to do good things for our continent. We are aware of the world we live in and we're ready to fight for our goals.
Les Ecrocs
Members: Mamadou Tounkra, Salim Diallo, Modibo Diallo
Albums: Saara (with Toumani Diabaté, 1998)
The Saara album was recorded in the studio of Malinese superstar Salif Keita. It seems like rap in Mali, even though it may still be in its early days, has not been rejected by the older generations. This becomes clear when looking at the credits of the Ecrocs tape. Apart from the formentioned co-operation, there is a crew of respected Malinese musicians including the famous kora player Toumani Diabaté who did a good job in adding traditional instruments to the pre-programmed ragga and hip hop tracks. This led to amazing results, where at times the kora (a lute-like instrument) plays its notes where you'd normally expect a deejay to drop in. And Toumani Diabaté makes it sound funky, not like on the recent Baaba Maal albums where kora was merely an added instrument, but as part of the groove.
Rabba Boyz and Multiface
Performances: live at Unesco workshop, Bamako 1997
And this is a lyric that these 2 groups that came together on the occasion dropped... Respect me, protect me,
consult me, don't insult me,
I'm hungry and angry
and burning for learning
so listen to my warning:
I ain't no fool, I know the rule,
it would be cool to be in school,
But I'm stamping my feet
outside in the street...
The smallest radio station in one of the oldest towns in West Africa: Mohamed Kontou broadcasts strictly locally and his studio is not much bigger than a closet. On air he sometimes starts to rhyme in between songs, thus taking it back to the deejay days where hip hop started out.