Monday, November 19, 2012

World Rhythms: Fatoumata Diawara


On Thursday, September 20th at Kennedy Union Boll Theater, I attended Fatoumata Diawara's concert with my friends. She is a musical artist from Mali. This was such a valuable cultural experience and I’m happy to say it was my favorite arts event thus far at UD. Diawara was so energetic and talented that the audience could not help but get into her music. She started off without saying anything; it was just she and her guitar on stage. She sung a couple of songs and played beautifully. I was amazed by how effortlessness her performance seemed. It was so natural to her, and even though I didn’t understand the words to her song, I felt like I was still able to gather its meaning, just by her expression of the music. When her band joined her on stage, the performance reached its energetic height. She was full of life and it was apparent how much she believed in her music. Diawara made sure the audience was connected with every member on stage and urged us to dance with her. When she wasn’t singing or playing her guitar, she clapped along with the beat, danced all around the stage, and engaged the drummer, electric guitarist and bassist. There was also another woman on stage who kept the beat and danced with her as well. They just seemed to be having such a great time, which is a really important part of a performance. I would recommend this to a friend if the opportunity presented itself. It was really a good way to become educated about another culture’s music, and to attend an event that is certainly different than any student’s everyday activities. It definitely had an effect on me, as I have listened to her music since then. Her CD has such a wide range, as some songs are slow and relaxing and others are lively and fast. As a whole, the audience was really involved in the performance; it was hard not to be. Every time we would stop clapping, she would get everyone back involved, and she created small dances for each song.

This is the link for Fatoumata Diawara's music video: Bissa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E82BifytoYY

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