Rokia Traoré sings in quietly compelling tones on Né So, an album informed by her personal experience of Mali's descent into war. "A house, habits, a future", she sings ruefully on the refugee lament "Né So" ("Home"). Like a West African Joni Mitchell, Traoré traces her relationship with Mali through good and bad times. While acoustic guitars and a two-stringed ngoni accompany her on "Kolokani", other tracks contain lilting arrangements of understated rhythmic complexity. And Traoré's take on Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" drives the horror home.
More By Rokia Traoré
- 2008
- Boubacar Traoré
- Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal
- Ablaye Cissoko & Volker Goetze
- The Touré-Raichel Collective