To commemorate 40 years of bringing music to the heart of the Montreal summer, the Nuits d’Afrique International Festival chose Oumou Sangaré for its opening concert, held on Tuesday, July 7, at MTELUS.
Ten artists took the stage, including this Malian diva—who is clearly much loved—and who has been performing in Montreal for decades.
Once again, the regal Oumou Sangaré treated us to a true sub-Saharan groove, led by her powerful voice with influences from the Wassoulou region—a southern area of Mali that serves as a crossroads between neighbouring countries (Ivory Coast and Guinea), fostering the cultural exchanges and fusions she draws upon today.
An artist with a long and rich career, she performed at the heart of a true Mandinka cultural ensemble—masters of groove through the ngoni and traditional percussion, complemented by keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, and everything in between.
The call-and-response between the soloist and her instrumentalists and backup singers creates an irresistible string of grooves—a specialty of West Africans. In short, it’s that signature style we know so well, which returns year after year to delight the “traditional” audience of Les Nuits d’Afrique.
Drawing from her two most recent albums, Acoustic and Timbuktu, among others, Oumou Sangaré is in and of herself a guarantee of high quality; she is a leading singer and an outspoken African feminist as well as a committed humanist and pan-Africanist.
She wished us good fortune, inspired us to love, expressed her condemnation of the violent extremism raging in the north of the country, defended African women, and praised the men in the audience who had come to celebrate a woman at Nuits d’Afrique as brave.
Oumou Sangaré is a lady—a strong woman whose voice carries weight, whose authority continues to command respect time and again.
Crédit photo : Yassine Sanou
