Rokia Traore: Nothing to do with superstrings

A few years ago I picked up a Rokia Traore album. I’m not sure what the impetus was–probably I was looking for another hit of the same kind of musical whammy that I got from Orchestre Baobab‘s Pirate’s Choice, so I was exploring African contemporary.

Let us cut a long story short and say that I enjoyed the album, and eventually picked up two others. (Which, as far as I can tell has me “up to date“, except that I haven’t been able to see/hear the opera“Most recently, Traore has made news for a triumphant “quasi-opera” on the final year of Mozart’s life. Wati re-imagines a dying Mozart as a griot in ancient West Africa, heir to a long line of hereditary musicians. The work, commissioned by opera director Peter Sellars, has played to thrilled audiences across Europe.” she did.)

While I was sorting through the TED archives to prepare yesterday’s superstring video post, I noticed that the TED guys have a Traore biography, and investigating that leads to a clip where she performs “M’Bifo” as part of last year’s conference. I hadn’t noticed this before since the performance can only be streamed, not downloadedTheoretically. You know, for the people without the skillz..

So, for your listening and viewing pleasure:

If you dig that but want to try some more before you make up your mind, there are three tracks available for online streaming at the BBC.