{"title":"Nahawa Doumbia","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"vol-2-5","title":"Vol 2","description":"\u003cp\u003eIntimate early recording by Malian icon. Awesome Tapes From Africa the label began over 10 years ago with the reissue of Nahawa Doumbia’s \u003ci\u003eVol. 3\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe recording kicked off a successful run of classic and new recordings from artists across Africa, being made available for the first time in the international marketplace. ATFA makes it possible for artists to expand their fanbases and revenues streams with legally licensed recordings and a 50\/50 profit split. For its 50th release, ATFA presents iconic Malian singer Nahawa Doumbia’s beloved \u003ci\u003eVol. 2.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReleased on LP in 1982 and Unavailable outside Mali until now, \u003ci\u003eVol. 2\u003c\/i\u003e is an intimate yet powerful document of the early efforts of one of Mali’s most enduring voices. Four decades of worldwide acclaim later, Doumbia is still touring the world blowing minds with her achingly emphatic singing backed by her partner guitarist N’gou Bagayoko. \u003ci\u003eVol. 2\u003c\/i\u003e is stark in its instrumentation—simply featuring voice and acoustic guitar but massive in its sonic impact.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePainstakingly extracted and remastered from LP by longtime ATFA audio engineer collaborator Jessica Thompson, this is the first time this recording has been cleaned-up for wider release. The master recording no longer exists and the original was pressed at relatively inferior quality, heightening the difficulty of presenting \u003ci\u003eVol. 2\u003c\/i\u003e with clarified audio. The historic recording was worth the effort.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDoumbia’s voice soars above Bagayoko’s guitar as she lays out her plaintive approach to expressing relevant topics of the day. The room sound could be considered the third instrument as its shape and sonic affect is vibrantly apparent throughout. And the simplicity of this recording only enhances the immediacy of these four songs. As a bookend to both Doumbia’s long career and ATFA’s growing catalogue, \u003ci\u003eVol. 2\u003c\/i\u003e is a grand yet unpretentious encapsulation of the energy behind this decade-long collaboration between artist and label.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Awesome Tapes From Africa","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50464695288139,"sku":"2224374","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Tape","offer_id":50464693649739,"sku":"2224373","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50464692601163,"sku":"2224372","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Nahawa_Doumbia_-_Vol_2_2cdc476f_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727278256"},{"product_id":"la-grande-cantatrice-malienne-vol-1","title":"La Grande Cantatrice Malienne, Vol. 1","description":"\u003cp\u003eNahawa Doumbia is one of Mali's defining vocalists of the last four decades. Her work journeys through progressive stages of musical evolution and sonic vogues, making it hard to summarize or even comprehend. She's played a part in popular music since the late '70s, as her version of Wassoulou music developed from vocals-and-guitar duo into full-scale touring bands packing a bombastic, electrified punch. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAwesome Tapes From Africa release Doumbia's debut recording \u003ci\u003eLa Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 1. \u003c\/i\u003eThis seminal classic, which is still sought-after is remastered. The recording looks back to the beginning of Doumbia's long career, when she was performing in a simple voice and acoustic guitar format. This was before she added bass and drums, and finally the electric guitar and synths for which she became known more recently. Released in 1981 by the excellent Cote d'Ivoire-based AS Records, the singer was barely 20 years old when it was recorded. She was accompanied by her future husband N'Gou Bagayoko on acoustic guitar, whose style echoes the nimble runs of traditional kamele n'goni players. The stark simplicity of this highly intimate recording-the audible room acoustics, the occasionally in-the-red vocals-do not obscure the mature strength of her voice. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Awesome Tapes From Africa","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50498434138443,"sku":"1072843","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498433810763,"sku":"1072842","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/c1bbbd3f-00f4-4ea9-bb02-926df5e474d5_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727748037"},{"product_id":"kanawa","title":"Kanawa","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis release marks 40 years of music-making for the singer. Recorded in Bamako with a full traditional-pop ensemble. Album addresses immigration and war. Follows on successful reissues of her early albums. Powerful musical arrangements by longtime collaborator and guitarist N'Gou Bagayoko\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNahawa Doumbia’s new album \u003ci\u003eKanawa \u003c\/i\u003econcisely captures this current moment in Malian history. The singer, whose storied career spans more than four decades, reflects on the immigration crisis from the Malian perspective in the title of her new album \u003ci\u003eKanawa\u003c\/i\u003e. Across eight songs recorded in Bamako with a band including traditional and modern instruments, Doumbia merges her early work that relied on a spare expression of her trademark didadi rhythm with the bombastic range of contemporary Malian pop. The beautifully complex musical accompaniment that results is courtesy of the large ensemble she pulled together with producer and arranger (and day one collaborator) N’gou Bagayoko. The band features two highly expressive Malian string instruments, the ngoni and the slightly smaller kamalé ngoni, as well as a variety of percussion, drum programming, karignan (a metal scraper) and acoustic and electric guitars. Doumbia’s daughter, a celebrated singer with her own group and busy concert schedule, Doussou Bagayoko sings on \u003ci\u003eAdjorobena\u003c\/i\u003e, a song about patience, tolerance and living in peace. Doumbia weaves together a roadmap of her psyche when it\u003cbr\u003ecomes to the good and bad life has to offer. She talks about marriage and women leaving home to join another through the metaphor of a tree in the garden; she includes gunshot samples in the song “Foliwilen” to honor the bravery of hunters, soldiers and other courageous people; she uses a bird in “Djougoh” to talk about lazy people; and, in “Ndiagneko” she advises people to ignore critics, just do you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMali has gone through an intense period of regional strife and terrorist incidents over the last ten years and Doumbia roots the album in tragic local concerns with deep global implications. “The meaning of \u003ci\u003eKanawa\u003c\/i\u003e is so simple. We see our children trying to cross the ocean all the time. I said that many of our children die in the ocean and some of them die while crossing the Sahara. But I ask them why do they leave their country? They said that they leave because of the family situation or problems like poverty and unemployment. I ask them to stay and work in their country. I call on the UN and African leaders so that we can coordinate our efforts to find a solution, to create jobs for them so that young people stop leaving. That’s why I chose it as the title of my album so that everybody can learn from it and also so that there is a reduction in the number of people emigrating. So that some will hear the message and stay home and grow the land. Leaving is not the only\u003cbr\u003esolution. My message is to help the youth find jobs.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Awesome Tapes From Africa","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50498840854859,"sku":"1101752","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498841313611,"sku":"1101751","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/6ed74012-b8a1-4086-aacf-a51da63898af_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727758902"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/nahawa-doumbia.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}