Fatoumata Diawara struggles and emerges in Brussels
Anyone who knows the live reputation of Fatoumata Diawara knows that expectations for her concert in the beautiful hall of Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, which had not yet been postponed due to corona, were high. We only look at her performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival of the Vienna Jazz Festival last year to know that Diawara represents the best of contemporary world music.
The crowd turned out in large numbers for this highly anticipated concert. Well described to see that it looks like the Ancienne Belgique is going to pay more attention to world music, with artists like Angelique Kidjo and Oumou Sangare taking the stage in Brussels in the coming months.
Just after half past eight the four musicians of Diawara took the stage and with a long intro they announced the arrival of the singer. What immediately struck me was that the sound in the hall left a lot to be desired today. The drums simply sound clumsy and for the rest, the guitar player’s sound drowned in reverb was predominant. A problem that unfortunately would not be rectified for the rest of the evening.
The first song was, as often, ‘Don Do’. Diawara sings of her love for a man who, however, has already given his heart to another. It is a fragile, stilled song in which space is given to the fantastic way in which the singer interprets the text with her voice with a rough edge. Unfortunately the voice got stuck half way through the mix and the voice was barely audible. Also incomprehensible that no sound guitar was used, as she normally does. This makes the opener less than expected.
In any case, it is always a fine line of resulting artists to balance. Do you try to interpret music as beautifully as possible, or do you do exercises because, for example, you have to make choices in terms of orchestrations and arrangements? The latter is clearly the case during this tour of Diawara. She played her music with a pop-based band behind her. There was no African percussion, a loss that weighs heavily. There were no backing singers, they were played from the computer. All African instruments were ‘interpreted’ by guitar and keyboards and that doesn’t always sound right. A guitarist who plays an interpretation of a n’goni using a lot of electronics or a keyboard player who plays a canned version of a kora. It’s not optimal. Understandable, because a tour has to use money, but in Brussels the balance was against the artist, partly due to the bad sound in the hall.
That said, it must be seen that the audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves and allowed the singer to perform throughout the set. Through songs like ‘Kokoro’ and ‘Kanou Dan Yen’ the tempo was slowly increased. As midway through her show, Diawara dedicated song ‘Negue Negue’ to the godfather of Afrobeat, Fela Kuti. Unfortunately in Brussels the whole went down because of the reverberating mix. There also seemed to be something wrong with the drummer. Afrobeat without a tangible groove is not a real Afro Beat. For those who know Fatoumata Diawara live, the performance in Brussels must be a disappointment. No problem for the public. The afrobeat went in like a minister’s word in a believer.
Then Diawara dedicates her version of Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’ to the strong African women in music. They called the name Billie Holiday, Miriam Makeba, Angelique Kidjo and Oumou Sangare. This song just wasn’t right. The leeks of Diawara had problems with her trunk, although it was difficult to hear because of the sound paste in which her trunk was difficult to distinguish. Again an unsteady drummer, an exaggerated guitar sound that is far too prominent. Things were not going well in Brussels.
However, the public did not appreciate it, they had come to make it a party and they did. After Sinnerman, the train went up a gear. With prize numbers ‘Sowa’ and ‘Bonya’ they sang along and Fatoumata Diawara showed her famous dances on stage. Like a whirling Turkish whirling dervish, Diawara let her beautiful African wax spin and bubble. The audience thoroughly enjoyed it. The hair went loose and Fatoumata showed once again why the only right choice was to play the role of Karaba in the musical Kirikou. Spectacular. After the encore ‘Anisou’ the audience went home satisfied. Still, there could have been more on this evening in Brussels. Fatoumata Diawara was plagued by sub-optimal sound, a cold-fatigued voice and a band that was not doing well.