TITLE: Poulo Warali
LABEL: Awesome Tapes From Africa
The Fulani people are the ethnic group with the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world – you’ll find Fula herdsmen all across the Sahel and West Africa. But most Fulani are sedentary, and there’s a sizable community in Mali, where Awa Poulo lives. She’s the daughter of famous singer Inna Baba Coulibaly, one of the few women to make a mark in Fulani music (the most famous man in Fulani music is international superstar Baaba Maal). Poulo is making her own mark – she’s regionally popular with several locally released cassettes, now she has her first international release. Mali is gifted with a plethora of female singing stars, and Poulo and her band add something new to the mix: a mix of Fula sounds on instruments like flute and one-stringed violin with the pan-Malian groove of electric guitar, ngoni and calabash percussion. She collaborates with Ali Farka Toure’s right-hand man Afel Bocoum on track 1, creating a unique Fulani-Songhai fusion. 2 is more distinctively Fula but with some subtle electric guitar washes, while 4 and 6 are cosmopolitan Malian music of the highest order. Lovely sounds from the latest in the long line of Malian divas.
TOP TRACKS: 1 2 4 6
ALSO RECOMMENDED: 3 5 7 8
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