Kouyate, Kandia
Renascence
he Mande art of jeliya carries a long and complex tradition of fine distinctions and enless debates about the qualities that earn its hereditary poets and musicians the highest accolades and honourifics. But on the great jelimuolu (female singers) of our time, there is near-unanimity regarding Kandia Koyate: she is a ngara, perhaps the only one of her generation. More than a killed singer, a ngara possesses what many would say is a paranormal aura of majesty. In 2004 Kandia Kouaye suffered a stroke. here recovery was slow and difficult, and for seven years she hardly spoke and did not sing at all. In 2011 Ibrahima Sylla visited her home in Bamako and covinced her to return to the recording studio. Lamently he did not live to complete the album. He died in 2013 and Francois Breant, who had worked with him on such recording landmarks as Salif Keita"s Sora and Thione Seck's Orientation, together with Sylla's daughter Binetou, finished the project. Renascence is her resounding declaration of personal and artistic rebirth. Featuring on guitar Djely Moussa Kouyate...