Mamou Sidibé

Mamou Sidibé new album "Musoya" "Nakan" (Destiny) is the title of the first album which marked, in 1999, the entering of the Mamou Sidibé on the Malian musical scene. A national success (approximately 35.000 specimens sold in Mali) which also allowed the superb voice of Ganadougou, to make a shy but promising step in the international showbiz. Lately, Techno, Girl was a little erased scene. Why? She explains it with opened heart, in the interview she gave us.
Question: That makes a long time that you are not seen on scene. What explains this fold?
Mamou: I drew back a little move in order to devote myself to the composition and the recording of my album "Musoya". That was necessary because I am now condemned to do better than the first cassette which was very well accommodated by the music lovers, especially by the children and the Young people.

- tell us a bit about this new album?
It is an album of twelve titles which was released on the market on last 3rd April. I gave the best of myself to answer the awaiting of my fans and to deserve their confidence. In spite of the economic situation which is presently hard, they continue to sacrifice to be able to buy legal cassettes. I hope that the album will match the expectations.

- Nakan, your first album, had much success. Did it financially match your expectations?
Thanks to God! Even the simple fact of being able to put an album on the market is a great chance and an immense happiness, for which it is always necessary to thank Allah. I almost profited from no financial repercussion of the success of Nakan because of piracy. It is one of the most pirated albums in Mali of the last years.

- As soon as it was put on sale, the cassette was pirated?
Piracy exceeds me. Before the release of my first album the covers were on sale on the market. The one which has just been released was pirated less than three days after the launching. The covers were stolen in the printing house. We cannot return into the market any more because we risk to be insulted or attacked.

- What distinguishes your 1st album from this one?
The first album is exclusively techno whereas on Musoya, there are only four techno tracks. We moved back to jump, not that we do not have ideas but because we are conscious that the revalorization of the traditional instruments, of the pillars of our traditions and our culture, is a duty for us the artists. The eight other titles are thus arranged on the traditional instruments like the dun dun, the calabash, the kamalen ngoni, the flute...

- You took part in festivals like Africolor of Saint Denis (France); Voix de Femmes in Brussels (Belgium) and some concerts in Europe. What do these concerts bring to you?
A very large and enriching experiment. I had many contacts and enough opportunities of looking further into my musical knowledge and evaluate the way I have to follow to equal the level of my elder on the international scene like Salif Keita, Oumou Sangaré, Nahawa Doumbia, Rokia Traoré, etc. I think I have progressed and I hope that the music lovers will feel that on Musoya.

- The word of the end?
This album was realised with a certain maturity especially in the spirit of solidarity and fraternity. It comes to the music lovers to judge the fruit of my work. The only council that I give them, it is to buy legal cassettes of their artists. I greet the initiative of the authorities which gave a machine for sticker to the Malian office of author’s right (BUMDA). I would like to say to the Malian office of author’s right that the struggle against piracy is a combat of everyday, the pirates will never come to give themselves up, it is necessary to carry out a fight without mercy to arrive at end of this gangrene which mines the Malian music. To finish, I will request a change of a change of behaviour to the music lovers without whom the fight against piracy will be difficult.

The tchatcho Koffi Olomidé
the new Koffi will be on sale on April 15, 2003, " Raison d’ Etat " is the title of this new opus which will be released in double album" vol 1 "and" vol 2 ". Raison d’ Etat, as the title indicates, is beyond the person of Koffi himself. The material conditions and financial settings at his disposal for the realization of this double album, his attachment to the cultural values of his native Congo and his constant research of new sonorities would have led the ambiance maker of Kinshasa to call his double album Raison d’Etat. It’s also 16 titles of happiness. Raison d’ Etat, as you have never seen Koffi Olomidé. Raison d’ Etat for all the fans of the Congolese rumba will be without any doubt the hit of the spring.

INTENSIFY YOUR VIGILANCE
Less than forty eight hours after its release, "Musoya" the new album of Techno Girl Mamou Sidibé is already victim of piracy. We even wonder if the pirated products were not being sold at the same time as the legal cassettes. It’s hardly surprising because a few days before its official release, approximately eight thousand covers of this superb album had been stolen in Imprim Color. It was just before the delivery to the producer. That had forced the producer, Mali K7, to change the presentation of the jacket. It was obvious that the people who stole the jackets did not have good intentions. It was either pirates or their accomplices. But no one could imagine that they would to dare to put their pirated tapes on the market so quickly. The cassette of Mamou was released on April 3rd. And on April 8th already, she was competed with the products distributed by those who stole the first covers in Imprim Color. Fortunately, a salesman was already arrested thanks to the vigilance of a producer distributor. Denounced, the salesman was stopped by Interpol. And he has not been long to denounce his many accomplices. Presently, the inquiry follows its course and heads, not the least, will certainly very soon fall. While waiting, the music lovers, especially the fans of Mamou, must redouble vigilance to help us to dismantle this network which condemns our artists to precariousness and the producers to bankruptcy with all that it comprises as social and economic consequences.
Despite the huge success Musoya met on the market, the producer did not succeed yet in selling off the six thousand specimens put into distribution on last April 3rd. That is easily understood when we know that the legal cassettes are competed with in an unfair way by less expensive products because pirated and sold off with stolen covers. As the talented Techno Girl said in Le Reflet, a weekly sorting of the place, a few weeks before the release of Musoya, "the struggle against piracy is a combat of everyday, the pirates will never come to give themselves up, it is necessary to carry out a fight without mercy to arrive at end of this gangrene which mines the Malian music ". She also wished "a change of behaviour to the music lovers without whom the fight against piracy will be difficult". She is right as she met a similar misadventure at the release of "Nakan", his first album. "I almost profited from no financial repercussion of the success of Nakan because of piracy. It is one of the most pirated albums in Mali these last years. We do not know any more what to do. Piracy exceeds me. Before the release of my first album the covers were on sale on the market. The one which has just been released was pirated less than three days after the launching because the covers were stolen in the printing house. We cannot return into the market any more because we risk to be insulted or attacked ", declares Mamou with a very great disappointment. It is obvious that the artists cannot do anything without the support of the populations and the authorities protection (physical and social). Thus let us redouble vigilance so that Mamou, like all the other artists, can finally draw the vital minimum from her immense talent.

The Couple Amadou and Mariam in mourning
The association of the producers, the Direction of Mali K7 and its staff thank all those who joined them to share the pain of the death of Mrs Traoré Baïni, mother of their brother, friend and collaborator Amadou Bagayogo (famous Malian artist), death which occurred on last April 10, 2003.