Boubacar Traoré is a renowned singer, songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

. Traoré also goes by the nickname Kar Kar, "the one who dribbles too much" in Bambara

Bambara language

Bambara, more correctly known as Bamanankan , its designation in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people...

, a reference to his soccer playing: "a nickname I got from playing soccer when I was young. People would yell 'Kari, Kari' - dribble, dribble - the name stuck with me".

Early fame

Traoré first came to prominence in the early 1960s. He had taught himself to play guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and developed a unique style that blended American Blues music

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

, Arab music

Arab music

Arabic music or Arab music is the music of the Arab World, including several genres and styles of music ranging from Arabic classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music....

, and pentatonic structures found in West Africa's Mande

Mande

Mande may refer to:* Mandé peoples of western Africa* Mande languages* Manding, a term covering a subgroup of Mande peoples, and sometimes used for one of them, Mandinka* Garo people of northeastern India and northern Bangladesh...

 cultural region. He was a superstar in Mali and a symbol of the newly independent country (see History of Mali

History of Mali

The history of Mali covers events on the territory of modern Mali from about the 11th century to the present.- Early History, c. 700 - 1591 :Mali's early history was dominated by three famed West African empires-- Ghana, Mali or "Manden Kurufa", and Songhay...

). His songs were immensely popular and he enjoyed regular radio play. However, he made no recordings, and since there were no royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

 paid to musicians, he was very poor and had to work odd jobs to make ends meet.

Decline and revival

In 1968, when Moussa Traoré overthrew Malian president Modibo Keita, Boubacar Traoré, widely seen as an artist associated with the previous regime, disappeared from the airwaves. During the 1970s Traoré's popularity faded, until a surprise television appearance in 1987. Soon after this "rediscovery," Boubacar's wife died during childbirth. Grief-stricken, he moved to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and did construction work to support his six children. While there, a British record producer discovered a tape of one of Traoré's radio performances, and he was finally signed to a record deal. His first album, Mariama, was released in 1990. Since then, Traoré has enjoyed international popularity, touring Europe, Africa, and North America.

Boubacar figures in the book Mali Blues (Lonely Planet, Australia), by Belgian writer Lieve Joris. The book inspired Swiss film director Jacques Sarasin for the 2001 film Je chanterai pour toi ("I'll Sing For You") about Boubacar, released on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 in 2005.

Along with several blues artists, he appeared in the film Blues Road Movie (Au Coeur du Blues)) by Louis Mouchet

Louis mouchet

- Biography :Louis Mouchet studied history and literature at the University of Geneva and graduated from London International Film School in 1983.He has directed mainly documentaries, along with shorts, music videos and corporate films for international companies and organizations.- Filmography :*...

 (2001).

Discography

• Mariama (1990)
• Kar Kar (1992)
• Les Enfants de Pierrette (1995)
• Sa Golo (1996)
• Maciré (2000)
• Je chanterai pour toi (2003)
• The Best of Boubacar Traoré: The Bluesman from Mali (2003)
• Kongo Magni (2005)
• Mali Denhou (2011)

External links

• Biography from World Music Central
• Biography from Concerted Efforts
• Article from Sonicnet (republished on Global Village Idiot)