M.D.L.
The instruments and Awa's voice have a super healing vibe and presence. I'm also really smitten by the backstory of how she got into singing and some of the cultural nuances and "musical" gender norms of the region this Peulh music sprouts from.
Beautiful vocals from Awa Poulo, and technically astounding accompaniment from her band. This is a new recording, not a reissue. Recorded in Bamako. Sounds wonderful on vinyl.
Includes unlimited streaming of Poulo Warali
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$22USDor more
Cassette + Digital Album
Cassette of this new recording from Mali! Huge success of the LP release in January made us want to have this on tape too.
Includes unlimited streaming of Poulo Warali
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
4 remaining
Purchasable with gift card
$12USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of Poulo Warali
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
$10USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$6USD or more
5 of our favorite releases, all featuring great West African vocalists!...
Nahawa Doumbia — Vol. 1 & Vol. 3
Aby Ngana Diop — Liital
Awa Poulo — Poulo Warali
Antoinette Konan — self-titled
Includes unlimited streaming of Poulo Warali
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Awa Poulo is a singer of Peulh origin from Dilly commune, Mali, near the border with Mauritania. Largely pastoral and often nomadic, Peulh- (or Fula-)speaking peoples are found from Senegal to Ethiopia but predominate in the Sahel region of West Africa. Awesome Tapes From Africa is proud to release Poulo’s newest recording of highly virtuosic folk-pop, fresh from the studio, broadcasting her vision of Peulh music beyond the grazing grounds and central markets of her remote home region in southwestern Mali.
It’s not very common to find a female singer performing publicly among the Peulh. But Poulo’s mother’s co-wife is Inna Baba Coulibaly, who is a celebrated singer most Malian music fans know. Coulibaly herself was brought into music by forces outside her control when a regional music contest required an entry from her village and she was chosen to be a singer. So, set in motion by a surprising series of events, young Poulo’s entree into the music world was auspicious as she gained popularity across the region. After several locally released tapes and CDs, this record is Poulo’s first internationally-distributed record.
On Poulo Warali, she and her band combine the hallmarks of Peulh music—warm flute floating over cross-rhythmic n’goni (lute) riffs and resonant calabash gourd hand percussion—with broader Malian sounds like lightly-distorted guitar and a heavier, rollicking inertia. Shape-shifting layers of rhythm and woody overtones match Poulo’s commanding voice in a jocular yet deliberate dance.
This is a relatively rare example of Malian Peulh music played in a modern, cosmopolitan context, reflecting the mixed society of Dilly, where Bambara, Soninke and Peulh-speaking people live among each other.
Poulo’s conscious lyrics about community concerns speak to the distinctive identity of her broadly-flung people. While Peulh represents less than 10% of Mali’s melting pot of languages, the dynamic music here powerfully resonates well beyond the linguistic borders.
Produced by Paul Chandler & Studio Mali Recordings
Recorded by Konan Kouassi at Studio Mali Records in Bamako, Mali
Edited by Philip Sanmiguel
Photography by Oumou Diarra
Awa Thanks:
Inna Baba Coulibaly — My mother, my mentor and inspiration
Mamadou Djadje Bah — My helpful friend
Abdoulah Aziz Diallo — President of the Association of Peulh in Mali
Abba Coulibaly — My brother, who helped in the recording studio
All Songs licensed Courtesy of Sutdio Mali Recordings (ASCAP)
Im so grateful living in an age to be able to experience such music not readably available previously til now.
This Lady is Angelic, the rhythm just does it for me. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful.
Makes me happy. :)
Tell Ya Fucking Story Walking…
Reissue of a classic 45 from one of the hardest-working house bands ever, South Africa's '60s/'70s township jive stars Makgona Tsohle Band. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 7, 2021