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Oumar Konate is emerging as a leading young African master of the guitar. From Gao, Northern Mali, Oumar Konate immediately touched the spirit of his generation with his passion for music and song. While only six years old, Oumar was conducting his first band in the street in front of the family home! While a student at the National School of Arts in Bamako Mali, Oumar recorded his first album Lahidou (The Promise) in 2007. He has since collaborated with many great names in Malian music; among them, Vieux Farka Toure, Sidi Toure, Khaira Arby and others. He is a featured guitarist on Sidi Toure's 2011 album. He regularly tours as backing guitarist to Vieux Farka Toure. He leads the house band on the popular monthly television variety show Tounkagouna on Malian National TV ORTM. In June 2011, he was invited to perform at the Mali Festival in Sweden. He toured the USA with singer Khaira Arby in the spring of 2012 and returned again with his own band in July of that year to perform at Lincoln Center Out of Doors and at the Grassroots Festival near Ithaca, NY. In January 2012, he appeared at the Festival au Desert, Essakane in Timbuktu, Mali. Oumar Konate has a new album Addoh on the Clermont Music label whose release date is May 2014. He will be touring North America in May to support that release and will perform in over 15 cities as well as at the Joshua Tree California Music Festival. Oumar will return to North America in September to perform at Chicago's World Music Festival and at other festivals and concert spaces.
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CLE 025LP
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LP version. Oumar Konate's brilliant new studio album, I Love You Inna, was recorded in Bamako Mali during the Spring of 2018. A superstar in Mali, Oumar can be found every weekend playing in nightclubs, concert halls, and on festival stages across that country. He can shred like no other on electric guitar and at the same time make you cry. I Love You Inna, his fifth album, features on bass long-time collaborator Dramane Toure, former lead guitarist for the late great Khaira Arby, and on percussion power-house drummer Makan Camara. Oumar invited other friends into the sessions to add their unique perspective to the project. Sometimes jubilant, sometimes angry, Oumar reflects the mood of young people in Mali today. His songs range from love songs to dance anthems to ballads. This is new music is from an award-winning singer/songwriter whom audiences from all over his country adore.
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CLE 025CD
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Oumar Konate's brilliant new studio album, I Love You Inna, was recorded in Bamako Mali during the Spring of 2018. A superstar in Mali, Oumar can be found every weekend playing in nightclubs, concert halls, and on festival stages across that country. He can shred like no other on electric guitar and at the same time make you cry. I Love You Inna, his fifth album, features on bass long-time collaborator Dramane Toure, former lead guitarist for the late great Khaira Arby, and on percussion power-house drummer Makan Camara. Oumar invited other friends into the sessions to add their unique perspective to the project. Sometimes jubilant, sometimes angry, Oumar reflects the mood of young people in Mali today. His songs range from love songs to dance anthems to ballads. This is new music is from an award-winning singer/songwriter whom audiences from all over his country adore.
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CLE 020CD
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Smoke-filled nightclub -- VIP sections -- seductive ladies in slinky dresses -- guys strutting their stuff -- Saturday night at the club -- Bamako. Recorded live in March of 2017 at the Songhoy, one of the several clubs in Bamako where you can find Oumar Konaté holding court on Friday and Saturday nights. The place is packed by 1AM. Then the high-energy Afro-rock kicks into gear. Around 2AM, Oumar slips into Takamba rhythm and everyone jumps up to dance; like everywhere else in the world, people are having fun on the weekend. An award-winning musician from Mali, Oumar Konaté represents the new generation, influenced by music from around the world. Konaté is a rocker who can deliver heartfelt acoustic ballads as well as jam-band brash crowd-pleasing solos. On these recordings, the core band was: Oumar Konaté - lead guitar and vocals; Mahalmadane Traoré and Makan Camara - drums; Dramane Touré - bass; John F Dilligent - keyboards. The band was joined by a loyal cadre of young talent who add their spice to the mix. Without a doubt, the crowd has come to party and Oumar does not disappoint.
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CLE 017CD
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Afro-rock across America; Oumar Konaté with his power trio blasted from coast to coast on their 2014 tour. An award-winning musician and arranger at home in Mali, Oumar represents a new generation, forging his own traditions influenced by music from around the world. This African rocker blew everyone away; his concerts were on fire. The band's sound ranged from hard rock thrash to subtle acoustic ballads and the lyrics spanned blues laments about girls, rages against war and corruption, to jokes about the fast pace of a big city. Oumar and his bandmates continue to proudly live in Mali where they play weekly in Bamako clubs to packed crowds. Oumar Konaté, with his bandmates Makan Camara and Cheick Siriman Sissoko are an Afro-rock power trio of young stars. Live In America features live tracks, recorded in 2014 during their USA concert tour. Oumar opens with blazing electric guitar tracks. During the show, he cools it down to poignant lament.
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CLE 014CD
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In the title-track of his second album, Malian guitarist Oumar Konaté shouts out to his sister, warning her about gunfire and violence in the streets. Konaté's Maya Maya comes from a country in turmoil. Shifting between acoustic melancholy ("Wango Maben") and hard rock ("Hinchi Hinchi"), Konaté and his power trio are 21st-century West African millennials slammed by geopolitics, shocked by an uncertain future, and stymied by fundamentalism, corruption, and failed economies. Known to friends simply as "le Maestro," Konaté is a guitar genius. Sought after as bandleader and performer, Konaté has played from Bamako to Gao (most Friday nights he can be found in residency at the Club Songhoy in Bamako) and from Europe to New York to Los Angeles. Drummer Makan Camara is perhaps the best in West Africa. Bassist Cheick Siriman Sissoko is also a well-known singer. These three are a power trio on the level of Cream or Band of Gypsies. The songs tell a story of hope for peace and normalcy despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges.
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CLE 009CD
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Addoh is Oumar Konate's international debut album. Recorded during the historic 2012-2013 political crisis in Mali, it represents a transition in his musical journey, a sound treatise on the emotions and experiences of young Malians as they lived through the rebellion and coup d'etat that was shattering their country and their dreams of a better future. Recorded in Africa and the U.S., these tracks reflect contributions by several master African and American musicians. The combination of ancient and modern instruments reveals the sophistication of the many gifted artists in Africa. Versed in tradition and connected by global media, they combine sounds in new ways, expressing their aspirations and ideas. And through it all, Konate's guitar shreds. Mahalmadane Traoré (drums, calabash, conga); Dramane Toure (bass and rhythm guitar); Professor Louie (keyboards, Hammond organ, grand piano and accordion); Zoumane Tekereta: (traditional violin); Adramane Idrissa Maiga (ngoni); Amadou Keita (djembe); Cheick Diallo (wooden flute); Sidiki Diabaté (kora); and The Debo Band horn section.
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