Fatoumata Diawara and Okavango African Orchestra Thursday, April 12, 2018 at 8:00pm This is the 817th concert in Koerner Hall

Fatoumata Diawara, vocals & electric guitar Shea Pierre, keyboards Sam Dickey, guitar Max Moran, bass Joe Dyson, drums

Okavango African Orchestra Daniel Nebiat, krar, vocals & composer Donne Roberts, guitar, vocals & composer Ebenezer Agyekum, bass guitar & vocals Kofi Ackah, drums, vocals & composer Nicolas Simbananiye, vocals & composer Sadio Sissokho , kora, djembe, tama, vocals & composer Tichaona Maredza, nyunga-nyunga, guitar, hosho, vocals & composer Mabinty Sylla, dance

Fatoumata Diawara In recent years, Fatoumata Diawara has become one of the most relevant female voices of the new African artistic generation. The singer, songwriter, and actress of Malian origin lives between , Italy, and . In 2011, she was sponsored by Ali Farka Touré and Oumou Sangaré‘s label World Circuit and her worldwide popularity came with the release of her first solo work, Fatou. Her first steps in the arts world were at the hand of her father, who from an early age invited her to participate in his African dance company. She began her artistic career in Paris as an actress by participating in ’s play Antigone and later in the film Sia in Mali. She later returned to Europe to become part of the Royal de Luxe theatrical company with which she travelled around the world. Between their presentations, she began preparations for her own performances in different Parisian venues. Throughout her career, Fatoumata Diawara has collaborated with a long list of artists such as Oumou Sangaré, , Rokia Traoré, , , , and among others. Over the past two years, she has been touring as solo artist, appearing in film and documentary productions (Timbuktu and Mali Blues), and collaborating with artists such as ‘M’ and Hindi Zahra. She is currently working on a production of what will be her second international album, expected to be released in 2018.

Okavango African Orchestra Okavango African Orchestra – 12 instruments, 10 languages, 7 countries – is an ambitious musical project created by Batuki Music Society, a non-profit African arts organization based in Toronto. Artistic Director Nadine McNulty assembled a cast of eight accomplished African-born artists who now live in Toronto and Montreal: Daniel Nebiat (Eritrea), Donne Roberts (Madagascar), Ebenezer Agyekum and Kofi Ackah (Ghana), Nicolas Simbananiye (Burundi), Tichaona Maredza (Zimbabwe), Sadio Sissokho (Senegal), and Mabinty Sylla (Guinea). The orchestra takes its name from the Okavango Delta, a basin in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, where many different animal species come together to feed and find water. Predators and prey are forced to coexist and share the meager resources because of the harsh environment around them. Similarly, Okavango brings together the traditional music and instruments of several major African cultures that historically have had little or no interaction. The musicians of Okavango have created a common meeting place for these disparate cultures, and a new musical language that harmonizes their different tuning systems, rhythms, and timbres. The musicians and instruments of Okavango represent a continuum of traditions and cultures from time immemorial to the present day. The multicultural spirit of modern-day Canada bridges ancient African solitudes. For their debut album, the Orchestra was awarded the 2017 Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year. Okavango African Orchestra looks ahead on their journey to an Africa without borders, before the borders were created.

Fatoumata Diawara made her Royal Conservatory debut on February 1, 2014, and tonight marks Okavango African Orchestra’s Conservatory debut.