Faratuben

Faratuben is a great meeting between first rate musicians from Mali and Denmark. The name, is a mix of the words Farafin (black) and Toubabou (white).

The award-winning group is composed out of malian and danish musicians, who has been doing their own hybrid in Bamako since 2016.

Instead of playing the traditional kora music, that we know from Toumani Diabaté and Salif Keita, they are representing the bobo-culture. The bobo-music is made for dancing and drinking, and is traditionally played on only balafon (trad. Westafrican marimba) and talking drums in the bobo villages. In the beginning of 2000 it became electrified and brought to the small clubs in Bamako, where it is played in a rough and harddriven way.

The music of Faratuben is clearly from this millennium with lots of synthesizers and clubbeats, but still rooted in the traditions from the bobo-villages, that the 3 malian musicians were taught by their father. With their debut album from 2018, Sira Kura (new direction), the band tells a story of social injustice in their native Mali, where the bobo-culture is still struggling for acceptance in society. But, the DMA-winning record is also an international call for understanding and embracing our differences, in a divided world.

When not touring outside Africa, the group continue to perform traditional ceremonies in Mali, as well as supporting other bobo artists like Salome Dembele and Ben Zabo. The band is currently working on their next album which will be released in 2020, by the Germany-based label, Sounds of Subterrania.