Mali’s Fatoumata Diawara makes New York Times’ 2018 Best Songs list

The list includes 65 songs from various genres released in the course of the year. "One-off collaborations, movie soundtracks and internet upstarts provided some of the most exciting music this year," reads the standfirst.

As compiled by The New York Times music critics Jon Pareles and Jon Caramanica, the list is divided into two, each critic giving separate lists. Diawara is included in Pareles' list, which appears the more extra-American. The longtime critic, who has written about African music for decades, places the Malian singer's single 'Nterini' at No 8 on his list, which comprises 25 songs.

"Fatouma Diawara," he writes, "a Paris-based singer who grew up in Mali, sings about love for an emigrant who may never return, lacing Malian rhythms with tendrils of guitar."

'Nterini' is taken from Diawara's 2018 album, Fenfo. The project, her second solo work after 2011's Fatou, received critical acclaim upon its release earlier in the year. The Financial Times gave it four stars.

The Guardian, in a World Album of the Month column, said Fenfo "is a classy affair that demonstrates her impressive musical range while leaving open the question of whether she has yet to substantiate her own distinctive musical identity. The album sees her in powerful voice covering a variety of styles, surrounded by a distinguished band."

Weeks ago it was announced that the album would battle it out with Seun Kuti & Egypt 80's Black Times, the Soweto Gospel Choir's Freedom and other albums at the 2019 Grammys.

Diawara shared The New York Times' news on her social media account. "Thanks to The New York Times for this," she wrote.

The list also includes Diawara's compatriot Sidi Touré. His Heyyeya is taken from the March 2018 album Toubalbero. The song by the Songhai blues singer comes in at No 24 on Pareles' list. The Nigeria-born British act Sade has 'The Big Unknown', a song from the film Widows, in second place. Pareles says: "Desolate lost love haunts the verses before determined self-preservation lifts the choruses, all at a tempo so slow only a singer like Sade would dare it."

Watch the video for Fatoumata Diawara's 'Nterini' below: