Playing the blues
Meeting Lobi Traore
Damon travelled out of Bamako to meet blues musician Lobi Traore.
Lobi has been playing the Mali bar scene for years, developing
his own style of music – the Bambara Blues. Lobi grew up in
the town of Segou, on the banks of the Niger river about 200 kilometres
from Bamako. He was not born into the griot caste, and he had to
hide from his father when he began playing guitar as a teenager.
Since then he has recorded three albums and become famous both in
Mali and beyond.
His band were rehearsing at a bar just outside Bamako called the
Djembe. After a while Damon joined in, and the musicians jammed
together as the sun went down.
Photos: Greg Williams/Oxfam
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