May 11, 2009
Text and photos by Banning Eyre

We report with tremendous sadness that Coumba Sidibe, pioneering Wassoulou singer of Mali, and grand woman of West African song, died on Saturday, May 10, 2009, at her home in Brooklyn, NY.   With her deep, earthy voice, commanding stage presence, profound knowledge of tradition, and composing prowess, Coumba was the real thing.  She took what was deepest and strongest in her culture and made it vividly real and relevant to listeners in her modern times.  She was a trailblazer for women in West African music and a mother figure for one of Mali’s most successful musical genres, Wassoulou.  To underscore the point, the world’s best known Wassoulou diva, Oumou Sangare, was once a chorus singer in Coumba’s group. 

Coumba was born to a musical family in Wasulu, a region of southern Mali and northern Guinea and Ivory Coast that was once populated with nomadic Fulani (Peul) herders.  The people of Wassoulou have long since adapted the Bambara language, but their culture—full of occult mystery—retains much of their singular past.  Coumba’s father, Diara Sidibe was a famous dancer and sorcerer highly skilled at the energized and ecstatic percussion and dance tradition, sogoninkun.  When Coumba became the first female singer from Wasulu in the Instrumental Ensemble of Mali, she broke new ground, and her performances were so electrifying that many young girls were bound to follow in her stead. 

As she left the Instrumental Ensemble to strike out on her own in 1977, Coumba played a role in a musical revolution of sorts.  She sang with Alata Brulaye, the inventor of the kamelengoni (youth harp).  This versatile, 6-string harp was a smaller take on the sacred dosongoni (hunter’s harp), whose sublimely funky music is subject to customary prohibitions, and essentially off limits to most popular musicians.  The kamelengoni was specifically for entertainment, and it triggered a musical movement that did for Wasulu what rock ‘n roll did for the West—it broke the world of youth culture wide open.  Wassoulou music is to a large degree a combination of sogoninkun and kamelengoni.  And Coumba had formidable credentials in both areas.

Coumba’s very first hit was called “Diya ye banna.”  Its words say, “Every good thing comes to an end.  If good didn't end, why throw the packet of sugar away?  If you see a bone, there was meat there.” 

As her reputation spread, Coumba both researched and adapted traditional songs, and wrote powerful compositions of her own.  She began recording cassettes in 1987, and produced a string of them through the mid-90s, even as she spent time in Abidjan, Paris, and New York.  She had the satisfaction of seeing the musical genre she had helped to create and shape take off and achieve worldwide acclaim.  Although she never received the international acclaim she deserved, she was a beloved and revered figure among connoisseurs of Wassoulou music.  Her grooves were deep and spiritually charged, but her mark was her voice—booming, elemental and gritty. 

Coumba lived out her final years in the New York area, performing for a time each Saturday night at St. Nick’s Pub in Harlem, and elsewhere on occasion.  She worked closely with guitarist/singer/producer Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure of Niger.  They had planned to begin working on a new album of Coumba’s songs later this year.  Alas, she takes those songs with her.  In addition to her many wonderful recordings, Coumba leaves behind her husband, grandchildren, and children, including her youngest, a daughter, 12-years old, who was mostly raised in the U.S.. 

Coumba, the world will miss you; Mali will miss you; we will miss you.  Rest in peace, and know you will never be forgotten. 

LINKS

YouTube video of Coumba Sidibe with “Tolo”
YouTube video of Coumba Sidibe with “Nale Na”
YouTube video of Coumba Sidibe with “Noumouna Koulouba”    

First published: www.afropop.org