MAMADOU DOUMBIA

Biography

Mamadou Doumbia was born on January 12th 1965 in Kulikoro in West Mali. He grew up listening to traditional Malian music, that was played on western instruments. What inspired him initially, however, was listening to the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Santana. He first picked up a guitar at the age of eleven, and would copy note for note the guitar solos from tapes of his favourite rock guitarists. Having discovered an interest in traditional Malian music, he learnt Manding styles of playing from the luminaries of Malian guitar music; Malinke from from former Rail Band guitarist Djeli Mady Tounkara, and Guinean Ousmane Kouyate and the Bambara style from Mama Cissoko. He learnt the traditional styles in much the same way as he had taught himself rock, but whatever he played, the music was always given his own distinctive treatment. He studied English for four years at the École Normale Supérieur in Bamako, with a view to one day living outside of Mali. While at college, he played with the government sponsored Bamasaba Band, that was developing Bambara and Wassalou culture, by playing Malian folk music on electric instruments. This was his first professional assignment and he was now gaining a reputation as one of Mali's hottest young guitarists.

In 1982 he was asked to join the Rail Band, an institution that has proved to be an academy for aspiring Malian musicians including Salif Keita and Mory Kante. He played with many other young musicians in Bamako at this time including Wassalou singer Oumou Sangare, Zani Diabate and his cousin Nahawa Doumbia. He also met Salif Keita for the first time at the Buffet Bar where the Rail Band played, when Keita was back on a trip from Paris. From the age of sixteen, Mamadou Doumbia made regular trips to Paris, finally settling there in 1986. He joined Kasse Mady's group, playing with him for about a year, including a tour of Europe and a recording session for the BBC. Being the only Malian guitarist living in Paris at this time, he found himself very much in demand as a session player and he also became a regular member of Sory Bamba's band. He was appointed artistic director, arranger and lead guitarist on Nahawa Doumbia's album "Mangoni".

At the end of 1988, Mamadou was given his greatest opportunity thus far, by being asked to join Salif Keita's group as lead guitarist. Salif Keita is still today one of African music's few superstars. He played guitar together with Guinean Kante Manfila on Keita's Major label release "Amen" and embarked on a world tour with Salif Keita in 1990. When the tour reached Los Angeles, he got a chance to trade solos with one of his teenage idols, Carlos Santana who joined him on stage. A moment Mamadou is still extremely proud of. The tour climaxed in Japan, another turning point in the career of Mamadou Doumbia. Successful as he had been, Mamadou had nevertheless grown tired of supporting other musicians and, forever ambitious and energetic, life had become too comfortable and easy in Paris. In Japan he discovered another world that impressed him deeply. He fell in love with Japan to such a degree that despite the practical obstacles and lack of a native African music scene, he decided to try and make Tokyo his home. He also found much common ground between the traditional music of Japan and Mali, between instruments such as the ngoni, a Malian guitar and the Japanese shamisen and a similarity in scales. "I had nobody here to sing with, nobody to help me, I had to do it all myself" he recalls. He joined Japan's only resident African group Bitaska, fronted by Zairean expatriate B-B Mo Franck, who played Zairean style pop. But this was not the music closest to his heart and in May of 1993, after meeting a West African percussionist in town, Lamine Youl Diabate, he started playing modest acoustic sets at small venues in Tokyo.

Word soon spread among African music fans that one of West Africa's finest guitarists was not only playing in Tokyo, but was actually living there. The duo soon built up a loyal following, and in September of the same year Mamadou finally realised his ambition of fronting his own group when after searching for suitable Japanese musicians, he formed the group Mandinka. Electric guitar, bass, drums percussion and a horn section were combined with Mamadou's dynamic lead guitar, and he began to explore his ideas for electric African dance music. A typical live show of Mamadou Doumbia and Mandinka featured both acoustic and electric sets. The hot grooves of the latter turning venues around town into joyous, frenzied occasions. He developed the acoustic and electric formats concurrently to develop and explore the different sides of Mailan music.

As in Paris, Mamadou found himself hotly in demand as a session player. He recorded and played with Japan's champion of Asian music Sandii, shamisen player Takeharu Kunimoto and Okinawa's finest, Rinken Band. Mamadou was surprised to find the scales of Okinawan and Malian music identical, confirming his initial feeling of a strong affinity between the musics of Mali and Japan. During the latter part of 1993 and throughout Œ94, Mandinka went from strength to strength, playing constantly around Tokyo, improving and developing their sound. The media in Japan had begun to pick up on Mamadou Doumbia. Numerous articles appeared in magazines and newspapers, he was the subject of documentaries on television and he was interviewed as a guest on several radio and television programmes.

His debut album was released by a Japanese independent company in June of 1994. Titled "Mandinka Acoustic-Sobe" the album focused on the acoustic aspects of his music, and featured Japanese koto and the Okinawan sanshin (snake-skin lute) of Rinken Teruya. The album was lavished with praise upon release, but despite great interest and offers from overseas companies, Sobe never surfaced outside of Japan. A few copies found their way to discerning West African music fans, and the CD was given rave reviews in magazines who sought out the CD. Later in the year, Mamadou Doumbia with Mandinka played for the second successive year, the first artist to do so, at the WOMAD festival in Yokohama and two television documentaries were aired in Japan that charted his life and experiences. On a trip back to Mali in 1994, Mamadou picked up a kora , a West African harp. As with the guitar, he taught himself the intricacies of the instrument, developed his own style and tuning, and incredibly was soon playing magical, hypnotic pieces on the kora. He also learnt the ngoni , believed to be a precursor of the banjo, and the balafon , the West African xylophone. These instruments were incorporated into Mandinka live shows, adding a dynamic new dimension, and at the same time enabled Mamadou to perform solo concerts that now became multi-instrumental affairs.

In the Spring of 1995 he signed worldwide to JVC Victor Entertainment in Japan. In November, Mandinka released their debut album "Independence" in Japan, and was released through JVC Europe and JVC America in the summer of 1996. Once again, the album received much critical praise, and was voted the "Best African album of 1995" by the prestigious Music Magazine. Mandinka played several concerts in support of the new album, with the group attaining new heights of musicianship, and the energy levels rising even further. In the summer of 1996, Mamadou returned to Paris to work with some of his former musical collaborators on his new album "Yafa", including mixing engineer Phillipe Brun, who has worked with Salif Keita and Youssou N'Dour. The album was released in Japan in January of 1997, with European and American releases to follow in March and May respectively.