Rokia Traore
Rokia Traore
Rokia Traoréis a Victoires de la Musique award-winning Malian singer, songwriter and guitarist, born in Mali as a member of the Bambara ethnic group. Her father was a diplomat and she travelled widely in her youth. She visited such countries as Algeria, Saudi Arabia, France and Belgium and was exposed to a wide variety of influences. Her hometown of Kolokani is in the northwestern part of Mali's Koulikoro region...
NationalityMalian
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth26 January 1974
hardly
A melody without the right rhythm hardly exists.
call discovered family genres music musical
Not what you would call a musical family, but my father used to play saxophone, and I discovered many genres of music when I was a child.
self-confidence needs mali
We need self-confidence in our ability to build Africa. I trust in Mali and I trust in music.
writing guitar play
I used to play guitar for myself and write lyrics and listen to different styles of music.
unique thinking way
You can't be unique any way. Music is made from seven notes. You will always come back to something. Even if you think you are unique, you will come back to something that existed before you were doing what you are doing.
thinking unique trying
I don't think I'm unique or that I'm trying to do something unique, but I feel it is something I would like to hear. This kind of music I would like to listen to but I can't hear very often.
thinking musical important
I think about all these influences and musical cultures, then the opinion of the audience is of course important, but when I'm working on an album or a new project, I'm not all the time thinking about what the audience will think about it.
successful thinking stressed
Of course I am stressed after I finish working on an album about what an audience will think, if it will be successful or not.
thinking artist people
In general, in painting sometimes people like Picasso or somebody are not very well known in the beginning, sometimes they become well known just before they die, or sometimes after they have died. I think these people start to be artists after they've stopped existing.
writing way knows
There are some things around us that are not actually useful. I didn't know that before. It's very new for me to understand. That became my way of writing: I can see also the new myself.
father years skills
I've been in contact with music since I was four or five years old through my father, because of the interest he had in music and all his musical skills. I finally managed to make that my profession.
father careers able
My father was not able to get all the vinyl he used to listen to with me. He couldn't travel as he did it because of his profession as a diplomatic career.
dream mind singing
The fact of playing an instrument and singing... that I can try to make my dream of singing and becoming a professional musician come true is linked probably to the fact that I traveled a lot, which gave me an open mind and an ability to push my limits.
thinking personality way
Traveling changed my personality and gave me ability to do the music I do and to think in a certain way that everything can be possible.