26 July 2024 • 21:00

Keler gunea

 © Karen Biswell

Mamani Keita (vocals), Fafa Ruffino (vocals), Alvie Bitemo (vocals), Franck Baya (drums), Manu Chavanet (keyboards), Nadjib Ben Bella (DJ)

Les Amazones d’Afrique are a creative collective of international voices, a fusion of talent and generations who bring gentle, yet powerful harmonies raised in defence of the rights of women and girls. The roots of this Pan- African all-women supergroup date back to 2014, when three stars of the music world and activists for social change in Mali —Mamani Keita, Oumou Sangaré and Mariam Doumbia— joined forces to create a group named in honour of the generations of brave and proud female warriors. Since then, new members have joined the group, female artists from all over Africa and the diaspora. Three of their singers, Mamani Keita from Mali, Fafa Ruffino from Benin and Alvie Bitemo from Congo will perform at the Jazzaldia.

Their socio-political raison d’être is to campaign for gender equality and the eradication of ancient forms of violence, using their powerful and richly melodious music combining the expression of Pan-African styles with contemporary pop harmonies.

Worthy of note in their first album, République Amazone (2017), is the participation of guests including Angélique Kidjo and the Nigerian singer-songwriter Nneka, which also captured the attention of President Obama, who included one of its songs in his list of 20 favourites in 2017. Their second album, Amazones Power (2020), features well-known voices including Mamani Keïta and Rokia Koné, who appear alongside a young generation of singers who represent the new and exciting sound of modern Africa. Following the first two albums produced by Doctor L, the group went on to work with the famous Irish producer Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M., Taylor Swift, Modest Mouse…), lending a completely new sound to their third album, Musow Danse (2022), taking its inspiration from hip hop, trap and electronic music.