Any goal must have a reason
Any success is based on a reason
Any failure is based on a goal without a reason.

These are the opening words, feverishly sung in Bambara, of the song Kenia in Rokia Traoré’s sixth album Né So (“Home”). And the best way to encapsulate the Mali-born singer’s strength throughout her nearly twenty-year musical path. The decision to take up music may be guided by a career plan, or a burning urge, or an attempt to gain some recognition, or even the desire to pass on a legacy. But Rokia Traoré’s journey is of a whole different kind. Ever since she released her first record Mouneïssa, she has grown her own art and developed a real life philosophy; or a principle, in its etymological meaning: a source, a rule of conduct. This empirically based axiom guiding her actions has always been driven by the force of her will and the movements of her heart. Incidentally, the fundamental question of choices and responsibilities has always been Rokia’s centre of gravity.

Né So is rooted in the fertile musical ground of the “Beautiful Africa” she praised in her previous record, which doesn’t prevent her from wanting to expand her expressive range, spanning from Mandingue chants to rock sounds, from Bambara through English to French. Rokia still has the same unquenchable desire to meet and share. The widespread, subtle diversity at stake in Né So shows, if need be, Rokia Traoré’s skills in building a beautifully human palette to express her visions.

Flagey