Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique: Magic Black Men (Mali)

Musiques d'Afrique Musiques du Mali

The Magic Black Men (MBM) is a rap group that has been created by Attino "Philo" Doumbia, Hamidou "Don Mizero" Cissé (Mizé) and Titi in 1996. They won right away a second place in the first rap contest of Radio Mali (ORTM). As Titi went abroad to study, a period of inactivity followed. A come back occurred in 2001 after a meeting with the initiators of Invasion Records in Bamako. A first cassette, Mali Ba, came out in July of the same year. In February 2002 at the occasion of the African Nation's Football Cup, a second cassette was released. In the same month, a visit by the Dutch pop group Krezip resulted in a jointly composed song that was first performed for a live audience in Mali. A report of this encounter has been broadcasted by Dutch national television. In June 2002, MBM made a return visit to the Festival Mundial in Tilburg, Netherlands. Mizé grew up in Liberia, and speaks actually better English than French. For that reason, Magic Black Men sing both in French and English, as well in national languages. They introduced a new dance, the Kessero (salsa-rap), which made them very successful in Mali. Created: 1996, in Bamako Style: rap, ragga, Kessero.

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