With her album Fatou in 2011, Malinese singer Fatoumata Diawara became an instant world star. In Mali, and surrounding countries, she was already a well-known actress, singer and backing vocalist, but Diawara is a born lead singer. She sings according to the Wassoulou tradition, just like her inspiration, the singer Oumou Sangaré; that other powerful female vocalist. After the success of Fatou she was asked to collaborate on many international projects. Cuban multi-instrumentalist Roberto Fonseca started his career in the early 1990s. He comes from a musical family and plays percussion and piano and conducts his own band. He is able to draw from a rich well of traditional Afro-Cuban music, but is also inspired by American jazz, funk and soul. These two stars, coming from countries with a rich musical traditional, are now cooperating. Diawara and Fonseca are metaphorically crossing the Atlantic for a special blend of Cuban and Malinese music.
