{"id":54699,"date":"2026-04-02T04:29:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=54699"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:29:26","slug":"2026-04-02-fatoumata-diawara-channels-ancestry-and-activism-in-cape-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/02\/2026-04-02-fatoumata-diawara-channels-ancestry-and-activism-in-cape-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Fatoumata Diawara channels ancestry and activism in Cape Town \u2013 The Mail &#038; Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"post-thumbnail \"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara-channels-ancestry-and-activism-in-Cape-Town-%E2%80%93.jpg?resize=640%2C426&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Fatoumata Diawara Ctijf2026 Kippies 5806 (1)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara-channels-ancestry-and-activism-in-Cape-Town-\u2013.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara_CTIJF2026_Kippies-5806-1-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara_CTIJF2026_Kippies-5806-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara_CTIJF2026_Kippies-5806-1-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara_CTIJF2026_Kippies-5806-1-2048x1364.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Fatoumata-Diawara_CTIJF2026_Kippies-5806-1-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Powerful presence: Fatoumata Diawara performing at the CTIJF 2026. Photo: Armand Hough<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">It\u2019s a warm Saturday afternoon in Cape Town. Music lovers are beginning to trickle into the CTICC hosting the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF). I\u2019m in the media centre, excited for my next interview of the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In walks Fatoumata Diawara, the artist I have been looking forward to speaking to.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She immediately greets everyone, then turns to look at me and says: \u201cI love your hair.\u201d I\u2019m donning my Afro curled-wig. Surprised with a big smile on my face, I respond with a \u201cThank you!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the Malian singer-songwriter and actress takes a seat, I notice the four traditional white dots painted down her forehead. She is wearing traditional beads around her neck. I notice the white bead headpiece beginning from her forehead to the top of her head.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I notice that her hands and fingers are a different colour than that of her skin tone. They seem to be painted in a brownish\/maroonish colour.<\/p>\n<p>Diawara is in tune with her Malian heritage, so she is known to use artistic, visual and symbolic elements on her body.<\/p>\n<p>The artist deeply connects with ancestral energy. This is evident in the type of music she makes \u2014 one that blends traditional Malian sounds.<\/p>\n<p>Arriving in South Africa for the second time, the musician felt a powerful ancestral presence. As she set out to perform for the first time in the Mother City at CTIJF, for her, the ancestral energy was palpable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing here, the energy is so strong in a good way. And the first thing that I really feel. It\u2019s my second time now in South Africa, I feel the ancestors. That\u2019s strange. In the hotel, I feel a lot of dead people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSorry for telling you about the crazy part of my life,\u201d she giggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt happens to me only in South Africa, not even in Mali, so strongly, I don\u2019t know. When I get out, I wonder if people in here feel the same energy. That\u2019s my questioning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like I look at people and say: \u2018Okay, they know about this, that it\u2019s so strong, you know, and that the ancestors are still with us, even if they\u2019re from a different period of time.\u2019 And that\u2019s one thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the second thing is that I feel people are very calm and very peaceful. You see a lot of love coming from them. You know, you get this connection with people that is incredible. I feel at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Remaining rooted in her African musical identity while speaking to an international audience is effortless for the artist. She makes the balance look easy, maintaining a fierce loyalty to her Malian roots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow to be still in touch with our connection, between us and our ancestors and our roots? It\u2019s quite easy in Mali because there we have many artists before me, like Toumani Diabat\u00e9, Salif Keita, Ali Farka Tour\u00e9,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey won the Grammy as traditional artists. So for us, they are our example. We don\u2019t see other people as an example. So we start with the experience first, then we open the same experience to the rest of<br \/>the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we can always combine the traditional with the modern, you know, contemporary music. But we need to keep their roots because in Mali it\u2019s the way it is and we grew up like that. They did it all. They\u2019ve been famous for being themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor us, it\u2019s totally normal to sing in our native language. There is no doubt. For me, it\u2019s normal because the native language has a lot of energies that the world needs to feel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery word that I will be speaking tonight to my audience, for sure, it will take them, their soul to another place. And that\u2019s what music\u2019s about also. The diversity. The native language is stronger and beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During her energetic performance at the CTIJF, filled with high-notes and dancing, Diawara honoured her ancestral roots.<\/p>\n<p>She donned a mask which she typically wears when performing. The mask-wearing segment of her performances has become a much-anticipated moment for her fans. The singer wears the mask towards the end of her performances, specifically the Gouro Zaouli mask from C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, as a way to embody her African artistic expression while celebrating ancestral history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The mask also serves as a way in which she merges West African tradition with an electric, contemporary edge.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of Diawara\u2019s craft is a commitment to storytelling and activism.<\/p>\n<p>She is intentional in using her platform as a form of activism and her work often carries strong messages around identity, women\u2019s rights and social justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775104160_545_Fatoumata-Diawara-channels-ancestry-and-activism-in-Cape-Town-%E2%80%93.jpg?resize=640%2C438&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ii Fatoumatadiawara Ctijf2026 Kippies\" class=\"wp-image-689366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775104160_545_Fatoumata-Diawara-channels-ancestry-and-activism-in-Cape-Town-\u2013.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/II-FatoumataDiawara-CTIJF2026-Kippies-400x273.jpg 400w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/II-FatoumataDiawara-CTIJF2026-Kippies-768x525.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/II-FatoumataDiawara-CTIJF2026-Kippies-1536x1050.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mg.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/II-FatoumataDiawara-CTIJF2026-Kippies-600x410.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fatoumata Diawara performs on the Kippies stage during the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Photo: Armand Hough<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Diawara is a prominent activist against female genital mutilation (FGM). Having survived the procedure herself as a child, she uses her music to shed light on the inhumane and harmful practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing this way is like \u2026 that was normal. When I started to sing, I decided to share my own story,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd it wasn\u2019t that easy. It\u2019s never easy. You live with your past. It will stay. You adapt yourself on how to live with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy aim \u2026 the fact that I was an actress at the beginning and when I started to introduce myself to the music industry, I said: \u2018Okay, you come with your truth, then you will save time. Don\u2019t try to pretend. Be yourself. Then you will catch up with people right away.\u2019 And the best way for me to be myself was to open my spirit to the people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The musician addresses the harms of FGM in her music. Her song <em>Sete<\/em> and its accompanying video serve as a stark, necessary indictment of FGM, emphasising her belief that breaking the silence is the first step towards healing and reform.<\/p>\n<p>For Diawara, storytelling is not just an artistic choice but a lifelong process of reckoning. She speaks about her experiences with a quiet resolve, framing them as fragments of a much larger narrative unfolding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best way was to tell my little experience as a woman from Africa coming from a very strong tradition and how I could struggle,\u201d she says, situating her journey alongside those of other FGM survivors.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It is not a story she treats as finite or resolved but one that continues to evolve in real time. \u201cLike tonight, I\u2019m still fighting \u2026 It\u2019s like telling my story. It\u2019s gonna be forever because every year is a new story to share.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She likens this process to writing a book. Each performance, each song adding another page. Through that lens, her  music becomes both archive and testimony, a space where personal memory meets collective experience.<\/p>\n<p>When she turns to the issue of FGM, her tone sharpens. She challenges the framing of the practice as inherently African, pushing back against narratives that obscure its complexity and origins. For Diawara, confronting FGM through music is not optional; it\u2019s a responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose kinds of sensitisations \u2026 through the music, I think it is our duty to bring the change,\u201d she says, positioning art as both a cultural mirror and a tool for reform.<\/p>\n<p>That sense of purpose extends to how she understands music. For Diawara, it exists far beyond entertainment. It is spiritual, communal and deeply political. She speaks of it as \u201cthe voice of God\u201d, a universal language capable of carrying difficult truths across borders<br \/>and generations.<\/p>\n<p>In her view, the weight of the stories she tells is not an act of complaint but of affirmation. By sharing them, she hopes to reframe how African narratives are understood, not as deficit but as depth and richness. \u201cWe are not poor people \u2026 we are even too rich,\u201d she says, reframing struggle within a broader context of cultural abundance.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, her work circles back to a call for dialogue. One that is both introspective and collective.<br \/>She advocates for a careful balance: preserving what is meaningful within tradition while interrogating what is harmful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s good to keep some stuff \u2026 the respect between each other and many things that our ancestors have been building for us,\u201d she reflects.<\/p>\n<p>She is equally clear about what must be left behind. Practices such as FGM, violence against women<br \/>and arranged marriages, she insists, have no place in the future she is helping to shape.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose kinds of things that our generation doesn\u2019t name,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t need those things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Fatoumata #Diawara #channels #ancestry #activism #Cape #Town #Mail #Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Powerful presence: Fatoumata Diawara performing at the CTIJF 2026. Photo: Armand Hough It\u2019s a warm Saturday afternoon in Cape Town.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54701,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54699\/revisions\/54701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}