Boubacar Traoré
Kar Kar, the dribbling man who became father of the desert blues: Mali's voice of independence, still on tour at over 80 years of age.
Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in Kayes) is a Malian singer and guitarist, nicknamed "Kar Kar" (the dribbling player) who remembers his football skills.
A radio star from the early 1960s, he danced Mali from independence with "Mali Twist" and "Kayeba", the first to play Mandingue music with electric guitar.
After many years away from the studios, his rediscovery in the late 1980s launched an international career: "Mariama" (1990) and then a discography greeted, from "Kongo Magni" to "Dunia Tabalo" (2017).
His self-taught game, inspired by the kora, links the alluvials of Niger to those of Mississippi: Bill Frisell nicknamed him the "Elvis of Mali".
In 2024, at the age of 80, he released a live album with Vincent Bucher and Jeremie Diarra and continued to tour Europe and North America.