Ahead of its release on February 18, 2022, they have shared the single ‘Kurunba’, the follow up to debut track ‘N’yanyan’.

Rokia Koné, who is already a major star in her home country, was first introduced to international audiences as part of the acclaimed feminist supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique in 2017 when she featured alongside some of West Africa’s biggest female artists on the critically-acclaimed album République Amazone.

Jacknife Lee is the acclaimed producer of globally-renowned bands U2, R.E.M and The Killers, and has earned Grammy recognition for his work on Taylor Swift’s multi-million selling Red. Stadium-sized soundscapes are his speciality, yet BAMANAN finds Lee upholding the stark beauty of Rokia’s voice with subtlety and sensitivity. Every nuance and breath is heard, each inflection and melismatic improvisation carefully preserved.

The song ‘Kurunba’ is a powerful example of resistance and denouncing the customs of exclusion faced by women when they have finished raising their husband’s children. In some patriarchal societies, once her children are married, the wife’s role in the family is diminished and often results in the arrival of a co-wife. If she rebels against this, she could be branded as ‘crazy’ and isolated from society.

“Kurunba tells the story of a particular woman who was freed from her isolation,” explains Rokia. “On the day of her daughter’s wedding she sang this song, and the same people who had tried to lock her up were transformed into dogs and flies. It’s like a curse.”

As a member of Les Amazones d’Afrique (the West African musical collective who campaign for gender equality) women’s issues are a regular theme in Rokia’s songs. “We cannot list all the problems women face,” she says. “Lack of access to education for girls, conjugal violence suffered by women in households, rivalry amongst co-wives, and more besides. I call on men to get involved in works that protect and make women happy.” — Rokia Koné

In the video for ‘Kurunba’, Rokia enters a London nightclub as an apparition amongst a gathering of some of the city’s most talented young contemporary dancers, who react to the song’s high-energy, uplifting spirit. It was directed and choreographed by Zambia-born dance artist Kennedy Junior Muntanga.

Working on Koné’s music dovetailed with a change in attitude for Jacknife Lee. A few years previously he’d taught music to teenagers whose enthusiasm around the machinations of Nineties hip-hop got him thinking about his own youth — when he was excited by the mystery of music making. “I wanted to switch from being the person who had the most amount of knowledge in the room to the one saying ‘I don’t have a clue what I’m doing but let’s just see what happens.’” The opportunity to work on Rokia’s album met the criteria. “It actually felt like the thing I had always wished to do,” he says.

Pre-order the album: smarturl.it/RW239
Purchase ‘Kurunba’: lnk.to/RWS103

How did you get to where you are now?

I’m doing a lot of projects but I guess this is a generic question asking about a single project. I don’t have a single project. Here’s a vague response to it. 

I generally try and say “yes” as often as possible and also try to get other people to say “yes” too.i have gotten here by asking people to either help me, if i can go with them or if they would like to come along with me.

Who were your top 3 artists last year?

L’Rain

Charlotte Adigéry

Nala Sinepro

What do you do when you’re feeling uninspired?

hand wash dishes, dig a hole for a plant, go for a walk or have sex

What are your 2022 projects and goals?

I’m in a band called Telefís and we’re releasing two albums so it would be good to do some shows with that.

Do some shows with Rokia Kone. Make more records, learn to play the trumpet, and I would like to spend more time traveling once covid releases its grip on the world.

Tell us about your latest release and how it came about

It’s a long story but I came across Rokia through Valerie Malot (her manager) when i was looking for a Malian guitar player. Valerie sent me a recording with Salif Kone playing on it (the guitarist I was searching for) with Rokia singing on it and I asked if I could try something with the recording. It started from there. working remotely (me in LA, Rokia in Mali) we made a record that was then picked up by Real World and here we are.