Fatoumata Diawara at Herbst Theatre, April 4, 2024

SFJAZZ presents Fatoumata Diawara
Herbst Theatre
Veterans' Building, San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center, 401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-4522 USA
8:00 PM, Thursday, April 4, 2024

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:07 PM] {lights down; pre-recorded house announcements; applause for band entrance; show begins without FD‚ who enters about a minute later}

1. [8:08 PM] Tolon
2. [8:16 PM] Somaw
3. [8:26 PM] Mogokan
4. [8:31 PM] Seguen
5. [8:41 PM] Sete
   [8:50 PM] {FD takes off her guitar}
6. [8:50 PM] Dambe
7. [8:55 PM] Yada
   [8:56 PM] {FD calls a halt: Time for everybody to get up and dance or else I'm gonna stop the show!}
   [8:56 PM] {restart Yada}
8. [9:05 PM] (keyboard solo) » [9:06 PM] {band comes in; FD back out in a minute} » [9:07 PM] {FD lauds FT‚ then introduces the band members one-by-one} » [9:08 PM] {back to the song now? Nope‚ FD gives a rambling speech about the need to prop up women; then on to giving props to Nina Simone and eventually identifying this tune as Nina's Feeling Good} »
9. [9:18 PM] Nsera » [9:19 PM] {FD really long speech: talking about Afrobeat‚ then Malian music‚ and importance of music in general‚ then on and on to other topics} » [9:23 PM] {back to Nsera}
10. [9:29 PM] Massa Den
11. [9:35 PM] Blues »
    [9:44 PM] {FD heads offstage while the band wails away}
    [9:45 PM] {applause at end set}
    
    Finale
12. [9:46 PM] (unidentified tune)
    [10:00 PM] {final applause}
    [10:01 PM] {bows and waves from the band, then all off; show ends}

• Fatoumata Diawara: guitar, loops, vox;
• Juan Finger: 5-string bass;
• Jurandir Santana: guitar;
• Fernando Tejero: keyboards;
• Ombe Monkama Yves William AKA Willy Ombe: drums.

Although it took me awhile to warm up to it, by the end of tonight's show I was wholly won over. Looking back, that seems exactly how I felt upon first seeing her in 2013 – funny how that worked out. Yet another example that time is more like a spiral than a straight line?

Almost everything performed tonight came from her latest album, London Ko, released about a year ago. I'm glad we attended: hopefully she'll be back again with new material in a year or three!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2024 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2024 event list! ☸ On to the next event!