In the early 1960s, his songs were played every morning on Malian radio. Boubacar Traoré, nicknamed Kar Kar, sang about the new nation of Mali with a guitar style that drew comparisons to the American blues. Then he disappeared from music. Many Malians assumed he had died. More than two decades later, he was found.
Kar Kar and his disappearance
Traoré was born around 1942 in Kayes, in western Mali. He earned the nickname Kar Kar, from a word meaning to dribble, for his football skills. Mali became independent in 1960. Traoré’s songs, including “Mali Twist”, became anthems of the new nation, played on national radio. Despite his popularity, Traoré earned little from music, as there was no recording industry to pay him. He stopped performing and worked as a tailor, farmer and in other jobs to support his family.
Grief and rediscovery
The death of his wife in 1989 hit him hard. He moved to France for a time, working as a labourer. In the late 1980s, he appeared on Malian television, surprising viewers who thought he was dead. A British label later recorded him, and his international career began. His albums, including Mariama and Kongo Magni, introduced his music to world audiences. Critics compared him to blues legends.
The blues connection and Kayes
Traoré’s guitar playing, with its repetitive patterns and emotional vocals, reflects the deep links between West African music and the blues. A documentary, Je chanterai pour toi (2001), told his story. Traoré continued recording and touring into his seventies and eighties. Kayes, in western Mali near the borders with Senegal and Mauritania, is one of the hottest towns in Africa and a centre of Khassonké culture. Traoré’s music draws on the region’s traditions, which differ from the better-known Mande styles of Bamako.
His voice and world tours
Traoré sings in a plain, heartfelt style over looping guitar patterns. His songs often speak of love, loss and endurance, themes shaped by his own life. Listeners who know nothing of Bambara or Khassonké still feel the emotion in his recordings. After his rediscovery, Traoré played festivals in Europe, North America and Japan, often alone with his guitar.
Boubacar Traoré gave Mali its first independence soundtrack and then vanished for twenty years. When he returned, the rest of the world finally heard what Malians had danced to in 1960.
